These games are about surviving a dangerous world without hints or markers. It’s about how you can use the environment to your will to bypass the world’s perils. It’s a crowded formula, but dozens of games are worth your time. Some of these are classic and well-known, while others are newer hits.
Selecting Survival Games PS4/PS5
Before selecting survival games, we need to understand the genre:
Survival: The idea is to survive in a hostile environment for as long as possible. Some survival games offer a campaign, but it’s often an open-world sandbox.Setting: Most survival games offer a procedurally generated world, but others have a persistent world.Gameplay: Survival is an action sub-genre. You play either in first-person or third-person.Exploration: The core experience is exploring the world for resources, ammo, weapons, and combat.NPCs: It’s common for most NPCs to be hostile, as the genre encourages avoidance rather than interaction or confrontation. Survival stats: Often, you have to micro-manage stats like hunger, thirst, disease, temperature, or sanity. Tools: You can fight, craft weapons and tools, and build structures that create different resources.Crating: You gather and refine resources to craft tools, weapons, armor, and supplies.Building: You can also build structures offering unique functionalities or benefits. The building and crafting mechanics vary per game. Online: Typically, the survival genre is online. Servers support any number of players interacting with a single world, either in co-op or PvPvE. Open-goals: The free nature of these games allows players to explore, craft, and grow without any limitations. Horror: Horror is a related genre (survival horror). It includes a frightening setting, limited combat, scarce ammo and supplies, and vicious enemies. Post-apocalypse: Post-apocalyptic settings are common for the genre. It explains why you need to survive in hostile worlds, often alone.Alien settings: Alien settings also fulfill the same requisite. These are hostile, unknown, unpredictable environments. Zombies: Flesh-eating monsters are a common option for survival, as they can be the enemy of any apocalyptic story. Gameplay: Survival is an action sub-genre. You play either in first-person or third-person.
Most survival games are available for PlayStation. However, a series of Early Access titles are only available on Steam. Such is the case for the latest trends like V Rising, which we must leave behind.
List of Best Survival Games on PS4/PS5
Subnautica
At the top of the list is Subnautica and its expansion, Below Zero. Either purchase allows you to download the PS4 or the PS5 version, which will enable you to jump towards the new-gen easily. Subnautica is a single-player open-world underwater survival adventure game. You’re the survivor of a spaceship crash and landed on an alien oceanic planet. The goal is to go back home, and first-person gameplay includes exploration, crafting, action, and building. You start the campaign on a small life pod with few resources. Soon, you learn to craft tools and weapons to craft resources and build underwater bases. However, you’d need to manage your stats like oxygen and water pressure. You explore a set world full of rich biomes. It includes reefs, underwater lakes, caves, and more. It’s a campaign-driven adventure that focuses on grand mystery and the reason for your crash. Lastly, the planet is full of creatures. You can hunt some of them easily for resources. Others, though, are dangerous predators that go out at night or guard interesting locations worldwide.
The Forest
The Forest is a single-player and story-driven open-world survival horror game. It also supports co-op, as you can play the campaign with three additional friends online. You play as a plane crash survivor stranded in a mysterious forest. The area is surrounded by wild animals, as well as cannibalistic tribes. You’re to fight back to civilization, but you can do it in many ways. That’s because the title is also a sandbox, as you can use your gameplay mechanics at will. The gameplay is about exploring, fighting, sneaking, crafting, and building. It’s a first-person survival horror sim with a great focus on story, mystery, and fleshing out the enemy tribe. Moreover, the environment is unsettling. The area is immersive and vast. You’ll discover that you can chop and harvest from every tree and rock. Moreover, you’ll traverse an enormous cave network, lakes, mountains, and more. Lastly, the game features a day & night cycle. During the day, you can explore, gather resources, and extend your borders. At night, though, the enemy will bring the fight to you, so you should bunker down and rely on your skills, traps, and defensive structures.
Rust (Console Edition)
Rust is a hardcore PvPvE open-world survival game. There’s no story and goal other than surviving for as long as possible. However, the environment, enemy NPCs, and other players will go against you. The adventure depends on the server you choose. These servers vary the time until a wipe erases all your progress, which typically goes from one week to a month. Also, servers modify rules to make the experience easier or harder. You start the adventure on the southern point of the map, naked and with a rock. There’s no tutorial, so you must learn the basics yourself. You use tools (like a simple rock) to harvest materials from trees and minerals. Then, you build, craft, and grow in tech trees. The tech trees rely on workbenches and blueprints. Workbenches are the base’s core, allowing you to build increasingly complex items and buildings. Then, you unlock blueprints by creating a thing for the first time. Lastly, the world has NPC enemies, NPC bases, and neutral bases for trading. On top of managing hunger, thirst, and temperature, you’ll also fight against mobs, other players, animals, the weather, and much more.
