Personally, I really don’t like most of these games due to the tedium and frustration that comes with hunger/thirst mechanics. Most of the exceptions that I do actually like either make up for it through something else that elevates the experience enough - or they either don’t have these mechanics or allow for players to disable them.
Subnautica is an example of the latter. There’s already a lot to like here: A gorgeous, hand-crafted world that skillfully strides the balance between being alien and familiar, a cool sci-fi aesthetic for everything that isn’t natural, purposeful progression, fantastic atmosphere, swimming that feels great. The fact that I can play this game having only to worry about my breath and health is the cherry on top.
The Long Dark still has hunger and thirst, but I’m willing to overlook this just so that I can soak in the atmosphere of this frozen post-apocalypse. With relatively simple tech and straightforward mechanics, this game effortlessly manages to engross the player. I will admit though that when I found a nice deserted cabin at one point, I decided to end the game there, deciding that this was a suitable end point. I’ll definitely pick it up again in the future, but not during this time of the year.
NEO Scavenger: It’s kind of ironic that one of the most “hardcore” examples of this genre is also one of my favorites. Like with the other two, it’s the atmosphere and the world that drew me in, but it’s also that all of the intricate, unforgiving survival mechanics this game has, down to getting sick due to exposure, feel realistic and purposeful, instead of merely existing to tick a standard survival game checkbox. It’s hard, not unfair, it’s punishing and random without feeling uncontrollable.
Stranded Deep scratched an itch for me, the limited options available made it easier to focus on a podcast versus other games which have an overwhelming number of crafting items and quests.
Of the OWSC-type games that I’ve played, the one I’ve enjoyed most is Raft, and even then I get burnt out on it pretty quickly. I think it’s because, at least until you get your raft surrounded with metal plated platforms, there’s a very direct relationship between the materials you pick up and the amount of ‘base’ you can build, and so you’re pretty constantly engaged with collecting, refining, and using most of your supplies in a very straightforward and immediately gratifying manner.
The thing in these games that burns me out is, it seems to be a neverending parade of collecting materials and recipes to get better materials and recipes, to the point that you’re thumbing through like eight different pages or tabs of schematics looking for what you need to make, then digging through some arcane storage system to get the shit you need to make the shit you need. After a certain point, it feels like having a second job.
The Long Dark for me. No zombies, kannibals or other horror elements. Just surviving nature, wild animals and the cold on a Canadian island. I play a new playthrough when it gets cold outside every winter. I might pick up the DLC this time.
Apart from Subnautica, which only is tedious regarding food/drink in the very beginning, I enjoyed Unreal World a lot. It is turn based, so there isn’t any real-time time constraint imposed by in-game hunger/thirst. It also tries to feel realistic in a lot of aspects, including the amount of food/water your character needs. While at game start you of course need to focus on immediate survival (though, that depends a bit on the scenario you play), that focus shifts rather quickly to preparing for the winter, as in stocking up supplies (think: smoking/curing meat/fish, gathering fire wood,…), and building a shelter that you can heat, so you don’t freeze when it gets cold outside. Since the game is set in fantasy iron age Finland, you probably also want to build a sauna 😉.
If they count as survival then survival horror like Resident Evil and Signalis.
Most of the traditional survival games I’ve played end up being annoying to play because of the constant use of your resources outside of your control and I find gathering for crafting kinda boring. This kinda ruined Subnautica for me, since I was mostly interested in exploring but I had to constantly return to base to do chores.
Harvesting food, collecting water, random gathering for materials to craft. I guess it gets better later in the game, but I tried starting it twice and after ~10h I dropped it both times because I was annoyed with the resources.
You can play Subnautica, like I mentioned in my submission, without hunger and thirst. I highly recommend it. Normal resource gathering remains, of course.
I definitely second don’t start together as being the best way to play. I also heavily edit the settings so that it’s not as punishing as the default. It makes the game experience feel a little more open world and less full-time grind.
I always have fun with Don’t Starve until the winter season/section comes along. Then unless I very closely follow a guide or customize the world heavily in my favor at the beginning of the game, I always end up dying.
And don’t forget you can play the whole thing in VR with the VHVR mod! I’ve played 330+ hours over 3 runs with my friends in VR, beating the Queen while panicking into repeated freefalls into pit (thank you feather cloak) was an insane experience (Yag too TBF; out of our 3 person group everybody died at least once, and several times the lone survivor was stuck doing laps with hordes of Fulings and a few berserkers and shamans in the parade until the others sprinted back from their beds.) Blessings to corpse run lmao
I can second that. Valheim has a very neat balance between exploring, fighting and building. If you don’t progress to quick, even your base is relatively safe. Although I now have turned off raids completely. So my base is always safe and if I want action, I can venture out into the world. I like that.
Raids are fun but the need of moats is kinda annoying. I’d rather have more difficult raids but without raids destroying my BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS GOD DAMMIT.
Hmm I wonder if there is a mod to make moat building easier. Or just nuke troll raids, that exists I’m sure.
