With outlasting waves of zombies or other starving mad men, the survival game genre brings the best (and worst) out of every player. From massive sandbox games to city-builders, everyone’s instinct for self-destruction eternally plays out in the cybersphere. The best survival games bring something new in every round, whether it’s a new way to survive or (more likely) a new way to die. If mass starvations, PvP slaughterfests, or 10 minute sessions are your thing, then welcome to the perfect list of games for you.
10. Rust
Rust gameplay
Trust no one to survive. You start off as a naked guy running around while everyone’s trying to kill you. Build enough things from shelters to SAM sites and you get to hunt the naked guys yourself! Play with your friends and live a bit longer.
Everyone starts Rust as the naked man (or woman)
Increase your odds by teaming up and stealing to make armor and weapons
9. Scum
Scum gameplay
Scum is the ultimate prison. You’re a prisoner thrown onto the free-for-all Scum Island, with huge mechs and other prisoners hunting you down for viewing entertainment. Based on the Unreal 4 engine, in Scum you decide whether you’ll help strangers or murder them for their stuff, all the while getting gunned down by mechanoids. Be part of the game in Early Release.
Start off as a prisoner thrown onto a wild island
The devs at Scum rightfully boast of their amazingly realistic graphics
8. Conan Exiles
Conan Exiles gameplay
Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women in this online survival game based off the iron age barbarian adventure legend. Chop off heads, paint the walls with blood, and raid others’ castles. Set in a world of hostile mammoths and savage killers, survive as long as you can solo, coop, or PvP.
Stain your sword with blood as you fight to the death
The world is filled with angry creatures that will lead to your early demise
7. ARK: Survival Evolved
ARK: Survival Evolved gameplay
Dinosaurs and dodos abound on this mysterious island. You start naked on the beach and have to craft your way to survival. Make tools, tame, breed, and ride dinosaurs, and kill other players with your own unique species of creatures. Either rule the island as a violent tyrant or escape the clutches of another.
Become a dino’s dinner while trying to make dinner for yourself
Ride dinos and giant beavers as your team struggles to survive
6. Gloria Victis
Gloria Victis gameplay
Wield steel, mace, and bow in this epic medieval MMORPG. Build a kingdom and invade your neighbors in a low-fantasy medieval world. Join the action in one of three kingdoms and choose your own playing style as an archer, swordmaster, huntsmen, healer, or anything you can imagine.
Fight other players in forests, castle tops, and beachfronts
The massive world is full of giants, ogres, and other mystic monsters
5. Miscreated
Miscreated gameplay
Can’t get enough of the Walking Dead? Miscreant takes you into a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been all but wiped out and all that’s left are mutants and a handful of survivors. Find and repair cars and bikes, hide in bunkers, explore the sewers, and team up with others to keep alive against the mutant horde.
Mutants rule the Earth in Miscreated
Ride boats, motorbikes, and cars to help others and find supplies
4. Hunt: Showdown
Hunt: Showdown gameplay
Go down into the bayou into a world of rugged bounty hunters and ghoulish monsters. In Hunt: Showdown, you can play solo or on a team to track and hunt fiendish targets. After completing a hunt, you become the hunted yourselves as everyone’s after your prize. But don’t worry if you die, your character’s children will take on their family’s name.
Take on savage beasts hidden in the swamps of Louisiana
Evil creatures lurk down the sights of every barrel
3. Unturned
Unturned gameplay
The voxel zombie apocalypse is upon us! This free to play free-for-all has players running from zombies and turning on each other. Nature doesn’t help either as you’ve got to plant crop, forage for food and hunt animals. Go hunting yourself or build your castle to fend off other players and zombies alike.
Ain’t nothing but an empty road ahead of you… and a crap ton of zombies
Zombie killing turns into a blood bath every time
2. 7 Days to Die
7 Days to Die gameplay
Craft, hunt, and create your way to survival in this post end of the world scenario. This MMORPG is like if Minecraft had gravity and really amazing graphics, with a solid dose of storyline. Find abandoned houses and mines, fortify them, and defend from the oncoming hordes. Still in its early access stage, this open world is already set to frustrate and amaze.
Blast a hole in the chest of the zombie devils
Zombies don’t go hunting alone, but that means more for the chopping
1. Don't Starve Together
Don’t Starve Together
This cartoonish twist on the survival genre takes you into an animated land cursed by the evil shadow queen. Giants, catcoons, glommers, and more seek you out as you hunt down Charlie and her endless minions that creep out when night time comes. Originally a single player game, Don’t Starve Together brings you out into this beautifully animated fantasy world multiplayer style.
Giant spiders and other monsters are waiting to make you dinner
Make a fire to stay safe at night, or at least so you can see the lurking evils that come
