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What is a Survival Game?
A survival game is a video game genre that challenges players to manage limited resources, overcome environmental hazards, and fend off threats to stay alive. The end goal is ultimately self-preservation, which ensures you have enough vital resources to survive.
The survival game genre is also defined by its progression, where players will often begin with minimal to no supplies on hand and steadily build themselves up to more optimal circumstances. These games are known for their emphasis on realism, tension, and the constant demand for resourcefulness in an unpredictable and often dangerous setting.
Survival games are quite flexible as a genre, with some titles including crafting systems, base building, and combat mechanics that reward strategic decision-making and adaptability. Above all else, survival games are often sandbox experiences where the gameplay is often left to the player’s discretion.
Key Takeaways
- Survival games are a genre of games that involve resource management, exploration, and crafting.
- The earliest survival game is considered to be The Oregon Trail in 1971.
- Survival games often incorporate sandbox gameplay.
- Popular survival games include Minecraft, No Man’s Sky, and Rust.
- Survival games are incredibly popular, with many releasing every year.
History of Survival Games
Survival games have a long history of titles and franchises, but the origin point of the genre is debatable. Our full survival game timeline goes over the origins to the modern day.
How Survival Games Work
Survival game mechanics tend to be quite versatile in terms of game mechanics. However, there are a few key components that are common throughout most survival experiences. Balancing these three key components is often what drives survival gameplay.
Resource Management
Arguably the most important aspect that defines the genre. Players must gather, manage, and utilize limited resources such as food, water, tools, and materials to sustain themselves. This includes crafting necessary items, maintaining health and energy, and ensuring survival under challenging conditions.
Environmental Challenges
Most survival games take place in an open world, where players are free to explore and interact with their environment however they choose. The environment often plays a critical role in the game, presenting hazards like harsh weather, dangerous wildlife, or hostile landscapes.
Persistent Threats
Some games feature threats to keep players on edge. These may include aggressive enemies (e.g. AI enemies, other players), environmental dangers (e.g. natural disasters, dangerous biomes), or time constraints (e.g. starvation, oxygen depletion).
Types of Survival Games
There is an abundance of sub-genres within survival games and many titles from completely separate genres that borrow survival elements. Here is a breakdown of the most popular types of survival games.
Open World Survival Games
Examples: Minecraft (2011), Ark: Survival Evolved (2015)
Characteristics: Survival in vast, open environments that feature sandbox gameplay. Emphasis on exploration, crafting, and starting off small before scaling up to something greater.
Horror Survival Games
Examples: Sons of the Forest (2023), Subnautica (2018)
Characteristics: Survival is enhanced by eerie tension and atmosphere. It is often characterized by resource scarcity and surprise hostile threats, which the player is often encouraged to avoid.
Multiplayer Survival Games
Examples: Rust (2018), Conan Exiles (2017)
Characteristics: The challenge is elevated by cooperating or competing against other players that co-habit the same world/server. Endeavor to survive by sharing resources or raiding rival groups.
Space Survival Games
Examples: No Man’s Sky (2016), Astroneer (2019)
Characteristics: Surviving in a futuristic setting, which includes advanced technology, space traversal, and alien wildlife.
Battle Royale Games
Examples: RUST (2018), Conan Exiles (2017)
Characteristics: Large player lobbies drop down to collect weapons and resources in a shrinking zone. The aim is to be the last player or squad standing.
Popular Survival Games
The best survival games offer endless hours of replayability. Players that once started with nothing, can eventually progress to create giant and complex bases.
Minecraft
Minecraft is one of the most accessible survival games to date, allowing players to use its blocks to create whatever they can imagine while managing a hunger meter to stay alive and exploring different biomes teeming with mobs. It is the best Nintendo Switch games to play.
Rust
Rust defined survival games in the multiplayer scene, where players could choose to band together to survive or raid and plunder enemy groups to steal their resources. It is an intense online survival game where you never know who you can trust. It is among the best online survival games on Steam.
Ark: Survival Ascended
Ark: Survival Ascended is the remake of the original Survival Evolved in Unreal Engine 5. Its expansive open-world, combined with its endless bestiary of dinosaurs, made it stand out amidst the competition. It can be considered in league with the best PC survival games.
Players will want to get their hands on Ark: Survival Ascended to prepare themselves for the eventual Ark 2 release.
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky saw the biggest turnaround in history. Failing to stick the landing when it first launched, the game has been universally praised for its consistent updates to build itself up as the sci-fi survival game to play. Featuring endless procedurally generated planets, space exploration, and more. It easily ranks as one of the best space survival games to play in 2024, and it’s only getting better. No Man’s Sky was listed as the best crossplay game available.
Palworld
Palworld exploded onto the scene in early 2024 because of its unique combination of monster-catching, open world survival gameplay, and edgy charm. Players seek to build and expand their base of operations while catching Pals to aid them in battle and work to collect resources. It can be considered one of the best survival games on Xbox Series X/S.
4 Ways to Improve Survival Game Performance
Four Ways to Improve Your Survival Game Performance
Use one of the best VPNs to ensure safe and secure online play.
Enable Game Mode on your Computer to push the performance of your system for higher frame rates.
Use a wired connection instead of Wi-Fi for the most consistent online performance.
Upgrade RAM, SSD, or graphics card for a smoother gaming experience.
4 Ways to Get Better at Survival Games
Avoid rushing into encounters or making impulsive decisions.
Spend time exploring and understanding the map or terrain.
Prioritize gathering essential resources and basic tools early in the game.
Upgrade tools, weapons, and skills to improve your efficiency over time.
Survival Game Pros and Cons
Pros
- Open world exploration
- Sandbox gameplay
- Sense of discovery
- Learn as you play
- Multiplayer functionality
Cons
- Often not casual friendly due to lengthy grinds
- At a certain point, the game stops being challenging
- Online multiplayer can often be toxic in behavior
The Bottom Line
Survival games are all about self-preservation and progression, starting off small in a big open world and seeing what you can make out of it. Resource management, exploration, and hostile enemy encounters are the core pillars that often define survival gameplay.
Players can access the best survival games no matter what platform they are on, from high-end PCs to current-generation consoles. The genre itself is versatile, resulting in a plethora of games unique in gameplay and experience but share one end goal — survival.
