Some video games are bright, colorful, absurd fun. The likes of Gang Beasts and Fall Guys would fit perfectly into that category. Other games are, well, survival titles. Here, there’s the constant stress of some combination of hunger, thirst, predators, extreme weather, an over-laden inventory, and unfriendly NPCs to deal with (perhaps in a stealthy fashion). Or all of them (plus several more) at the very same time.

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Survival games, as the very title of the genre would suggest, can be very intense and very difficult affairs; fights for every gathered resource or wave of attackers defeated. They’re distinct from survival horror games, but this isn’t to say that horror and survival elements don’t combine in other games in various ways. These great survival titles all have their own unique ways of bringing the scares, even if they may not be strictly defined as horror games.

6 Don’t Starve

Trapped In A Macabre, Tim Burton-Esque World

• A deep base-building, farming and resource-gathering affair, set in a dark and threat-filled universe.
• As the player’s Sanity drains, they see more and more of the horrors that dwell here.

Sometimes, the best horror is of a psychological, ethereal, unknowable sort. Klei’s hit survival title takes a more light-hearted approach to its presentation, it’s true, but it can also be incredibly unnerving. The Constant is inhabited by a range of creatures, from the almost-cute Beefalo to horrific boss monsters like Deerclops, and almost all of them are fully capable of ending your run in an instant. As your sanity drops and the Shadow Creatures come to call, you realize just how effective Don’t Starve is at creating a frightening atmosphere.

There’s a Lovecraftian element to Don’t Starve, further evidenced by the ghastly tentacle creatures that infest certain biomes and the ever-present threat of Charlie. This embodiment of the night is the reason every Don’t Starve player must clamor to build a fire or brandish another light source (crafting being critical in a wide range of survival titles) as the darkness sets in.

Don’t Starve is a unique, stylish, and varied survival experience, which has received ample support from the developers since its initial release. Its grim fairytale ambiance and backstory give it a distinctly creepy flavor too. The multiplayer focus of Don't Starve Together lends a further unique twist to the formula.

5 Subnautica

Anything could be lurking beneath the waves

• A survival title starring Ryley, a stranded crash survivor on the oceanic Planet 4546B. Like Don't Starve, it's not a conventional horror title, but achieves a fantastic atmosphere of tension and fear.
• As Ryley explores the depths further, the sense of isolation and peril increases, and more deep-sea horrors reveal themselves.

From books to TV shows, from movies to video games, a wide range of media has taught us an inescapable truth: Fictional alien worlds are often super scary and dangerous places. Unknown Worlds Entertainment’s Subnautica approaches this concept in a similar fashion to the Metroid series, emphasizing the isolation of the main character and the constant sense of threat and an unfolding mystery that builds as they explore.

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In this open-world survival experience, that menacing world is, almost exclusively, ocean. Not all Planet 4546B’s life is a threat to the player at all, but by venturing deeper and deeper beneath the waves, they begin to piece together a picture of the enormous, monstrous creatures that dwell down there. The underlying plot of the game, revolving around the results of the Precursors’ desperation to tackle the Kharaa Bacterium, is dark, engrossing, and frightening too. Subnautica: Below Zero adds an entirely different level of challenge, with its icy biomes.

4 Drake Hollow

Who Knew Vegetables Could Be So Adorable, So Vulnerable To Monsters?

• With a more mission-centric structure than some survival titles, Drake Hollow is an intense experience and an interesting twist on genre norms.
• Much like Don’t Starve, this title delivers its hapless protagonist to another bizarre and frightful realm. In this case, The Hollow.

The concept of a formidable and frightening plant is nothing new to those who have seen the likes of the venus flytrap in action. However, the Drakes of Drake Hollow, Pikmin-esque lovable little critters that they are, certainly aren’t the predators. They’re the prey, to a range of things far worse.

Our human hero becomes trapped in a universe deemed The Hollow. This is where the Drakes live, and through the usual base-building and weapon-accruing efforts, players must defend themselves and their new lumpen friends from hordes of the Feral. These creatures take many twisted forms, up to the fearsome Terminers, and they all certainly have no issues eating their greens.

The interesting thing is that the Drakes are a sort of resource in a way, producing valuable currency as well as being your ‘villagers.’ Being central to developing your base and your chances of survival, it’s crucial to care for them in this nightmarish world.

