Here’s What You Missed This Week

It’s been a big week at Survivor Incognito: a new diary began, another series ended, and a milestone snuck up on us. Here’s the full breakdown:

  • Tuesday: Stranded Deep – Day One Diary (official permadeath run starts next week!)
  • Wednesday: The Cold Chronicles – Day Nine
  • Thursday: Sneak, Snipe, Repeat – Final Entry (eulogy coming next week)
  • Friday: SnowRunner – Day Two, where I somehow end up on top of a mountain… with no plan for getting down.

We also launched the Subnautica Maps page this week, with a Subnautica: Below Zero map hub in the works too.

And lastly — a huge thank you: the blog passed 1,000 views this week! I’m currently plotting something fun as a proper thank-you to everyone who’s been reading, lurking, or laughing at my survival misfortunes.

More survival chaos (and a few heartfelt eulogies) coming next week.

🏝️ Day One Diary: Stranded Deep Tutorial – Sunburnt & Sinking (Warm-Up Edition)

A practice run before the chaos begins: I tackle the Stranded Deep tutorial on Nintendo Switch, battle a crab, get lost on a tiny island, and somehow manage to build shelter. The real journey starts next time—with a brand new seed and no hand-holding.


🛩️ “The plane crash was just the beginning. My real enemy? Inventory management.”

I load up Stranded Deep, hoping to ease myself back in with the tutorial. Instead, I’m treated to a cutscene straight out of Final Destination—a plane going down, debris flying, and my character waking up underwater inside the wreck. No time for panic. I dive out, kick my way through the wreckage, and find my trusty inflatable raft.

Then comes my first real survival challenge: how to unequip the oar. After some determined button-mashing and a healthy amount of muttering, I figure it out. I drag the raft ashore—because I’ve seen enough YouTube fails to know that leaving your raft in the water is how you end up stranded before the game even starts.

The tutorial gently nudges me along, but even then, the menus are… a bit of a puzzle. I gather supplies, make a campfire (conveniently close to the raft), and promptly get ambushed by a crab. It’s small, angry, and determined to remind me I’m not in charge here.

Navigation proves tricky. Despite the island being roughly the size of a football pitch, I still manage to get lost several times. I also hoard everything I see, which turns my inventory into a mess of sticks, rocks, and plant bits.

As darkness falls, I realize I need to craft shelter. Fibrous leaves are required, but I’ve used most of them, and a torch sounds great—except I have no idea where to get cloth. I spend several minutes wandering aimlessly in the dark, wondering if this is how it ends. Eventually, I find what I need, cobble together a basic shelter, and finally—finally—save the game.


🔚 End of Day Summary:

Survived tutorial ✔️

Beat up by a crab ✔️

Got lost on a tiny island ✔️ – Yes, that actually happened

Built shelter and saved ✔️

Confidence level for real run: …debatable


🧭 What’s Next?

Next time, the real run begins. New seed, no hand-holding, and full permadeath rules. I have no idea what’s waiting for me, but if it’s another crab, we are going to have words.

If you enjoyed this one, please check out my other day one diaries here

Day One Diaries Return Tuesday – This Time, It’s Stranded Deep

Just a quick heads-up: a new Day One Diary drops this Tuesday, and we’re heading somewhere sunny… and deadly. That’s right — it’s time for Stranded Deep.

The Day One warm-up lands this week. The official permadeath run starts next week.

Get ready for sunburns, sharks, and me trying to build a raft that doesn’t immediately flip over.

Want to get caught up? Check out the hub page for Sunburnt & Sinking: A Stranded Deep Survival Diary.

📍 Map Added! Controls, Too!

Just a quick update for all fellow sunburnt survivors: I’ve added a couple of useful visuals to the Stranded Deep hub page
🧭 A screenshot of my starting map (so you know where I washed up)
🎮 And the Nintendo Switch controls I’m using to wrestle with coconuts, crabs, and my own bad decisions

You’ll find both right below the Series Overview section. Whether you’re following along or planning your own island misadventures, I hope it helps!

Back to hunting crabs.
(Out of revenge, not necessity. Mostly.)

📌 For New Survivors: Start Here

Welcome to Survivor Incognito! This is where survival games meet chaos, comedy, and a healthy disregard for difficulty settings.

