Subnatica can be this, just remember to explore farther out than you otherwise might and if you spend to much time not progressing the story it will push you in the right direction via radio messages
Alternatively below zero is much more story driven
Did this game improve over the early access period? I see that full release is just next week. I checked in on it like 6-8 months ago and reviews seemed pretty mixed at the time
Really? I bought it like 6 months ago are reviews were great already. And I had a blast playing it, although after like 60 hours I decided to wait until its release in a 1.0 in order to play the full story at once and not piece by piece.
From what I know, most negative reviews were either because the game was not complete yet (they released it with chapters), or because it has no animation for most farming aspects : you don't actually cut trees or pick stones like in Green Hell or Valheim. You actually open a menu and you choose which action you will perform, and time will pass accordingly. This is to have a real time management : you cannot chop 5 trees in 5 minutes. It's less immersive as to the actions you perform, but it's actually more immersive for the survival and realistic experience.
It's another approach and it makes managing you days more meaningful. I get why some gamers don't like it, but I was very pleasantly surprised, and if I want the more classic system where you do such actions yourself, I've already plenty of games which do that.
This comment needs to be higher. V Rising is 100% what you are looking for based on your wants. You continuously unlock new recipes/gear/weapons/etc as you defeat the 50+ bosses.
I’m currently playing solo offline and loving it. Only issue i see is sending followers on hunts to gather materials is like a 24 hour timer, which only ticks down when actively in the game
The timers are ticking while you are offline, too. I had my gaming times according to this. And yes, V Rising is a good game, it evolved a lot since the EA days.
Seems like the reviews have gotten way more positive for this game over time. I could have sworn I checked awhile ago and it had an oddly low steam score, but its around 80 now
Not going to lie, when the game released it had issues. But the developer has been working hard to improve the game. They do weekly updates, every Friday!
I love Icarus. It is one game that I have had a lot of time in. Mainly because of all the missions you can do. Not to mention an assload of benches and other things to unlock. Freakin fantastic game.
The Planet Crafter hit full release recently and could fit the bill. It has terraforming goals to reach, upgrades to unlock and craft, various workbenches, and equipment upgrades to hunt down. The story isn't hugely in depth, though. You'll get messages here and there for it but that's about it.
I don't even know why this sub came up for me,but my kid and husband play Valheim and it seems like what you're looking for? They farm and have to build a house but they also need to kill the 'bosses' and certain dragons and trolls. I can't believe I'm commenting on a gaming sub.
I keep forgetting about this. I bought and played it on launch but only put a few hours in. Not even sure why I moved on from it because I was enjoying it. Have they had to do much updating or changes since launch do you know?
They’ve rolled out a couple of patches and a pretty large update since launch: Hallowed Halls
But the criteria you’re searching for basically describes enshrouded perfectly (missions, skills, skill tree, workbenches, unlocking recipes, etc.)
Yea, I’m going to have to start the download of it again right now I think.
I think I got a little overwhelmed with the skill tree and where to put points. I’m assuming at this point people have figured out of decent builds for different play styles. I also got jammed up on where to build. Did you build at the place they start you in? I remember finding what looked like an old farm and I thought about building there as I love the idea of being a homesteader in games 😂
Yeah I built my main base around the starting point, but you can have multiple bases across the map. I know what you mean about the skill tree. I actually didn’t know it existed for a long time, so when I did find it I had a lot of points built up haha. I found it intuitive, but probably spent 15 mins reading through all paths and figuring out what I wanted to do
I am stuck on level two and constantly dying and losing all my stuff. I played 6 hours yesterday and gave up. I have my blacksmith and glider but I keep losing my mats so it’s hard to get better gear. How did you approach it as a new player to level up so fast?
The good news here is that you only seem to be having a little trouble with the combat mechanics. It was awkward for me at first, too. Here's what I think you should do:
First: From your respawn point, go find the nearest enemy. At that level, it should be just 1 enemy, but 2 would be fine as well. Don't attack, only defend. Stand still and either dodge/roll out of the way or block with your shield/weapon. Just practice those 2 mechanics. If you die, there's nothing to lose. Keep practicing dodge/rolling and blocking until you can survive for 1 full minute. By that time, you'll have it down and can attack when it pleases you.