Valheim is the only survival crafting game that I play to relax. Just log in, listen to the music and the ambient sounds and just chill. Idk why, but the rain and weather effects really relax me
I just started Frostpunk, and one of the first tutorial steps is to build a food place. So I built it, but it wasn’t on a road (apparently) so it’s unusable. I don’t know where the road is, and even if I did I don’t know how to build or extend it. And I can’t see a way to move or demolish it. Of course I can easily look all this up, but you know when a game immediately gets on your bad side? Yup, that.
Not a survival fan either but The Long Dark and Subnautica are both fantastic.
I know I’m late but I had that same issue with finding out how to demolish roads (I ended up looking it up). Ironically my most recent obsession with it, where I sunk 30 hours in a week, is also my 2nd time giving the game a chance.
I think my initial complaint was the controls for playing with a controller. Coming back to it with keyboard and mouse was great. If you have any questions let me know, sometimes you gotta set it down and come back to it.
Demolish roads is a small red button below the row of buildings. You should see the roads button that looks like a bunch of lines, and to the right of it should be the small red demolish roads button.
Frostpunk is made by my favorite game studio and I love the genre and all their other games, but I really did not enjoy it. Some reviews mention that the scenarios have such small margins that unless you do things in a specific way, it’s very unlikely you will beat them. I agree with that to a certain extent, but it feels like there’s something else to it too. It’s been years since I played, but the tech tree felt interesting but like it wasn’t properly enmeshed with the gameplay and struggles with an obvious winning strategy that limits your feasible options.
Icarus (early access on Steam) has been my go to lately. I enjoy the resource collecting, crafting, and building aspect of it. You can turn it on easy mode and it’s very doable as long as you don’t get caught out by a bear 😅 you can do the bear dance pretty easily if you see them coming. The scenery is gorgeous, too.
Happens to the best of us. Some games are in early access for ages. Vehicle simulation BeamNG.drive comes to mind. The first playable version was released to the public in 2013 and it’s still getting regular updates, just received a major one that overhauls the big truck in the game.
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Stranded Deep scratched an itch for me, the limited options available made it easier to focus on a podcast versus other games which have an overwhelming number of crafting items and quests.
I dont like many survival games, but i enjoyed my time with dont starve and subnautica
I love the atmosphe in green hell, used to be my favorite until it got too easy and I ended up with the long dark on interloper
Would you recommend Green Hell for its singleplayer only?
Of the OWSC-type games that I’ve played, the one I’ve enjoyed most is Raft, and even then I get burnt out on it pretty quickly. I think it’s because, at least until you get your raft surrounded with metal plated platforms, there’s a very direct relationship between the materials you pick up and the amount of ‘base’ you can build, and so you’re pretty constantly engaged with collecting, refining, and using most of your supplies in a very straightforward and immediately gratifying manner.
The thing in these games that burns me out is, it seems to be a neverending parade of collecting materials and recipes to get better materials and recipes, to the point that you’re thumbing through like eight different pages or tabs of schematics looking for what you need to make, then digging through some arcane storage system to get the shit you need to make the shit you need. After a certain point, it feels like having a second job.
The Long Dark for me. No zombies, kannibals or other horror elements. Just surviving nature, wild animals and the cold on a Canadian island. I play a new playthrough when it gets cold outside every winter. I might pick up the DLC this time.
Apart from Subnautica, which only is tedious regarding food/drink in the very beginning, I enjoyed Unreal World a lot. It is turn based, so there isn’t any real-time time constraint imposed by in-game hunger/thirst. It also tries to feel realistic in a lot of aspects, including the amount of food/water your character needs. While at game start you of course need to focus on immediate survival (though, that depends a bit on the scenario you play), that focus shifts rather quickly to preparing for the winter, as in stocking up supplies (think: smoking/curing meat/fish, gathering fire wood,…), and building a shelter that you can heat, so you don’t freeze when it gets cold outside. Since the game is set in fantasy iron age Finland, you probably also want to build a sauna 😉.
If they count as survival then survival horror like Resident Evil and Signalis.
Most of the traditional survival games I’ve played end up being annoying to play because of the constant use of your resources outside of your control and I find gathering for crafting kinda boring. This kinda ruined Subnautica for me, since I was mostly interested in exploring but I had to constantly return to base to do chores.
Which chores do you mean?
Harvesting food, collecting water, random gathering for materials to craft. I guess it gets better later in the game, but I tried starting it twice and after ~10h I dropped it both times because I was annoyed with the resources.
You can play Subnautica, like I mentioned in my submission, without hunger and thirst. I highly recommend it. Normal resource gathering remains, of course.
Ah I didn’t realize that. I might try it again then.
Really enjoy Don’t Starve, as much as I find the gameplay loop tedious.
Don’t starve together is more fun to play with others. But yeah the base Don’t starve gets tedious and annoying, quickly.
I definitely second don’t start together as being the best way to play. I also heavily edit the settings so that it’s not as punishing as the default. It makes the game experience feel a little more open world and less full-time grind.
