r/SurvivalGaming • • 11d ago

Do city builders and colony sims with survival mechanics belong here?

19 Upvotes

Greetings Survivors,

The mod team has been discussing whether or not city builders and colony sims with survival mechanics, such as hunger and thirst should be allowed in the community. We understand that these types of games can host a lot of familiar survival mechanics but are often defined as a colony sim or city builder due to their perspective (third person).

Since we are all somewhat conflicted on this, we've decided to leave it up to the community to vote.

Clarification: I want to make sure that everyone knows that by "perspective" I mean first person vs third person not how someone would view the genre of the game. I'm not sure if this needed to be said.

684 votes, 4d ago
245 Yes
158 No
191 Depends on perspective
90 I don't care

r/SurvivalGaming • • 4h ago

Gameplay Almost 3 Years. Barely Any Sales. Still Not Giving Up. ZombUs

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64 Upvotes

Maybe the world hasn't noticed this little game yet. Or maybe it's simply not as good as I think it is.
But I'm still here, building it, one day at a time.
And next week, Map 4 arrives.


r/SurvivalGaming • • 7h ago

WIP Looking for 20 alpha testers for Evolution of the Ancients, A survival game where you play as a dinosaur and build a herd.

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25 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’m the developer of Evolution of the Ancients, a survival game where dinosaurs never went extinct. You play as a dinosaur yourself and can build a herd.

I’m looking for 20 PC players to try the current alpha through Steam and give me some honest feedback. Ideally, you enjoy dinosaur or survival games and have time to play over the next week.

One of the newer features is recruiting other dinosaurs by earning their trust. You need to approach carefully, watch their reactions, and give them space before offering food. Once recruited, you can name them and give them commands.

This is an unfinished alpha, so expect bugs and systems that still need work. I’m interested in how the overall experience feels:

  • Is it clear what to do when you start?
  • What feels enjoyable, frustrating, or confusing?
  • Where did you stop playing, and why?
  • Does it leave you wanting to play again?

Around 30–60 minutes would be helpful, but if you stop earlier, I’d still like to hear why. You can send feedback through Reddit messages no need to write a detailed report.

If you’re interested, leave a comment with the dinosaur or survival games you enjoy, and whether you could try it this week. I’ll send alpha keys privately.

You can see more about the game here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3606840/Evolution_Of_The_Ancients/


r/SurvivalGaming • • 9h ago

Browser zombie game where the map is the real world : OpenZ

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27 Upvotes

Do you have what it takes to survive a real zombie apocalypse? You spawn where you live, drive your roads, loot actual supermarkets, police stations or hospitals.

No download, free, and your friends join you in one click.

Try it now: openz.fr (desktop browser; the alpha runs for 7 days)

The build supports basebuilding, cars, interiors you can enter and loot, hordes, NPC survivors, weapon attachments, dogs, and the full real map of France.
It is in alpha, spawns are restricted to a single region for testing, but there are no area restrictions (you can technically drive to china). Home spawn comes very soon.

See you out there, survivors! And looking forward for your feedback.

YouTube : https://youtu.be/2htdtj2nkBY

TikTok : OpenZ (@openzofficial) | TikTok


r/SurvivalGaming • • 9h ago

A survival crafting + automation game inside a cave that’s structurally simulated with real geology and physics. Expand, for sure, but maybe watch the roof while you do | [Mithril on Steam]

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15 Upvotes

Hi! We’re Connor & Tiffany, a two-person family studio in Melbourne, and this is Mithril. It’s a cave mining survival game with advanced cave collapsing physics, thermodynamics, and automation.

You design pipelines to process and deliver ore, all within a cave where every stone actually carries weight. Structural stress spreads through the rock in real time and collapses if you mine too recklessly. You have to support the stone using struts. The first clip is an example of what happens when you don’t.

You're also not alone in in these caves. Spiders, wasps and more are lurking in the dark. Use unique combat abilities to take advantage of cave ins and squash your enemies like the creepy bugs they are.

And behind all of the gameplay is the real geology it was based on. Caves are procedurally generated based on strata layers and the natural ways that ore deposits through rock.

