Survival games for pc: The 30 best survival games on PC in 2023 — Mitspielen — Vampire Live in München

[Top 25] Best Survival Games for PC (Ranked Fun to Most Fun)

Survival of the fittest (or, what you didn’t learn in Scouts)

Video games often focus on empowering the player, placing them at or near the top of the food chain. The world is your playground and almost nothing can stand in your way, like Just Cause 3. This is a list of games that take the opposite approach and ask the player to worry about not dying before the sun goes down before any trivial ideas like wealth and power.

25. Fallout: 76 (2018)

Fallout 76 Officail Trailer

Fallout: 76 is a multiplayer survival game set within the post-apocalypse of the Fallout universe. Marking a shift from a story focused RPG, like all previous main entries in the series, to an open-ended experience where players organically create settlements, factions and missions.

If I am being honest, Fallout: 76 was disappointing when it launched, not being able to capture the unique wonder of the wasteland. After some patches and a dedicated player base I am pleased to say that if you love Fallout, but feel like messing around rather than dealing with pesky NPCs and their quests, then this is the Fallout for you!

24. Dead By Daylight (2016)

Dead By Daylight Launch Trailer

Dead By Daylight is a one vs four multiplayer survival horror game. You are either the killer or one of the four unfortunate victims, placed in a level with its own story and objectives. Based on your role you’ll either try escape and fight back, or you will stalk and murder your prey.

This game is best enjoyed with four other friends. Coordinating can be difficult but is worth it, and you can work out any in-group tensions by brutally murdering each other!

23. Ark: Survival Evolved (2017)

Ark: Survival Evolved Trailer

Ark: Survival Evolved is a first-person survival action-adventure game. You wake up in a mysterious and fantastical world populated by dinosaurs among other viscous creatures that you can fight or even eventually tame. Until then; go gather some sticks, make a club, and find a place to make a fire.

The second you start this game, fun is in every direction! Adventure is out there, and with the sequel recently being announced there’s all the more reason the get back into this game now.

22. Green Hell (2018)

Green Hell Trailer

Green Hell is a first-person open world survival and crafting game. You are Jake Higgins, an anthropologist who wakes up in the Amazon basin. You, as Jake, must now survive. You must collect materials, build a fire, hunt or gather food and find shelter. Once you get yourself a base of operations you must try and leave this place.

Green Hell is very tense, with every element of the survival part of this game being really cool and makes you feel like living off of the land is more than possible. As long as you are Jake Higgins.

21. 7 Days To Die (2013)

7 Days to Die Alpha 8 Trailer

7 Days To Die is survival zombie horror base building FPS. You are alone and human, in a world now dominated by zombies, and must hide yourself away in a cabin of your own construction! Scavenge the materials you need, build your house and protect it from the zombie horde.

The core loop of this game is fantastic and tightly executed. A new patch was released recently giving more content, so definitely give this one a try. Live out the free-market-libertarian fantasy of building your own house and shooting intruders.

20. Papers, Please (2013)

Papers, Please Trailer

Paper, Please is a pixel art document simulation puzzle game developed by Lucas Pope. You are the new boarder post officer in the fictional communist country of Arstotzka, and your job is to check people’s passports and other documents for issues, and if you find none, let them pass. The more people you let pass without issue the more money you get, and there is only so much time in a day, so work quickly. Your money goes towards managing food, rent, heat and medicine for you and your family, making up the survival element.

This is one of my favourite games of all time! The subtle storytelling is stellar, the simple mechanics are strangely engaging and the art style is amazing. It’s honestly pretty cheap, so go and get it. Plus, the soundtrack slaps something different.

19. Day Z (2013)

DayZ — PC 1.0 Launch Trailer

DayZ is an open world survival horror game. Starting its life as a mod for Arma III, DayZ is now a fully-fledged zombie game with an in-depth crafting and building system. You start with nothing. Not even clothes. This is survival at its most visceral.

DayZ has the ability to create a more engaging world than other, scripted, open world zombie games. The large player base often means the zombies will be the least of your worries, but sometimes, when you are near death, a kind stranger will heal you and create the best short-term friendship you will ever experience.

18. This War of Mine (2014)

This War of Mine Launch Trailer

This War of Mine is a 2D survival and resource management game. You are a group of survivors in a city currently in the epicentre of a large-scale conflict. Your job is to hide away from the war, venturing out from your safe house to scavenge what supplies you can.

This game is about surviving, in more ways than one. The psychological wellbeing of your small group will determine their ability to keep surviving, with any loss dealing hefty penalties to your party. If you like getting your nutrients from sucking on an oil rag and making beds from bits of debris then I think you’ll love This War of Mine.

