(GameRant) Most Influential Survival Games

[bysinda]

1 hour ago, Quinine said:

I share your opinion, loved don't starve and DST with friends, and not big on jump scares either. In fact, i must admit that i'm very easily triggered, and TLD is way enough emotions for my faint heart. For example, I want to try subnautica for a long time but i fear that it might trigger my fears too much.
I would like to try other games from that list though !

However, Project zomboid is a very interesting game in my opinion (but way too difficult !), and a close friend of mine is obsessed with Cataclysm, we often exchange on the very different qualities of our favorites survival games. This is definitely a wide genra, that can easily branch with other types of games.

I know the feeling of faint heart by, well...heart xD I used to wear FitBit when I first started playing Long Dark and every time I heard a wolf bark my heart rate would go above 100bpm 😆  that was so annoying, I couldn't play so many interesting games because of my body overreaction. I think it got better though, with time🤔🤔 

Btw, literally today a friend of mine was talking my ear off about project zomboid and how I would loooooove it 😁 

[bysinda]

@Quinine I would love to be able to share some other surviving games but i dont seem to play a lot of games 🤔 at least not as much as other people seem to do. I have my little pile of my favorites that I play over and over again occasionally adding "one time play-through" games in the mix 

[bascolais]

I think this article focuses more on game influence, that include some survival aspects, rather than "survival" game.

and personnaly I don't like zombies, so focusing on survival genre, there's not so much.

for survival games that will leave a mark, I think:  TLD, this war of mine, don't starve, green hell, subnautica, the fallout series in survival mode

I'm really deceived to not see this war of mine, because it could significate that there will be not so much game like that in the future. I prefer to think it was forgotten

 

[conanjaguar]

19 hours ago, Quinine said:

I want to try subnautica for a long time but i fear that it might trigger my fears too much.

Biggest advise for Subnautica... don't look down. There's no telling what lurks right beneath you, waiting to take a big bite out of you..

[Cattleman]

On 5/8/2024 at 2:26 PM, Leeanda said:

 

Though I haven't played Primal which does look more of a basic survival .

Yes primal does have some survival elements to it but is more combat/mission oriented.

[Leeanda]

8 minutes ago, Cattleman said:

Yes primal does have some survival elements to it but is more combat/mission oriented.

I'm not surprised really.. far cry does love it's combat😁.

[Sherri]

Great list.

Honestly TLD is how I discovered that 'open world survival craft' is my soul-genre... lol. 

Subnautica from that list is also one of my favs. For some reason both Subnauticas felt very similar to TLD to me.... that solo exploration loop is so satisfying. The lonely atmosphere. I love the little story tidbits that you find.

I see Minecraft in many lists of survival games. I've played it a lot, mostly with my kids and friends... but it isn't really a survival game to me. If standing around doing nothing won't kill you eventually... it's not survival to me. That loop of have having to keep satisfying your needs is key. Minecraft (IMHO) is a crafting and exploration game worthy of much praise, but not survival.

Really nice to see TLD on that list. I see it on more and more lists like this lately and it's awesome to see the recognition.

 

[Sherri]

I'm surprised Green Hell isn't on this list. It's what I'm playing now. I finished the main game and am almost done the SOA expansion. One thing Green Hell does shockingly well is create that feeling that you are helpless and inept... then via experience and learning about dangers and techniques you begin to master the jungle and know how to survive. When my husband and I started playing we were dying left and right. The game felt impossible. Now I'm a jungle ninja, and almost never die. TLD does this too and it's a source of deep satisfaction in game. When my *knowledge* is part of "levelling up".

Green Hell doesn't do their maps as well as TLD though. It's all a very uniform mass of jungle vegetation with very little in the way of terrain hints of where to go, or POIs besides the specific locations you are meant to go to. Base crafting is very nice though. In games like these where survival is so hard and everything is dangerous, it's important to have those mental breaks where you return to camp and just work on your base and kind of recover from the stress of exploration. I think this is why we see such detailed photos of people arranging their loot in their TLD safe-houses. The Base Customization update will be really interesting.

[Quinine]

 

On 5/10/2024 at 12:05 AM, bysinda said:

I know the feeling of faint heart by, well...heart xD I used to wear FitBit when I first started playing Long Dark and every time I heard a wolf bark my heart rate would go above 100bpm 😆  that was so annoying, I couldn't play so many interesting games because of my body overreaction. I think it got better though, with time🤔🤔 

Btw, literally today a friend of mine was talking my ear off about project zomboid and how I would loooooove it 😁 

Thanks for your replies, I feel you !

On 5/10/2024 at 5:53 PM, conanjaguar said:

Biggest advise for Subnautica... don't look down. There's no telling what lurks right beneath you, waiting to take a big bite out of you..