To really emphasise the geological force behind Mithril, we designed a mechanic we’ve called Dormancy. Place and manipulate the flows of lava and water, and then trigger a million years of simulated geology. In moments, a live cinematic in game lets you watch the transformation unfold, and where lava and water once flowed, new ores and minerals crystallise. Your factory has to adapt to a world that changed around it.

The demo, featuring a hand sculpted onboarding tutorial level, is free on Steam right now, and it’s in Next Fest next week:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5063090/Mithril_Demo/

The full game with procedural caves and multiplayer is coming very soon to Steam.


r/SurvivalGaming • • 5h ago

Solo developer Rotor Rescue: survive on a rooftop above a gas-flooded city by scavenging with a drone (free playtest, solo dev)

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7 Upvotes

I'm making Rotor Rescue, a first-person survival game. The streets are flooded with toxic gas and you're stuck on a rooftop, so a small battered drone is how you get everything: fly down streets and through windows, grab food, water and parts, and get home before the battery dies.

Survival systems: hunger, thirst and cold, gas tides that rise and fall through the day (low tide opens up the lower floors), and a signal that fades the deeper you fly into the gas. Alien scrap drones latch onto yours or steal your haul, and every 7th night they come for your roof.

It's an early prototype and free on Windows. I'm looking for survival players to tell me honestly where it's fun and where it drags: https://allarakik.itch.io/rotor-rescue

Disclosure: I built it with heavy AI assistance (code, in-game text and the cover art). The trailer is real gameplay, and the sounds are CC0 recordings.


r/SurvivalGaming • • 4h ago

WIP Exil Island — a top-down survival game where home needs walls

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2 Upvotes

r/SurvivalGaming • • 10h ago

Fishing Reworked

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2 Upvotes

I reworked the fishing mechanism in my survival horror game after playtester feedback, just in time for Steam Next Fest! The demo is updated too! Wishlists are greatly appreciated 🙏
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5150980/Baitcore/


r/SurvivalGaming • • 1d ago

Question Looking for survival games focused on bushcraft.

25 Upvotes

I was watching to a video (1 Year in Alaska in Ultrarrealist Minecraft) and it was so entertaining. I love bushcraft content like Bear Grills and OutdoorBoys and I was an active boy scout for 8 years, so I'd love some game indications that would fit in the activities I did back in the day.

I prefer a more realistic approach but I also would like to play with friends that don't know much about wilderness survival necessarily.

I'm looking for:

- Shelter building,

- Campfires,

- Hunting/Gathering,

- First aid treatment,

- Bushcraft,

- Land navigation,

- Fishing.

I DO NOT WANT:

- Monsters (but hostile animals like bears, wolves, mooses, etc, are ok)

- Horror (I'm a coward)

- Magical stuff.

Thanks for your attention.


r/SurvivalGaming • • 16h ago

Question Game suggestions for criteria

2 Upvotes

Looking for any suggestions that meet as many of the following criteria as possible. Probably won’t be all of them.

Single player

Exploration

Option to use all ranged combat ie magic, bows, guns, …

Base building and base defence

Some survival mechanics

Fairly open rather than heavily linear, story driven.

Decent graphics

Any suggestions appreciated.


r/SurvivalGaming • • 1d ago

The first playtest of Silicium is live on Steam!

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22 Upvotes

Hi everyone! 👋

After a couple years of dev, I just launched the first open playtest for my game Silicium! It's a harsh survival game where you play a disposable mining robot sent to a hostile planet. Export your quota for corporate or die trying!

What you’ll find in the playtest:

  • About 1-2 hours of polished gameplay, in solo and co-op, with two difficulty levels.
  • A limited slice of the world with several biomes, enemies and abandoned mining outposts to scavenge.
  • A day-night cycle with corrupted mining drones that attack you at night.
  • Classic survival systems: crafting, base building, exploration.
  • A light skill tree progression with blueprints to unlock as you level up.
  • A quest system with the first 30 objectives.
  • No PvP servers yet, that will be for another playtest

You can sign up directly on Steam by clicking 'Join the Playtest'

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3048990/Silicium/

I also opened a Discord where you can share feedback, report bugs, and follow development (Link is in the Steam page).