17. Metro Exodus (2019)

Metro Exosus Launch Trailer

Metro Exodus is an open world survival and settlement management FPS. The third in the Metro series, Exodus does away with the strictly linear structure of the previous games in favour of an open world with a branching narrative. This openness fits with the themes of this game, as you now leave the safety of the underground to try and find a better and more permanent home.

Improving upon the combat of the previous two, Metro Exodus is a high-octane action FPS with genuinely tense fights. You must keep everyone safe and every engagement could mark death, so don’t get too cocky.

16. Darkwood (2017)

Darkwood Official Relase Trailer

Darkwood is a top-down survival horror game that is absolutely terrifying! Set in a strange Polish forest, you start as a doctor who must try and survive a plague that has beset the people, creating this large forest, infecting and turning the inhabitants into monsters.

This game started its life on Steam’s Early access, but in 2017 Acid Wizard Studios released the full version, receiving critical praise. This is a tightly designed experience that I highly recommend. Just have a spare pair of undies handy.

15. 60 Seconds! ReAtomized (2019)

60 Seconds! ReAtomized Trailer

60 Seconds! ReAtomized is a comedy survival sim with a focus on retrying the game multiple times to improve your outcomes. You are the typical American family beset by nuclear war. You have sixty seconds to grab what you need from around your house, including your family, and rush to your bunker. With what you were able to bring you must survive the fallout.

The animation style is both cartoonish and darkly hilarious. A very quirky take on surviving the end of days, each replay allowing you to try various combinations of items and find your preferred collection of rations.

14. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010)

Amnesia: The Dark Descent Trailer

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a first-person adventure-puzzle survival horror game. You are Daniel, a young man with no memory, who wakes up in an old castle and must attempt to escape. The mystery of why you are here and what else is within these walls will only lead to more questions. You must solve puzzles and avoid the evils that hunt you.

Frictional Games have created a real nail-biter here, where managing your survival mechanics are the very least of your concerns. The gloomy atmosphere and aesthetic of the time period add to an already impressive game.

State of Decay Offical Trailer

State of Decay is a third person stealth action zombie survival game. You start the game as Marcus Campbell, and are with your buddy when the zombie apocalypse happens. You must make your way to a church full of survivors, to help them and your now injured friend to survive.

The stealth in this game is solid with a reliable system based around sound and line of sight. This game is fun, the characters are engaging and is an all-round good zombie survival experience.

12. Going Medieval (2020)

Going Medieval Launch Trialer

Going Medieval is a city building and survival sim where you must build up your feudal land to outlast the turmoil of medieval life. An Early access offering by The Irregular Corporation with more work, fixes and mechanical depth being added constantly.

You are the lord of the land. Field need tending, the people need defending, and all of that is now your responsibility. This is a truly unique city builder, and one worth following to completion.

11. Total War: Attila (2015)

Total War: Attila Offical Launch Trailer

Total War: Attila is a grand strategy and RTT game, set in the final years of the Roman Empire. Take your pick between one of several nations and carve out your own destiny from there! The gameplay is split between the campaign and battles. Campaigns take the form of turn based strategy and city management, where the battles are a real time tactical simulation using the units recruited in the campaign half of the game.

Every Total War’s world is a hotbed of conflict, political tension and military expansion. Attila’s campaign takes a different approach to the traditional Total War experience. Normally you are small, and must expand, but if you choose one of the Roman factions your job is to survive. You are big, bloated and poorly organized. Your cities are rife with corruption, civil war is looming and your boarders look very enticing to your enemies. Good luck.

10. Rust (2013)

Rust Offical Trailer

Rust is a multiplayer survival FPS with crafting and base building. You spawn in with literally nothing, and must try and not die from there. The need to eat and find shelter will be your first priority, and protecting yourself from the hostile wildlife will be your next. But the other players are their own problem altogether. You will find new friends, but more likely than not you’ll get killed or mugged. Try and survive!

Rust is one of those games that has endless re-playability, and can be enjoyed with or without friends. Lay low, grab a rock, hit a tree, and eventually you’ll be unstoppable!

9. Terraria (2011)

Terraria Offical Trailer

Terraria is an 2D pixel art open-world, crafting and survival game. You are on Terraria, a world not unlike our own, but full of mystery, danger and beauty. Build yourself a home, explore and gather resources, all while trying to stay alive. In 2019 the entire lore for this game was rewritten/rereleased, and can be found on scrolls through exploration.

This game is often labelled “2D Minecraft” which is accurate, but Terraria is so much more than that. It is an engaging world unlike any other, and it is waiting for you to find a place, set up and house and explore it top to bottom.

