Summary
- Survival games offer players complete freedom to survive how they want against diverse threats.
- Sons of the Forest and Valheim offer refined gameplay and unique settings that captivate players.
- Minecraft stands out for unparalleled freedom with endless possibilities and mods to enhance gameplay.
Part of the great appeal of survival games is that the player is thrown into a dangerous world, and it's up to them to survive and thrive. That means playing whatever way suits the player best. Maybe that means playing aggressively and hunting down threats, or playing as the peaceable trader. It's all up to the player.
10 Best Survival Games Of The 2020s (So Far)
So far, the decade has introduced survival game fans to some incredible titles.
Luckily, there are plenty of great survival games that let players play whatever way they so desire. This list is ranked not just by the quality of the games covered, but by how much freedom they give the player to play their own way.
8 Sons Of The Forest
Cannibals And Mutants Make Interesting Neighbors
Sons of the Forest
- Released
- February 22, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Open-World, Survival Horror
During the early and mid-2010s, when open-world survival games from indie studios were dominating the gaming world, The Forest stood out from the crowd by injecting the genre with a much-needed dose of procedural horror gameplay, where the player is forced to survive on an abandoned island full of horrific beasties.
Sons of the Forest, the sequel, was released in 2024, and it was worth the wait. Improving on almost every single element of the original game, Sons of the Forest refines the fantasy of making a player survive against horrors however they like, whether that's avoidance, gathering a strong backpack of items, or going to war with their cannibal and mutant neighbors.
7 DayZ
Zombie Survival Incarnate
DayZ
- Released
- December 13, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Survival
In the early 2010s' indie open-world survival game boom, none defined the period more than DayZ, once a mod for ARMA 2, then an infamously buggy but widely beloved standalone game. DayZ plops the player into a massive open world with no guidance. The map is full of zombies and players willing to make their day hellish.
Survival in the world of DayZ is all about tactics, risk, and reward. Going into cities means better loot, but also other players who could be aggressive. Players are free to choose whether to stick to the countryside or head into the thick of the action and even forge friendships or start clan wars if diplomacy is really (or really not) their thing. And that's saying nothing about the game's vibrant mod scene, further increasing player agency.
6 Subnautica
Deep Sea Terror
Subnautica
- Released
- January 23, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
Somehow, it took until the tail end of the survival game boom of the 2010s for a dev studio to commit fully to rendering the open-world survival game formula in an entirely underwater setting. Subnautica became one of the smash hits of the year, and one of the most unexpectedly terrifying survival games ever made.
Players are forced to fend for themselves on a hostile ocean world after they crash-land there, but after that, it's up to them what to do. If they're a builder, they can spend loads of time building the perfect mega-base, or if they want some thrills, they can try exploring Reaper-infested waters for rare loot. It's entirely up to them.
5 Valheim
Norse Neverending
Valheim
- Released
- February 2, 2021
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- r
- Genre(s)
- Sandbox, Survival
Every indie game developer dreams of the reception that Valheim had when it first released. Capturing the zeitgeist perfectly with a unique setting and visual style, Valheim stormed the gaming world and brought many players back into the survival genre that had reached peak saturation some years before.
Pro Tips For Valheim You Need To Know
Players may be ready to jump into Valheim as soon as possible, but that may not be the best idea. Here are some pro tips you need to know first.
One major reason Valheim works is the freedom it offers players. While the game is ostensibly about hunting down massive God-like creatures, building, hunting, and PvE elements mean players are free to do whatever they like in the beautiful voxel-based world.
4 Terraria
The Great Competitor
Terraria
- Released
- May 16, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
It's hard not to feel bad for Terraria. Despite having a massive fanbase all its own and being successful in almost every way, it hurts to imagine what Terraria could have been like if it hadn't been released directly in the shadow of Minecraft, which was beginning to reach truly massive levels of popularity in 2011 for the first time.
In the modern day, many players have returned to Terraria and love the level of freedom the game gives with the truly massive amount of content to work through. People tend to put hundreds of hours into a single save file, meaning that survival game fans will find something fulfilling to do no matter how they want to play.
3 RimWorld
Sole Survivors
RimWorld
- Released
- October 17, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
In the world of base management simulations, player freedom is absolutely key and a major expectation for any game in the genre. While some players want to min-max their bases, others want to cause utter chaos and have their weirdest dreams come to life.
RimWorld: 23 Tips For Base Building
In order to create a top-tier base in RimWorld, players should be sure to utilize these helpful tips and tricks.
RimWorld, the modern successor to the isometric base-building game Eclipse Colony, is one of the best places to find that kind of freedom today. Though its art style is basic, it offers unparalleled freedom and emergent gameplay that adapts to whatever the player finds fun to do.
2 Dwarf Fortress
The Great Chaos Simulator
Dwarf Fortress
- Released
- August 8, 2006
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Roguelike, Strategy, Simulation
In the world of emergent survival base-builders, no game is more legendary than Dwarf Fortress. Infamous for its incredibly difficult gameplay and the almost inevitable disaster that faces the poor dwarves under the player's stead, few games offer as much freedom as Dwarf Fortress does.
Even better, a modern re-release of the game has done away with the classic ASC2-style graphics in favor of a more simple and immediately readable style that's far more inviting to new players. This is one of the best games ever made, and the new version makes a great game even better and much more approachable for newcomers.
1 Minecraft
The Ultimate Sandbox
Minecraft
- Released
- November 18, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
- Genre(s)
- Sandbox, Survival
It is truly difficult to imagine any other game that gives the player as much freedom as Minecraft does. Providing procedurally generated and functionally infinite worlds, the player can do almost anything they like, whether that's building massive towns, going on emergent adventures, or reaching The End and the end credits of the game.
That's saying nothing about the near countless custom servers and mods that make an infinite game ever more expansive. There are story servers, RP servers, servers that replicate The Hunger Games, and so much more. Minecraft is the ultimate survival sandbox that lets the player play however they please.
8 Survival Games With The Steepest Learning Curves, Ranked
There's no hand-holding involved in these grueling survival games that force players to climb a steep learning curve in order to thrive.