I always have fun with Don’t Starve until the winter season/section comes along. Then unless I very closely follow a guide or customize the world heavily in my favor at the beginning of the game, I always end up dying.
Minecraft
Rule 1: don’t dig straight down.
Rule 2: the first night must always be hiding in a dirt hole.
I like to build a dirt structure with an open block window pointing to the sun so I know when it’s safe to come out. Assuming I can’t find sheep.
Making a tree house is nice too.
I thought the forest was quite fun. Idk what it was about it. I want to try sons of the forest. Haven’t loved the others I tried though
I like how they call the peaceful mode without enemies “Vegan Mode”. That’s the kind of humor I can get behind.
Terraria.
Because to me Terraria feels more like a freer version of a Metroidvania than a survival game. And while you start weak you get downright overpowered.
Valheim.
Great and fun combat, mod support, multiplayer, good building mechanics, doesn’t feel frustrating to play.
And don’t forget you can play the whole thing in VR with the VHVR mod! I’ve played 330+ hours over 3 runs with my friends in VR, beating the Queen while panicking into repeated freefalls into pit (thank you feather cloak) was an insane experience (Yag too TBF; out of our 3 person group everybody died at least once, and several times the lone survivor was stuck doing laps with hordes of Fulings and a few berserkers and shamans in the parade until the others sprinted back from their beds.) Blessings to corpse run lmao
Short YT Vid of Mod: https://youtube.com/shorts/LfY0vpmZSV4?si=gM2SogURHsryrVV3
I should have mentioned this game. Definitely a great title and the building, while a bit clunky, is a lot of fun.
I can second that. Valheim has a very neat balance between exploring, fighting and building. If you don’t progress to quick, even your base is relatively safe. Although I now have turned off raids completely. So my base is always safe and if I want action, I can venture out into the world. I like that.
Raids are fun but the need of moats is kinda annoying. I’d rather have more difficult raids but without raids destroying my BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS GOD DAMMIT.
Hmm I wonder if there is a mod to make moat building easier. Or just nuke troll raids, that exists I’m sure.
Do you include walls in “moats”?
Not really. Walls get destroyed easily, you still need a moat to keep trolls away.
I’ve only ever used walls, honestly, just a palisade a decent distance off from anything I like, with places to arch from.
Earthen walls are also effective at keeping our trolls, though obviously then you have an earthen wall to stare at so it may not be what you want…
Valheim is the only survival crafting game that I play to relax. Just log in, listen to the music and the ambient sounds and just chill. Idk why, but the rain and weather effects really relax me
Project Zomboid! I love the building your base aspect and you can definitely turn a lot of things off if you don’t like them.
Give Frostpunk a try. It’s a good mix of city builder and survival. Darkest Dungeon is also good, but more unforgiving.
I just started Frostpunk, and one of the first tutorial steps is to build a food place. So I built it, but it wasn’t on a road (apparently) so it’s unusable. I don’t know where the road is, and even if I did I don’t know how to build or extend it. And I can’t see a way to move or demolish it. Of course I can easily look all this up, but you know when a game immediately gets on your bad side? Yup, that.
Not a survival fan either but The Long Dark and Subnautica are both fantastic.
I know I’m late but I had that same issue with finding out how to demolish roads (I ended up looking it up). Ironically my most recent obsession with it, where I sunk 30 hours in a week, is also my 2nd time giving the game a chance.
I think my initial complaint was the controls for playing with a controller. Coming back to it with keyboard and mouse was great. If you have any questions let me know, sometimes you gotta set it down and come back to it.
Demolish roads is a small red button below the row of buildings. You should see the roads button that looks like a bunch of lines, and to the right of it should be the small red demolish roads button.
I have actually played Frostpunk and it’s one of my favorite games in recent years, if a bit too easy.
Frostpunk is made by my favorite game studio and I love the genre and all their other games, but I really did not enjoy it. Some reviews mention that the scenarios have such small margins that unless you do things in a specific way, it’s very unlikely you will beat them. I agree with that to a certain extent, but it feels like there’s something else to it too. It’s been years since I played, but the tech tree felt interesting but like it wasn’t properly enmeshed with the gameplay and struggles with an obvious winning strategy that limits your feasible options.
Icarus (early access on Steam) has been my go to lately. I enjoy the resource collecting, crafting, and building aspect of it. You can turn it on easy mode and it’s very doable as long as you don’t get caught out by a bear 😅 you can do the bear dance pretty easily if you see them coming. The scenery is gorgeous, too.
This one?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1149460/ICARUS/
Doesn’t say that it’s early access, that’s why I’m asking.
That’s the one! I…have no idea how I missed it leaving early access and fully launching 🤷🏻♀️
Happens to the best of us. Some games are in early access for ages. Vehicle simulation BeamNG.drive comes to mind. The first playable version was released to the public in 2013 and it’s still getting regular updates, just received a major one that overhauls the big truck in the game.