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Over the past few years, the popularity of survival games has skyrocketed. There are many different kinds of games on the Steam charts, from old survival horror games to new hardcore survival sims. To help any lost adventurers, we’ve put together a list of the best survival games so you can pick and choose which stories and adventures to go on.
The world of free PC game is awash in survival games, with a seemingly never-ending stream of them appearing each year, which is why we’ve done the legwork for you and listed the finest survival games to dig into right now. Many of them can be incredibly janky at first, but with time and regular updates, they’ll blossom into lovely things.
The allure of survival games is easy to comprehend. After all, survival is hard-wired into our DNA, so it’s simple to understand why we’d become engrossed in experiencing it in games. The finest gaming PC survival games test players’ abilities by providing them with difficult situations and forcing them to devise inventive solutions. Our list of the finest survival games is far from exhaustive, but it should provide you with a good range of wolf-taming, base-building, carrot-picking action to choose from.
Here is the list of Best Survival Games
Minecraft
It’s easy to dismiss Minecraft, but it’s also easy to overlook how good of a survival game it can be. It has evolved from creative servers roleplaying platform to classroom teaching tool over the course of a decade of upgrades and almost incomprehensible success. However, the variety of experiences it allows does not change the reality that Minecraft is one of the most in-depth and approachable survival games ever created.
You can go from hiding from zombies in a dirt hut while eating apples to literally building functioning computers out of Redstone mechanisms without ever changing servers. Few games have done as much to bring this traditionally difficult genre to such a large audience, but the possibilities it opens up are nothing short of astonishing.
The Forest
The Forest, like practically every horror game, lets you get the lay of the area before bombarding you with horrors. What it does differently is to challenge your assumptions about how these cannibal monsters will react to your actions. The cannibals of The Forest, unlike many other video game foes, are not suicidally violent, which is what makes them so terrifying.
They’ll sprint up to you, halting just out of reach, scrutinising you before dashing away, never to be seen again. Endnight’s deft AI-driven tactics have you second-guessing every every action. Should you demolish the cannibal-constructed effigy? Should the slain’s bodies be burned? You don’t know for sure, but you can count on The Forest’s creatures to keep an eye on you.
Rust
Rust, oh, Rust. This is the only title on this list about which we have strong feelings. On the one hand, Rust is an amazing game about brutal, extreme survival skills. On the other hand, you’ll almost surely run across some harsh folks in public servers, making it difficult to get started. You should be able to have a strong start in Rust with these foundations if you avoid helicopters, wild animals, and don’t let your first home crumble while you’re AFK. That is, unless you have the means to send any threatening wild boar or inquisitive neighbour back to where they came from.
State of Survival
Have you ever longed to be the leader of a group of survivors during a zombie apocalypse? That’s precisely what you do in State of Survival. You alternate between managing your base and making sure you have enough resources flowing in to keep your defences up and running tower defense-style battles against brain-hungry hordes.
It also gives you a sense of life in a dog-eat-dog world where everyone is just concerned with themselves. You must be aware of other human settlements, as in many popular zombie franchises, because they will be eyeing up your resources like a pig stares up slop. It introduces a competitive multiplayer aspect to the game, where humans are frequently a greater threat than the undead themselves.
Don’t Starve
The most terrifying aspect of true survival is having to do it all by yourself. Don’t Starve forces you to do just that, as it is a totally single experience. The terrifying prospect of having to fend for yourself in the wild is pleasantly mitigated by the wonderful Tim Burton-style 2D art and the assortment of utterly strange critters lurking in this sepia-tone universe. Werepigs, Beargers, Deerclopses, and a slew of other bizarre beasts prowl the countryside, aiming to make your life unpleasant.
Don’t Starve focuses largely on creating to get by in life, and much of your time is spent gathering raw materials – similar to other crafting games. However, unlike Rust and Minecraft, this indie game is all about the tools and contraptions you can create. Before ancient wonders and the art of magic, the Science Machine and Alchemy Engine will become your best friends.
Oxygen Not Included
The finest games are ones that are simple to learn but challenging to master. Oxygen Not Included fits that description: getting started and learning the basics is easy, but truly comprehending it requires time and effort. While cute, the colony-builder is also deep and intricate, simulating its hard subterranean home.
As your colonists dig out caverns, gather materials, create machines, and strive to make a hard environment into a comfy underground home, you’ll need to manage their hunger, contentment, cleanliness, and, of course, their clean and breathing air. Overall, it is one of the best Survival Games that you can steam from official website.
Valheim
Valheim is the work of a separate Swedish developer, Iron Gate Studios, and is certainly one of the best survival games we’ve seen in the last year. Valheim is stunning because it embodies core survival gameplay at its best and is greatly influenced by Norse mythology. Valheim’s environment is procedurally produced, with all of the systems required to create one outstanding beginning base.
You can craft to your heart’s content, cook to your heart’s delight, and join forces with others for the journey. Valheim actually shines in multiplayer, making those difficult boss encounters and building powerful bases a team effort. The plot is another component of Valheim that draws me back to it anytime we think of the survival experience.
Subnautica
Survival games don’t get much more alien or hostile to human life than Subnautica. Stuck on an underwater world, you must descend beneath the seas in search of food and resources, eventually building your own underwater bases and submersible vehicles. Even the ordinary job of gathering scrap becomes a frightening adventure due to 3D movement and a lack of oxygen.
Danger can come from any way, and being underwater for too long will serve as a painful reminder that you’re the alien on this planet, dying while you pant for air. Vehicles, air pumps, and oxygen tanks, on the other hand, allow you to stay underwater for longer periods of time, and the more familiar you grow with the surroundings, the more the ocean begins to feel like home.
RimWorld
The stranded colonists of RimWorld face numerous challenges, including wild creatures, raider raids, sickness, drug addiction, and even their fellow colonists. It’s a hard environment, and keeping them alive requires a lot of effort. The complex simulation implies that survival entails more than merely feeding colonists.
It won’t matter if you have a freezer full of food if one of your colonists has a large quarrel with their partner, spirals into depression, and refuses to eat. And what if that colonist also happens to be the lone doctor? Now, if someone is seriously hurt, which is unavoidable, they may be unable to obtain the medical attention they require.
Project Zomboid
There is just one game that genuinely fits the bill if you’re searching for rich and intricate survival mechanics in a vast sandbox model. This zombie survival game has a steep learning curve, but once you understand how the various systems function, you’ll discover an endless and compelling challenge in the harsh post-apocalyptic world.
Loot buildings, construct stuff, farm and fish, fight zombies (or, better yet, avoid them), and deal with injuries, disease, boredom, and how much noise you make while moving around. This is a superb zombie survival simulation unlike any other.
Final Words
Keep in mind that our list of the best survival games includes some Early Access titles, so some of them will undoubtedly have flaws. In addition, we attempted to indicate if they are single-player or multiplayer survival games. While many individuals prefer the latter, the former’s absence of PVP makes it a lot more solitary, immersing experience for the former.