The Most Influential Survival Games, Ranked

The survival game genre is arguably one of the most popular genres on the PC, thanks in large part to the abundance of well-crafted titles that have been released over the last decade. Games such as Subnautica, The Forest, and The Long Dark have all been integral in perpetuating the genre’s popularity and innovating its gameplay loop.

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Survival games often feature the same standard mechanics of exploring, gathering resources, crafting items, building a base, and fighting enemies. This gameplay loop is fairly consistent throughout most survival games, though these games all managed to do something a little different, more often than not having a knock-on effect on the games that followed.

Special Mentions: Robinson’s Requiem & UnReal World

Although the following ranked examples have been massively influential on survival games over the last decade or so, these two titles played a large part in establishing the genre. The cult-classic, hardcore rogue-like RPG, UnReal World, was first released in 1992 and is still being updated today. The game takes place during the Iron Age in the far North of Finland, tasking players with surviving in the harsh wilderness.

Robinson’s Requiem was released two years later, in 1994, and although it provided an uneven experience with a steep learning curve, it included a variety of cornerstone survival mechanics. Thankfully, both titles have been well-preserved and can still be played today; UnReal World was made available on Steam in 2016, while Robinson’s Requiem can be acquired through GOG.

8 The Forest

An Injection Of Horror And Online Co-Op

This first-person survival game is renowned for its polished survival-craft gameplay and unique and influential focus on horror. The Forest is influential for its survival-horror elements and the addition of a narrative to follow.

The Forest features classic survival gameplay, from chopping down trees and building a base to defending that base in the dead of night. While The Forest did little to innovate on the core gameplay loop of the genre, it did, however, stand out for its polished gameplay. It could be observed that the presentation and aspects of survival horror in The Forest may have had an influence on the upcoming open-world survival horror game, Vorax.

7 Subnautica

Changing The Formula With A Unique Setting

This survival game was influential for taking players out of the common survival game wilderness setting and dropping them in a massive, unending ocean. Furthermore, Subnautica sets itself on an alien planet, allowing it to terrify players with all manner of horrifying underwater sea creatures. It could be argued that games such as Raft may have taken inspiration from Subnautica in setting their titles in extreme, watery conditions.

Subnautica featured a strong, cartoon visual style that still manages to evoke horror in the darker depths of its iconic ocean. Subnautica’s classic survival gameplay combined with its focus on exploration, made unique by its innovative use of limited oxygen (and brilliant use of vehicles), arguably makes it one of the most distinctive and influential survival games to date.

6 Rust

Open-World Survival In A Large-Scale Server

Releasing in Early Access all the way back in 2013, and finally reaching 1.0 five years later in 2018, Rust is one of the most enduring survival games on the market, and for good reason. Despite all of its flaws, Rust was a massively influential survival game due to its combination of open-world survival-craft mechanics and the implementation of large-scale multiplayer.

By allowing players to explore and build in the game’s procedural open worlds across multiplayer servers, Rust innovated by enabling players to cooperate and fight against one another to compete for resources and territory. Rust won’t be for everyone, as it requires a large time investment to get the most from it, but its influence on the survival game genre is clear. For example, it could be argued that games such as Ark: Survival Evolved and Conan: Exiles may not exist without it.

5 Project Zomboid

A Systemic Survival Game With Deep Simulation

Having been in Early Access since 2013, Project Zomboid is a momentous, ambitious project that’s likely to have had an influence on many hardcore survival games of the last ten years. Despite being in Early Access for over ten years now, Project Zomboid still receives regular, meaningful updates. This long development cycle, along with its heavy simulation elements, has made it one of the most influential survival games, as many games have been developed and released alongside its run in Early Access. For example, The Long Dark uses a similar set of simulated mechanics to boost its immersive survival experience.

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Overall, Project Zomboid is arguably one of the most immersive survival games, facilitated by its regular use of systemic design and simulation. Zomboid’s influence on other simulation-heavy survival games could be attributed to its long (and ongoing) run in Steam’s Early Access, as well as its innovative combination of streamlined gameplay and hardcore simulation similar to that of games such as Catacalysm: Dark Days Ahead. Furthermore, Project Zomboid is noteworthy for its dedicated developers, who have yet to abandon the game despite its extensive time in Early Access.

4 The Long Dark

Taking The Enemies Out Of The Equation (Mostly)

This atmospheric, serene survival game can almost feel tranquil at times, but The Long Dark is a relatively hardcore experience. The Long Dark takes place in a snowy, frozen-over wilderness, complete with bitter weather and hungry wolves. This setting, and its lack of fictional enemies, is arguably what makes The Long Dark so influential.

Unlike many survival games at the time, The Long Dark forgoes enemies in the traditional sense; there are no zombies to be found in The Long Dark’s stretches of snow and ice. Players may have to contend with bears and packs of wolves on occasion, but more often than not, they’ll be dealing with hunger, thirst, injury, and temperature. This dramatic lack of combat is what makes The Long Dark so unique in the survival genre, and arguably had an influence on the genre as a result. The Planet Crafter and Astroneer are just a few examples of how The Long Dark may have influenced later releases in this popular genre.

3 Don’t Starve

An Indie Spearhead Of The Survival Genre

This breakout hit from developers, Klei Entertainment (the team behind games such as Oxygen Not Included and Invisible Inc.) is a tremendous top-down survival game with a unique visual style. Don’t Starve has had a continued influence ever since its initial release in 2013, taking the core loop that Minecraft laid the groundwork for and solidifying it with polished visuals and multiple playable characters. It could be argued that Don’t Starve’s hand-drawn presentation may have influenced the visuals of games such as We Need To Go Deeper, as well as its co-operative survival gameplay that emerged with the release of its multiplayer mode, Don’t Starve Together, in 2016.

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Don’t Starve also features a sanity system, as well as mechanics for base-building, the latter of which may have laid the groundwork for the rigid base-building systems that the survival games that followed took after (rather than the free-flowing sandbox of Minecraft). Furthermore, Don’t Starve’s focus on hardcore survival in a harsh and unforgiving world was a novel approach at the time, especially since Minecraft had only recently added a hunger mechanic in its 1.8 Beta update.

2 DayZ

An Influential Mod That Stood The Test Of Time

Beginning life as a mod for Arma 2, DayZ was an uneven experience from the start, but it instantly captured a fanbase with its immersive, open-world survival sandbox. DayZ’s popularity and influence can likely be attributed to its sandbox nature and proximity voice chat that allows players to role-play.

Now, years later, DayZ continues to find popularity with its influential focus on social gameplay and third-person zombie survival. Its focus on players interacting with each other in a survival environment may have had an impact on the development of games such as Rust and 7 Days To Die, though as they were released later in the same year, this could be coincidental. Regardless, it could be argued that DayZ may have had an influence on the zombie survival genre as a whole, with its influence potentially stretching to games such as Days Gone.

1 Minecraft

Pioneering The Survival Game Formula

While Minecraft has since become better known for its uses as a creative sandbox, it is, at its heart, a strong combination of base-building, exploration, and survival. Minecraft was released all the way back in 2011 and was likely a massive influence on sandbox and survival games alike in the following years, predominantly for its gameplay loop of punching trees, building houses, and fighting monsters.

Many games that were released in the following years featured this core gameplay loop, and do even to this day. There are few survival games that don’t task players with punching down trees. As a result, this innovative combination of mining and crafting mechanics makes Minecraft an accessible and influential survival game that continues to influence titles to this day.

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