8. Pathologic 2 (2019)

Pathologic 2 Launch Trailer

Pathologic 2 is a first person open-world survival RPG. It is less a sequel and more a remake of Ice-Pick Lodge’s rough-around-the-edges 2004 game Pathologic, with the budget and time they were not given before. You are Artemy Burakh, a surgeon who has returned to his home town, deep in the Russian steppe. Upon arriving you mistaken for a murderer and attacked. The story opens up to you from there.

This game is polarising. You either think it’s the pinnacle of what video games could be, or you think it’s a bit boring. The combat is hard, the survival is a web of scavenging, converging economies and potentially crime, the dialogue requires all of your attention and most of the game is made up of walking. However. It is one of the most engaging games I have ever played, and I cannot wait for the other two campaigns to be released.

7. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Trailer «Tape-2»

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a first-person survival horror game. It is seventh Resident Evil game, but marks a turn in the franchise’s direction, from third person zombie action of the previous two entries to a full-blown survival nightmare! You are Ethan Winters, a man in search of his missing wife, who finds himself trapped in a basement by a slightly odd family. You must try escape.

I do not want to spoil too much of this game, because if you searched for a list of the best survival games and haven’t played this, just go and do that already!

6. Subnautica (2014)

Subnautica Gameplay Trailer

Subnautica is an underwater survival, base building and exploration game. You are on the crew of a space ship (stay with me) that unfortunately crash lands on a planet entirely made of water. Alone but alive, you must leave your escape pod, try find life, your ship, and a way off of this planet.

Exploring the depths of the sea makes up most of the gameplay, managing your air supply and avoiding hostile creatures. The exploration is truly engaging, as the whole ocean is teaming with all sorts of life. You’ll grow attached to this weird place as you prepare to leave.

5. V Rising (2022)

V Rising Gameplay Trailer

V Rising is a massively multiplayer vampire settlement game. You awake at night, an ancient vampire, naked and alone. Venture out and gather resources so you might reclaim a home. Build up your new castle and seek more power! Avoid the sunlight, and don’t forget to drink blood.

This game is brand new, and still in early access, so expect both bugs and constant attention. This game looks very promising, with an isometric view, a killer aesthetic and a deep vampire lore, V Rising is a game worth investing in.

4. Don’t Starve Together (2016)

Don’t Starve Together Launch Trailer

Don’t Starve Together is an isometric multiplayer survival game. You, and a buddy, are stranded in the woods. And as the title suggests, your objective is: don’t starve. Together. This game is the standalone multiplayer mode of Klei Entertainment Inc.’s Don’t Starve.

Don’t let Don’t Starve Together’s charming and Tim Burton-like art style deceive you. This is one of the least forgiving and more punishing survival games on this list! Every misstep means death. You are not in charge, you are not strong, and if you’re not careful, you’ll starve!

3. Valheim (2021)

Valheim Hearth and Home Gamescom 2021 Cinemantic Trailer

Valheim is an early access sandbox survival game with a great Norse Mythology inspiration. You are a fallen soldier, but you are not in Valhalla just yet. You are in Valheim, a fictional tenth realm from Norse Mythology’s nine realms. Not heaven, not hell, not even purgatory. You must fight to survive and prove yourself worthy of eternal glory in the halls of Valhalla.

Despite being an early access game, Valheim has loads of promise and is already a very fun and tough survival game. The story is subtle, but presents you with a greater purpose to keep surviving for.

2. RimWorld (2018)

RimWorld Launch Trailer

RimWorld is a top-down colony building sim, set on a new and hostile planet that you must set up a base of operation on. Developed by small indie team Ludeon Studios and releasing in early access in 2013, RimWorld is less about surviving the elements or amount of food, you’ve got that covered rather easily. The real challenge is managing your people.

The story potential within this game is limitless. With simple mechanics, each colonist becomes a full character, with a personality to manage and fears to consider. Can your base survive without imploding from infighting? That is up to you.

1. Frostpunk (2018)

Frostpunk Offical Launch Trailer

Frostpunk is a post-apocalyptic colony sim and resource management sim. Set in an alternative history turn of the 20th Century, where rapid industrialisation led to a new ice age. You are the leader of a group of survivors, who gather around a giant steam generator for warmth. Construct roofs for everyone’s heads, gather what coal you can to keep the generator going, find what food you can and try to rebuild civilisation in the frost.

You have the choice to have a construction focus, which has nicer weather conditions so you can build as you like. But survival mode is a desperate fight, with tooth and nail, to keep the last humans alive. Every morning feels like a blessing, even if you only made it there by a hair’s breadth.

