Highlights
- Survival games combine RPG elements with harsh environments and challenging mechanics for engaging gameplay experiences.
- Titles like Survival Kids 2 and Disaster Report set the standard for the genre with multiple endings and intense survival scenarios.
- Games like Notrium and Metal Gear Solid 3 added unique survival mechanics, blending action and stealth for critical success.
In recent years, the survival game genre has grown to become a popular choice for many gamers, with numerous excellent titles being released every year. These immersive games challenge players with in-depth mechanics, dangerous enemies, and harsh environments. While this genre may have become a common sight in modern gaming, it was throughout the 2000s that survival games came into their own. While not always being critical darlings, they paved the way for today's more polished survival titles.
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Often crossing over with other genres, these games commonly feature characters who are lost or alone, and who must fight against the elements while searching for food and water to stay alive. These games typically require strong item management, as players can easily find themselves dying from hunger or thirst. Survival games offer some of the most engaging gaming experiences around, with many of the titles on this list setting the standard for the genre when they were released back in the 2000s.
10 Survival Kids 2 (2000)
Survival Mechanics: Crafting Items, Hunger And Thirst Meters
- Platform: Nintendo Color
- Released: 2000
- Developers: Konami
- Genre: Role-Playing Game, Survival
Released exclusively in Japan a year after the first Survival Kids game, Survival Kids 2 plays much like the first. A group of children, searching for treasure, must escape the Twin Islands and their pursuers, all the while searching for food, water, and materials with which to craft items. Players will need to keep track of the various health meters to stay alive, from hunger to thirst, fatigue, and of course, health.
Survival Kids 2 offered players not only multiple endings to the game, but also multiple openings. This greatly increased the replayability of the game and made it a cult classic. The Survival Kids series would continue with the Lost in Blue games, released on Nintendo DS.
9 Survival: The Ultimate Challenge (2001)
Survival Mechanics: Environmental Dangers, Hunger And Thirst, Wild Animals, Building Shelter
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Released: 2001
- Developers: Techland
- Genre: Real Time Strategy, Survival
Survival: The Ultimate Challenge takes survival game mechanics and places them in a real-time strategy simulator. Players are challenged to help the characters survive in various harsh environments, with the ultimate goal being escape or rescue.
Players will need to manage food and supplies to keep characters alive, as well as craft items and build shelters. Unlike many of the games on this list, Survival: The Ultimate Challenge does not have a single storyline, but challenges the players with different levels. Each level offers a different situation with different obstacles, from the biting cold to wild animals.
8 Disaster Report (2002)
Survival Mechanics: Environmental Hazards, Thirst Meter
- Platform: Playstation 2, Playstation 3
- Released: 2002
- Developers: Irem
- Genre: Action-Adventure, Survival
While many survival games are set in remote locations where characters are often stranded, Disaster Report is set around an artificial island that is slowly collapsing. It follows a reporter who must not only survive the disaster, but find out the reason why it is happening in the first place.
Along with their health bar, the character also has a QP meter, which represents their energy. Performing strenuous tasks will deplete this meter which, if not refilled, will eventually deplete the character's health. QP can be restored by drinking clean water from various sources. Disaster Report blends the action of a disaster movie with the mechanics of a survival game, creating the first in a long-running series of games.
7 Notrium (2003)
Survival Mechanics: Collecting Materials, Crafting Items, Hunger And Thirst
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Released: 2003
- Developers: Instant Kingdom, Ville Mönkkönen
- Genre: Action, Role-Playing Game, Survival
Moving away from Earth and into the realm of sci-fi, this top-down survival game is one of the early examples of a procedurally-generated world. Set on the planet Notrium, the game revolves around the player surviving an alien attack. The game area is split into different sections, with some areas only accessible through different actions, and each offering a different environment, such as tundra or jungle.
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The main goal of the game is to collect all the materials, food, and parts needed to survive and defend against the enemies of the game. The character will also need to be protected from the elements, with heat and cold being especially dangerous. The game was well-received by critics and was nominated for Adventure Game of the Year, eventually coming in 2nd place.
6 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)
Survival Mechanics: Hunger And Thirst Meters, Injury Mechanics
The third installment of the highly successful Metal Gear Solid series saw the introduction of several survival mechanics into the game. From its health system, which tracks injuries across the character’s body, to Snake requiring regular food and drink to replenish his stamina gauge. Any injuries Snake receives in the game will need immediate care, as this can affect the character’s overall health recovery.
