Best Survival Games
Survival games are one of the most exciting genres: resource gathering, base building, facing hunger, cold, diseases, and a hostile world create constant tension and satisfaction from each subsequent day of survival. This selection features the best survival games on PC and consoles: harsh single-player simulators, cooperative survival games with friends, and large online worlds with hundreds of players. Rust, Valheim, The Forest, Sons of the Forest, Green Hell, Subnautica — each of these projects offers a unique experience of confronting the wild.
We selected games based on the depth of survival mechanics, quality of building, atmosphere, and replayability. The list covers all subgenres: from zombie survival games to arctic and underwater simulators.
Action, Third-person view, Fantasy / Medieval, Indie, Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Open world, Crafting, Online
February 2, 2021
VGTimes:
7.8/10
Players:
8.4/10
Steam:
94/100
Metacritic:
89/100
A fantasy sandbox with survival elements. You can play alone or with others, exploring the world and gathering resources, finding and raiding tombs, building bases...
Role-playing game, Action, Simulation, Online, MMO, Third-person view, Science fiction, Survival, Open world, Crafting
June 10, 2025
VGTimes:
8.0/10
Players:
9/10
Steam:
72/100
Metacritic:
79/100
A multiplayer open-world survival game inspired by Frank Herbert's iconic Dune universe. Players find themselves on Arrakis, a merciless sand planet where every day...
Arcade, Action, Adventure, Online, First-person view, Fantasy / Medieval, Sandbox, Indie, Survival, Crafting
August 15, 2011
Players:
7.6/10
Metacritic:
83/100
An exciting sandbox focused on freedom of action and exploring a practically endless open world. Created through procedural generation, it is filled with...
Action, First-person view, Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Survival horror, Crafting, Online, Open world, Exploration
February 24, 2023
Players:
8.2/10
Steam:
88/100
Metacritic:
86/100
Continuation The Forest about survival in the woods. The main character sets out to search for a missing billionaire on a remote island and ends up in a...
Action, First-person view, Post-apocalyptic, Open world, Zombies, Cooperative (co-op), Parkour, Adventure
February 4, 2022
Players:
7.8/10
Steam:
77/100
Metacritic:
76/100
A sequel to Dying Light with a new protagonist, characters, and setting, featuring a new storyline that expands the game universe. The formula of "zombies...
Role-playing game, Action, Adventure, First-person view, Sandbox, Survival, Comedy, Exploration, Open world, Space, Construction, Crafting
August 31, 2026
Players:
9.3/10
Steam:
86/100
Sequel to the humorous game Breathedge, continuing the story of the Man — he wants to put an end to a powerful corporation. For this, the protagonist explores...
Action, Adventure, First-person view, Futurism (Future), Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Open world, Crafting, Online, Horror
May 14, 2026
Players:
8.3/10
Steam:
93/100
The continuation of the popular survival simulator, the events of which unfold on a new planet. After the failure of a colonization mission, the survivors must...
Simulation, Action, Adventure, Horror, First-person view, Indie, Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Open world
April 30, 2018
Players:
7.9/10
Steam:
95/100
Metacritic:
81/100
The Forest is an adventure action-horror game with survival elements set in an open world and presented from a first-person perspective. The main character is the...
Action, Shooter, Adventure, Simulation, Online, First-person view, Futurism (Future), Survival, Exploration, Open world, Space
August 9, 2016
Players:
7.9/10
Steam:
82/100
Metacritic:
75/100
No Man's Sky is a first-person adventure simulator set in a futuristic world. You’ll explore space and planets, some of which let you interact with various forms of...
Action, Adventure, First-person view, Futurism (Future), Puzzle, Indie, Survival, Comedy, Space, Sandbox
September 13, 2018
Players:
8.7/10
Steam:
72/100
Metacritic:
70/100
Breathedge is a science fiction adventure action game with a first-person view and survival elements. The game tells the story of an ordinary guy and his pet who...
Action, Shooter, Horror, First-person view, Zombies, Survival, Online, Open world, Exploration, Sandbox
December 13, 2013
Players:
8.2/10
Steam:
85/100
Metacritic:
41/100
Players find themselves in a world gripped by a zombie apocalypse, where the main task is survival. During the day, they search for resources, build shelters and...
Strategy, In real time, Business / Management, Top-down view, Futurism (Future), Tactics, Roguelike, Survival, Sandbox
October 17, 2018
Players:
8.8/10
Steam:
91/100
Metacritic:
87/100
RimWorld is a sci-fi survival simulator on an alien planet with real-time strategy elements and a top-down view. Under your control is a small group of people who...
Action, First-person view, Online, Futurism (Future), Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Open world, Crafting
July 28, 2020
Players:
8.3/10
Steam:
92/100
Metacritic:
61/100
Grounded is a cooperative survival game from Obsidian. The plot tells about children who have shrunk to the size of insects. Now the grass seems huge to them, like...
Action, Adventure, Simulation, First-person view, Futurism (Future), Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Construction
March 24, 2022
Players:
8.6/10
Steam:
95/100
Metacritic:
81/100
An adventure survival simulator set on a hostile planet. The main task is to make the planet suitable for life. To do this, you have to explore it, collect minerals...
Action, Adventure, First-person view, Futurism (Future), Indie, Virtual Reality (VR), Survival, Open world, Horror
December 14, 2014
Players:
8.7/10
Steam:
96/100
Metacritic:
83/100
A single-player adventure in a vast open world, with a first-person view, survival elements, and sandbox features. Playing the game will evoke feelings associated...
Online, Action, Adventure, Third-person view, Free game, Survival, Cooperative (co-op), Open world, MMO
August 29, 2018
Players:
7.8/10
Steam:
73/100
A hardcore multiplayer survival game with elements of a reality show, where prisoners fight for freedom in front of an audience hungry for spectacle. Players find...
Action, Shooter, First-person view, Third-person view, Survival, Cooperative (co-op), Open world, Online, Zombies
December 13, 2018
Players:
7/10
Steam:
74/100
DayZ is a multiplayer survival horror game with an open world. Before us is the post-Soviet country of Chernarus, which was struck by an unknown virus. Most of the...
Role-playing game, Strategy, Business / Management, Isometric, Post-apocalyptic, Indie, Open world, Sandbox, Survival
November 21, 2011
Players:
9.3/10
Steam:
95/100
Metacritic:
75/100
Kenshi is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game with elements of management strategy and survival. You have to explore a large open world where you can trade, steal...
Action, Online, First-person view, Third-person view, Futurism (Future), Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Open world, Crafting
December 3, 2021
Players:
7.8/10
Steam:
77/100
Metacritic:
70/100
Cooperative action with survival elements from the creator of DayZ, where a group of prospectors lands on the dangerous planet Icarus in search of rare resources...
Action, Shooter, Adventure, Horror, In real time, First-person view, Post-apocalyptic, Survival, Open world, Role-playing game, Detective
May 23, 2019
Players:
8.8/10
Steam:
92/100
Metacritic:
70/100
A remake of a thriller set in an open world, released in 2005. Three very different doctors try to save an unusual steppe town from an epidemic of a deadly disease...
Arcade, Role-playing game, Action, Adventure, Platformer, Indie, Simulation, Survival, Sandbox, Space
July 22, 2016
Players:
8.5/10
Steam:
88/100
Metacritic:
81/100
Starbound is an indie adventure role-playing arcade game with platformer and action elements. You are forced to flee your planet by hijacking a ship. Fleeing from...
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