Survival games are incredibly popular, appealing to both dedicated gamers and people who only play occasionally. They consistently rank among the most-played video game genres.
Survival games often represent the peak of what sandbox games can offer, frequently giving players the freedom to explore large and detailed worlds as they please.
Some survival games let you play alone, but many others let you team up with friends or play with strangers online. Playing with others can make exploring the game world more enjoyable and create tougher challenges.
Survival games often keep players hooked and coming back for more thanks to a combination of fun crafting, interesting animals and enemies, and compelling stories or mysteries to solve. These elements give the games a lot of replay value.
10. 7 Days to Die
The Horror of Zombie Hordes
Many survival games include some scary elements, but that’s different from true survival horror games like Resident Evil. If you’re looking for a survival game with a strong horror focus, 7 Days to Die is a great choice.
In the zombie-filled, post-apocalyptic world of 7 Days to Die, players start either in a unique, randomly created environment or a specific area of Arizona. To survive for at least seven days, they need to gather resources, craft tools, and defend themselves against zombies, mutated creatures, and other players.
Once every seven nights, a blood moon appears, unleashing waves of aggressive zombies. These zombies can quickly overwhelm and destroy player bases, and even defeat unprepared players.
The core gameplay of 7 Days to Die is already very addictive, offering lots of reasons to play again. Players can try to survive in each of the game’s five different environments, learn new skills like building robots and vehicles, or simply focus on lasting as long as possible while facing tougher and tougher enemies every week.
9. Subnautica
Ryley Robinson’s Aquatic Alien Journey
Subnautica, created by Unknown Worlds Entertainment, stands out from typical survival games because it takes place on an alien planet, and most of the gameplay happens underwater.
Players take on the role of Ryley Robinson, the sole survivor of a spaceship crash on the alien ocean planet 4546B. They must survive in the planet’s dangerous, unexplored waters and find a way to escape.
Players will explore the depths of 4546B by studying its diverse marine life, salvaging resources from the wrecked Degasi, and constructing underwater bases and vehicles. They’ll need these to navigate the dangerous, leviathan-infested waters and uncover the secrets of the planet’s ancient alien temples.
Although the main story of Subnautica doesn’t offer much reason to play through it again, the game itself has a lot of replayability. Players can try to discover and research all the creatures, construct bases in every part of the ocean, or challenge themselves with a hardcore playthrough.
8. The Long Dark
Canada’s Harsh Wilderness
While many survival games feature diverse landscapes, some of the most compelling ones concentrate on a single environment. A great example of this is The Long Dark by Hinterland Studio.
You can experience The Long Dark in two different ways. You can play through the story mode, which follows the experiences of characters Will Mackenzie and Astrid Greenwood after a plane crash, or you can dive into the survival mode, where your goal is simply to endure the challenging arctic environment.
Even without any additions, The Long Dark offers a lot of replayability. Its challenging gameplay encourages players to keep returning and learning the best ways to survive in each of the game’s twelve cold, unforgiving regions.
In The Long Dark, staying warm is just as important as finding food and shelter. Unlike many other survival games, you’ll need to actively fight against the cold to avoid hypothermia and frostbite by crafting warm clothing, building fires, and finding food. But be warned – harsh weather and dangerous animals will make every moment a struggle for survival.
7. Rust
Safety in Numbers
I love getting lost in survival games, especially when I can just wander around and explore on my own. But Rust is different. It’s built around being online with other players, and it really pushes you to team up and use your social skills to survive because it’s almost entirely player-versus-player combat. It’s a real test of how well you can work with others – or fend for yourself – in a harsh world.
Players can connect to official, community-run, or private game servers and find themselves in vast, randomly created open worlds. These worlds feature diverse environments, forgotten buildings, and other players – some of whom might become friends, and others, rivals.
Rust is designed to be played over and over again. Players often die frequently, especially when starting out, and the game regularly wipes progress, resetting everyone’s buildings and items. This ensures a level playing field for all players on a server.
No two games of Rust are ever quite the same. One session might be about teaming up with friends to create an impenetrable base, while the next could involve a lone player forging alliances, raiding enemy bases and ships, and diving for treasure in sunken wrecks.
6. Sons of the Forest
Mutant Mayhem
When The Forest first came out in 2014 as an early access game, it was already incredibly fun to play again and again. However, its 2023 follow-up, Sons of the Forest, made almost everything about the game even better.
Similar to the first game, Sons of the Forest puts you in the role of someone who crash-landed and must survive in a harsh environment. You’ll need to use whatever animals and materials you can find to stay alive, all while defending yourself from cannibalistic tribes and strange, terrifying creatures.
