10 best survival games to test your will to live

The best survival games push your will to stay alive to the absolute limit. They seem to be all the rage right now, with Enshrouded and games like Palworld quickly becoming household names for any fan of tense survival adventures that really push you to the brink and force you to craft your way out of tricky situations.

Food, water, shelter, warmth - it's primitive stuff, and yet, it's all in short supply in the best survival games. The titles on this list are here to seriously test you, asking you to fend for yourself across all manner of unforgiving circumstances. Working with limited resources, environmental constraints (like a zombie apocalypse, for example), and sometimes even a time limit, the best survival games allow you and your base to evolve and become stronger over time as long as you can live to see a new dawn.

With so many fantastic survival games, it's been difficult to narrow down the cream of the crop. Pulling from a range of subgenres means you'll find plenty of variety here, whether in gameplay mechanics or overall vibe and ambience. It's worth mentioning that this list differs from our choice of the best survival horror games, though you'll find some creepy offerings mentioned below to give the genre some rep. From post-apocalyptic wastelands to being marooned on desert islands, here's 10 of the best survival games out there if you like your odds dicey.

The best survival games to play right now are...

10. Enshrouded

Developer: Keen Games
Platforms: Xbox Series X, PS5, PC

One of the biggest breakout hits of 2024 is Enshrouded, and it's fast becoming one of the best survival games ever. The dark fantasy adventure sees players stepping into the role of the Flameborn as they explore a vast open world, filled to the brim with all manner of hulking foes to vanquish while constructing a new life for yourself. It's an online multiplayer offering, meaning you get to band together with up to 16 friends or strangers on your perilous journey. It sounds like the perfect blend of action RPG and survival game epic, so be sure to add it to your wishlist if that sounds like a good time.

9. Don’t Starve

Developer: Tencent Games, Klei Entertainment
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, and Android

Don't Starve and don’t be fooled by those charming hand-drawn, Tim Burton-esque graphics. This is as dark, brutal, and unforgiving as survival games get, with strong roguelike elements that make slaying weird monsters – evil spiders and creepy pig-men a specialty – as important as collecting the materials you’ll need to craft tools, traps, and weapons, or simply stay warm and cook your food. Don’t Starve is a game where you need to manage your time and resources carefully, and regard permadeath as another step on a learning journey. The longer you survive, the more seems at stake, and isn’t that what survival’s all about?

With some cracking additions like the Reign of Giants expansion or the nautically themed Shipwrecked, Don't Starve is a game that just keeps expanding, adding features, and getting more engrossing as the months pass. And the Hamlet DLC coming later this year promises to continue the trend, with the addition of housing, new shops, and a load of new items to play with.

Read our Don't Starve review here for more

8. Palworld

Developer: Pocket Pair Inc.
Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X

The Palworld craze has gripped many, turning it quickly into not only one of the best survival games out there right now, but one of the top Game Pass offerings. The Pokemon-like involves catching and battled Pals across a large open world, using them to help build out camps and outposts that later must be defended from PvE raids. There's a multiplayer component too, largely involving teaming up with guildmates to venture out into the wilderness together. It's something of a sensation right now, so be sure to check out Palworld if you're looking for a great new survival game with a thriving playerbase to get involved in.

Check out our Palworld review here

7. Sons of the Forest

Developer: Endnight Games
Platforms: PC

Sons of the Forest launched into early access in 2023, and it's only gone from strength to strength following its full launch in early 2024. The first-person horror meets survival adventure sees players stranded in the wilderness surrounded by danger at each turn. From cannibalistic tribes to aggressive animals, Sons of the Forest ramps up the pressure as your fight to stay alive persists through seemingly unending, testing scenarios. Whether or not you ever got into The Forest, it's worth checking out its deeply engrossing sequel if you don't mind a decidedly scarier edge to your survival adventures.