If you’re new here and wondering what this blog is all about, here’s a quick guide to help you dive in:


🎮 Why I Play on Easier Difficulties

Think playing on easy makes survival games easy? I’m living proof it doesn’t. 👉 Surviving, Not Suffering: Why I Choose Easier Difficulties


❄️ The Long Dark Must-Reads

🗺 The Long Dark Complete Region & Transition Zone Survival Guide

❄️ Customloper Diaries

📆 Survive Your First Week in The Long Dark


🧪 Permadeath, But Make It Funny

🕷 The Backyard Trials: Grounded Permadeath

🏹 Sneak, Snipe, Repeat: Skyrim Survival

🚢 Dark Waters: A Dredge Survival


🚚 Coming Soon

SnowRunner Survival: The Permagear Diaries Main Hub

Sunburnt & Sinking: A Stranded Deep Survival Diary


💬 Bonus Reading

👉 About Me

👉 The Long Dark Customloper Settings: Easier Interloper Survival Mode

👉 FAQ


Thanks for joining the mayhem. Surviving is optional. Storytelling the downfall? Mandatory

Quick Update from Behind the Blog

Just when I thought the seas were clear… turns out Dark Waters had one more entry left! The final chapter of the Dredge permadeath run has now been scheduled, so we’re giving Stranded Deep a little breathing room (and maybe giving me a moment to dry off).

Meanwhile, SnowRunner: The Permagear Diaries is still on track to launch next week.

I am also still in the process of adding more ARK maps, but life finds a way to make that as slow as possible it seems, but I’m doing my best to add more as and when I am able. Thank you for your patience on that.

I have also seen people downloading my rules for games like The Long Dark, Dredge and even Grounded. If you have any suggestions for rules I could follow, please let me know and I will see if they could add to my playthroughs in any way.

Thanks for keeping up with the chaos — more doom is on the horizon!

Big Week Ahead at Survivor Incognito!

A quick update! One of our permadeath series end this week, but next week we launch SnowRunner — the survival chaos continues!

It’s a big week on Survivor Incognito — two of our current permadeath series are reaching their dramatic (and probably messy) conclusions.

But don’t worry… the chaos isn’t stopping. Next week, we’re kicking off a brand new adventure:

  • 🚛 SnowRunner: The Permagear Diaries
    Because driving a truck across frozen rivers and muddy pits without a reset button sounded like a great idea at the time.

We also have another series ending next week, the week after that, a Day One Diary for the game taking it’s place will be up, the week after that, that series begins.

Stay tuned — more mayhem is just around the corner.

How I Handle Permadeath (and Still Sleep at Night)

Also: A Sunburnt & Sinking Tease You Didn’t Know You Needed

Permadeath. The challenge. The chaos. The deeply personal betrayal when a lovingly named character walks off a cliff because you misjudged a ledge.

This post is part ruleset, part philosophy, and part gentle teaser — because yes, one of my current runs has already ended. And no, you won’t find out how for at least two months.

I play ahead — sometimes way ahead — because it gives me time to write, screenshot, cry, and recover before you all read about it. So yes, I already know how some of my stories end. That doesn’t mean I’m any more emotionally prepared.

My Permadeath Rules (Across the Blog)

🛑 One life. Always.
If the game lets me die permanently, I do. No save-scumming. No reloads. If I glitch through the map, we roll with it.

🧤 Difficulty is flexible.
I don’t always play on the hardest difficulty — because surviving should be intense but still fun. I tailor it per series: Customloper for The Long Dark, Apprentice for Skyrim, standard settings in Stranded Deep.

🪦 Once they die, they go to The Graveyard.
Every character gets an obituary. Sometimes dramatic, sometimes… deeply stupid. Either way, the blog remembers them.

🎣 Runs are usually played a month or two ahead.
So if something goes wrong? You’ll find out… eventually.


🌴 Coming Soon(ish): Sunburnt & Sinking

Yes, Stranded Deep is on the way. Yes, the series is called Sunburnt & Sinking.

Stay tuned. It’s equal parts sunstroke and sharks.


🧭 Want to Know More?

If you’re wondering why I don’t always crank the difficulty to maximum chaos, there’s a reason for that — and it’s not just because I like my limbs frostbite-free.

Check out my full page:
👉 Why I Play On Easier Difficulties

And if you’re curious about the rules behind each of my survival runs, from Customloper to Backyard Trials:
👉 Rules of Survival – According To Me

Because every survival story has its own set of ground rules — even the weird ones involving crows and deer that somehow win the fight.

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