Online sandbox survival games are currently quite popular. They let human players thrive in a digital playground where everyone can do what they want without the constraints placed on them by other genres. That sounds a lot more hopeful on paper, but in reality, it's "Lord of the Flies" out there in online survival games. As expected, people frequently act on their primal instincts, albeit virtually.
ARK: Survival Evolved is perhaps the most popular survival game on the market right now. However, if you're a bit burned out on dinos and sci-fi island survival, you can always look to other games in the genre. We've expanded our original list to add a few more games that might be worth checking out, if survival is your thing.
Updated by Sid Natividad, May 21, 2022: Each of these survival games offers something engaging and different for you to experience, especially if roughing it is your preferred style. Games like ARK are somewhat common these days but they usually don't achieve the same impact.
That's why we're going to be adding more to the list, so that you have better options for survival. All of these new additions are games like ARK Survival Evolved in one way or another. Be it through brutal survival mechanics or a novel setting, these additional titles will surely keep you preoccupied with fighting for your life.
20 Grounded
- Release year: 2020
- Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
Grounded is probably among games like Ark especially when it comes to aesthetics or premise. It starts off similarly where you are chucked into an alien and unnatu🐠ral world. The difference is that the world is still familiar enough since everything just got bigger.
It's the players that have been shrunk here, and it's essentially like the movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. You and your teammates are now the size of an ant. So all the small creatures you used to belittle or even bully back then are now out for sweet revenge.
19 Atlas
- Release year: 2018 (early access)
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox One
It's still in early access but Atlas is quite a whole experience already as it is and is certainly comparable to other survival games in terms of content. Except it's not just 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a survival game; Atlas is an MMORPG. It's a fictional colonial-age pirate-themed adventure in the same vein as Sea of Thieves.
Thus, there's plenty of fun and multiplayer mayhem to be had in this game. It's also being developed by the same creators as ARK: Survival Evolved. Hence, you can expect some similarities when it comes to mechanics or ideas as the game gets more content.
18 The Isle
- Release year: 2015 (early access)
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Macintosh operating systems
The Isle also offers an experience that's quite close to ARK since the game features dinosaurs. Like ARK, The Isle proudly incorporates these dinosaurs into the core gameplay. In The Isle, they even have bigger roles and the game could easily be mistaken for a Jurassic Park title in the survival genre.
Thus, it's great if you're a fan of Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg's cultural classic. You get to control the dinosaur of your choice (usually a carnivore) in this rather unique and peculiar take on the survival genre. The game is still in early access so expect some changes.
17 Eco
- Release year: 2018 (early access)
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Classic Mac OS
It's less survival and more simulation but Eco lets you admire the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:raw beauty of nature nonetheless. In fact, you get to create these very environments since that's part of the gameplay loop in Eco. The goal is to create a civilization (including its biome) capable of withstanding or stopping global catastrophes.
Therein lies the survival aspect of this simulation game. At the same time, you will have to be able to preserve the environment. Creating a bulletproof society without sacrificing other ecosystems is one of the game's core challenges.
16 🌃 Hand Simulator: Survival ꦦ
- Release year: 2019
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows
Hand Simulator: Survival is a bold one as it commits to its own advanced mechanic and system where you have 🙈complex control over your digital hand. There are no magical pockets or other s🀅treamlined survival stuff here. You get a near-naked character and their bare hands.
What you do with those hands is up to you but since your character is starving and exposed to the elements, it's safe to assume finding food and building shelter is the top priority instead of flipping the bird at your teammates. Thankfully, all those are possible with this game.
15 Conan Eಌxiles
- Release year: 2017
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S
Not only do you need to survive in this sandbox🎉 game, but you also need to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women. Conan Exiles lets you do that and more. Just be warned that t꧒he content is mature as full-frontal nudity is allowed and not dependent on an unofficial mod. The game lets you capture (by chaining and dragging them) other players or non-player characters (NPCs) if you defeat and catch them.
To that end, Conan Exiles is pretty hardcore and more graphic than most other 𒊎survival games in this list. It still has the basics you expect in a survival game such as base building, weapons, armor, foraging, farming, exploration, and etc. What sets Conan Exiles apart is that it gives you the capability to perform ritual sacrifices to summon avatars of your chosen god in the game world to exact your wrath upon others.
14 📖 ♛ Subnautica
- Release year: 2014
- Platforms: macOS, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch. PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Underwater survival. That's pretty much Subnautica in a nutshell. It plunges your character deep into an alien underwater world, one which you must explore and survive. You could say that the setting is the biggest star in Subnautica. After all, not many games look to the deep sea for their core gameplay experience.
As such, Subnautica's take on the survival genre keeps the gameplay quite fresh compared to most land-based survival games. The building and crafting are unique here since everything has to be tailor-made to make your life easier underwater. Apart from that, exploration in this game almost always has an incentive be it discovering new resources or getting rewarded with undersea eye-candy that would mesmerize even James Cameron.
13 Raft
- Release year: 2018
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux
Like Subnautica, Raft puts its own twist into the tried and tested (possibly oversaturated) survival genre. It also showcases a maritime locale, although only the surface level of oceans are explored. By no means does that make Raft shallow (ba-dum-tss) than Subnautica. It's actually quite competent and gives about the same level of fun and fulfillment.
That's because you get chased around by huge great white sharks. Hence, you're gonna need a bigger boat, and that's what you'll primarily be building and improving in Raft. When not improving your measly vessel, you can dive under the sea and look for anything that will aid in your survival. It's like Moana, except you're not an invincible Samoan and both you and your friends don't take the dangers of the ocean seriously.
12 Rust
- Release year: 2013
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, Macintosh operating systems
Rust is a less brutal but more desperate Conan Exiles set in a modern era. Your character literally starts off naked and dangers lie in every corner of the map since Rust is highly populated, meaning you'll likely run into other players quickly, assuming you play in multiplayer. However, things are not as primordial in Rust compared to other survival games.
You'll regularly see airplanes dropping valuable supplies (usually guns) and you'll have to rush those drop zones if you want to get ahead of the curve. As usual, guns make melee weapons obsolete as long as you have ammunition and that's what makes Rust more high-risk and high-reward than other survival games here. You either take a risk for a better chance of survival in the long run or stay safe while staying at the bottom of the food chain.
11 DayZ
- Release year: 2013
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Let's not forget the granddaddy of survival modern survival games, DayZ. What initially started off as a mod for ARMA 2 became quite a huge hit in the gaming community. DayZ was the first of its kind and was initially a zombie apocalypse survival game. In a similar fashion to the Walking Dead TV show, the zombies are simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to threats. Other players are a lot more dangerous.
DayZ loves to remind you that there are no rules. You loot stuff, find guns, see other players, you tell them you mean no harm, and then they kill you for your guns. The beauty of DayZ is that you don't even need a microphone in order to communicate with other players. You can show them your intentions by flipping them off or communicate with them directly by pumping their face full of lead; whichever is more effective.