The Story

#### **Introduction**

In Stranded Isle, you play as, what appears to be, a White, Young Person (the gender is never specified and the graphics are too ambiguous to tell) wearing a purple shirt. When you start the game, you are presented with the following story: "A storm left you shipwrecked on a deserted island, full of mysteries and monsters." From this evidence, we can see that the player was on a boat far into the sea. Then, a storm left them shipwrecked on this island. From the beginning story, there isn't much to think about, but the game has much more hidden detail than is immediately apparent. Here is everything we know, what is unknown, and what theories we have for these facts. Get ready, as the hidden story goes deeper than the underworld...

#### **Before the Shipwreck**

As most players know, you have to craft items and tools in the game to win. The skill required to create these could not have been picked up instantly. The player likely took classes in school on woodworking, and supporting this is the fact that you have to build a chem lab to beat the game.

#### **The Zombies of the Stranded Isle**

As we all probably know, zombies are undead humans. Although you might think that there is a possibility that the zombies are of non-human origin, the fact that they drop fabric when defeated easily falsifies this theory. When you look at the players model, you may notice it is remarkably similar to the zombie's. We can assume that the player isn't that old (likely 18-22 years old), the zombies must have gotten on the island one way or another quite recently, or have torn the clothes from newer zombies, as the new clothes were probably better. Some of the zombies may even be the player's friends (mentioned above), zombified by the island. An interesting fact about the zombies is that they can't go up or down ladders. Lower cognitive function could very well be a side effect of their zombification. Also, zombies can spawn in the underworld. With the assumption that they are undead humans, they must have had to climb down the ladder at some point (likely when they were human), and became zombies. They also may have been trapped and couldn't escape, as there is stone blocking the ladder. Maybe they were turned into zombies and were left to roam the mines, or they were locked in after the great calamity (more on that later).

One thing that we don't know is how exactly the zombies spawn. We know it can't be the Giant Sea Eel, as in its boss fight, it didn't summon zombies. Supporting this is the fact that zombies still spawn after it's defeated. We can only assume that the island itself is evil, and is resurrecting the island's ancient inhabitants. It also may add lost, shipwrecked souls, like you, to add to its growing army of undead soldiers, poised to take over the world.

#### **The Giant Sea Eel and the Ancient Calamity Theory**

The red stone surrounding the boss room is strange, but not without an explanation. When the boss dies, it drops rubies. The rubies are likely its food source. The Giant Sea Eel appears to have no way out of the boss level, so it must have been either been born in the room, or got in when it was younger and smaller. The island, which we know is malicious and intelligent, realized that the Eel had the potential to become a powerful asset in its plans, so it allowed it rubies for food.

At some point, the island was inhabited by settlers. The settler had to have come by boat, as the technology of their time was limited They either brought the talisman on their ships, or forged it on the island. Whichever the case was, the settlers (whom will now be referred to as "The Ancients")

It would be unwise for someone to go into the boss room without the talisman, and that leads us to believe that they went down there with the talisman, an item that turns the boss to stone for 10 seconds. Likely the Ancients went down the ladder to turn the boss into stone for a longer time. The thinking on this is that the talisman was more powerful before being split into 4 pieces. The ancients obviously feared the Giant Sea Eel would destroy their civilization. They likely repeated this process until one day, they forgot or couldn't turn the Giant Sea Eel to stone in time.

The Ancients knew they had to stop it from reaching the surface, so they blocked the ladder with gems, and blocked the ladder on top with stone. They probably forgot about the people in the underworld in their hurry. The people down there then probably starved, and the island's evil powers turned them into zombies. The Giant Sea Eel then tried to escape through the ladder in the boss room, but found it was surrounded by gems that poked it. The gems could likely break even the Giant Sea Eel's thick skin due to the gem ore being the spikiest and toughest thing the game, causing the Giant Sea Eel blinding pain. In its rage and agony, it moved around underneath the island and caused an earthquake. The earthquake killed many of the Ancients, and the island, realizing its child, the Giant Sea Eel, was in pain, it immediately turned the dead Ancients into zombies. One of the Ancients knew they had to break the talisman into four pieces and hid them around the island to stop it from being broken into thousands of pieces and for it to be impossible to defeat the Giant Sea Eel. They then succumbed to the hordes of zombies that used to be their family and friends. Being so enraged from what had happened, the island to shipwreck nearby ships to add to its zombie army. This event is called "The Ancient Calamity". When the island would have had enough zombies to aid the Giant Sea Eel in battle, it would likely invade the rest of the world.

When you defeat the Giant Sea Eel, you don't just beat a boss, you defeat an ancient monster, an evil island, and its despicable plans. With its power and child all but vanquished, you leave the island enraged, yet helpless. Without the ability fulfill its malicious dreams, it becomes just another island on the map; a forgotten evil, in a vast ocean. Stranded Isle has a rich story to tell, and with a good eye and a just little imagination, you will see it.

**Timeline**

* The island's formation

- Formation of the caves and ores

- The Giant Sea Eel gets trapped underground

- Grass and apple trees inhabiting the island

* The island being populated by the Ancients

- Settlements made

- Discovery of the cave and building of the ladder

- Discovery of the Giant Sea Eel

- Creation of the ladder and the Talisman

- The routine freezing of the Giant Sea Eel

* The Ancient Calamity

- The Giant Sea Eel's awakening

- The earthquake

- The zombification of the dead Ancients

- Breaking and scattering of the Talisman

These are just wild theories, but it makes you think about the game in a new way. If you have any theories of your own, please comment them and i'll try to add them to the page. I would love to see what you can come up with! -Evan T.