Survival games aren’t just about surviving hunger or thirst – they’re often about exploring, gathering resources, and even creating your own base to defend it from adversity.
It’s a genre that’s exploded in recent years, with a plethora of emergent stories and unexpected adventures. If you’re looking for a new challenge to take on, check out these best survival crafting games.
Minecraft
Minecraft is a blocky, procedurally-generated three-dimensional game where players explore and construct a universe. It offers a variety of game modes, including survival mode and creative mode.
In survival mode, the goal is to collect resources, build structures, and keep health in check as you try to survive. Monsters, called mobs in Minecraft, may show up and try to kill or steal from you.
The basic idea is simple: break (or mine) a block, then place it somewhere else in the world to build something. You don’t need any special tools for this – your hand will do.
Terraria
Terraria is an action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic and first released in 2011. It features exploration, crafting, building, painting, and combat with a variety of creatures.
It’s been around for over a decade now, and Re-Logic has continued to provide meaningful updates that go above and beyond bug fixes or minor adjustments.
Among the most notable of these updates are the 1.4.4 Labor of Love content update, which adds a wide range of new content and quality of life features to the game. It’s also possible to play online with up to eight players and supports two-player couch co-op for console editions.
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky is a hugely ambitious sci-fi adventure that spans entire galaxies all brought to life through procedural generation. You can explore an endless array of planets and star systems, trade with alien life, prospect for rare materials and build expansive bases to live in.
The game launched four years ago, but since then Hello Games has delivered a whole host of features that have transformed No Man’s Sky into one of the best games in the genre. Today, we’re looking at some of the most notable updates No Man’s Sky has received over the past few years.
Obsidian
Obsidian is a note-taking app designed to help you create knowledge graphs. It supports a range of markdown formatting, including tables, task lists, and footnotes.
Obsidian also supports Latex, which can be used to write mathematical notation. You can even set a table of contents in a single pane, which is useful for organizing your notes.
The simplest way to obtain obsidian is to find a lava pool and “drench” it with water, which converts it into obsidian blocks. Lava pools are a common source of obsidian in both the Overworld and Nether.
Subnautica
The idea of survival crafting games isn’t new, but what makes Subnautica stand out is its alien world. Most survival games focus on surviving in a wilderness or a post-apocalyptic environment, but Subnautica puts you in an alien ocean planet where you need to eat food and drink water to stay alive, and collect resources to craft new tools.
As you explore this underwater world, you’ll find biomes that are more imaginative than most other survival games, from lilypad forests and hydrothermal vents to tower-block-sized icebergs. This is a beautiful setting that will leave you with a sense of wonder and excitement, and it’s a great place to build your base.
Valheim
Valheim is an open-world survival game with an emphasis on exploration. Players will explore deep forests and frozen mountains, build settlements on the other side of vast seas, and slay monsters in order to prove their worth to Odin.
The survival genre is often daunting to those unfamiliar with it, but Valheim’s streamlined system makes it a lot more accessible than many of its competitors. It’s a simple Biome > Boss > Biome cycle that’s immediately understood by even those who aren’t familiar with the genre.
In addition to its streamlined crafting system, Valheim has a skill-based advancement system that rewards you for your actions. This means that you’ll earn more proficiency for running, cutting, and crafting over time.
BornSurvivor 