Game Modes

There are a variety of Game Modes in Raft.

Summary
The Game Mode cannot be changed once selected, unless using mods. A lot of parameters depend on the game mode. Below is a table with the overview of the modes (Creative is taken out and explained underneath):

Creative
"Unlimited supplies and health, allowing you to not focus on surviving but on building."

- In-game description

This mode allows the player to create the raft of their dreams without having to gather any Materials. Everything can be crafted for free and is learned from start. Plants can be grown and domesticated animals may be spawned at will - including the rare ones. The raft won't move and the shark will swim around but not attack. Thirst and Hunger is taken out of the equation. Achievements don't work in Creative Mode. Removing items is seven times faster, and the player can use noclip (free-camera) to look around (N key).

Based on testing, switching from any Game Mode to Creative will keep items, but it will remove island code and Ocean materials code, making them inaccessible.

Peaceful
"A more relaxed version of Raft where Enemies are no threat."

- In-game description Nothing will attack the player or raft, including Seagulls attacking the player's Crop Plots and Sharks biting Foundations. Sharks and Poison-Puffers won't defend themselves, while Warthogs and Screechers will attack once in retaliation. Poison-Puffers will not explode. Lurkers will attack normally in retaliation. The Screecher is hard to hit because usually strategies include waiting for it to attack to be able to hit it, and since it doesn't attack the strategy is nullified. The Shark will also continue swimming, ignoring the player.

Achievements can easily be obtained in Peaceful mode, with the threat of all hostile creatures removed.

Easy
"Easier to maintain hunger and thirst. Inventory is not lost when Respawning."

- In-game description

When the player dies, they respawn with all of their inventory intact. It takes five hits from a Shark to die. The Shark attacks a raft Foundation every ~8 minutes. It takes around ~25 minutes to lose a whole Thirst bar, and ~31 minutes for Hunger. Damage taken by the player from enemies is reduced to 70% of default (normal mode).

Normal
"Average difficulty for the average player."

- In-game description When the player dies, they can respawn by themselves but will lose all of their inventory. The player can be saved by a friend to keep what they're holding by picking them up and carrying them to a bed. It takes three hits from a Shark to die. Sharks attack the raft Foundations every ~5 minutes. It takes ~15 minutes to lose a whole Thirst bar and ~18 minutes for Hunger.

Hard
"You cannot respawn without the help of a friend."

- In-game description

When the player dies, they cannot respawn on their own. The player needs a friend to put them in a bed to be brought back into the game. The amount of Sharks may increase throughout the game resulting in up to five Sharks, but the fourth and fifth Shark will show up only rarely. Sharks are also harder to kill while also having more health points (see details on the Shark page). It takes three hits from a Shark to die. Sharks attack the player's raft Foundations every ~2 minutes. It takes ~10 minutes to lose a whole Thirst bar, and ~14 minutes for Hunger. Damage given to the player by enemies is multiplied by 1.2 compared to Normal Mode, and all outgoing damage by the player is lowered to 80% (i.e. a Wooden Spear deals 5 damage, but on Hard Mode it's lowered to 4).