Survival games often take place during or after a world-ending event, as this really pushes the limits of what survival means for many players. Whether the apocalypse is weather-based or even something more typical, like zombies, there are varying levels of intensity among all of these games. Some offer a lighter, more story-focused experience for players who are new to the genre, while others offer a harsh and realistic survival experience.

Related

10 Best Stealth Survival Games

These games mix survival and stealth to great effect.

While both have their merits, the harsh and gritty survival games aren't for everyone. For players seeking an intense and hardcore experience that truly tests survival instincts, they should look no further.

10 Breathedge

A lighter but still intense take on the survival genre

• Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
• Developer: RedRuins Softworks
• Release Date: 2018-09-13

Breathedge overall has a lighter tone than many other games in the survival genre, but players shouldn't think that makes the apocalyptic scenario in the game any less intense. While it is a less traditional end-of-the-world scenario, it still feels like every second counts as the player has to survive in space when it also happens to be filled with floating corpses and debris.

Breathedge is a space survival game that forces the player to experience the end of the world as they know it.

9 ARK: Survival Evolved

Work with dinosaurs to survive

ARK: Survival Evolved forces players to work with giant, scary-looking dinosaurs if they have any hope of surviving. While the dinosaurs themselves aren't all dangerous, and are often quite happy to work with humans, the lore of the game reveals a much more intense backdrop to the setting than the idyllic island would have players believe.

Related

7 Best PvE Survival Games

These survival games pit the player against the game world's harsh environment, dialing up the "survival" aspect to new levels.

With a war and various scientific experiments gone wrong revealed throughout the game and its expansions, ARK: Survival Evolved is the aftermath of an intense and catastrophic apocalypse scenario.

8 Subnautica

A peaceful-seeming game with a dark history

Subnautica is another game that seems innocent enough on the surface, but as players work through the plot, they discover that the planet they're exploring was once host to a world-ending event. An ancient alien species was trying to find a cure for a disease, and due to failure in quarantine procedures, this disease ended up killing 140 billion of their people. With that kind of death rate, this disease-based apocalypse is one of the most intense out there.

Subnautica is a well-loved survival game for both its beauty and its moments of horrific ocean exploration, and features some dark lore regarding the ocean planet's history.

7 State Of Decay 2

A zombie apocalypse where scavenging is king

State of Decay 2 offers players a slightly more realistic take on a zombie apocalypse situation. The game focuses heavily on scavenging, which, when surrounded by zombies, is not the easiest thing in the world. The zombies in this game massively increase the intensity level, as they can sprint as fast as the player and spawn infinitely, meaning there's not much chance of getting away from them.

State Of Decay 2 is a very challenging and intense survival game with terrifying zombies around every corner that pose a much bigger threat than the traditional "walkers."

6 Project Zomboid

Death is inevitable in this zombie survival game

Project Zomboid is another zombie apocalypse survival game, but this one is both challenging and mysterious. Taking place in a fictionalized version of Knox County, players will hear about the Knox Virus through the in-game radio station. No one knows what's causing it, which makes the situation much more intense. More importantly, there is no cure, and everyone who gets the virus will die and come back as a zombie. The radio station will cease to function after 9 in-game days, and from then on, the player is completely alone in this apocalypse.

Survival is virtually impossible in Project Zomboid, which heightens the stakes of the game tenfold as the world slowly crumbles as the player progresses.

5 Frostpunk

During a volcanic winter, build and lead a city that lasts

Frostpunk is both a survival game and a city-builder, and the combination makes the game one of the more intense survival games available. Players must lead their city through the winter, making impossible choices to prioritize the survival of the many. Heat is vital, as even a slight lapse in temperature can be a killer in this game, and some buildings need more heat than others. Unlike other city builders, quick expansion can be as much of a killer as the weather.

Frostpunk neatly combines its two genres to make survival a harrowing experience, as it splits its terrifying premise between the fear of the freezing temperatures, and the fear of having to sacrifice some people to save many more.

4 Patholgic

Find the source of a deadly plague

Pathologic is a game in which players take on the role of a healer trying to find the source of a mysterious plague that is ripping through their town. Players must survive for 12 days, and for a good ending, they have to find the source of the disease before then. If players fail to do this, the ending gets very dark as the entire town is wiped out by the disease.

Pathologic puts players in a scary life or death scenario which is intense due to the short time frame they're given to prevent an apocalyptic outcome.

3 I Am Alive

Keep the protagonist and a child alive in a wasteland

I Am Alive begins one year after a catastrophic world-ending event that has turned cities to rubble and killed almost everyone on the planet. Players take control of a man searching the city for his wife and daughter, but instead, he finds a young girl to take care of. The only problem is that the city itself is covered by a toxic cloud, there are extremely limited resources, and the city is patrolled by gangs out to murder any survivors.

I Am Alive does not offer much information about the apocalyptic event itself, but clearly, it was incredibly intense if this is all that remains after.

2 The Long Dark

After a geomagnetic storm, players must survive the Canadian wilderness

The Long Dark is not often thought of as a game the features a world-ending event. However, the story is kicked off by a geomagnetic storm that strands the player in the wilderness and ends the world for him. Surviving in the wilderness itself becomes extremely difficult as there aren't many people around and the temperatures are catastrophically low. The world around the player is hostile and everything has the potential to kill them.

Related

7 Best Survival Games Set In Cold Climates, Ranked

Survival games are typically set in a harsh environment, but few settings pose a greater challenge than cold climates where food and water are scarce.

The Long Dark is one of the best, most realistic survival games out there, but it's not for the faint of heart, as everything from the cold, to the wildlife, to starvation can end a player's run.

1 DayZ

The zombies are of the least concern in this game

DayZ offers players the most intense post-apocalyptic experience yet, as the game takes place in a zombie apocalypse where the zombies aren't even the main concern. Surviving them is easier than surviving fellow players, who are able to be as brutal as they wish, and players might feel relieved to have escaped zombies only to have escaped right into an intense and deadly PvP situation. Surviving the world is another challenge, as staying healthy is nearly impossible.

DayZ offers a harsh look at survival in a zombie apocalypse, which is incredibly intense, givent that other players often pose the biggest threat to survival.

More

8 Best FPS Survival Games

The FPS survival game genre has exploded in recent years, with tons of great games hitting the market. Here's a look at some of the best.