Terraria
Terraria is a 2D open-world sandbox survival game that uses 16-bit era graphics and music. Also, it’s one of the most popular in the genre and reached the PS4 console recently. PlayStation players can enjoy it offline or online (4-player co-op). The adventure happens above and below the surface. Below, you explore a vast cavern system to gather the materials. You can use these resources to build multi-layered cities or craft weapons and gear. Above the surface, you can explore to find powerful monsters, NPCs, weapons, gear, and tools. In any case, the worlds are procedurally generated, and it even continuously generates new parts as you play. Then, combat relies on the items you have. Your gear grants skills, either magical, ranged, or melee. Then, collectibles like potions increase primary stats like HP or magic. It means your power level depends on your loot. Also, combat scenarios become increasingly complex and creative. Lastly, the game has a story. You rescue NPCs from monsters and create buildings with the accommodations they need. After reaching certain plot parts, you’ll unlock new difficulty modes for extra playtime.
7 Days to Die
7 Days To Die is a post-apocalyptic open-world survival craft game. It’s a genre pioneer as a wheel, mixing RPG elements, sandbox mechanics, zombie horror, crafting, building, and open-world. Also, every 7th day, you play a “tower defense” segment. It means zombie hordes will attack your position, and you’ll rely on your defensive structures and your base to survive. The rest of the week, you’ll explore a vast world for supplies, combat, weapons, and armor. Most of the activities you do will reward experience points. Then, leveling up unlocks skill points you can use on different skill trees. Then, resource gathering relies on chopping trees, mining rocks, and hunting animals. Additionally, each biome offers different resources, so you have the liberty to explore any area. Similarly, you can construct anywhere, even on top of ruins. The main experience is offline, but you can also split-screen the game with another player. Alternatively, up to 4 people can play online on consoles.
Don’t Starve (Console Edition)
Don’t Starve is an open-world 2D survival sandbox adventure. It features a randomly generated world and a whimsical art style reminiscent of 50s-era cartoons. It’s a single-player experience. However, it has a standalone multiplayer expansion, Don’t Starve Together. It supports up to six players online, but it skips the original game’s campaign in favor of an open-ended experience. The campaign features a strange and unsettling world. You’re stranded and lost, and creatures, perils, and surprises are all around. Your mission is to go back to the real world, including solving a grand mystery and defeating a final boss. Gameplay is about exploring a 2D world for resources, building simple shelters, and crafting simple tools. Additionally, you have a handful of melee moves to fend off enemies. All the while, you must manage the game’s main stat, hunger. Lastly, the game features little to no map markers or tutorials. You must discover its mechanics, story, and locations by yourself. The world is offputting at first, very hostile and ready to kill you. It’s part of the journey, though, and the game is a staple for the genre.
Conan Exiles
Conan Exiles lives within Robert Howard’s fantasy realm. This version is an MMORPG that mixes survival elements. However, you can enjoy its open-world sandbox campaign offline or co-op. The main experience is online, though. You create a character and start the campaign as an exiled barbarian. The gameplay quickly becomes about exploring a vast open-world to find the resources you need to survive the weather. Then, you fight with an action RPG in the third person or first person (dodge, block, attack, and use skills). As you become a mighty barbarian, you explore jungles, deserts, cities, dungeons, castles, and more. And once you’re ready, you’ll go on all-out siege wars to reclaim territory from your enemies. You’ll construct shelters, camps, towns, and cities along the way. You start by harvesting resources from trees, rocks, and other natural sources. Lastly, the story is about forging your clan legacy and dominating the Exiled lands. You do it through a powerful building system. You build cities piece by piece, from the smallest tile to the largest door.
Ark: Survival Evolved
Ark: Survival Evolved is a survival action-adventure title with open-world settings. You create a custom avatar, choose server (rules or mods), an “Ark” (a map), and a spawn point. Then, have your open-ended adventure. Each Ark features a distinct biome, different creatures, and different dinosaurs. Then, spawn points vary in difficulty. The game’s rule determines the hardest places offer the best resources. So, you should be exploring the map, further away from the starting areas, to improve your tech trees. You play in first-person or third-person. You usually explore, gather, fight, craft, build and manage survival stats. At the same time, you level up and earn skill points to invest in different skill trees. Also, leveling up unlocks crafting recipes. The game is online, but you can play the offline campaign to learn about the lore and the game’s mechanics. The online version, though, is highly punishing. Other players can kill you and steal everything you have, even if you’re offline. Lastly, the signature element of the game is dinosaurs. You can hunt them for resources and XP or tame them. If you tame the creatures, they can guard your locations, or you can mount them as you explore or battle.