The Best Survival Games on PC

Survival games have a unique appeal not found in many other genres. Often open-ended without any predetermined objectives, these titles give you the freedom to explore, craft, and create to your heart’s content. They’re often not the easiest of games either — with death resulting in the loss of items, progress, or your entire save file.

Contents

Minecraft
ARK: Survival Evolved
Don’t Starve
Rust
DayZ
Grounded
Terraria
Valheim
No Man’s Sky
Starbound

Regardless of what you’re looking for in a survival game, these ten are bound to check something off your list. Whether you’re into crafting fortified shelters, exploring dangerous caverns, or engaging in some competitive PvP, here are the best survival games on PC.

Further reading

The best survival games of all time
The best free PC games
The best survival games for the PS4

Minecraft

While it may have changed quite a bit over the years, Minecraft is still entirely centered around survival. Watching your hunger and health are the two main keys to staying alive, but you’ll also need to find shelter at night, extract resources from your blocky surroundings, and explore an endless world filled with a variety of dangers.

Multiplayer and continued support from the devs keep things interesting, as there’s always new content being pumped into the iconic game. And in between updates, you can dive into hundreds of gorgeous worlds handcrafted by other players. If you’re looking for a survival game that’ll keep you occupied for years, look no further than Minecraft.

ARK: Survival Evolved

Take your standard survival game formula, mix in a healthy supply of ferocious dinosaurs, and you’re pretty close to the premise of ARK: Survival Evolved. Most of them are hostile — and want nothing more than to turn you into lunch — but resourceful survivors can actually tame them beasts and turn them into an ally.

Hunting and taming an ever-growing list of dinos is the main draw of ARK, but there’s plenty of crafting and multiplayer hijinks to keep things fun once you’ve grown familiar with the standard gameplay loop. It’s arguably one of the most unique survival games on the market, and it’s a perfect fit for any aspiring paleontologist.

Don’t Starve

Although it carries a whimsical art style, Don’t Starve boasts some serious survival chops. In fact, it’s not uncommon for new players to barely last a few days in its unforgiving world. The “Sanity” resource adds a new layer of difficulty to the game, as you’ll need to keep an eye on your character’s mental health on top of Health and Hunger.

Sanity is impacted by a variety of factors — staying in the dark for too long, getting surrounded by monsters, and even eating gross food all lower your character’s well-being. If it gets too low, deadly Shadow Creatures will appear and the game will take on a shaky, painfully bright appearance. You can make things a bit easier on yourself by picking up Don’t Starve Together — a standalone cooperative version of the game — which retains much of the original’s charm.

Rust

With over 500,000 reviews on Steam, Rust is currently sitting with a “Very Positive” rating… and for good reason. Consistently among the most-played games on the service, Rust only seems to get better with age. You’ll attempt to survive in an unforgiving wilderness among dozens of other players — which start off as your predators, but quickly turn into prey as you gain experience and new equipment.

Rust is an unapologetic survival game, and developer Facepunch Studios says it best:

“The only aim in Rust is to survive. Everything wants you to die – the island’s wildlife and other inhabitants, the environment, other survivors. Do whatever it takes to last another night.”

DayZ

While the groundbreaking survival game was first playable in 2013, it didn’t officially release until five years later. In that time, DayZ blossomed from a glorified ARMA II mod to a full-scale game brimming in places to explore, gear to discover, and hunting, crafting, and building mechanics to master.

Gearing up and fighting against other players is only half the challenge, as DayZ‘s gigantic map is overrun with dangerous zombies. Going solo is an entirely viable option, although brave players should consider teaming up with strangers to thrive in this post-apocalyptic world.

Grounded

Grounded literally brings a new perspective to the survival genre. Instead of fighting zombies and dinosaurs, the game sees you fighting ants, spiders, and koi fish as your miniaturized character struggles to survive in their own backyard.

Although it’s still in Early Access, Grounded has already found a dedicated following of players — and new content is always just a few weeks away. It doesn’t stray too far from established genre norms, but the premise of playing as an ant-sized human makes it stand out in a crowded market.

Terraria

There isn’t a bad thing to say about Terraria. Released in 2011, developer ReLogic has continued to update the open-world side-scroller more than a decade after its launch. That means new players jumping in for the first time have literally thousands of hours’ worth of content to explore.

Gorgeous, pixelized graphics make Terraria feel like a game from another era, but its modern crafting and building mechanics make it easy to piece together the homestead (or castle) of your dreams. Adventure is arguably a bigger lure than crafting, as bosses, dangerous biomes, and unique gear litter the 2D world of Terraria.