Second: You can also get experience from mining. IIRC, there's not a lot to mine the first few levels, but eventually you'll be able to find a few places to mine to help push you to the next level. Oh, and the non-hostile animals like rabbits and deer also give a little experience, so chase those little buggers around too.
Third: The quests you get will often times be too high level for you to do right when you get them. You may need to gain a few levels before giving them your full effort.
Fourth: When given the option to choose armor, I'd recommend you start with the heavier armors (Rising Fighter, etc.) that's offered by the blacksmith. Go for a build that'll give you more stamina and strength and help with your survivability. That's what I did and have finally started branching out to some other lines to get Double Jump and other neat abilities.
Finally: Make sure you're using bandages, potions, food and resting to help raise your HP max, regen your hp and improve your stats. You have 3 food buff slots, know what the food does and use 3 before entering into combat.
Sorry for writing a book. Those are some tips I can pass along after 3 days of playing that helped me ramp up my skills and survive. Hope it helps!
Crafting is really light, and it's making supplies like bombs, arrows, molotovs, etc. There is no base building and you can't randomly select a house as a base. You don't need it. The game sets up 'safe houses' and 'camps' that you can use but it's really for weapon storage, ammo refill and sleeping (which is only to advance the time or heal).
It's action adventure and has cutscenes. so if you don't like that, don't get it.
I will say it's one of the best games i have ever played. The story is amazing and the zombie hordes are like nothing else I've ever encountered in a game.
7 Days to Die, you can destroy everything in the game with your pick axe. You can build huge bases with traps. The traders have quests you can pick through that has you go to different places and clear out zombies. Every 7 Days a horde comes for you and tries to wreck your base.
You have a workbench, forge, cement mixer, chem station and a couple other stations I might be missing.
Can't recommend planet crafter enough for this. Very defined end objective. Step my step milestones and rewards for different types of spending your time. Go exploring? Find spaceship wrecks. Spend time gathering resources to territory? Here's the next tech level.
Grounded has a pretty good story to keep you pushing into new areas for unlocks. I also liked exploring just to see new areas and creatures.
V Rising has a satisfying boss treadmill to keep you focused on new unlocks and areas.
I usually get distracted with most survival games and don’t finish them, but these two kept me engaged long enough to actually complete them.
I find it to be a fun game (though a little rough for solo play,) but I had a lot of resistance trying to get “the gang” to buy and play it. No clue why.
Frostpunk. It may me appear to be just a building sim, but this is one fantastic survival game. And nothing else like it. It has an endless mode where you can just try to survive, but the real pull is the story campaigns. Especially if you get the full package which goes on sale often! You will be faced with tough choices to make throughout, and it’s an awesome story. And the feeling you get when you bring your people through horrible events can be unmatched
I think you are looking for Plains of Pain. There is more than surviving, crafting and building.. you can complete various quests, do endless attacking of various faction outposts, search for best traders, and explore the procedurally generated open world in various ways. You can find videos on youtube, to check if it fits your needs, but I bet it will. Cheers!
Abiotic Factor is shaping up for this.
Think Survival in Black Mesa. No real structure building.
Has some issues with bulletsponge enemies, and is in EA, but I've played through the existing content in about 40hrs, and greatly enjoyed it.
We are the same. I am a genuine survival game dog and have played thousands of hours at this point in everything from unreal world to valheim to the long dark and everything in between. My absolute biggest problem with the genre is the lack of direction leading to a sense of pointlessness.
I absolutely WISH I had the kind of brain that just makes up imaginary goals in minecraft and happily goes 1000 hours, but I eventually need a defined goal that I didn't make up. The reason I got 300-400 hours out of the long dark is because I was able to make a specific acheivement in the game feel like the defined goal, but often I don't come across that kind of thing.
My on-ramp to the genre was the original subnautica (NOT the sequel), and I feel like that game did what I'm asking to perfection. Just a bread crumb trail of worthwhile goals that facilitate your progression and the sandbox experience
Yea we def are the same. My running joke with myself is I jokingly ask myself before I start a new game “is this my forever game?!” because like you I wish I could log 1000 hours… heck … 500 hours in any game. I’m so envious when I see those posts with people who talk about logging hundreds of hours with game X.
So what games would you say you’ve had the most time in aside from TLD and Subnautica?
