Highlights

  • No Man's Sky offers an accessible and immersive survival experience in a vast cosmos, allowing players to explore and create without feeling overwhelmed.
  • Journey to the Savage Planet is a great choice for newcomers to the genre, with its smartly introduced mechanics, humor, and colorful art style making it enjoyable for a wider range of players.
  • Subnautica 's rich and vibrant underwater world, coupled with customizable difficulty settings, ensures an enjoyable experience for players of all skill levels as they explore and manage resources.

Survival games can be incredibly fun and challenging, testing the players’ critical thinking skills, planning, and situational awareness. However, not everyone wants to constantly be in a fight for their life, but rather take things a bit slower and enjoy the survival setting at their own pace.

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Certain games have a number of difficulty settings, adjusting different mechanics like hunger level, damage from the enemies and the environment, and more. While some survival games might be easier than others, in most cases, players can tailor the experience to fit their playstyle better, allowing everyone to get the most out of this amazing genre.

10 No Man’s Sky

Planet Exploration

No Man's Sky presents an inviting survival experience that's easy to dive into while remaining captivating to explore. Its intuitive mechanics and gradual learning curve allow players to navigate the vast cosmos effortlessly, emphasizing creativity and exploration over frustration.

From resource gathering to constructing shelters, tasks are streamlined, making it accessible to both experienced gamers and casual players alike. This balance of accessibility and depth creates a unique gaming experience where players can chart their own path through the stars without feeling overwhelmed.

9 Journey To The Savage Planet

Player between Aliens

Journey to the Savage Planet is a fantastic choice for those who want to dip their toes into the survival genre. The game is designed with accessibility in mind, featuring interesting unique mechanics that are smartly introduced to the player.

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Additionally, its humor and colorful art style make the experience far more enjoyable and approachable for a wider range of players. It’s a fun adventure that takes players on a wild ride through an even wilder planet, and almost anyone can enjoy it without being a hardened Survival veteran.

8 The Forest

Player going into a cave

The Forest can certainly be a brutal and unforgiving experience, challenging players in many ways while throwing completely new and unique obstacles in their way. With the addition of various difficulty modes, however, players can really tone down the hostility of the game’s world and easily immerse themselves in the deep and convoluted story that the game has to offer.

Alternatively, players can simply enjoy the picturesque scenery and work on creating their own buildings or even entire settlements. The game has no shortage of fun activities, and players can really dive deep into their preferred mechanics without fearing for their survival.

7 The Flame In The Flood

Exploring Scout

The Flame in the Flood is a great indie survival game developed by The Molasses Flood and published by Curve Digital. In the game, players navigate a procedurally generated river on a makeshift raft, gathering resources, crafting items, and surviving various challenges in a post-apocalyptic setting.

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Its unique appeal lies in the delicate balance it strikes between challenge and accessibility. The strikingly beautiful art style and hauntingly evocative soundtrack set the stage for an immersive post-apocalyptic adventure for players of any skill level.

6 Don’t Starve Together

Wilson, WIllow, WX-78, Wendy in Don't Starve Together

Don’t StarveTogether has its basic premise right in the name, along with great advice for those who dare venture into the stylistic harsh world. This indie survival game developed by Klei Entertainment is a fantastic multiplayer successor to the critically acclaimed Don’t Starve game.

Aside from the new various difficulty modes, surviving along with friends can be much easier, as players can pool their resources and engage with the hostile wildlife and the many Bosses of the game as a team.

5 Subnautica

Seamoth, exploration

Subnautica is a must-play, if only for the exploration alone. The game offers an extremely rich and vibrant world, filled to the brim with beautiful flora and fauna. Depending on the players’ skill level, they can choose the difficulty that fits them best to maximize their enjoyment of the game.

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Although even on higher difficulties, the game’s resources are quite straightforward to manage, from food and water to oxygen levels. As long as players pay attention to their surroundings and their vitals, the game should be a breeze to go through.

4 Grounded

Praying Mantis vs Player

Grounded is a creative spin on the survival scene, changing the expected wild animals, monsters, and other expected obstacles, with spiders, ants, and much more. In the game, players get to experience the world as miniaturized teenagers who are trying to get back to their original size.

The game reimagines a lot of aspects of the genre, and everything feels very fresh yet still familiar. Players still need to manage their resources and build shelters, but instead of a dense forest, they are presented with tall grass and flowers waiting to be harvested and crafted into something special.

3 Starbound

Starbound's simple art style allows for frequent, substantial updates.

Starbound is a delightful survival game brimming with charm and adventure. What makes it truly enjoyable is its balance of exploration, crafting, and combat, all seamlessly integrated into a vast sandbox universe. Players can craft their characters and build imaginative bases while exploring diverse planets filled with wildlife and hidden wonders.

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Whether players are following the game's story or carving their path among the stars, the game’s engaging gameplay and endless possibilities ensure a consistently fun experience for everyone, no matter how much experience they have had with the genre.

2 Terraria

The player fighting in the Hallow

Terraria is an understandably popular survival game, captivating with its sheer entertainment value. It embraces simplicity, welcoming players of all skill levels to a sandbox world teeming with possibilities. In this realm, mining, crafting, and exploration blend together with magic and fantasy, making for a very distinct and recognizable style.

Every moment promises the thrill of discovery, with hidden treasures and daunting bosses awaiting those who dare to venture. There are many settings for a world and difficulty settings, so absolutely everyone can find their perfect way to enjoy the game.

1 Minecraft

Steve in the Temple

At this point, Minecraft has, without a doubt, cemented itself into video game history. Being the pioneer of its kind, the game has brought the joy of creation and exploration to millions of players worldwide.

At the core of it all, Minecraft is still a great survival game, where players need to manage their hunger level and navigate the many treacherous biomes and locations, as well as battle the many enemies and mobs present in the world. With the different difficulty settings and the many ways to play the game, players of all skill levels and ages can easily enjoy this legendary game.

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