3 Green Hell

Going To Horrific Lengths To Survive In The Forest

• A brutally realistic survival experience set in the Amazon rainforest, offering something new and very challenging for genre experts.
• Jake Higgins must contend with his isolation, nightmarish hallucinations, and the murderous attentions of the Waraha.

For a survival experience to truly test, engage, and pressure the player, it’s important that the setting of the game is suitably sparse and inhospitable. After all, you could survive in a grocery store almost indefinitely by raiding the shelves, so it wouldn’t make for much of a challenge. By contrast, the depths of the Amazon rainforest certainly qualify as a perfect locale for a survival game. Green Hell adopts just that idea, and does so in gruesomely graphic detail.

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What sets this title apart is the psychological element. Hallucinations emphasize that the strain protagonist Jake Higgins faces isn’t just the physical need for sustenance and shelter (carefully choosing where to put it is vital too), but the fear for his lost wife, of being pursued by the Waraha. Every misjudged step or encounter could be your end, and infected wounds and illnesses are enormous dangers too. The graphic nature of the maggot therapy that’s sometimes needed to treat such things demonstrates that Green Hell considers the concepts of horror in more ways than one.

2 DayZ

The Zombie Apocalypse: One Of The Most Popular Horror Tropes Ever

• In this ever-popular zombie survival title, nowhere and nobody is safe as you scavenge for supplies and even battle fellow survivors for your share.
• The sense of lingering dread is palpable and not overworked, and the human element is an enormous factor in the danger posed by the world.

DayZ’s core concept isn’t the most unique. The horror genre just loves zombies, and in video games, they tend to enjoy slowly approaching the player in great waves. Often, that player is armed with an outrageous arsenal of weapons with which to blast them all away, but DayZ doesn’t work like that. The meager ammunition available in the vast and sparsely-inhabited Chernarus means that fighting isn’t always a realistic option. That’s if you’ve managed to find any kind of gun in the first place, and if a fellow player didn’t promptly kill you for it moments afterwards (which is a big ask indeed).

DayZ features robust survival systems, requiring constant attention to be paid to your character’s health and needs. Scrabbling for necessary resources becomes even more dangerous than in similar titles, however, as they’re just so hard to find in the wide open landscape and there’s sure to be competition for absolutely everything you can cram in your all-important backpack. DayZ demonstrates that such an environment can be just as frightening as enclosed corridors and darkness. Even if you can outrun the zombies, can you trust unknown players to cooperate with you in the name of collective survival? Of course you can’t, and that’s the scariest thing of all. The most unique thing is that it isn’t, directly, of the developers’ design.

1 The Long Dark

A Frightening And Foreboding Experience In One Of The Harshest Environments Of All

• Venture through the barren, beautiful backdrop of the far reaches of Canada, satisfying a varied suite of survival needs befitting the setting.
• Additions such as Escape The Darkstalker mode highlight the enormous horror potential of the game.

From the Amazon rainforest to the depths of an ocean planet, the titles on this list seem to have demonstrated that remote and enigmatic settings are wonderful fits for survival titles with elements of horror. In the case of The Long Dark, the action takes place in a tonally similar place: the snowy, icy reaches of Canada.

Our hapless protagonist this time, the stranded pilot Will Mackenzie, is beset by all the dangers you’d expect of this unforgiving region, including ravenous predators and a distinct lack of resources and supplies. Other survival titles may not need to concern themselves with the bitter cold (though still others also revolve around it), but here it brings up addition concerns to keep track of. Mackenzie is no hardy warrior, and so there’s a frantic and horrific feeling of being unprepared and cobbling together a short-term solution to issues to survive, rather than feeling ‘powerful’ at any point. The weather itself is the main antagonist here, though the wolves that frequently pop up aren’t exactly going to be your friends either.

The horror aspect of the game is of a slow-burning, niggling threat variety, for the most part. Nonetheless, it is presented more directly at times. In Escape the Darkwalker mode, the player must collect fragments of a diary (in Slenderman fashion) to thwart the efforts of the titular creature. It cannot be seen or fought, but its mere presence heightens the atmosphere of the game to almost unbearable levels.

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Fans of survival games can check out these titles for free on Steam.