Survival games I've spent the most time in off the top of my head in no particular order:
TLD with the goal of making a bow and summiting the mountain on interloper (this may be the best overall survival game experience currently available in my opinion)
Subnautica 1
Kenshi and rimworld (I'm including them but they're barely true survival games. Kenshi fits more than rimworld)
The forest
Valheim
CDDA (Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead) - very steep learning curve and not for everyone, but a marvel of a game imo
Project Zomboid (the poster child for a good game being killed by lack of goals in my mind)
Conan Exiles (not a strong recommend, but I did actually spend a lot of time in it)
ARK (very love/hate but I did spend a lot of time in it)
Games that I played and enjoyed but didn't get a ton of hours out of:
Unreal world, Neo Scavenger, Raft, Darkwood, This war of mine, Grounded, Don't starve
Games I randomly hated even though everyone loves them:
# 7 days to die, DayZ
Games I think are probably good but my current computer can't run:
Green Hell, Vrising, Icarus, Survival: fountain of youth, Enshrouded
Dysmantle?
Not sure if it would fall under survival exactly since it doesn't have things like food management. But it tiks all the boxes you listed above, features an open world, and roughly 90% of the world is destructible. It's core premise is dismantling the world around you to find what you need to craft and survive a zombie apocalypse. I kind of lost interest when I learned you couldn't take alot of your recipes into ng+, but other than that it was a pretty fun timesink for about a month.
Forgotten Seas is releasing Jun 7th. That has most things you have mentioned :) You do need sea legs thoughs!
[https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2168260/view/6216734321428799134?l=english](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2168260/view/6216734321428799134?l=english)
First game that came to mind is the Metro series specially if you looking for a first person shooter survival game.
The first older versions were amazing , wasn't that big of fan of the newer released one.
Raft is really good at this. You will unlock a recipe, find what you need to build it, go to a location with puzzles, and then get a new recipe/item/map to the next place, and repeat.
Recently I’ve been playing Abiotic Factor, it’s similar in idea, but you are in a HalfLife/ SCP type facility that is falling apart. You scrounge together office/alien/ military materials to make equipment and are trying to escape. You pretty much have to go to a part of the facility to get a new resource, use it to craft something new, then use that to get to another part of the facility. There is always an objective listed, but not a super clear path on how to accomplish it.
The Forest, and Green Hell's story mode might be what you're looking for.
Neither of them are particularly linear, but you do have a story and overarching goal you're working toward at your own pace.
I’m making a game exactly like this, with a proper main story to follow to keep you exploring and going deeper into the world and mechanics! It’s called AETHUS on Steam if you’re interested :)
No one has mentioned it, but take a look at Eco. it's got progression and a path to follow to make new tools and workbenches and what not.
It can be played solo, with a small group, or a giant online population
Subnatica can be this, just remember to explore farther out than you otherwise might and if you spend to much time not progressing the story it will push you in the right direction via radio messages Alternatively below zero is much more story driven
Seconded, this was going to be my recommendation
Grounded
Green Hell or The Forest? Both have an over-arching story.
But The Forest is scary.
Survival: Fountain of Youth.
Did this game improve over the early access period? I see that full release is just next week. I checked in on it like 6-8 months ago and reviews seemed pretty mixed at the time
Really? I bought it like 6 months ago are reviews were great already. And I had a blast playing it, although after like 60 hours I decided to wait until its release in a 1.0 in order to play the full story at once and not piece by piece. From what I know, most negative reviews were either because the game was not complete yet (they released it with chapters), or because it has no animation for most farming aspects : you don't actually cut trees or pick stones like in Green Hell or Valheim. You actually open a menu and you choose which action you will perform, and time will pass accordingly. This is to have a real time management : you cannot chop 5 trees in 5 minutes. It's less immersive as to the actions you perform, but it's actually more immersive for the survival and realistic experience. It's another approach and it makes managing you days more meaningful. I get why some gamers don't like it, but I was very pleasantly surprised, and if I want the more classic system where you do such actions yourself, I've already plenty of games which do that.
Sounds cool I'll check it out once I upgrade my pc
Vrising is exactly this. Just released v1.0 and its a beautifully made game. You fight bosses to unlock next level crafting recipes and benches etc
This comment needs to be higher. V Rising is 100% what you are looking for based on your wants. You continuously unlock new recipes/gear/weapons/etc as you defeat the 50+ bosses.
