Games are meant to be about fun, and to most people starvation, dehydration, and being mauled by bears doesn't sound like fun. Survival games should have been a doomed genre, but instead, players flocked to it, eager for the challenges the offer.
Maybe it's about testing oneself, pushing one's limits to survive another day, another hour in seemingly impossible circumstances. Maybe fantasy and survival games have the same appeal, offering players the chance to live and explore in totally alien circumstances. Whatever the case, some survival games changed the genre as a whole, introducing new elements or perfecting old ones. Here are some of the most influential.
10 Rust
In terms of difficulty, not all survival games are created equal. There are those in which survival is a challenge and those in which survival is torture. Rust is one of the games that helped popularize hardcore survival. It is not a question of whether one will die. It is a question of when.
Between the elements, hunger, and other players, making it a few hours or even a few minutes can be a triumph for new players. As a naked person on the beach encountering fully kitted players with AKs, the enormity of the task of surviving couldn't be more obvious. Rust is survival in its purest sense: there is no greater purpose.
9 No Man's Sky
Scale is a critical issue in survival games. Grounded asks players to survive in the backyard; meanwhile, No Man's Sky asks players to survive in the universe. Part of what makes survival games compelling is that they tend to leave players to their own devices, throwing them into the wild and letting them do as they will. No Man's Sky extends this philosophy to its limit by taking away every meaningful border and asking what it means to survive and prosper on the greatest scale imaginable.
Despite suffering a rocky launch, No Man's Sky has shown every survival game since the limitless possibilities of the genre, whether there's a galaxy to explore or a sandbox.
8 The Sims
Critics may object to the definition of The Sims as a survival game, but those that have juggled the need to eat, sleep, and use the bathroom, all while not burning the house down, understand the pressures of this unique series. As in most survival games, Sims players need to manage their needs in order to thrive.
Surviving in The Sims might not look much like compared to surviving the cannibal island of The Forest, but at a basic level, the tasks involved are the same, albeit with a social system layered on top of the former game. The Sims is the preeminent example of what everyday survival looks like, and it's been a touchstone for every game in which the social side of living is key.
7 Resident Evil
The union of survival and horror could hardly be more appropriate, as the elements of each genre increase the tension of the other. And if one franchise has been the face of survival horror over the years, it's Resident Evil.
Preserving ammunition and healing herbs as the player fights off zombies and monstrous mutations have been staples since the beginning, and most games where resource management is key to survival can point to Resident Evil as inspiration. Silent Hill, Eternal Darkness, and other highpoints of the genre have benefited from the influence of the original Resident Evil, as well as its sequels.
6 Dwarf Fortress
No, most gamers have never played Dwarf Fortress. Many are unaware it exists. Neither of those points keeps the game from being one of the most comprehensive survival games in existence. Terraria, Frostpunk, and other survival games in which interactive systems create an ever-changing experience have Dwarf Fortress to thank.
On top of its astounding complexity, Dwarf Fortress also helped set the standard for difficulty. Don't be fooled by its rudimentary graphics. This saga of dwarves and their halls of stone is one of the most punishing games in existence.
5 Fallout III
Survival games are almost always about more than just living another day. Crafting, base-building, and exploration are all vital components. The Fallout franchise has helped pave the way for other survival games since the beginning, but Fallout III is the title against which every other open-world survival game is judged.
From the moment a player first steps out of the vault and into the ruins of post-apocalyptic America, one feels both the oppressive danger and exhilarating possibility of the challenge ahead. Fallout III immerses the player better than almost any other game in the genre. This is how it feels to survive.
4 DayZ
A defining trait of many survival games is the persistence players must have. The goal isn't simply to survive one day, but as many as possible, slowly accumulating the skills, resources, and knowledge that will allow the player to triumph against the harshest conditions. DayZ does this immaculately. Zombies, other players, and the environment want the player dead, and every day is a battle even when no bullets are fired.
Persistent survival games like Valheim and Ark: Survival Evolved continue to draw on the formula that DayZ perfected. A can of soup and a well-placed gunshot might keep the player alive another night, but there's always another day and threat to end it all.
3 Minecraft
In gaming, few titans stand taller than Mojang's smash hit Minecraft. More than a decade after its release, the game has reached a level of popularity and cultural saturation that makes its actual achievements in the genre hard to describe.
Surviving in its blocky, randomized environments is always a new experience, and Minecraft makes crafting and base-building an endlessly engaging gameplay loop. Just as importantly, Minecraft's simple, cartoonish aesthetic makes the game accessible to kids as well as adults, introducing a vast number of new players to the survival genre.
2 The Oregon Trail
Anyone who's ever played The Oregon Trail likely remembers the anxiety of trying to ford a river with a wagon laden with sugar, bear meat, and sickly pioneers. It might be an educational game, but The Oregon Trail is as deadly as Dark Souls.
Dysentery, cholera, and snake bites are only a few of the threats waiting to kill settlers on their journey west. Given its ubiquity at the time, The Oregon Trail couldn't help but influence the genre. Set a simple goal and terrorize players as they try to accomplish it: that premise defines the survival genre, and this game is more or less where it began.
1 Dungeons & Dragons
Before survival games migrated to the land of ones and zeroes, they called the tabletop home. Dungeons & Dragons lives at the origin of fantasy, survival, and RPG alike. A good Dungeon Master may not be actively trying to kill players, but they ensure the world is populated with enough blizzards, Owlbears, and acid traps that survival is never certain.
D&D has long been the story of heroes scrabbling against the odds. Players must combat hunger as well as trolls while one trudges through the swamps in search of an inn's salvation. In one form or another, the stories and mechanics of most survival games began here.