The lasting appeal of survival games is simple to understand. Fighting to stay alive is hard-coded into our DNA, so it's easy to see why we'd become engrossed in experiencing it in games. The best survival games on PC push players to their limits, presenting them with tough problems and challenging them to find creative solutions. Show Beyond just a simple health bar, in survival games players need to manage their well being when it comes to elements like hunger, thirst, extreme temperatures, disease, and other threats. Exploring, gathering resources, crafting tools and gear, building shelters, and hunting, fishing, cooking, and farming are other common features in survival games. And some survival games aren't just about taking care of yourself but guiding a colony or settlement safely through extreme circumstances by managing resources, passing laws, and solving societal problems. In such a popular genre, which games provide the best survival experiences? Below you'll find our favorite examples of simulated survival on PC, whether it's among the stars, deep underground, and in other dangerous environments packed with monsters, mutants, zombies, dinosaurs, or the deadliest enemy of all: other players. Here are the best survival games on PC. Sons of the Forest (Image credit: Endnight Games) In a sentence: Plane crash survivor angers cannibal tribe. Again! Status: Released February 23, 2023 (early access) Link: Steam Store After picking through the wreckage of the plane crash that stranded you here, you'll quickly discover you're not alone. You share a mysterious island with a tribe of terrifying cannibals, and while you struggle to stay fed and hydrated, build structures from simple tents to log homes, and construct traps to snare animals, you'll have to defend against the hungry and determined locals. Best of all, you've got an AI-controlled pal, Kelvin, to help you out. Further reading: Sons of the Forest review is the funniest game on the internet Valheim(Image credit: Iron Gate Studios) In a sentence: Exploration and base-building in the Viking afterlife. Status: Released in Early Access on February 2, 2021 Link: Official site It didn't take long for Early Access co-op Viking survival game to draw a crowd, and it's easy to see why. A massive procedurally generated world, fearsome boss fights, and excellent base-building systems mesh wonderfully with survival elements like cooking and crafting. Solo play is great, but it really shines in co-op, and players can busy themselves with base construction or set out on perilous journeys across the sea to find dangerous new continents. Further reading: Valheim is making me love survival games again SubnauticaIn a sentence: Survival, crafting, and building—underwater. Status: Released January 23, 2018 Link: Offical site Explore an alien, underwater world while piloting your hand-crafted submarine through mysterious submerged landscapes. From beautiful coral reefs to deep-sea caves and trenches, you'll gather resources and sustenance, build habitats and a fleet of subs, and craft new tech to help you survive the depths. It's hard not to compare it to Minecraft, yet developer Unknown Worlds has put their own unique stamp on the survival genre. Further reading: Subnautica: Early impressions of Minecraft under the sea Project Zomboid(Image credit: The Indie Stone) In a sentence: The deepest and most complex zombie survival game, period. Status: Released Nov 8, 2013 Link: Steam If you're looking deep and complex survival systems in a massive sandbox sim, there's only one game that truly fits the bill. There's a big learning curve in this zombie survival game but once you've got a handle on how the various systems work you'll find an unending and engrossing challenge in the harsh post-apocalyptic world. Loot buildings, craft gear, farm and fish, fight zombies (or better yet, avoid them) and struggle with everything from injuries to disease to boredom to how much noise you make while moving around. This is a brilliant zombie survival simulation like nothing else out there. Grounded(Image credit: Obsidian Entertainment) In a sentence: You're tiny and trying to survive in someone's back yard. Status: In Early Access since July 28, 2020 Link: Offical site Obsidian shrunk you down and dropped you in a normal backyard, but due to your size it might as well be a jungle. Surrounded by killer spiders, hungry birds, and annoying ants, you can build a base by chopping down blades of grass and forage for food and drink by roasting aphids and collecting drops of dew. It's a beautiful and somewhat wonderous environment from the perspective of a someone the size of a bug. Further reading: Obsidian's Grounded has extreme spider horror and a few fun survival twists Frostpunk(Image