10 Realistic Survival Games That TRULY Test Your MIGHT

Looking for a challenging survival game on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S/One, or Switch? We've got you covered with these great games.

10. Green Hell

Platform : PC Switch PS4 Xbox One

Release Date : September 5, 2019

09. Medieval Dynasty

Platform : PC

Release Date : September 23, 2021

08. Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Platform : PC PS4 Xbox One

Release Date : August 27, 2019

07. Project Zomboid

Platform : PC Linux OS X

Release Date : 8 November 2013

06. UnReal World

Platform : PC Linux OS X

Release Date : 1992

05. The Forest

Platform : PC PS4

Release Date : 30 April 2018

04. RimWorld

Platform : PC Linux

Release Date : October 17, 2018

03. Neo Scavenger

Platform : PC OS X LINUX

Release Date : 15 December 2014

02. This war of mine

Platform : PC PS4 Xbox One Switch OS X

Release Date : 14 November 2014

01. The Long Dark

Platform : PC PS4 Xbox One Switch OS X LINUX

Release Date : August 1, 2017

Bonus:

The Flame in the Flood

Platform : PC PS4 Xbox One Switch

Release Date : February 24, 2016

Don't Starve

Platform : PC PS3 PS4 PS Vita Xbox One Switch Wii U OS X Linux

Release Date : April 23, 2013

Frostpunk

Platform : PC PS4 Xbox One

Release Date : April 24, 2018

0:00 Intro
0:21 Green Hell
1:39 Medieval Dynasty
2:47 Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
4:09 Project Zomboid
5:31 UnReal World
6:56 The Forest
8:15 RimWorld
9:38 Neo Scavenger
10:57 This war of mine
12:25 The Long Dark
14:02 Bonus:
The Flame in the Flood
Don't Starve
Frostpunk

[MikeTXBC]

Unfortunately, most survival games fall into the same trap of connecting the game's accelerated time frame to hunger and thirst. What this means is that you then need to not just constantly eat and drink, but also eat and drink in obscenely large amounts. No one needs to eat a buffet's worth of food every five minutes, but in a survival game that seems to be the case. It's incredibly annoying because having to do nothing but eat and drink isn't entertaining.

[pilotyourhead]

The Long Dark is the most intense survival experience i ever had! It is absolutely fantastic, and i definitely recommend for everyone who likes survival games!

[piratekit]

The Long Dark has been a favorite of mine since it was in beta, and it has changed a lot over the years with more challenges and survival options. It does an excellent job giving you the freedom to choose where/how to survive without being a world/building base game. Absolutely my favorite game to play on a cold winter day with a warm blanket!

[dadman]

The long dark is a game that I’ve enjoyed more and more over the years. Love that game

[RoleCrow]

Kingdom Come Deliverance on Hardcore mode with all the negative perks on, perfect combination between a medieval simulator a survival game and a Rpg without beign frustrating, one of my favorite games of all time.

[iamradical]

The forest was my first “survival” game I think. I had no clue what to do and I was terrified 99.9% of the time. Since then I’ve played a lot of survival games, I’m horrible at all of them.

[acomingextinction]

Man, the Long Dark is such a gem. The world is beautiful, melancholic, and cold - and the player is just scrabbling to keep warm, like a mouse in a snowcovered log.

[Bill]

Don’t Starve is amazing and I’m glad it got mentioned. Awesome art style, humorous, and has a big learning curve.

[TylaStark]

Tried and fell in love with Project Zomboid several years back. Finally got a PC to game on again last year, and was so stoked to see how far it's come. Such a fun game.

[pickford]

The Forest is one of the few survival games I actually really enjoyed..it wasn’t overly complicated to create things, and you weren’t constantly bombarded with little things that threaten your health..u were able to just worry about the basics, the cannibal mutants and it had an interesting storyline. So that was good enough for me👍 great vid fellas

[roxii]

Frost punk is definitely my favorite, I've spent many countless hours paying it. The story is so intriguing and it has many scenarios that are somewhat connected together.

I absolutely love the freedom this game gives you, it puts you under a lot of pressure being responsible for a large amount of people that just keep going up.

you got to organize your people by making Laws and keep their hope up while trying to make sure they are warm and have enough food, you also need to research many new technologies and keep up to date as resources are scarce and you can’t get enough without advanced technologies.

Not to mention your interactions with the outer world reying to understand what caused the ice age. I don’t want to spoil the game but if you’re a lover of survival games, city building games (or both!) you NEED to try this one out

[Pholc]

Unreal World is epic. I remember back in late 1990 or early 2000 when me and my brother first bought that game straight from the developer. The developer sent a floppy disk via mail. I'm so glad that the game is in Steam after all these years!

A great survival game although quite hard to master.

[gregciuba]

I spent 262h on project zomboid a couple of years ago and jumped back in last week - boy, oh, boy am I sucked in again. Amazing game

[ninjafrozr]

Don't Starve is no joke, the game gets really hard really quick for newcomers. Basically you learn as you play and almost everytime you reach a point that you never have before, something you can't expect happens and you die. And that makes it so rewarding when you do prepare for these events the next time you play and survive them. Also The Flame In The Flood is a really amazing game and in my experience quite difficult as well.

[rundoggie]

The Long Dark is an absolute MUST for survival gamers. It can be incredibly unforgiving but it is well worth the struggle. Green Hell just behind it for the constant survival factor and sheer experience of the jungle. I've personally been with TLD since 2014 and it's come a long way.

[mikicho--matte]

The Forest is such a beautiful game. The single player is very challenging and surprisingly terrifying cause of the amount of enemies you can encounter at least twice a day. The multiplayer co-op experience with friends is so fun. You get to uncover the secrets and the story behind the island you are stuck in, and do a lot of things to grow and survive. I'm excited for Sons of the Forest.

[toshineon]

Survival games will always be fascinating to me, they kinda scratch some deep ancient instincts we all carry within.

[mahimnavyas]

The long dark was my first ever game on steam with a potato pc. Enjoyed playing it, loved the art style. Deserves much more love!

[georgeoldsterd]

The Long Dark can be really unforgiving on higher difficulties. I started playing one of the challenge scenarios, and couldn't get out of the starting region, because there was barely any loot to take, I had only basic clothes on me, and there were wolves everywhere! But I love the game anyway, it's a lot of fun and the atmosphere just gives you chills at times.
Green Hell was fun too, though it took me a while to get used to. The campaign was slightly underwhelming, but I'm actually more glad I got the bad ending.
Don't Starve is cool, but hard. Definitely something for Tim Burton fans, I think.

The rest, I know of (almost all of them), but either didn't play, or didn't care for. Another couple of survival sims you've missed (deliberately or not) are:
1. "7 days to die", a zombie-survival. Yeah, it's unrealistic, but can be challenging.
2. "Stranded Deep". This one's more realistic, though some things like animal behaviours are stretched to make a challenge, and certain things can feel arcady.
Both are still in development though, so maybe that's why you didn't include them?

[backwaterskinny]

Empyrion is my all time favorite survival game. People never seen to mention it. It is one of those hidden gems. Subnautica is also amazing, mainly in VR.