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Metal Gear Solid 3 saw critical and commercial success and is considered one of the best games ever made. Its action and stealth mechanics blended perfectly with the survival elements, creating a classic in the genre and in the gaming industry as a whole.
5 Pathologic (2005)
Survival Mechanics: Hunger, Exhaustion Meters, Managing Plague Symptoms
Pathologic
This cult survival RPG is set in a remote town suffering from a deadly illness known as the Sand Plague. The game revolves around the player attempting to discover the source of the illness and save the town. Players can initially choose between two playable characters and a third after completing the game once.
Each character receives a different set of missions that are carried out over the 12 in-game days. Time does not wait for these missions though, as the days continue to progress regardless of if a mission is completed or not. Players are also tasked with the survival of a group of NPCs called The Bound. Pathologic blends RPG and survival mechanics, such as hunger and stamina meters, with a haunting and bleak atmosphere. The game was a critical hit in its native Russia and won several awards, and later received a sequel in Pathologic 2.
4 Dwarf Fortress (2006)
Survival Mechanics: Growing And Supplying Food And Drink, Settlement Building
Dwarf Fortress
- Platform(s)
- Linux , macOS , Microsoft Windows
- Released
- August 8, 2006
- Developer
- Bay 12 Games, Tarn Adams, Zach Adams
- Genre(s)
- Roguelike , Strategy , Simulation
This classic fantasy management simulation roguelike allows players the chance to lead a colony of dwarfs to either success or ruin. Set in a procedurally-generated world, the game boasts deep management mechanics, where players can choose to venture out and explore the world or build up their fortress.
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Although not a traditional survival game, Dwarf Fortress features many survival game mainstays, including settlement building, a complex health system, and hunger and thirst requirements. Players will need to supply their colony with all the alcohol and mushrooms a thriving society of dwarfs could want. The game is famous for its emergent gameplay and detailed mechanics. It was highly influential on other big-name games such as Minecraft and RimWorld, and was even featured in the Museum of Modern Art in 2012 as a landmark game in the history of the medium.
3 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl (2007)
Survival Mechanics: Environmental Hazards, Hunger Meter
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
- Released
- March 20, 2007
- Developer(s)
- GSC Game World
- Genre(s)
- FPS , Survival Horror
This classic FPS survival game takes players into the desolate and forbidden area known as The Zone, set around the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Players take on the role of a Marked One, who has lost his memory and is tasked with finding and killing a mysterious man named Strelok.
The game incorporates stealth, survival, and some RPG mechanics to create a highly engaging and challenging experience that offers an evocative and haunting atmosphere. Players will have to contend with not only hunger, but also radiation poisoning as they navigate the game world. S.T.A.L.K.E.R blends all these elements to create a classic FPS that would garner a cult following. It was also followed by several successful spin-offs, as well as recently remastered versions and an upcoming sequel in 2024.
2 Lost In Blue: Shipwrecked (2008)
Survival Mechanics: Hunger And Thirst Meters
- Platform: Wii
- Released: 2008
- Developers: Konami
- Genre: Adventure, Survival
Not every year produces classics in the world of video games. Developed for the Wii, Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked is the most recent entry into the Lost in Blue series, and probably its last. It featured many of the mechanics and storylines that are staples in the series, from a group of kids being shipwrecked on an island to searching for food and water.
Unfortunately, the game failed to excite the public, with critics noting the strength of the game's conceptg, but also the flaws in its execution. Some other critical notes were its less-than-perfect graphics and repetitive gameplay.
1 Disaster Report 3 (2009)
Survival Mechanics: Stress Meter, Environmental Hazards
- Platform: Playstation Portable
- Released: 2009
- Developers: Irem
- Genre: Adventure, Survival
Disaster Report 3, also known as The Desperate City 3, is an action survival game set around a devastating earthquake. Players can choose between either a young boy or girl as their character, with each option offering slightly different stats. Unlike previous games, the thirst meter has been replaced by a stress meter, which can be affected by different events or conversations with NPCs.
Damage is taken from environmental dangers, such as fire, but health can be replenished with medicine and food. While this series of games has never made waves internationally, Disaster Report 3 was followed by a long-awaited sequel in 2018, keeping the series going to this day.
