Surviving is hard in general. First, you have to wake up, and that’s already a whole thing. Survival games take this concept and say, “Fuck you, there’s also a monster maybe. Also if you don’t eat 14 servings of the same thing right now, you will die.”
The Steam Survival Fest is a current event that puts a spotlight on all sorts of survival games big and small, deadly and not so deadly. There are some great games to revisit, some new games that slay, and some upcoming games to look out for.
I’ve decided to pick a few of my favorites from the spotlight event as a little nudge in my subjective direction. Some of them are new, and some of them are old. However, the older titles are games that I would recommend revisiting in the cursed year of the lord Beelzebub.
Please… Take a look.
Dinkum
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I’ve talked about Dinkum before, but I thought I’d include it since it’s part of the list and I love it. Dinkum is a life/farming survival sim where you build a town from the ground up in an Australia-inspired landscape.
The survival aspect comes in the form of the classic hunting and eating to survive, but also the fact that there are wild beasties that WILL try to kill you. A classic aspect of Australian life. The game is still in early access so there’s more to come, but it’s a real treat so far.
rafting
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rafting is so much fun when played with friends. However, if you’d like a truly isolating survival experience, playing alone can give the game an entirely different vibe.
In rafting, you must survive the cruel seas by building a raft, gathering debris from the ocean to build your raft up, avoiding getting eaten by sharks, and trying not to starve. Speaking on not starving…
Don’t Starve Together
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Yo sees it Don’t Starve Together. Playing this game with friends was some of the most multiplayer fun I’ve ever had. i mean, don’t starve is a classic for sure, but the decision to make this unforgiving survival game multiplayer was a very wise one.
Don’t Starve Together is a great example of a game that was already fantastic on release, but then continued to slay as the years went by. The game came out all the way back in 2016 and is STILL having content added to this day.
Sorry for yet another segway, but speaking of games that came out in 2016 that got better over time…
No Man’s Sky
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No Man’s Sky is an example of a game that aged like fine vintage wine thanks to the tireless work of Hello Games. Anybody revisiting this game will tell you the same thing: No Man’s Sky is not the same game as it was when it came out in 2016.
As we know, No Man’s Sky is a space-based exploration survival game. On release, it was… not great. What it came down to was a case of big dreams being poorly executed. Thankfully, the past 6 years have been kind to this one, as the state of it is now fantastic. If there’s any game you should definitely revisit, it’s No Man’s Sky.
grounded
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grounded rocks. I love to be the same size as bugs.
While grounded is still currently in early access, it will be released in full on September 27th. Think of Subnautica except you are very small in a garden, so the truly scary beasties are Giant Fucking Spiders. If Honey, I Shrunk The Kids were a video game.
This is another one that is a fantastic multiplayer experience, so I’d absolutely recommend playing with friends. get-on grounded!