What you need
- A Steam account that owns The Isle
- A Windows PC for the Survival Island Companion app, which stays open the whole time you play
- A microphone and headphones, if you want to talk to other players with proximity voice
- A Discord account (optional) to follow the news and reach the team
Step 1: buy and install The Isle on Steam
Search for The Isle on Steam or open The Isle on Steam. The developer is Afterthought LLC and the game is in Early Access; the store page shows the price and system requirements. Buy it and install it as usual.
Step 2: switch the game to Evrima
Survival Island runs The Isle: Evrima. According to community wikis, a fresh install starts on the Legacy version, so switch once yourself:
- Open Steam and go to your Library.
- Right-click The Isle and choose Properties.
- Open the Betas tab.
- In the branch drop-down, pick evrima.
- Close the window and let Steam finish the download.
Skip this and the game opens as Legacy, which cannot see Evrima servers, ours included. See Evrima vs Legacy for the difference.
Step 3: install the Survival Island Companion app
Download the server's companion app from play.svvisland.com/download, install it on Windows and sign in with the same Steam account you play The Isle on. You can also link Discord to follow the news and reach the team easily.
Proximity voice, the map, the shop and mail run through this app, so keep it open the whole time you play. Players without the app open are removed from the server.
Step 4: pick a server and join
Choose server 1 or server 2 in the app (switch any time from the server button on the top bar). Then start The Isle, open the server list and search for the server name:
Server 1: up to 300 players, with a join queue when it is full.
[Svv] Survival Island - Low rule - No Toxic
Server 2: 150 players, the same gameplay settings as server 1.
[Svv] Survival Island 2 - Low rule - No Toxic
Tap the name to select all of it, then copy it into the in-game search.
Can't find the server?
- Check that the game has switched to Evrima (step 2).
- Search for just Survival Island and clear the filters on the server list.
- Around the restarts at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00 Bangkok time the server can drop off the list for a short while; wait and refresh.
- When server 1 is full there is a join queue, or pick server 2 in the app instead.
- Still nothing? Ask the team on the server's Discord.
Your first hour on the island: beginner tips
The Isle leaves a lot for you to discover, so the first hour can be confusing. These general tips help you last longer.
Pick a sensible first dino
Many new players start with a small or medium herbivore: food is easier to find than prey, and you learn the map on the way. Browse the dinosaurs you can play on our server first.
Find water first
Open the live map in the app to see the water near you and remember the way. Water and food are the two things to keep an eye on all the time.
Small dinos stay out of the open
While you are small almost anything can eat you. Keep to the forest edge, avoid big animals you do not know, check boss pins on the map before passing through, and stay away from predator packs.
Play with friends
Have your friends install the app and pick the same server, because dinos are separate per server. Friends and chat in the app work across both servers, and once you are close in the game you can simply talk with proximity voice.
Stuck in a rock or holding something?
Use the helper buttons on the My dinos page in the app, such as stuck in a rock or drop what you carry, with no commands to type.
Death is a new start
Every death gets a certificate in the app with the cause, age and a life code. Dying is part of the game: try again and use what you learned to survive longer.
Keep a dino for later
Use dino storage in the app: store a dino in a slot and load it back later. A failed save never touches your dino.
Questions about the app? Open the player guide inside it, in Thai or English, or press the ? button on the page you are on.
Rules to know before you land
Our servers are Low rule · No Toxic: few rules, so you can hunt, flee and survive your way, but no insults, discrimination or harassment in voice, chat or Discord. The full terms are in the app; read the summary in the server rules and compare the two servers.