Survival is a theme that covers a wide range of games. There are horror games where the point is to survive a big threat waiting to end players swiftly and without mercy. And there are games where the point is to survive the elements, battling against hunger, and fighting against the dangers of the natural world.
On top of it all, some of these survival games have a really heavy focus on exploration. They want the players to explore their worlds, find a reliable source of food or other essentials, and live as long as possible. Some even include stories to survive along with too, adding yet another layer to the complexity of these games.
10 Astroneer Is An Adorable Space Colonization Game
Astroneer is a game where the player is controlling a space explorer with the goal of surviving across alien planets and building bases. There's a lot of exploration required in this adorable game, from space to the planets themselves.
There is no overarching plot in the game, meaning it's up to the player to decide how to go about living in the sandbox worlds, each with its own hazards and assorted challenges for the player to survive.
9 Don't Starve: The Game Where Starving Is The Least Of Your Problems
Don't Starve, and especially its Shipwrecked DLC are extremely focused on the exploration side of surviving. Players are thrust into the world of the Constant where they have to manage not just their hunger but also their sanity, fight monsters, and try to make it through various modes to escape.
Each map is procedurally generated in this massive sandbox, with many points of it being customizable to the player's liking. Some of the DLC levels lend well to building a megabase and sticking to it, while others really rely on the player constantly moving. Even with a base, the player still has to venture out to find resources to survive with, so exploring at least a little of the map is critical.
8 FarSky, Where The Sky Can't Be Further Away
FarSky is a game where the protagonist's submarine crashed and they have to survive at the bottom of the ocean long enough to make it back to the surface. Obviously, this is much easier said than done as humans are not meant to stay underwater, especially in the crushing depths of the sea.
The player has to explore to find all of the pieces for their submarine and repair it, all while trying to make camps, manage hunger and oxygen levels, and fight against predators. It's bright and colorful, something a lot of survival games lack.
7 Journey To The Savage Planet Brings Brightness To Strange New Worlds
Journey to the Savage Planet has players exploring and surviving on the wildly colorful planet of ARY-26 where they have to catalog various flora and fauna. One of the best things about it is that there are tons of hidden content throughout the world put there specifically to encourage exploration.
It's funny in a way a lot of other survival-style games are not, with silly lines of dialogue and aliens such as the Floopsnoot. It also can have multiplayer so friends can get in on the fun too.
6 Minecraft Is The King Of Exploration Survival
Minecraft is the king of modern games, being the top-grossing single game of all time, and for good reason. Its cute, blocky style lends well to the building and crafting side of things, and the sandbox nature of the game complete with a ton of different biomes make for an eternity of exploration.
To top it off, players have to manage their hunger and their health as they explore and build, unless they have put the game on to Creative and Peaceful modes, making it also one of the most prolific survival games that has ever existed.
5 Niche: A Genetics Survival Game Has A Whole World To Explore While Also Trying To Manage Lineages
Niche: A Genetics Survival Game ramps up the survival portion of the name to ten. Not only is the player trying to keep their little Nichelings alive, they are also trying to breed out undesirable genes while keeping a unique gene alive so that the whole clan can make it back to the Home Island.
Players have to explore to find food, new Nichelings to add to the clan, nests, and the way off of the island. Each area has different genes that can be unlocked, increasing the clan's chances of survival. Chances are by the time they make it back to the Home Island, they are going to look nothing like how they started.
4 No Man's Sky Is The Ultimate In Space Survival
No Man's Sky had a rocky start where it promised big things and didn't quite deliver on launch. Since then it's received massive updates and become an amazing standard for survival games. The player has to survive a planet they crash-landed into, escape, survive space itself, and explore various different worlds, space stations, and colonies.
Everything is procedurally generated, with over 18 quintillion combinations of planets that the player can find themselves on. Something unique about No Man's Sky is that, unlike most other survival games, it doesn't end once the player ends up in a place of civilization. Instead, it just opens up trading potential and has the player being able to further customize themselves.
3 Stranded Deep Makes The Pacific Ocean An Even Bigger Expanse
Stranded Deep dunks the player into the Pacific Ocean after a plane crash, which is a typical start to many survival games. They then have to explore a procedurally generated world full of islands, reefs, and trenches with a dynamic weather and day-night cycle.
After all of that, they also have to build a base and try to survive against the various hazards of the world, from predators to the weather. It's never going to be the same game twice, despite having a real-world start to its setting. It's also an Early Access Game, meaning that it's just going to keep getting better.
2 Subnautica Makes An Alien Ocean Into The Most Gorgeous Thing
Subnautica, as well as its sequel Below Zero, shove the player into a strange ocean full of various creatures. They have to then figure out how to survive the crushing depths, discover hidden mysteries, and find out what their true mission was meant to be.
They are gorgeous games that the player can spend ages on in various modes, ranging from creative to hardcore. It's got a rather in-depth story to cap it all off with, as well as a day-night cycle that really messes with visibility.
1 Surviving Mars While Colonizing It
Surviving Mars is a unique little survival game where the player is trying to build an entire colony on Mars in fun little biodomes. They have to explore to find the right places, get materials, and blends city-building and survival games into one neat little package.
Something that really makes this one special is that each of the colonists are unique and can influence the needs and behaviors of the others, adding another thing to account for while trying to keep each and every one of them alive.