Read our Sons of the Forest review for more

6. Rust

Developer: Facepunch Studios, Double Eleven
Platforms: PS4, PS5, and PC 

It’s safe to say that Facepunch’s survival sandbox game isn’t for everyone. It’s legendarily challenging and hardcore in its nature, and the biggest question isn’t whether you’ll die, but whether it’s the wolves, the bears, the patrolling helicopters, or the other players that will get you first. 

Everyone spawns naked in a random male or female avatar, and you’re stuck in a desolate landscape where nearly everything that moves wants you dead. Yet for some players, nothing beats Rust’s brutal, unforgiving nature and fraught combat, or the bonds it creates between players once they learn to trust one another. It’s always going to be divisive, but Rust keeps evolving in interesting ways.

5. Valheim

Developer: Iron Gate Studios
Platforms: PC

Currently in Early Access on Steam (it'll drop on Xbox One and Xbox Series X sometime in 2023), Valheim is taking the world by storm. One of the best tree-punchers on the market right now, it adds a sense of overall purpose to your overall challenge of, you know, not dying. You're a battle-slain warrior whose soul has been ferried to Valheim, the 10th Norse world. You must slay Odin's ancient rivals and bring order to Valheim, but also try and reach the final world and find rest. It offers co-op for up to 10 people, ship-building and sailing, and tonnes of mythology among the usual best survival games affair too. 

4. Minecraft

Developer: Mojang Studios
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, PC, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch

These days we think of Minecraft as a kiddie-friendly creative wonderland, so we forget that at its core there’s a brilliant survival game. Mining for materials, crafting tools and building a shelter is still as tense as it ever was, with one eye watching for sundown and one ear cocked for the moans of zombies. 

Forging your first decent weapons feels a big achievement, and there’s plenty of excitement to be had in farming and foraging in an epic, unknown landscape, or fending off exploding creepers before they can breach your fortifications. We love Minecraft for its creativity, but there’s still a thrilling game underneath.

Check our our Minecraft review and Minecraft Legends review for more

3. Frostpunk 2

Developer: 11 Bit Studios
Platforms: PC (PS5, Xbox Series X TBC)

Blending city builders with a story-rich campaign and combat base-building, Frostpunk 2 is one of the best survival games for its sheer effort to elevate its predecessor and then some. Taking place some years after the events of the first game, Frostpunk 2 tasks players with continuing to prosper in a barren icy wasteland. Tactics are key to success, with the game expanding the player's arsenal of tools considerably to put it more in line with one of the best 4X games in terms of the size, scope, and breadth of gameplay potential. Trust us when we say, this is one survival game experience that will be oh so worth your time and effort.

Read our Frostpunk 2 review here

2. Raft

Developer: Redbeet Interactive
Platforms: PC

For a game to limit its play space to a few square feet seems like a bad idea. What are players going to do to fill the time? On the contrary, says Raft, if they want more room to explore, they're going to have to build it. 

Set almost entirely on the makeshift watercraft of the title, Redbeet Interactive's survival game is all about life at sea, tasking players to upgrade their vehicle, explore mysterious islands, fend off ocean-faring predators, and hopefully find their way back home before its too late. Think Fortnite meets Subnautica, and you get the idea, not to mention the reason for its inclusion on this list of best survival games. 

1. ARK: Survival Evolved

Developer: Studio Wildcard
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Android, PC

Take survival, add sci-fi and dinosaurs, and you have the bare bones of Ark: Survival Evolved. The game’s built a huge fanbase despite dated visuals and a harsh difficulty level, just because it makes the business of staying alive so exciting, no doubt helped by the fact that beyond the giant reptiles and other hostile beasties, it’s other players that pose the biggest threat. 

Build and upgrade your base and set traps and you’ll live a little longer. Join forces with a tribe and wage war on others, and you’ll live longer still. It’s not every game where you can tame a Sabre-tooth or ride a Megalodon, and no other game does survival on quite this T-Rex scale.

Here's everything we know about Ark 2 so far

Some of the best city building games involve complex survival systems, too.