Over the decades, video games have evolved into multiple genres, sub-genres and cross-genres, each fulfilling a specific preference that players liked. There are slow and tactical shooters like Valorant, puzzle adventures like Paper Mario: The Origami King, relaxing simulators like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and so much more. In layman's terms, there is a video game for all types of preferences.
One of these genres is the survival genre. It may not be as popular as most, but the survival genre tends to be one of the most addicting. The reason being survival games not only are very hard, but a lot of time gets put into them. Conquering the challenges that survival games provide players is also satisfying. Placed in a strange and empty world, these games force players to make something of themselves in extreme conditions or die. For those interested in trying the survival genre, here are some of the hardest survival games ranked on the market today.
Minecraft
Minecraft is one of the most popular video games in the world and boasts the most copies ever sold in the world. When people play Minecraft, they often don't think of it as a survival game, but it has all the hallmarks of the genre: crafting, building and resource gathering mechanics. The reason this game has made it to this list at all is that it's gotten increasingly hard thanks to a number of combat and enemy mob updates.
Minecraft can get even harder with the game's Hardcore mode. When players die in hardcore mode, their entire world gets deleted, effectively erasing any progress players have made. It is relatively easy to gather resources and build a shelter for protection in this game, so it's on the bottom of the list. But, as simple as Minecraft may look, do not underestimate its difficulty.
The Forest
The reason The Forest is so low on the list is that, like Minecraft, it lacks good PVP. That being said, The Forest's PVE is very difficult, depending on the game mode. Surviving after a plane crash, players need to build shelters and collect crafting materials to survive. Food and water are somewhat plentiful because of forest life and natural water sources, but there is always the never-ending threat of a cannibalistic tribe attacking players.
However, these cannibals don't always outright attack the player. Instead, in an unsettling manner, they wait to see what the player does. They even stalk players from safe distances to discover where their base is. This kind of threat is something fairly unique for a survival game, a genuinely intelligent enemy who eschews gaming norms. The cannibals have self-preservation behaviors and run when they realize the player is dangerous, but they also keep testing the player for weaknesses, biding their time for an opportunity to make a meal out of them.
7 Days To Die
7 Days To Die is a zombie apocalypse-themed survival game. Depending on the kinds of servers you want to play on (PVP or PVE), the difficulty can vary. But, one thing is for sure, and that is that as players progress, the game gets harder. Players need to survive hordes of zombies that attack them every seven game days and stronger hordes during Blood Moon events. This gives players seven days to prepare for the weekly night hordes, with each progressing zombie horde getting stronger and stronger.
This means that players need to manage their time for survival to gather resources, fortify their shelters, craft weapons or vehicles, etc. Too much player activity in a certain spot can result in mini hordes of zombies spawning close by and headed towards the player's location. Thankfully, there are skill points players can level up in their character to help their chances of survival. But, to craft certain things, players need to find specific parts and blueprints.
Don't Starve Together
Like with 7 Days To Die, Don't Starve Together increases in difficulty the more time goes on. Except, players are under threat every night in the game. This means players only have minutes to prepare for their nightly threats. Not only do players in the game need to worry about their health and hunger, but also their sanity. If their sanity drops too low, then nightmarish creatures begin to appear and attack players. This game also has PVP, which adds another level of difficulty.
In this game, food is rather difficult to acquire, there's no leveling system to increase player stats and there are even threats of weather conditions. Players can freeze to death in the winter or be affected by rain. Building protective walls around a base is also not worth the effort. Walls are quickly taken down in the game, so most "bases" are just campsites out in the open. Walls are more for decorations than for practical use.
Ark: Survival Evolved
Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the favorites in the survival genres. This is because of a unique mechanic that revolves around players taming other creatures, mainly dinosaurs. Unfortunately, being a frail member of the human species in the game, new players are at the bottom of the food chain and almost every creature can kill players. This does not even take into account the difficulties of offline raids that are associated with PVP. Grinding for levels is painstakingly hard and necessary to survive. Levels enable skill points to increase character stats as well as enable access to valuable crafting recipes.
Not only that, but the game's key theme of taming other creatures -- be it for beasts of burden, protection, travel, or for gathering resources -- can take real-life hours, and sometimes even real-life days if raising them from breeding. And all of that time can be wasted because tames can die from battle or starvation. Ark has different maps with different biomes; each biome and map can arguably have different levels of difficulty. It is best to play with a tribe, or group, to help maintain a base and tames as well as watch out for enemy players.