Highlights

  • The popularity of survival games has significantly increased in recent years, with notable successes like Subnautica and Valheim contributing to the genre's rise.
  • Palworld and Enshrouded are two 2024 indie survival games that have already gained significant followings.
  • The year 2024 will bring many more survival games, including highly anticipated titles like ARK 2, Nightingale, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

The survival game genre, at one point considered to be a rather niche genre, has become increasingly popular over the last decade, particularly with the release of games like Subnautica in 2014, ARK: Survival Evolved in 2017, and Valheim in 2021. Even Minecraft, which is arguably one of the most influential video games ever made, formerly amassed a unique crowd of gamers and has since risen to global dominance in the genre as it continues to attract more players. Now, in 2024, the genre's popularity has never been more apparent.

Survival games have generally been few and far between. Every few years, the genre will see a big release, with its popularity usually reaching enormous heights during the first few weeks and then tapering off to a plateau later. However, things are looking rather different in 2024, as this year is proving to be huge for survival games, with two notable successes under its belt already and more still to come.

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2024 Has Already Seen Successful Survival Games

As of now, when gamers think of 2024 survival games, they will likely call to mind two games in particular: Pocketpair's Palworld and Keen Games' Enshrouded. These two indie titles, currently in early access, have already garnered significant followings, though Palworld has far outperformed Enshrouded in its Steam reviews, now numbering over 200,000 compared to Enshrouded's over 25,000. Many fans have taken to the internet to express their love for the two titles, to the point of starting debates as to which one is better than the other.

Although they are both survival games, Palworld and Enshrouded are drastically different from one another in their approach to the survival formula. Palworld, commonly referred to as "Pokemon with guns," sees players exploring the open world of the Palpagos Islands in search of Pokemon-like creatures known as Pals, battling other Pals and bosses along the way. Typical survival mechanics like hunger, crafting, and dropped loot upon death have made their way into Palworld as well. Enshrouded, on the other hand, takes players to the world of Embervale where they must traverse a mysterious fog known as the "Shroud." Unlike Palworld, Enshrouded leans heavily into lore and worldbuilding, which ultimately sets it apart from the Pokemon-esque survival RPG.

There Are More Survival Games Confirmed for 2024

Palworld and Enshrouded will likely not be the only survival games remembered for a successful 2024 debut, as the year has a healthy lineup of survival titles, some of which are highly anticipated. From what has been disclosed so far by their developers and in their footage, 2024's survival titles aim to bring something fresh to the survival genre. Many of them are sequels to the formulas and worlds established by their predecessors.

  • Ascent of Ashes (Q1 2024)
  • ALOFT (2024)
  • ARK 2 (Late 2024)
  • Crashlands 2 (2024)
  • Frostpunk 2 (Q1-Q2 2024)
  • Nightingale (February 20, 2024)
  • Once Human (Q3 2024)
  • Pacific Drive (February 22, 2024)
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (September 5, 2024)
  • The Alters (2024)

Among 2024's most anticipated survival titles are ARK 2, Nightingale, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, with ARK 2 likely holding the top spot. ARK 2 aims to evolve its predecessor's formula with an even heavier emphasis on its narrative and characters, one of whom is played by actor Vin Diesel. Nightingale is another highly anticipated survival game, coming from indie developer Inflexion Games, and the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl by GSC Game World is a long time coming, as its predecessor released in 2007.

With the first month of 2024 already seeing such successful survival titles added to the genre's growing library, the hope is that the rest of this year's survival games accomplish the same. At the very least, Palworld and Enshrouded have already set an undeniable standard for survival games to come, and that includes upcoming titles like ARK 2 and Nightingale.