Valheim

When it first became playable in 2021, Valheim was a bonafide hit. It quickly climbed the Steam Charts and — while it isn’t hitting those same sky-high numbers — there’s still a lot to love about the indie gem. Quirky graphics, enjoyable combat, and a robust building system all add up to one of the best survival games we’ve seen in years.

Of course, Valheim also has its fair share of bugs to work through. Most titles on this list have been around for years — giving them time to smoothen out some of their rough edges. But if you can look past a few loose ends, Valheim is one of the best games to dive into in 2022.

No Man’s Sky

It didn’t get off to a strong start, but No Man’s Sky has cemented itself as one of the best survival games around. Playing in “Normal Mode” might be a bit easy — and lends itself well to crafting and exploring — but jump into “Survival Mode” and you’ll find an experience that will push you to your limits.

In this mode, you’ll find fewer resources, more dangerous enemies, and death results in the loss of your entire inventory. If that’s not extreme enough for you, consider jumping into “Permadeath Mode,” which wipes all your progress if you die.

Starbound

Starbound is a bit like a sci-fi version of Terraria. You’re thrown into a 2D world that looks eerily similar to Terraria, although a unique combat system and the ability to explore different planets make Starbound feel like something fresh.

Capturing monsters, crafting powerful new gear, exploring the universe, and modding your game are all core to the Starbound experience. However, everything is made a bit more enjoyable with the addition of friends — which allows for easy “drop-in/drop-out” co-op. And if “Survival Mode” is a bit too challenging, you can always get some practice in “Casual Mode.”

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The best open world survival games

In this compilation, we decided to compile a list of the best open world games on PC in which the character has to survive in a hostile environment.

All the games included in our top belong to survival sandbox genre, however, almost each of them has elements that are typical for other genres. So here you will find hybrids of survival games with online games, action games, quests, RPGs, city-building simulators and platformers.

The setting of the games we have collected is also different, in which you have to fight the dangers in the medieval world, on a mysterious exoplanet, on the Earth that survived the zombie apocalypse, and even in the middle of a raging ocean.

Distrust

Inspired by the cult «The Thing», a horror game that challenges players to take control of a polar station inhabited by nightmarish creatures. In this isometric procedurally generated survival sim gamers will have to search for resources, fight against hunger, cold and sleepiness, try to keep the characters from death, and eventually find a way to get out of the ongoing horror.

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Factorio

Imagine that you are all alone on a dangerous planet at the very outskirts of the universe. It would seem that the situation is hopeless.

But the Factorio character was lucky in some way — before the disaster he was a brilliant engineer. And now, one after another, automated factories begin to grow on the surface of the planet, extracting all the resources necessary for the comfortable life of space Robinson. But the aggressive inhabitants of the planet are not very happy with either the new neighbor or his smoky and sparkling crafts.

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RimWorld

In this sandbox game, we’ll have to take under our wing a small squad of astronauts who have crash-landed on a planet inhabited by primitive tribes, dangerous monsters, ancient robots and heavily armed space thugs.

First of all, you need to build a reliable shelter and ensure the extraction of food — and there, having become stronger, you can decide on the first forays into neighboring regions. At the same time, the cozy life of your settlement can be disturbed both by sudden fires and attacks of enemies, and quarrels between your wards, each of which has a unique character.

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Don’t Starve

Hearing a voice from the radio and following its recommendations, our character finds himself in a crazy world full of bloodthirsty monsters. At night, pitch darkness is added to our problems, in which, in addition to ordinary monsters, Charlie scurries about — an almost invincible monster that can kill with one blow. The only salvation from it is the constant maintenance of fire. So during the day you need to at least have time to get enough fuel and equip a place for a fire, so as not to start a grandiose fire.

And in order to try to survive in this phantasmagoric world with friends, you can download the version of Don’t Starve Together.

Buy Don’t StarveBuy Don’t Starve Together

Subnautica

Like some of the other games on our list, Subnautica starts with a spaceship crashing over a distant planet. But the planet turns out to be almost completely covered by the ocean, so most of the action will take place under water, so instead of building huts, you will have to equip sealed underwater bases, build bathyscaphes and develop improved scuba models.

Well, instead of bandits and wolves, toothy sharks, electrified eels and huge leviathans are waiting for us.

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Dying Light

This open-world Survival Horror/survival action-adventure hybrid takes place on Earth going through a typical zombie apocalypse. Here we have to use improvised means to fight off crowds of brain-eaters, help other survivors and get a rare antizin drug that can stop the transformation of those infected with a zombie virus into full-fledged zombies.

There are elements of a shooter in the game, but firearms and ammo are in short supply in this world, so it’s worth saving them for nights when the zombies become even stronger.

