Summary
- Open-world games often feature intense combat, survival mechanics, and resource management.
- Survival is paramount in games like Subnautica and Kenshi, where combat is not always the best option.
- Games like Caves Of Qud and Rain World emphasize exploration, survival mechanics, and cautious planning.
Open-world games often present players with myriad systems and mechanics. However, many of them feature frequent combat that feeds into other areas of the game, such as a crafting system or RPG character progression.
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Some open-world games, however, focus on survival mechanics. This often allows for more intense experiences that emphasize resource management and careful planning over repetitive action sequences.
1 Terraria
Dangerous Underground Exploration
Terraria
- Released
- May 16, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
Terraria is a survival-craft game that features plenty of combat and even an abundance of boss fights. However, players will have to be cautious and clever if they're to survive in its dangerous world. This is especially so when exploring the deep and complex underground caves, each of which often presents myriad dangers.
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To reach the deeper depths of Terraria and access its more valuable resources, players will need to keep their eyes peeled. Fighting isn't always an option, especially in certain biomes, and preparation is often key to survival.
2 Subnautica
Survival In A Mysterious Underwater World
Subnautica
- Released
- January 23, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
Subnautica offers an immediately unique experience with its combination of underwater environments and survival game mechanics. The watery open world of Subnautica gates players with its oxygen system, but provides constant motivation to explore further out with its mysterious atmosphere.
Players must at all times be concerned with three unique resources: oxygen, food, and water. This is especially so when exploring the depths of Subnautica's ocean, a place where fighting back is rarely an option.
3 Kenshi
Sandbox Survival In Hostile Environments
Kenshi
- Released
- December 6, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- nr
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Open-World, Survival
Kenshi is an open-world sandbox role-playing game that constantly bombards players with its harsh and hostile world. The environments, the people, the creatures, everything works to grind the player down and make life as difficult as possible.
Survival, then, is inherently part of the experience. The goal is player decided, but almost any goal would require that players first learn how to survive. While Kenshi can lean more toward combat at times, especially as players progress and improve their ability to fight, survival almost always comes first in this open world.
4 Project Zomboid
Simulated Survival Where Danger Lurks Around Every Corner
Project Zomboid
- Released
- November 8, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
Project Zomboid is an open-world survival game set in a simulated zombie apocalypse. This title is deadly to the first degree, and surviving its myriad dangers can be a challenging experience. The simulated survival mechanics make life particularly difficult, as players will have to worry about starving as much as they will about being eaten alive.
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Combat can be frequent in Project Zomboid, but it's by no means the focus. More importantly, fighting is never ideal, as combat drains energy and resources, not to mention the fact that it often attracts more trouble. As a result, being careful, planning ahead, and never being caught in the open is much more important than combat.
5 Don't Starve
Staving Off Hunger & Insanity
Don't Starve
- Released
- April 23, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Fantasy, Violence, Crude Humor
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Management
Don't Starve is a hardcore survival game that tasks players with maintaining not just their hunger, but their sanity. In addition, the game's open world provides myriad environments and creatures to interact with, offering expressive survival mechanics that allow players to sustain themselves in various ways.
Maintaining a source of food and comfort is a necessity in Don't Starve, and although combat can and will happen, it's by no means a focus of the game's design. Though its environments are presented in 2D, Don't Starve's open world remains an engaging place to explore, thanks in large part to its visual variety and survival mechanics.
6 Caves Of Qud
A Deadly Science-Fantasy World
Caves Of Qud
- Released
- July 15, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Roguelike, RPG
Caves Of Qud is an open-world RPG with the design of a traditional roguelike. There's plenty of tactical turn-based combat to be had in the science-fantasy world of Qud, but survival is a greater focus. This is thanks to an emphasis on exploration that's backed by survival mechanics.
The world of Qud is a dangerous and exotic place to explore, packed with mysterious ruins and procedural caverns, populated with deadly creatures and aggressive factions. The aforementioned survival mechanics make exploration all the more dangerous, especially in the wilder areas of the map; players must maintain both hunger and thirst if they're to survive out in the wild, and the reckless can also fall prey to disease and infection.
7 Rain World
Surviving In A Simulated Ecosystem
Rain World
- Released
- March 28, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Tobacco Reference
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Rain World provides players with an interconnected map to explore, elevated by a simulated ecosystem that cares little for the player's survival. Combat is possible, but not encouraged, and players will have to be careful if they're to survive.
In the game, players must scavenge for food to hibernate before the arrival of a deadly rainfall. This simple but effective loop motivates exploration and resourceful play, giving players a reason to face the myriad dangers of Rain World's overgrown and industrial environments.
8 The Long Dark
Quiet Exploration & Hardcore Survival
The Long Dark
- Released
- August 1, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Blood, Language, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
The Long Dark is an open-world game that focuses on hardcore survival simulation. The game's dark, cold, and quiet world is a consistently dangerous place to be, both with its environments and its wild inhabitants. Fighting any of the game's more dangerous beasts is never optimal, resulting in an experience that rewards careful planning and caution over bullheaded aggression.
Best of all, The Long Dark's survival gameplay is able to offer a surprisingly relaxing experience once players have become accustomed to its flow; finding shelter from the harsh environments after a difficult scavenging run can be particularly soothing.
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