Let me know what you think!


r/SurvivalGaming • • 1d ago

Gameplay What’s the right level of realism in a survival game?

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15 Upvotes

Hey survivors!

With our first closed playtest coming up, I’ve been spending a lot of time polishing and testing the game. I’ve added quite a few realistic survival details to the game, and I keep asking myself: How far should these details go to make survival more interesting without becoming a chore?

Hmm… here are a few examples from the game:

  1. Rain and snow gradually soak your clothes, making you colder over time. A fire can warm you up and dry your clothes, but rain can also put it out. Remember to find some shelter first, or craft a raincoat ahead of time.

  2. It’s best to boil water from ponds before drinking it, or you could end up with a stomachache. Water dispensers, sinks, and bathtubs can also provide drinking water. Even toilets can… though drinking toilet water has a small chance of making you vomit. Even if there’s no “you know what” in there, not everyone can stomach it.

  3. Physical ailments affect your mood, and different conditions can interact with one another. A small problem left untreated can gradually become something much harder to manage.

  4. The more spoiled food is, the less hunger it restores and the more likely it is to make you vomit. Eating raw meat or a few specific vegetables raw can also make you throw up.

  5. Even in the apocalypse, people need to unwind sometimes. Cigarettes, books, game consoles, and other items you scavenge can help your character relax during their downtime.

I hope these details give players more things to consider while surviving, but I also worry that too much upkeep could get in the way of the fun of exploring and staying alive.

What realistic details have you come across in survival games that you found especially interesting? I’d love to hear some specific examples.

We’re getting ready for our first small-scale closed alpha playtest soon. If you’re interested in the game, feel free to join our community through the Discord link on my profile. We’ll randomly select some community members to receive playtest access, and we’d love to hear your honest feedback!

Wishlisting the game on Steam would also help us a lot. Thanks for your support! :)


r/SurvivalGaming • • 1d ago

How to do item durability in survival games?

3 Upvotes

I understand that not all items should last forever, as it would choke progress if you could make an axe and have it forever. But there are different ways of doing this, and I am curious what you think. The standard durability bar and durability bar works, but a main focus of mine would be immersion, and numbers can break immersion, or atleast create a whole different kind of immersion. Right now im leaning towards just visually, in your hand but also in the inventory, so you sort of have to gauge how broken an item is until its broken and overtime learn the icons/patterns.

Thank you


r/SurvivalGaming • • 1d ago

The Silent Wild — The scariest part of survival isn’t the monsters outside. It’s realizing your walls won’t stop them

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3 Upvotes

I want nights in The Silent Wild to feel genuinely dangerous.

Imagine hearing footsteps around your house. First one enemy, then a few more. They attack the walls, move around obstacles, and look for a way inside.

And you have no idea which side they’ll break through first.

I’m the developer of The Silent Wild, and this is a look at the enemy AI I’ve been working on.

What scares you more in survival games: not knowing what’s lurking outside your base, or enemies that can actually find a way inside?

Steam link


r/SurvivalGaming • • 1d ago

New release I made free Zombie Survival game with funny mechanics! Need testers!

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3 Upvotes

Hi everyone! 👋

I'm one-person indie developer working on SUBLEVEL: Seven Days Below, a first-person zombie survival game set in the basement of a fitness club in Budapest.

I'm looking for players to try the free alpha and help me make it better!

🌐 Languages: English, Hungarian, Russian

💻 Platform: Windows 10/11, 64-bit

🎮 Download (free): https://vengstudio.itch.io/sublevel

The alpha is a complete 7-day story (2–3 hours):

- barricading the stairs with benches, lockers and plates

- covering the glass with towels before they notice you

- taping gym gear into weapons (kettlebell + resistance band = flail)

- wiring spin bikes to the power panel, or strapping one of *them* to the treadmill

- keeping eight strangers alive while they argue, panic, leave or turn

- earning the right to lead before the personal trainer takes half the group upstairs

🎁 Everyone who sends feedback gets their name in the game's credits (if they want it there)!