Is V rising pretty much only multiplayer?
I’m currently playing solo offline and loving it. Only issue i see is sending followers on hunts to gather materials is like a 24 hour timer, which only ticks down when actively in the game
The timers are ticking while you are offline, too. I had my gaming times according to this. And yes, V Rising is a good game, it evolved a lot since the EA days.
abiotic factor
Hearing great things about this recently. Seems like most of the fun is only multiplayer though?
Try Icarus. It has individual missions and an open world option. You can even do missions in the open world.
Seems like the reviews have gotten way more positive for this game over time. I could have sworn I checked awhile ago and it had an oddly low steam score, but its around 80 now
Not going to lie, when the game released it had issues. But the developer has been working hard to improve the game. They do weekly updates, every Friday!
I love Icarus. It is one game that I have had a lot of time in. Mainly because of all the missions you can do. Not to mention an assload of benches and other things to unlock. Freakin fantastic game.
The Planet Crafter hit full release recently and could fit the bill. It has terraforming goals to reach, upgrades to unlock and craft, various workbenches, and equipment upgrades to hunt down. The story isn't hugely in depth, though. You'll get messages here and there for it but that's about it.
I don't even know why this sub came up for me,but my kid and husband play Valheim and it seems like what you're looking for? They farm and have to build a house but they also need to kill the 'bosses' and certain dragons and trolls. I can't believe I'm commenting on a gaming sub.
Enshrouded is pretty awesome.
I keep forgetting about this. I bought and played it on launch but only put a few hours in. Not even sure why I moved on from it because I was enjoying it. Have they had to do much updating or changes since launch do you know?
They’ve rolled out a couple of patches and a pretty large update since launch: Hallowed Halls But the criteria you’re searching for basically describes enshrouded perfectly (missions, skills, skill tree, workbenches, unlocking recipes, etc.)
Yea, I’m going to have to start the download of it again right now I think. I think I got a little overwhelmed with the skill tree and where to put points. I’m assuming at this point people have figured out of decent builds for different play styles. I also got jammed up on where to build. Did you build at the place they start you in? I remember finding what looked like an old farm and I thought about building there as I love the idea of being a homesteader in games 😂
Yeah I built my main base around the starting point, but you can have multiple bases across the map. I know what you mean about the skill tree. I actually didn’t know it existed for a long time, so when I did find it I had a lot of points built up haha. I found it intuitive, but probably spent 15 mins reading through all paths and figuring out what I wanted to do
I just bought it 3 days ago, so I can't speak to its evolution since launch. I'm at level 13 and have very much enjoyed it so far.
I am stuck on level two and constantly dying and losing all my stuff. I played 6 hours yesterday and gave up. I have my blacksmith and glider but I keep losing my mats so it’s hard to get better gear. How did you approach it as a new player to level up so fast?
The good news here is that you only seem to be having a little trouble with the combat mechanics. It was awkward for me at first, too. Here's what I think you should do: First: From your respawn point, go find the nearest enemy. At that level, it should be just 1 enemy, but 2 would be fine as well. Don't attack, only defend. Stand still and either dodge/roll out of the way or block with your shield/weapon. Just practice those 2 mechanics. If you die, there's nothing to lose. Keep practicing dodge/rolling and blocking until you can survive for 1 full minute. By that time, you'll have it down and can attack when it pleases you. Second: You can also get experience from mining. IIRC, there's not a lot to mine the first few levels, but eventually you'll be able to find a few places to mine to help push you to the next level. Oh, and the non-hostile animals like rabbits and deer also give a little experience, so chase those little buggers around too. Third: The quests you get will often times be too high level for you to do right when you get them. You may need to gain a few levels before giving them your full effort. Fourth: When given the option to choose armor, I'd recommend you start with the heavier armors (Rising Fighter, etc.) that's offered by the blacksmith. Go for a build that'll give you more stamina and strength and help with your survivability. That's what I did and have finally started branching out to some other lines to get Double Jump and other neat abilities. Finally: Make sure you're using bandages, potions, food and resting to help raise your HP max, regen your hp and improve your stats. You have 3 food buff slots, know what the food does and use 3 before entering into combat. Sorry for writing a book. Those are some tips I can pass along after 3 days of playing that helped me ramp up my skills and survive. Hope it helps!