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Starbound

This open world survival game is a hell of a mixture of platformer, RPG and adventure. Having survived the death of the Earth from alien aggressors, we have to explore a distant planet and explore the vast expanses of the universe.

The game is distinguished by the absence of a monetary system — all commodity relations are built on the basis of barter.

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Kenshi

In this fantasy post-apocalyptic RPG with a huge open world, you will have complete freedom of action. You can master any profession, join the bandits or any of the kingdoms, capture your own castle and hire an army.

The game world lives almost independently of the actions of the player, factions fight and make peace, bandits rob caravans of merchants, blacksmiths create weapons, and slave traders hunt for «living goods».

At the beginning, the player is much weaker than most enemies, so there is a very real prospect of being enslaved, being eaten alive, or losing a leg due to an injury not healed in time.

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ASTRONEER

If in most space survival games the plot is driven by a shipwreck or a catastrophe that has befallen mankind, then here the only reason why our character wanders around planets with aggressive fauna and flora is the thirst for profit.

Huge corporations are willing to pay generously for rare resources, so we have to explore new planets, build grandiose industrial complexes on their surface, pump out everything valuable from their bowels and reveal the mysteries of the universe.

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Mist Survival

In this atmospheric survival horror sandbox with action elements, we are invited to immerse ourselves in a dark and atmospheric post-apocalyptic world that has survived an outbreak of a terrible virus that gradually turns its victims into zombies and something worse.

Our character, fortunately, is immune to this infection, but he still has to deal with problems every day like lack of food, finding a place to sleep, attacks by bandits and infected. The world here is almost always shrouded in fog, but when it begins to thicken even more, you should expect trouble.

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Rust

The events of this online survival game take place on a mysterious island that apparently survived a local nuclear apocalypse. We have to overcome the lack of food and resources and try to equip a cozy shelter using materials found or stolen from other players.

A unique feature of the local building system is a well-thought-out mechanism for the stability of buildings, which limits the flight of players’ imaginations.

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Raft

The game’s plot is closest to the very adventures of Robinson Crusoe that inspired the entire survival sandbox genre.

Waking up on a homemade raft in the middle of the ocean, we have to get food, dive into the abyss, improve the raft using the found materials and explore many picturesque islands. Gradually, the raft can be turned into a real floating palace.

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Outward

In this open world RPG, you have to survive in a beautiful fantasy world called Aurai. The differences between the game and most of its competitors are a well-thought-out crafting system (weapons will have to be made, for example, from fragments of the bodies of killed monsters), constant autosaves, the continuation of the game after defeats in battles (if you are defeated by bandits, you will fall into slavery to them, and losing the battle to a bear wake up in his lair) and the possibility of cooperative passage (including on 1 PC in split-screen mode).

Your character will not only have to find food and water, but also avoid dangerous infections.

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Green Hell

«Green Hell» — as the developers call the Amazon jungle, which hide terrible dangers behind a beautiful tropical landscape. The player, once in this place, is forced to survive and fight wild conditions, diseases, hunger and other ailments. The endless jungle will gradually drive the hero crazy, and in addition to other problems, he will still have to deal with his psyche. The developers have implemented real survival techniques in the wilderness, and anything can become the cause of death, and therefore the game is moderately hardcore.

The emphasis in Deadside is on the realism of what is happening — there are no monsters and anomalies, and survival is complicated by a small supply of ammunition, realistic ballistics and other details. There is construction — you can build a shelter and hide in the «house».

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The Long Dark

The Long Dark is a story-driven survival sim that chills your blood as you face the harsh cold and Mother Nature. Once in a world that has survived a global catastrophe, the player will go through the storyline, divided into episodes, and also survive. In winter, this is much more difficult — you need to monitor body temperature and other indicators, as well as get food that is in short supply.

Simply put, The Long Dark is another great open world survival game that deserves a look.

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The Isle

The Isle is an unusual survival simulator, because players will go to the distant past, in the age of dinosaurs, and visit the shoes of one of them. In the wild open world, untouched by man, the user in the role of a predator will try to adapt to the harsh nature in which you need to eat in order not to be eaten.

The gameplay includes an evolution system, many maps and several modes, and each dinosaur is unique in its own way. The Isle is a rare case when the implementation of a non-standard idea did not let us down.

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Among Trees

Among Trees offers the classic mining and building gameplay of the genre, but the game has its own twist — the visuals. The player seems to become the hero of a sad story about a loner who is fighting for survival in a fairy forest full of dangers.

Although the game looks pretty, the gamer will face various difficulties in the process of passing, because of which difficult decisions must be made.