What really makes Sons of the Forest stand out to me is having Kelvin and Virginia as companions. They’re a huge help – they can carry stuff, craft items with you, and even fight alongside you. Plus, the enemies are way more interesting now! They’ve added new types of mutants, like ones that hide in trees, and these really creepy, two-legged mutants called Fingers with way too many fingers – it’s seriously intense!
Players will find Sons of the Forest highly replayable, whether they choose to experience the story alone or with up to seven friends. The game also offers a challenging hardcore survival mode where you can focus on building impressive structures and trying to last as long as possible with your friends.
5. Valheim
A Treacherous Afterlife
Okay, so I’ve been playing Valheim, and it’s a really different kind of survival game. It’s all third-person, which is cool, but the setting is what really grabbed me. You play as a Viking who’s died and ended up in this Norse afterlife, Valheim, and your whole goal is to prove yourself worthy of getting into Valhalla. It’s not just about surviving, it’s about earning your place in Viking heaven!
Just this concept sets it apart as a truly unique survival game. But it goes even further, blending in RPG elements like skill upgrades, power-ups, and epic boss battles against creatures from mythology. You’ll still find classic survival gameplay too, like crafting and hunting, all across diverse environments.
Valheim offers a lot of replayability because each world is uniquely created when you start a new game. This means every playthrough feels different, as the landscape and resources change with each new world you explore in this Viking afterlife.
Players could experience the game in many different ways. One group might sail the seas as Vikings, battling giant sea serpents, while another could focus on constructing incredibly strong bases in every type of environment.
4. The Isle
The Best Dinosaur Survival Game
While most survival games limit players to human characters, The Isle stands out by letting you play as more than 15 different dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles.
The Isle is a dream come true for anyone who loved dinosaurs as a child. The game lets you play as a dinosaur or prehistoric reptile, starting from an egg and growing into an adult. To survive, you’ll need to manage things like hunger, thirst, and energy.
Before your dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles hatch, you can change how they look. As they grow, you can also choose special mutations to make them stronger or give them new skills. For example, herbivores can gain water from plants if they develop a mutation for desert survival.
The Isle offers incredible replayability, with countless ways to experience the game. For example, you could play as a caring pterandon, nurturing new players until they’re ready to fend for themselves, or you could try a stealthy approach as a deinosuchus.
3. Grounded 2
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Films like Ant-Man and Downsizing have imagined what life would be like if we were tiny, but the game Grounded 2 by Obsidian Entertainment really takes that idea and runs with it.
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Following the success of the 2022 game Grounded, Grounded 2 continues the story of a group of kids mysteriously shrunk down to insect size. They find themselves struggling to survive in a familiar public park, which now feels like a massive wilderness with towering grass and giant spiders.
Grounded 2 builds on the gameplay of the first game, but offers a much larger world to explore in Brookhollow Park. The park is divided into nine different areas, and players can get around by walking or riding tamed ants or spiders, which are also helpful in battles.
Even though Grounded 2 is still in development and being updated regularly, this makes it fun to revisit and see how it evolves. For example, the developers recently added a new garden area, a ladybug you can ride, and a giant snake boss in a public test.
2. No Man’s Sky
Exploring Strange New Worlds
Since its somewhat rocky start in 2016, No Man’s Sky has dramatically improved and become one of the top survival games available. Hello Games has consistently updated the space exploration game over the last decade, transforming it into a truly impressive experience.
As a huge fan of space exploration games, I’m always blown away by No Man’s Sky. It’s an open-world survival game that’s just massive – seriously, the scale is incredible! You can land on and explore over 18 quintillion planets, each with its own totally unique landscapes and creatures. It’s mind-boggling how much there is to discover!
Players can gather resources to build bases and spaceships – and other vehicles for flying within a planet’s atmosphere. These spaceships allow them to travel the galaxy, explore space stations, and engage in exciting spaceship battles with other players or computer-controlled enemies, similar to the iconic fights seen in Star Wars.
No Man’s Sky offers nearly endless things to do and worlds to discover, making it a game you can play for a very long time. Players can choose to explore the universe solo, or team up with friends online to create and manage a bustling trading post on a planet, even building museums and attracting a community of friendly aliens.
1. Minecraft
Vast Blocky Worlds
While No Man’s Sky is a fantastic space survival game and a remarkable turnaround story, I still believe Minecraft, with its simple, blocky style, remains the best and most replayable survival game.
Minecraft has become the standard for survival games. Many other games in the genre borrow its core features, like crafting, managing items, and tracking health.
Even after almost 17 years, Minecraft remains just as enjoyable whether you’re playing in survival, creative, or hardcore mode. Mojang continues to update the game with fresh content – including new creatures, landscapes, items, and features like the recently added Copper Golems and Nautilus – keeping the experience exciting.
I still enjoy playing Minecraft every year, and it’s just as fun as it always was to build, explore, and play with friends. I’m always eager to see what new features Mojang adds to this classic game.
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2026-01-19 03:12