The Rust Naval Update is here with base boat building and an optional plank meant to 'settle minor disagreements' with friends

Rust player tinkering with a motor onboard a ship, there is a crafting hammer in his free hand.

(Image credit: Facepunch)

We've been able to swim around just off the coast of Rust's murder island for years now, but I'm absolutely terrified of the sharks most players seem to shrug off, so I keep myself parked on land watching from a safe distance. After today's Naval Update, I'm thinking that may change as Rust adds buildable seafaring boats, among other things.

I say may because I know someone is going to immediately send my dinky ship to the bottom of the sea. Or they'll commandeer it and make me walk the plank.

The player-made boats are ugly, hulking blocks of wood and metal sheets that do not look like they should be able to float, but they do. And that's what I love about them. You'll need the usual boat stuff to make one work (steering wheel, anchor, sails, engines, etc), so I'm not sure how long it'll take to hit the open sea's progression point, but I just want reassurance it's a reasonable option for solo players. Even if that means I'll have to face my fears and fistfight a shark.

Floating bases offer a lot of the same features you see in land architecture, too. There are locks for steering wheels, stopping wannabe pirates from taking control of personal ships, and you can utilize any deployable that already works on a tugboat. The new building pieces are mostly what you would expect, including a cannon for sinking enemies and an anchor to keep from endlessly drifting, but I'm mostly surprised by the plank. Just think of the possibilities.

I never gave it much thought before, and I don't know why I'm so fascinated now. Rust's community—known for being totally normal without a trace of hostile architecture—surely won't come up with any wild humiliation rituals around walking the plank.

Rust - Naval Update - YouTube

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Sailing into the Deep Sea

Kind of like Dune: Awakening's Deep Desert, the Naval Update's Deep Sea is a somehow even more threatening Rust zone only accessible via the ends of the map, and even if you make it there, it's a risky journey. You'll have to weigh whether the rare pirate booty waiting beyond is worth sinking all your hard work or not.

The Deep Sea isn't always open either, so the adventure also relies on good timing. The Rust blog makes this part of the Naval Update sound pretty cutthroat, even for Rust: "This is not a place to live: you cannot build, and nothing respawns. First come, first served."

Oh, and the scientists aren't just waiting around for you back on land. They have their own vessels, and aside from the titanic Ghost Ships to raid for Hacked Crates, scientists can also zip around on smaller PT boats and chew through your buildings with hulking 50 caliber guns.

There's a lot of little extras mentioned, like five new missions and a handy first person view for building, but the nature of Rust means I typically won't have a strong opinion on any of it until a month or so in. I need to drown naked and lost at sea a few times, or starve to death in another player's twisted (but creative) watery hell prison, before I come to any firm conclusions.

None of which are things I've experienced yet, by the way. It's just, y'know, Rust.

Andrea has been covering games for nearly a decade, picking up bylines at IGN, USA Today, Fanbyte, and Destructoid before joining the PC Gamer team in 2025. She's got a soft spot for older RPGs and is willing to try just about anything with a lovey-dovey "I can fix them" romance element. Her weekly to-do always includes a bit of MMO time, endlessly achievement hunting and raiding in Final Fantasy 14. Outside of those staples, she's often got a few survival-crafting games on rotation and loves a good scare in co-op horror games.

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