The player must gather resources to survive and craft all items within the game, with the exception of any starting gear. Players gather resources such as cloth, food, and wood, which can be obtained from chopping trees with an axe. Other items come from the wildlife found throughout the island. The player starts with an initial crafting list of items such as weapons, clothing, and building materials. As the player progresses throughout the game, he or she can find blueprints for more advanced items to craft. These can be found in hidden crates, on killed NPCs, or by researching items taken from other players' bases.

During gameplay, there are many challenges that the player can face, such as starvation, drowning, hypothermia, attacks from wildlife, or exposure to radiation from the many radiated areas throughout the island. Due to the game being exclusively multiplayer, attacks from other players are also an ever-present challenge.