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Grounded

If you are familiar with the story of the ant Antz, you will especially like the adventure game Grounded. It tells about teenagers who have shrunk to the size of insects. Small insects, blades of grass and stones, tree branches — everything that the heroes did not notice in ordinary life has become a real threat to them.

Survive in these unusual environments by gathering resources, constructing buildings and defending yourself from insects alone or with friends.

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Top 10 Survival Games

In recent years, the genre of survival games has become especially popular, in which players escape from zombies, survive on the island, in the conditions of the apocalypse, explore open worlds and try to stay alive by all available means. Often, such products remain forever in “early access”, but there are enough truly successful examples in the industry. Cybersport.ru offers a look at the top ten most successful games of the genre.

Mor. Utopia»

In a quiet steppe city, somewhere on the edge of the Earth, Simon Cain, a man who was previously thought to be immortal, died. Almost simultaneously with this, three people arrive in the city, who seemed to be drawn here by something. And then the Pestilence begins — with the death of Kain, an outbreak of the Sand Plague occurs, which spares no one.

Mor. Utopia» is primarily an almost detective story in which players have to make many difficult choices. But within the framework of this article, we are interested in something else: nevertheless, in the «Sea» you have to survive, fleeing from the dangers that the Plague and local residents carry, pursuing the same simple goal as you. You have to monitor health, immunity, hunger, thirst and many other parameters — up to reputation, which is no less important than anything else. And although events take place in the city, even money is not a panacea: hysteria inflates the cost of food to the sky, and barter with residents often becomes much more profitable. At the same time, all three heroes also act in different ways, and they have to survive, respectively, also differently. Surviving 12 in-game days is not easy.

Minecraft

Perhaps the most famous game in the survival genre. The user appears in the generated world without any means of survival and must create a comfortable life from scratch. Survival in Minecraft is possible by harvesting wood, stones, crafting useful items, building your own home — and this is just the beginning of the journey. Ahead of the development of iron, steel casting, animal husbandry, agriculture and many other things up to trade with non-player characters. Traditionally for the genre, you need to monitor hunger and health, but you should not expect wild hardcore: there are no poisonings or dangerous diseases, there is no need to treat fractures and other things.

Today, Minecraft has grown into a full-fledged video game phenomenon: gamers create separate servers for playing out political life, it hosts theatrical performances and lectures, and the series includes several more besides the main game, including the roguelike title Minecraft Dungeons. Nevertheless, at the very core of Minecraft is still a game of survival and exploration, which should not be forgotten.

Terraria

Introduced in the same year as Minecraft, Terraria is a lot like its 3D counterpart. The same procedurally generated world, the need to build your own housing and craft, as well as the spirit of exploration inherent in both games. But still, Terraria is a thing on its own: exploring the world opens up gameplay changes and gives access to various bosses, some resources are hidden in chests, and crafting recipes are not always easy to find. In addition, the game even without mods has firearms, magic, and even the ability to summon other creatures.

Certain objects bring new characters to the hero’s house, who begin to live with him. They help with various tasks: for example, the doctor heals, and you can buy new spells from the sorcerer. And local biomes can change on their own over time.

Terraria has recently received the latest update, adding new content — why not come back again?

The Oregon Trail

A classic of the genre and one of the first of its kind in history. The user assumes the role of leader of a group of settlers, departing from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon in a covered van. The path is not close, and it is better to properly prepare for it: collect food, weapons and ammunition for the journey, buy warm clothes for everyone who is traveling, and do not forget to take a couple of strong oxen that will pull the cart.

The Oregon Trail is a game used in American schools to show how people lived in the country in the 19th century. All the typical problems are in place: migrants can die from hunger, cold, a stray bullet or a dozen diseases — from exhaustion to dysentery. Do not forget that oxen can also die, and the player will literally be left alone with dangerous nature. In general, the life of the Americans of that time was extremely difficult — and the game diligently shows this. Today, The Oregon Trail is available in dozens of different versions, from the original text-based DOS game to modern adaptations for mobile phones.

Survival Kids

It’s hard to believe that such a complex and voluminous island survival game can fit on a small Game Boy cartridge. You will have to manage a child — a boy or a girl to choose from — who survived a shipwreck and ended up on a desert island. In the standard 2D perspective for the console, users will have to take care of their ward from and to: the unfortunate wants to eat, drink, sleep, he can get sick or get hurt. In addition to taking care of your own skin, you must not forget about the main final goal — it would be nice to get off the island and return to the civilized world.