 That's it, I'm never playing it ! 😅

On 5/12/2024 at 5:05 AM, Sherri said:

Subnautica from that list is also one of my favs. For some reason both Subnauticas felt very similar to TLD to me.... that solo exploration loop is so satisfying. The lonely atmosphere. I love the little story tidbits that you find.

I actually watch a great video about the relation between the two games, if you're interested ! It connected it through the concept of sublime.

[Sherri]

2 minutes ago, Quinine said:

I actually watch a great video about the relation between the two games, if you're interested ! It connected it through the concept of sublime.

Yeah, I'd love to see that video!

[Sherri]

On 5/9/2024 at 4:17 PM, Quinine said:

I share your opinion, loved don't starve and DST with friends, and not big on jump scares either. In fact, i must admit that i'm very easily triggered, and TLD is way enough emotions for my faint heart. For example, I want to try subnautica for a long time but i fear that it might trigger my fears too much.
I would like to try other games from that list though !

If it helps... I can't remember much in the way of jump-scares in Subnautica. Nothing like the sudden wolf barks in TLD. In Subnautica it's more like you enter areas that are deep and spooky with creatures that are dangerous and scary, as well as areas that are dark in a creepy way. But to my memory, nothing really *jumps* out at you and startles you if you keep your eyes peeled.

There's also that heart-pounding anxiety of slowly running out of air... kind of like the temperature plummeting in a storm in TLD.

[ThePancakeLady]

1 hour ago, Sherri said:

If it helps... I can't remember much in the way of jump-scares in Subnautica. Nothing like the sudden wolf barks in TLD.

I have to disagree.

The cave crawlers on the islands will jump out at you and nail you. Repeatedly- like timberwolves in TLD. The Warpers can provide jumpscares, any of the Leviathans has a chance to (though most of them you will see or hear before they are in your face), but the Crabsquid can make sudden appearances, and the Bonesharks and Sandsharks can provide jumpscares as well. So can Stalkers, Crashfish, Biters and Bleeders, and the sneaky Crabsnakes in the Jellyshroom Cave. The game is full of things that will try to kill you, and many of them will ambush you if they can.

Which is why I recommended trying the game in Creative Mode through Family Sharing, where none of them will hurt or kill you, and a person can get used to where they are, how they act, and what they look like before going into Freedom Mode or full Survival Mode. 

Edited May 13 by ThePancakeLady
Typonese correction- what else?

[Sherri]

9 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

I have to disagree.

The cave crawlers on the islands will jump out at you and nail you. repeatedly- like timberwolves in TLD. The Warpers can provide jumpscares, any of the Leviathans has a chance to (though most of them you will see or hear before they are in your face), but the Crabsquid can make sudden appearances, and the Bonesharks and Sandsharks can provide jumpscares as well. So can Stalkers, Crashfish, Biters and Bleeders, and the sneaky Crabsnakes in the Jellyshroom Cave. The game is full of things that will try to kill you, and many of them will ambush you if they can.

Which is why I recommended trying the game in Creative Mode through Family Sharing, where none of them will hurt or kill you, and a person can get used to where they are, how they act, and what they look like before going into Freedom Mode or full Survival Mode. 

Yeah that's a good recommendation.
Maybe my experience differed because in TLD, the quiet peaceful snowy landscape (and the large distance between dangers) often lulled me into a sense of relaxation, just walking peacefully through the snow... so the sudden bark and appearance of a wolf really jolts me out of that. In Subnautica I was very very rarely in a "all-clear relaxed" mode because frankly you are always slowly drowning lol, so the sudden appearance of a dangerous creature was not so jarring because I was already somewhat tense. 🤣

[Sherri]

4 hours ago, Sherri said:

Yeah, I'd love to see that video!

Found it! Great watch! I really enjoyed learning about "the sublime" and realize that this is what I really look for in games!

Man this really makes me want a similar game set in the desert.

Thanks @Quinine!

 

Edited May 13 by Sherri

[ThePancakeLady]

10 minutes ago, Sherri said:

Man this really makes me want a similar game set in the desert.

Then you need to try ARID on Steam. It's a free game, and a student project from Breda University (so set your expectations realistically). It may not have as much "sublime" as TLD or Subnautica, but it does have it, and it's a pretty challenging survival game.

[Quinine]

I added Arid on steam, thank you again Pancake !

You're welcome Sherri, I'm glad you enjoyed it !! By the way, this video summarizes exactly what I'm afraid of with Subnautica : it's not the jump scares so much as the mere idea of these leviathans rooming in the dark if you venture too far away (I barely can watch this part of the video, it's awful), this oppressive feeling as you dive further down, between the light fading and the oxygen level falling...
But the video also summarize why I would want to play anyway ! Like it took time for me to domesticate TLD... And I'm still easily stressed out playing it but I love that sublime feeling !

[Daymo]

Stranded: Alien Dawn is a good game, despite the awful title.   
Very different from TLD though.