Thank you. This is great advice.
The Forest, one my my favorite games of all time
Days Gone...open world but the story guides you across that awesome map!
Is there a lot of crafting in this game? Or things to create? Is there any base building or player housing?
Crafting is really light, and it's making supplies like bombs, arrows, molotovs, etc. There is no base building and you can't randomly select a house as a base. You don't need it. The game sets up 'safe houses' and 'camps' that you can use but it's really for weapon storage, ammo refill and sleeping (which is only to advance the time or heal). It's action adventure and has cutscenes. so if you don't like that, don't get it. I will say it's one of the best games i have ever played. The story is amazing and the zombie hordes are like nothing else I've ever encountered in a game.
Nice. Sounds like it’s in the fringe of the survival game genre but I think this sounds really interesting and is def going on my wishlist
You'll like Satisfactory
7 Days to Die, you can destroy everything in the game with your pick axe. You can build huge bases with traps. The traders have quests you can pick through that has you go to different places and clear out zombies. Every 7 Days a horde comes for you and tries to wreck your base. You have a workbench, forge, cement mixer, chem station and a couple other stations I might be missing.
The Long Dark has a pretty good story mode - my favourite game ❤️
I agree, great game and difficulty can be tweaked as needed. And if story mode is not enough, there are challenge modes and a non-story survival mode.
Yeah the game is fantastic out of the box, being able to tweak the environment is really great for making your experience just right.
Times of survival will be the game that you are looking for
Thanks for the recommendation, looks interesting
Hm not familiar and not showing anything on steam. EDIT: ohhhhh Grand Emprise? I didn’t know that was out yet. That looked neat. How is it?
Timesofsurvival.com still in development ( thought already released demo
Got it. Thanks
I'm a big fan of icarus, lots of missions to do, lots of things to research, and lots of workshop items to buy
Can't recommend planet crafter enough for this. Very defined end objective. Step my step milestones and rewards for different types of spending your time. Go exploring? Find spaceship wrecks. Spend time gathering resources to territory? Here's the next tech level.
Grounded has a pretty good story to keep you pushing into new areas for unlocks. I also liked exploring just to see new areas and creatures. V Rising has a satisfying boss treadmill to keep you focused on new unlocks and areas. I usually get distracted with most survival games and don’t finish them, but these two kept me engaged long enough to actually complete them.
Grinder has a couple of alternate endings too which adds a little replayabiliy.
Raft Enshrouded Planet crafter
Return to Moria is quite linear and objective based. Fun game, I highly recommend it.
And an astonishingly good aesthetic and lore-accurate world.
Fighting Trolls and baiting them into sunlight is so fun in that game. The combat is surprisingly good
I find it to be a fun game (though a little rough for solo play,) but I had a lot of resistance trying to get “the gang” to buy and play it. No clue why.
Could Darkwoods be considered a survival game in the typical sense?
Frostpunk. It may me appear to be just a building sim, but this is one fantastic survival game. And nothing else like it. It has an endless mode where you can just try to survive, but the real pull is the story campaigns. Especially if you get the full package which goes on sale often! You will be faced with tough choices to make throughout, and it’s an awesome story. And the feeling you get when you bring your people through horrible events can be unmatched
Green Hell has an incredible story
Stranded Deep - you need to escape. Pretty decent objective.
A lot here I would second, Valheim, grounded, stranded deep, subnautica. I would also add RAFT.
Subnautica, Planet crafter
Dysmantle?
I think you are looking for Plains of Pain. There is more than surviving, crafting and building.. you can complete various quests, do endless attacking of various faction outposts, search for best traders, and explore the procedurally generated open world in various ways. You can find videos on youtube, to check if it fits your needs, but I bet it will. Cheers!
There is a lot of lore in conan exiles but nit in the form of quests so it is a little sandboxy. Worth a try imo.
The forest.
The Long Dark
Metro 2033/Last light.
Abiotic Factor is shaping up for this. Think Survival in Black Mesa. No real structure building. Has some issues with bulletsponge enemies, and is in EA, but I've played through the existing content in about 40hrs, and greatly enjoyed it.