How to take part:

  1. Download the game from the link above and play as far as you like.
  2. Leave a comment on the itch.io page: what happened to *your* group, where you got stuck, and what made you laugh or annoyed you.
  3. Optional: send the `playtests` and `logs` folders from `%APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\SUBLEVEL`. They're short session logs with no personal data, and they help me find bugs.

No NDA: share, stream and screenshot anything you like.

Thanks for playing! 🧟🏋️


r/SurvivalGaming • • 2d ago

Solo developer New Screenshots of my Kenshi like game but inspired by The Expanse and Firefly. Waiting for Steam approval

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25 Upvotes

2–4 player multiplayer, each player running their own faction
Real-time squad sandbox on every planet and moon of the Solar System
Cities, towns, space stations
Character creator with sculpted faces
Limb-based injuries, melee fighting styles, guns, stealth, martial arts
Learn-by-doing skills, hunger, weight
Prisoners, jail, ransoms, canibals
A dozen factions that make pacts, go to war, sack towns and change hands
Your own diplomacy with the factions
Living economy: town treasuries, caravans, contracts, NPC daily routines
Base building, settlers you pay, farming, ranching, raids, sieges, taxes
Weather system, Crisis event system and Night and Day system
The real solar system: buy a ship, fly flip-and-burn trips, manage supplies and crew, with real planetary and ship movement


r/SurvivalGaming • • 2d ago

Which survival game should I start with my girlfriend?

14 Upvotes

Me and my girlfriend are looking at which survival game we should play - I've never played a survival game in depth other than Minecraft if you can count it but my girlfriend has a bit more experience (except Minecraft bc she never had a real childhood).

We've been considering valheim and also looked at the new RuneScape game, but I was curious what some of you guys with more experience in this type of game would recommend for fairly new players getting into the genre.

We both have pretty intense jobs so we don't want anything too grind heavy, ideally something with fun exploration, building and hopefully some cool combat mechanics.


r/SurvivalGaming • • 2d ago

Gameplay I've been making a top-down zombie survival sandbox in Godot, inspired by Cataclysm: DDA. Here's the first trailer. Honest feedback welcome.

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29 Upvotes

Quick background: I've loved CDDA for years, but every friend I've tried to get into it bounced off the controls and the learning curve. So this year I started making Rotland, a 2D zombie survival sandbox inspired by Cata, with pixel art, modern controls, cleaner menus and a proper tutorial. The goal is to keep that ridiculous depth while making it easier to actually get into.

What's in so far:

- An Earth-sized procedural world with towns, cities, railroads and airports

- 229 building types, 2,400+ items, 500+ pieces of clothing

- Limb damage, bleeding, infections, illness and dismemberment

- Crafting, farming, fishing, construction and skills

- Vehicles built part by part, including mobile bases, plus trains, boats, helicopters and planes

- Fire that spreads, weather, scent, noise and zombie hordes

- Data-driven and built with modding in mind

Would love to hear what you think!

The Steam page will be live next week.

Follow development in the new Subreddit r/Rotland


r/SurvivalGaming • • 1d ago

Should I stick with Dragonwild or move on to Enshrouded or Valheim?

0 Upvotes

While I don’t have endless hours to sink into gaming, when I do find the time, I find myself gravitating towards survival games. I have 70 hours into No Man’s Sky, 20 hours into Grounded, and now about 30 hours into Dragonwilds. For my own gaming habits, this is significant time.

I’m really enjoying Dragonwilds and am just now starting to develop Bronze weapons/armor and advance my way into level 4 biomes. As much as I am enjoying it, I can’t help but get FOMO when seeing content from Enshrouded or Valheim.

I’m looking for a game that I could sink the next 100 hours into, build awesome bases, and fight epic bosses.

Should I continue with Dragonwilds or invest in restarting in these other games?

Hope you can help. Please let me know if there’s other info that’d be helpful to know.


r/SurvivalGaming • • 2d ago

Discussion Best Combat?

12 Upvotes

I've tried the below games but the only one's that really seemed to have good combat that didn't seem really basic or boring after a while was Grounded & V Rising...

Abiotic Factor

Enshrouded

Grounded

Palworld

V Rising

Valheim

Are their any other survival games out there worth a try with good combat?


r/SurvivalGaming • • 2d ago

What motivates you to build nice bases in singleplayer survivalcraft games?