Stranded Deep
Stranded Deep is an open-world survival craft game with an oceanic setting. You’re a castaway marooned on an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. The final goal is going back to civilization. To reach the goal, you must build an airport, a plane, and “set sail.” However, it requires a ton of work: exploring, gathering resources, and rising in tech trees. There’re no other humans on the islands, though. You’re alone, and it’s up to you to build a home, eat, drink, sleep, survive the Sun, hunt, and fend off predators. Also, the game features dynamic weather plus a day and night cycle. A massive building system also allows you to settle on the island or a raft. Also, you can plant crops to farm, which helps you bypass the resource scarcity. Lastly, the map is procedurally randomized. It’s always full of different animals, like sea turtles, rays, snakes, swordfish, whales, and sharks. You can hunt any animal for resources, but some of them, like the giant eel Abaia, are quite dangerous.
The Long Dark
The Long Dark is a single-player and story-driven survival adventure game. It has two modes: an episodic campaign and an open-ended survival mode. Both are single-player-only experiences. Both rely on the same mechanics. You explore a set Northern Canadian wilderness with sub-zero temperatures. Meanwhile, you must manage your food, temperatures, calories, and more. The survival mode goes even further with permadeath. The story mode, Wintermute, includes five episodes. You play as pilot Will Mackenzie after a crash on a Canadian tundra. Your job is to find your other passenger, Dr. Astrid, in the aftermath of the mysterious accident. The game features no tutorials, though. Still, there’re over 100 items you can craft, and most of them are necessary for survival. You’ll learn more about it when playing with the secondary protagonist, Dr. Astrid Greenwood. The game also features enemy humans, a convict gang, and a greater mystery involving a Hardcase. McKenzie and the Doctor must find each other, find the Hardcase, and escape together before it’s too late.
DayZ
DayZ is one of the original open-world survival games. You start on a vast map, alone, without any indication markers. The map contains zombies, resources, and players with unknown agendas. There’s no way to save your progression, and there’s permadeath. If you lose, you have to start over. That means losing your tech trees, resources, building, crafts, weapons, gear, ammo, and supplies. On top of first-person combat, you have to manage complex survival stats. For example, you must eat, drink, and take care of the temperature. Also, there’re wild animals, zombies, and other enemy NPCs. The building system is incredibly complex as well. It allows you to build fortresses, vehicles, weapons, power grids, and more. In particular, you’d need to build your base to defend from other players, as up to 60 players can live on the same server. Lastly, the game features a dynamic environment, plus a day and night cycle. Environmental threats like climate or animals vary depending on the time of day. Additional rules vary per server.
Tribes of Midgard
Tribes of Midgard is a Viking-inspired survival adventure. The setting is the Ragnarok, after the death of the Northern Gods. You play as the leader of a Viking clan, and your job is to protect your kin. The main goal is to resist an invasion of mythical creatures, like the Giants, during the Ragnarok. The setting is a dark fantasy, full of magical materials, dark secrets, and rich lore. You explore a 3D world with a top-down perspective and cartoony visuals. On your travels, you gather resources from nature and fight against various monsters. Then, back at the base, you develop a village and craft armor and weapons. As you play, your character will level up. It grants you skill points to invest in various skill trees. Additionally, you improve your gear, find powerful collectibles, and unlock extra secrets in the world. Lastly, combat feels a lot like Zelda games. You block, spin, dash, attack, and use abilities and tools. The systems are very smooth and easily the best part of the game.
Vigor
Vigor mixes hardcore PvP shooter formulas with open-world survival crafting and building. It’s also a free-to-play title, but it includes some performance issues and not the best graphics. The experience is online, and the setting is a post-apocalyptic Norway after a nuclear war. Your goal is to stay alive by building a shelter to protect against other players and the environment. You play as an “Outlander.” Outlanders are survivors seeking resources to fight against other survivors. You combat, harvest, build, and craft in a third-person perspective. These battles happen on maps, and maps have particular areas. Locations include exit points to your offline base, points of interest, radio towers, hideouts, outposts, and houses. Lastly, your shelter remains on the server, and they support up to 12 players simultaneously. If you die, you lose everything, and other people can raid everything you’ve created on your base.