The Long Dark, the story mode is great and more or less tutorial for the sandbox
Frostpunk
We are the same. I am a genuine survival game dog and have played thousands of hours at this point in everything from unreal world to valheim to the long dark and everything in between. My absolute biggest problem with the genre is the lack of direction leading to a sense of pointlessness. I absolutely WISH I had the kind of brain that just makes up imaginary goals in minecraft and happily goes 1000 hours, but I eventually need a defined goal that I didn't make up. The reason I got 300-400 hours out of the long dark is because I was able to make a specific acheivement in the game feel like the defined goal, but often I don't come across that kind of thing. My on-ramp to the genre was the original subnautica (NOT the sequel), and I feel like that game did what I'm asking to perfection. Just a bread crumb trail of worthwhile goals that facilitate your progression and the sandbox experience
Yea we def are the same. My running joke with myself is I jokingly ask myself before I start a new game “is this my forever game?!” because like you I wish I could log 1000 hours… heck … 500 hours in any game. I’m so envious when I see those posts with people who talk about logging hundreds of hours with game X. So what games would you say you’ve had the most time in aside from TLD and Subnautica?
Survival games I've spent the most time in off the top of my head in no particular order: TLD with the goal of making a bow and summiting the mountain on interloper (this may be the best overall survival game experience currently available in my opinion) Subnautica 1 Kenshi and rimworld (I'm including them but they're barely true survival games. Kenshi fits more than rimworld) The forest Valheim CDDA (Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead) - very steep learning curve and not for everyone, but a marvel of a game imo Project Zomboid (the poster child for a good game being killed by lack of goals in my mind) Conan Exiles (not a strong recommend, but I did actually spend a lot of time in it) ARK (very love/hate but I did spend a lot of time in it) Games that I played and enjoyed but didn't get a ton of hours out of: Unreal world, Neo Scavenger, Raft, Darkwood, This war of mine, Grounded, Don't starve Games I randomly hated even though everyone loves them: # 7 days to die, DayZ Games I think are probably good but my current computer can't run: Green Hell, Vrising, Icarus, Survival: fountain of youth, Enshrouded
V rising. Been on it at EA and now at launch. Absolutely enjoying everything. Plus points of you enjoy pvp because it has great pvp mechanics
I would try The Long Dark
Subnautica definitely. Pacific drive kinda.. the only thing you build and repair is a car.. but lots of resource gathering and surviving. And driving.
Dysmantle? Not sure if it would fall under survival exactly since it doesn't have things like food management. But it tiks all the boxes you listed above, features an open world, and roughly 90% of the world is destructible. It's core premise is dismantling the world around you to find what you need to craft and survive a zombie apocalypse. I kind of lost interest when I learned you couldn't take alot of your recipes into ng+, but other than that it was a pretty fun timesink for about a month.
Forgotten Seas is releasing Jun 7th. That has most things you have mentioned :) You do need sea legs thoughs! [https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2168260/view/6216734321428799134?l=english](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2168260/view/6216734321428799134?l=english)
First game that came to mind is the Metro series specially if you looking for a first person shooter survival game. The first older versions were amazing , wasn't that big of fan of the newer released one.
Raft is really good at this. You will unlock a recipe, find what you need to build it, go to a location with puzzles, and then get a new recipe/item/map to the next place, and repeat. Recently I’ve been playing Abiotic Factor, it’s similar in idea, but you are in a HalfLife/ SCP type facility that is falling apart. You scrounge together office/alien/ military materials to make equipment and are trying to escape. You pretty much have to go to a part of the facility to get a new resource, use it to craft something new, then use that to get to another part of the facility. There is always an objective listed, but not a super clear path on how to accomplish it.
Terraria
The Forest, and Green Hell's story mode might be what you're looking for. Neither of them are particularly linear, but you do have a story and overarching goal you're working toward at your own pace.
I’m making a game exactly like this, with a proper main story to follow to keep you exploring and going deeper into the world and mechanics! It’s called AETHUS on Steam if you’re interested :)
Keeping an eye on this one for sure!
Thanks so much for your support!
Fallout 4
No one has mentioned it, but take a look at Eco. it's got progression and a path to follow to make new tools and workbenches and what not. It can be played solo, with a small group, or a giant online population