There is also crafting in the game: by combining two or three items, you can create something new. For example, a simple bow can be made from a flexible stick and a creeper, and arrows for it are assembled from branches, bird feathers and sharp stones. Items gradually break, which also needs to be taken into account. At the same time, the game does not have a plot as such, but still there are several endings at once. Which one the player gets depends only on his actions.

Robinson’s Requiem

A New Planetary Exploration ship full of Robinsons crashes on an unexplored planet codenamed Zarathustra. Robinsons are special colonizers who are trained to survive in almost any conditions, but this particular fall seems to the hero not as simple as it seems at first glance. All the Robinsons on board were left to explore exactly one world until their “retirement”, and in the strange jungle where they ended up, you can find the bodies of members of past expeditions.

Robinson’s Requiem is one of the most merciless games in relation to the user. It is very, very easy to die ten minutes after the start from poisoning by a random fruit or from the claw of an unknown creature. You need to keep track of many parameters at once: the game will helpfully show the hero’s pulse, temperature, weight, amount of fluid and energy reserve, up to a detailed diagnosis of internal organs. And problems will come from all sides: for example, a slight fracture of a leg due to a fall from a height can give gangrene, and a chest computer that analyzes the condition can kindly advise amputation of this very limb. Getting off the Zarathustra is a real test for the masters of survival.

I Am Alive

A year before the start of the story, an event occurred in the world that destroyed civilization. The most powerful earthquakes destroyed the habitual foundations, and now people have to survive in new conditions: help from the government is not worth waiting for, and resources are far from endless. Embittered hungry people have turned into predators, and there is no one else to trust.

It is in such conditions that the player begins his journey in search of his wife and daughter in Haventon. On the way, he will encounter both marauders and people who have not lost their human appearance. The nameless hero is forced to look for food and other useful items left after the disaster. As usual, you will have to keep track of food and water supplies: the first is responsible for health, the second for endurance. Stamina is especially important in the game: with the help of the correct calculation of your own strength, you can climb into hard-to-reach places, which most often contain good reserves of resources. In addition, weapons (even without ammo can be scary), batteries, new climbing equipment, medicines and other things will be no less useful. On high difficulties, by the way, the number of deaths is also limited: it simply won’t work to lose too many times, you will have to start all over again.

This War of Mine

The city is in the middle of a civil war. Several people are crowded into a bombed-out house, who will have to survive the hostilities and stay alive with minimal damage to themselves. During the day, they have to solve pressing problems like food, patching leaky walls and creating the necessary items, such as beds or simple dishes, and at night they will have to not only defend themselves from marauders and other unwanted guests, but also make forays for resources.

In addition to the fact that you need to monitor the health of all members of the group (and not only the physical ones — no one has canceled depression and psychosis), players will have to deal with many moral dilemmas. Is it worth it to rob the wealthy house of an elderly couple, or is it better to leave them alone? Should you help the man being tortured by the military, or take advantage of the situation and steal some ammo from them? And some of the residents may be dissatisfied with the actions of others and, for example, leave the house with some supplies.

The game carefully shows the truth of the phrase «war is hell», and does it very convincingly.

We Happy Few

Perhaps the most unusual game in the collection. Instead of surviving a disaster or a deserted island, players will have to face a dystopia. In an alternative history, America did not enter World War II, and Britain fell under the onslaught of Germany. The people of Wellington did a «very bad thing», which not only drove the Germans out of the country, but also led to an acute sense of guilt throughout the nation. We, alas, do not know what exactly we are talking about, since since then the British have been using Joy, a special drug that suppresses all bad memories and leaves residents in euphoria. Side effects include addiction, memory loss, lack of appetite, nightmarish hallucinations, and other not-so-pleasant things… that are hard to notice when you’re happy.

The player assumes the role of one of the three characters who refused to accept Joy. In a procedurally generated world, you will have to survive by relying on all available means: looting, bartering and theft are just some of the available ways. Thirst, hunger, choosing the right clothes and weapons, tracking fatigue and many other little things are what you have to do in the game. “Refuseniks”, among which there is a player who does not accept “Joy”, attract the attention of law enforcement agencies, which is also worth keeping in mind. Sometimes it’s easier to “throw in” and then go through a heavy breakdown and a drop in characteristics than to hide in the shadows.

Subnautica

In the not too distant future, humanity has begun colonizing other planets. Among the pilgrims was the hero of the game, who, alas, crashed and was cut off from the rest of the team on an unexplored planet covered by the ocean. To survive and return home, you have to make a lot of efforts.

Subnautica adds one more parameter to the usual «hunger, thirst, health» set — oxygen: most research takes place underwater, and air supply must be monitored especially carefully.

On 5 марта, 2023 By alexxlab

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