Direct answer
The official progression is quest and boss gated: finish the current island's required quests, defeat its boss, then use the newly opened travel route. If travel looks wrong, confirm the patch, lobby host and actual unlock instead of trusting an old marker.
Official facts come from Dazed Games, the Steam store and developer patch notes. Exact catch rates, spawn tables, prices and damage values are omitted when the current official material does not publish them.
Quick route
- 01Finish the current island's visible required quests.
- 02Prepare and defeat the island boss.
- 03Confirm that the next destination is actually unlocked.
- 04If travel fails, update the game and let the host retry the route.
What opens the next island
The Steam description states that quests and bosses progress the journey to new islands. That is the stable rule; a route that bypasses those conditions should be treated as a bug, not a secret shortcut.
Patch 1.0.5 specifically fixed a bug that allowed travel to any island without unlocking it. Guides built around that behavior are obsolete.
Keep a route ledger
For each island, record the required quest, boss, useful shop purchase and travel point. This distinguishes a missing unlock from a player simply overlooking where the route begins.
Do collection cleanup after the next route is secure. Rare-variant hunting and quest progression use the same space but answer different goals.
- Required quest completed.
- Boss defeated in the current lobby.
- Destination shown as unlocked.
- Host and guests agree on the next route.
- Current patch installed.
Final-island and radar changes
Patch 1.0.4 made the path to the final island easier. Patch 1.0.10 removed a misleading X marker from the radar. A screenshot from an earlier build can therefore show both a harder route and a marker that no longer exists.
Use landmarks and the actual unlock state, not an old overlay image, when explaining the path to another player.
When co-op progression appears stuck
Return to the host's session, verify that the required boss result saved, and retry travel after everyone is grouped. Patch 1.0.10 also changed save handling for dropped items, so gear persistence and island progression should be diagnosed separately.
If the route remains closed after the official conditions are met, capture the island, quest state, host, patch version and exact action that fails before reporting it.
Official release trailer
The trailer confirms the co-op tone, physics-driven catches, weapons, boss encounters and revives. Treat footage as visual context; the current patch notes override early-build balance or interface details.
Official sources
Release date, developer, official game loop, player count and feature description.
Dazed Games · Valve · Checked Aug 28, 2026Current item persistence, cleaning, creature balance and bug-fix information.
Dazed Games · Checked Aug 28, 2026Official footage for co-op play, catches, bosses, weapons and revives.
Dazed Games · Checked Aug 28, 2026
