Direct answer: If the next island is missing from your Radar, defeating the boss may not have completed the stage. Launch-era routes consistently report this pattern: accept or identify the NPC request, obtain the required trigger or bait, defeat the boss, preserve its special drop, hand that item to the correct NPC, and then check the Radar.
Version boundary: Reviewed through the latest visible official Patch 1.0.8 on 2026-08-24. Detailed route footage and reports below originate from Patch 1.0.4 or 1.0.5 launch builds.
Reported island route
The official patch feed confirms that progression and locked-island travel changed during launch week, but it does not publish a complete walkthrough. The sequence below is therefore a reported route, cross-checked between a Steam community guide, an editorial walkthrough, and creator gameplay.
| Stage | Reported quest and encounter spine | Progression check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lighthouse tasks leading to the Spider Crab | Preserve the special result and complete the related hand-in |
| 2 | Leeches leading to the Giant Piranha | Finish the request chain before expecting the next Radar update |
| 3 | Tourist or Endangered Fish task leading to the Pufferfish | Treat the quest item and boss drop as progression items |
| 4 | Tuna task leading to the terrorizing bird | Return to the quest giver after the encounter |
| 5 | Scientist request, Bowhead Whale, volcano route, mutated final fight, and return route | Complete each hand-in and recheck the Radar rather than skipping ahead |
Names and order are preserved only to the level supported by the approved dossier. Exact bait counts, prices, timers, health, damage, and best weapons are not established as current Patch 1.0.8 facts.
Why the Radar may not update
Work through this checklist in order:
- Confirm that you finished the NPC's actual request, not merely the nearby encounter.
- Look for a special item produced by the quest or boss.
- Make sure that item was not sold, cooked, or otherwise used as an ordinary catch.
- Return to the NPC tied to the current stage and complete the hand-in.
- Check the Radar after the conversation or hand-in finishes.
- If you are in co-op, save explicitly and verify the current objective with the host before recreating a session; approved sources do not establish host/client quest ownership rules.
This order is safer than trying to travel directly to a later destination. The official Steam patch feed says Patch 1.0.5 closed unrestricted travel to islands before they were unlocked. Older shortcuts shown in launch footage should therefore be treated as outdated.
Official changes that affect old walkthroughs
- Patch 1.0.4 made the route to the final island more visible and changed several boss-related details.
- Patch 1.0.5 closed the locked-island travel exploit.
- The approved official feed reaches Patch 1.0.8, but the detailed community route was not fully retested on that version.
Use the route as a diagnostic map, not a frame-perfect script. If one stage differs in your build, trust the current objective text and current Radar state over an older video's exact sequence. This page does not guarantee that a reported tactic, price, or shortcut remains available.