credit: 11 bit studios) In a sentence: Survival, city-building, and crisis management in a frozen world. Status: Released April 24, 2018 Link: Official site Frostpunk is a blend of city-building, society simulation, and survival in a grim and frozen world. With a handful of cold, hungry, unhappy people, you'll need to construct a working city inside a snow-filled crater heated only by a massive coal furnace. Gather resources, hunt for food, and manage your citizens by giving them hope for the future. It's a harsh and beautiful survival game that confronts you with difficult choices at every turn. Further reading: Frostpunk review: an incredibly stylish and addictive survival management game. Escape from Tarkov(Image credit: Battlestate Games) In a sentence: A brutal and hyper-realistic shooter all about hoarding and managing loot. Status: In beta Link: Official site Escape from Tarkov is a savage evolution of survival games with just a pinch of battle royale thrown in for flavor. Instead of playing in a persistent world, you spawn on a map with a few other players and several dozen enemy NPCs. To survive, you have to reach an exfiltration zone on the other end of the map, but you also get to keep anything you loot to sell on a player-driven marketplace or use in subsequent rounds. It's a lot like poker only way scarier. What really sells Tarkov, though, is it's hyper-realistic gunplay and ridiculously deep gun customization. Further reading: How I became an arms dealer in Escape from Tarkov RimWorldIn a sentence: Sci-fi colony management simulation inspired by Dwarf Fortress Status: Released October 17, 2018 Link: Steam It's been five years of Early Access, but RimWorld has finally reached version 1.0. In this management and survival sim you oversee a colony of randomly generated people stranded on a procedural alien planet. Expand the base, keep your colonists healthy and sane, and deal with disasters thrown your way by RimWorld's AI director, which can include anything from disease outbreaks to alien attacks to weather events. The toughest challenge may be just making your colonists simply get along with each other: each one has a distinct personality, desires, and moods. Further reading: Making a clan of cannibals with RimWorld's scenario editor RaftIn a sentence: Survive on a raft while building it into a floating fortress Status: In Early Access Link: Steam It sounds almost idyllic, floating through the world serenely on a raft, building and expanding upon it as you fish flotsam from the ocean with a grappling hook. There are sharks, though. Hungry ones, and if they can't eat you they'll settle for eating your floating home. You'll need to somehow find food and fresh water while keeping your raft afloat and growing. Luckily, you can play co-op with a pal and double your chances for survival. Further reading: How Raft conquered the seas of Steam The Long DarkIn a sentence: Atmospheric survival in a Canadian post-apocalypse. Status: Released August 1, 2017 Link: Official site With a focus on atmosphere and environmental survival, The Long Dark stands out in an increasingly crowded genre. You play as a bush pilot stranded in the frozen wilderness after a mysterious global calamity. There are no zombies, no mutants, and no other players: it's just you fighting against the elements, the wildlife, and your own human fragility. Further reading: Survival gets serious in The Long Dark Don't StarveIn a sentence: Survive a cartoon wilderness filled with beasts and monsters. Status: Released April 13, 2013 Link: Offical Site With charming artwork yet punishing gameplay, Don't Starve is an addictive challenge and one of the best survival experiences out there (and in a rare turn of events, one of the few games here to graduate from Early Access). The crafting is complex and satisfying as you attempt to survive busy days and deadly nights. Fight (and eat) animals, practice both science and magic, and keep an eye on your mental health so you don't go insane. The standalone expansion Don't Starve Together even lets you play with pals. Further reading: Don't Starve: Shipwrecked is a breath of fresh... Nope, that's a hurricane. DayZIn a sentence: Online zombie survival in the Eastern European countryside. Status: Released December 13, 2018 Link: Steam Store Yes, it was a long road out of Early Access, DayZ's technically still isn't done. But the survival elements of DayZ are strong, with complex nutrition, hydration, and health systems that go beyond merely eating, drinking, and bandaging wounds. Scavenge a sprawling and decaying persistent open world, engage in tense interactions with other players, customize weapons and craft gear, and try not to die: if you do, you start again with nothing. Further reading: DayZ Diaries: the one where Ben force-feeds Andy a rotten banana Rust(Image credit: Facepunch Studios) In a sentence: Naked men running around hitting each other with rocks. Status: Released February 8, 2018 Link: Official site Join or battle other players—or attempt to go it alone—starting with primitive tools and weapons and advancing to firearms and massive bases. You'll have to contend with wild animals, hunger, and thirst, but this is a very PVP-intensive survival experience and your main threat will come from the dozens of other players on the servers. Rust left Early Access in Early 2018, but continues to add new features. Further reading: Trick-or-treating in Rust went about as well as you might expect MinecraftIn a sentence: Build things, destroy things, fight monsters. Status: Released October 7, 2011 Link: Official site You may have heard of it. There are many different ways to play Minecraft: alone, in creative mode, with friends and strangers, as an explorer, or with custom game modes on specialty servers. As a survival game, it's still excellent, with well-implemented hunger and thirst systems and incredibly robust crafting and building. Dive into its blocky and beautiful world and you may never want to leave. Further reading: The 40 best Minecraft custom maps Terraria(Image credit: Re-Logic) In a sentence: Side-scrolling Minecraft. Status: Released May 16, 2011 Link: Offical site A wonderful, expansive, addictive, and not to mention inexpensive survival crafting sandbox. Explore randomly generated worlds, gather resources, and enjoy a simple yet satisfying crafting system. Tunnel through vast caverns, battle monsters, befriend NPCs, build yourself a palace, and play alone or with friends in co-op. Terraria has been around for years, but it's stood the test of time. Further reading: Terraria review This War of MineIn a sentence: Struggle to survive in a war-torn city. Status: Released November 14, 2014 Link: Offical site Depicting war not from the perspective of an elite soldier but from that of a group of civilians simply trying to stay alive amidst the chaos, This War of Mine is a different and more desperate kind of survival game. You'll face tough choices as you manage your survivors' health, both physical and mental. Scrounging for food and supplies during the night is tense and harrowing, and no matter what you find it never seems to be enough. It's not just a survival game but a harsh and unblinking look at the reality of war. Further reading: This War of Mine review UnturnedIn a sentence: A free-to-play multiplayer survival sandbox. Status: Released July 7, 2017 Link: Steam store It costs you nothing to play Unturned, but this isn't some slapped together free-to-play title. Its creator (a teenager) has released scores of updates to the zombie-based survival sandbox since 2014, which makes it easy to see why it's been downloaded by millions of players since its initial release. Despite Unturned's blocky visuals it contains deep and satisfying crafting, skill, and survival systems, plus there's a massive and exuberant community surrounding it. Further reading: How a survival game made by a 16-year-old racked up 24 million downloads Sign up to get the best content of the week, and great gaming deals, as picked by the editors. Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own. What game has the highest minimum system requirements?What games have the highest system requirements?. Final Fantasy 7 Remake (December 16, 2021) .... Halo Infinite (December 8, 2021) .... Far Cry 6 (October 7, 2021) .... Forza Horizon 5 (9 November, 2021) .... Resident Evil Village (May 7, 2021) .... Cyberpunk 2077 (December 10, 2020) .... How do I run good games on low end PC?How do I get 60 fps on my low end PC?. Enable Game Mode in Windows 10. .... Lower your resolution. .... Change the game's video settings. .... Update your graphics card drivers. .... Remove unused programs and bloatware. .... Boost your Wi-Fi. .... Overclock your graphics card. .... Upgrade your graphics card.. What is the best Batman game for low end PC?Batman Arkham Asylum. Batman: Arkham Asylum, City, and Origins are all good games for low-end PCs, and they come with the added bonus of being quite cheap. Arkham Asylum might drop players in a smaller-scale playground than its successors, but this translates to a strong and focused campaign. What is the low end PC for Witcher 3?The minimum and recommended PC requirements for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt are on the higher end of things, CD Projekt RED announced via Twitter today. Minimum specs include an Intel i5 processor, 6GB RAM, DX11 and 40GB hard drive space. Recommended specs include an i7 processor, 8GB RAM, DX11 and 40GB hard drive space. |