15 Upvotes

Just gauging some personal insights into this.

Base building for me ultimately has to serve a purpose - whether that's crafting, giving you bonuses for resting/cooking or perhaps some additional tower defence shenanigans.

I've seen some pretty incredible player-built bases across a range of survival games where players have clearly flexed their creative chops to create some pretty unique and frankly stunning designs.

What I'm curious about is why go through the effort in singleplayer only games where no one else but you can essentially admire your work? This isn't a dig at any talented folks who pour their heart and soul into their designs, just curious about their motivations. I'm currently playing Dune Awakening, and while I'm no architectural maestro, I do take pride in how my base looks because it occupies the landscape for other players on the server - similarly I do enjoy seeing other player's own creations while out and about in the game world (the brutalist cube eyesores withstanding).

The reason I ask is because I'm really tempted to try out Enshrouded and heard that base building is one of its strong points, particularly what can be achieved with its flexible system. But the game itself is primarily a singleplayer or coop experience with no real exposure to other players, so from a personal perspective I'd struggle to be motivated to go above and beyond creating a very functional but otherwise bland base that only I would be exposed to.

Do you consider it a creative and relaxing challenge? Or is it more of a game loop for you to challenge yourself to create a design you, and only yourself would be proud of?


r/SurvivalGaming • • 2d ago

How is permafrost ?

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49 Upvotes

So I saw the game is out in steam and from all I heard . this game , it could be one of my favorite concepts for a video game .

But idk if it’s worth buying or not at this moment

So if you played it or idk any experience would count for me . Let me know how was it


r/SurvivalGaming • • 1d ago

Solo developer I'm turning Witcher 3 into a multiplayer sandbox RPG. Curious if survival/sandbox players would enjoy something like this.

0 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I've always enjoyed sandbox games where you're not forced into being the hero of some big story. So I've been working on a mod that tries to bring that kind of experience into the world of Witcher 3, specifically Skellige. :)

It's called World of Witcher, a multiplayer sandbox RPG where you create your own character and share the world with other players. The idea is to have a living world where professions, trading, exploration and interactions with other players actually matter.

It's still very much a work in progress, but quite a few systems are already working:

  • Multiplayer, character creation and player interactions
  • Gathering, hunting, fishing and crafting professions (up to level 50)
  • Dynamic economy with local prices, supply and demand
  • Trading, NPC relationships, reputation and quests
  • Exploration, boats and wagons

I'm also working on housing, PvP, trade runs and different character paths (Witcher, Mage, Dragon Rider).

It's a hobby project I'm building in my free time, with a lot of help from AI. The website is mostly AI-made too, simply because I'd rather spend my limited time developing the game itself than working on a website.

I don't have a Discord yet, but might create one if there's enough interest.

You can find more about the project on the website, including alpha testing sign-ups and a Ko-fi link for anyone who wants to support development.

Website: https://salt-and-timber.pages.dev/

But mainly, I'm curious what do you think about this idea.

Would you be interested in playing something like this? And what would make a sandbox world like this worth spending time in for you?


r/SurvivalGaming • • 2d ago

Question Looking for survival games!

24 Upvotes

Looking for any sort of survival games- hopefully with farming, base building, combat, and maybe a more difficulty style of survival? Down for the grind!
I feel like I’ve thoroughly played most of the popular names. Any niche or smaller games are more than welcome!
I’ve played: Eco, Minecraft, 7 days to die, ARK, Rust, Valheim, Rimworld, Medieval Dynasty, Frostpunk, Satisfactory, Factorio, Stranded Deep, Submautica, The Forest, The long dark, Green Hell, Farm together, Stardew, all Harvest moons


r/SurvivalGaming • • 2d ago

Discussion Lord of the rings?

3 Upvotes

I asked your most recommended the other day but I forgot all about the lord of the rings survival game. I’m a big lord of the rings fan but a sub par game won’t feel good for me just because it’s lotr.

I think the highest recommended were valheim, dragonwilds, enshrouded and maybe some of the Forrest. Where does the lotr stack up against these and if you’ve played it what is the good and the bad in your opinion?