Survival games are usually associated with PC gaming. Mostly because the inventories, crafting systems, and complex item management are more player-friendly with a keyboard, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a good library of survival games for the PS4.
For the sake of this list, I‘m going to try and leave out any games with zombies in them. And while some entries have zombie-like enemies, they are different enough from the brainless inconveniences that we know them as to warrant a spot on the list.
So, put on a loincloth, grab a stick, and let’s see what’re the best survival games that the PS4 has to offer.
Conan Exiles
Conan Exiles is the testimony that you shouldn’t judge a videogame based on its source material. We’re all used to crappy movie tie-in games or video games based on books that are nothing more than a cash grab.
This game defies expectations by being actually pretty decent. It’s an open-world survival game that takes place in the Conan universe. You wake up nailed to a cross where you’ll be able to customize your character down to the size of your Johnson only to be rescued by Conan himself. You’re then left to fend for yourself in the wild.
It checks all the main points of most survival games such as chopping down trees, running around butt naked, starting your own fire, hunting and stuff like that. However, because of the lack of tutorials, I would recommend this game only to those veterans of the survival genre. If this is you, then you’ll have no problem figuring out stuff on your own, but if you’re new to the genre, well, you’re gonna have a rougher time before you get the hang of it.
Green Hell
Green Hell is an appropriate name for this jewel. Imagine a survival game with mechanics as punishing as being in an actual Amazon jungle in real life. You stumble upon a bush full of spiders, and you may end up with a horrible rash. Or maybe you’ll get attacked by some wildlife before even getting the chance to pick up a stick. Oh, and be careful with snakes, leeches, cougars, and, well, you can’t really trust anything around you.
One of my favorite features of Green Hell from other games, besides the punishing nature, is the fact that you can check your status by
Minecraft
Being the most popular entry on the list, sometimes it is hard to remember that Minecraft is a survival game at its core. Yes, this seemingly infinite blocky world has offered millions of players the opportunity to create worlds, castles, buildings, even working computers. It’s a canvas for creativity, either through the game itself or by creating mods to change different aspects of gameplay. But before reaching for the stars and building empires, most of us started with nothing more than our bare hands.
Very few memories are as iconic as when I had finished up punching some trees and created my very first set of tools, only to see the sky grow darker and a hissing sound nearby. Crafting, building, and exploring are all big parts of this popular game that has captivated us, but they don’t compare to the single objective we had in mind when we spawned for the first time: to survive.
Frostpunk
Frostpunk is not a survival game in the sense you’d imagine. It’s a city-building game that acts like a horrible window as to what can happen when climate change affects the world in extreme ways. The world is covered in ice after a catastrophe covered the entire world’s atmosphere, effectively blocking the sun. Dark, depressing, and fantastic are the words I’d use to describe this game.
You’ll have to manage your people’s hope and discontent according to the situation at hand, oftentimes making hard calls for the greater good, but remember, the support of the people is as important as their survival, so I’d recommend you to not compromise one or the other. The beautiful thing about it, though, is that sooner or later, you are going to be forced to compromise.
A compelling storyline that will have you try to struggle your way through the game to become victorious and come out on top. A rewarding experience that only games in the survival genre can provide.
Subnautica
There’s nothing more terrifying than the unknown. As it stands right now, we know more about the universe than about our oceans. So, the developers of Subnautica decided to push their setting a step further by living you stranded in the middle of the ocean of an alien world. By doing this, not only are the developers exploiting some of humanity’s most primal fears, but they also allow them to have creative freedom when designing the wildlife around the player.
Subnautica is the reason why people should be turning their heads to indie developers more often. The world you explore is beautiful, colorful, and outright frightening.
You’ll find yourself using a pretty straightforward crafting system that allows you to upgrade your tools and equipment as a reward for exploring and getting your hands dirty in a sense.
The feeling of dread is unlike most other survival games when you encounter a predator. In other games, animals are usually an inconvenience, regular enemies that you can easily avoid or kill with the right tools, but in Subnautica, you’ll feel like the prey of countless creatures that won’t hesitate to attack you. So you’ll have to use everything at your disposal to avoid confrontation with the bigger threats, all while you dive deeper into the depths of the unknown.
Ark: Survival Evolved
The best way I can describe Ark: Survival Evolved it’s that it’s silly. It’s the kind of game to sit back and enjoy with friends, joking around and seeing if you can tame a T-rex or fight it with a stone ax. It was in early access for the longest time until getting a full release not too long ago, as well as being ported to consoles. And, well, it’s still feels like an early access game, but in a good way.
It’s glitchy and awkward, and I love it. With that said, the PS4 version is as solid as the PC version, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the kind of game to take seriously, and you can tell that by the fact that you can get sick from eating your own poop.
It’s a bit of a mess, but a fun mess, the kind you talk to your friends about and remember fondly afterward. It’s also amazing the amount of content this game has to offer. If you were to ask a room full of Ark players, half would say they love it, and the other half would say they hate it. For me, I would recommend you to get it when it’s on sale and see if you like it. Pro tip: if you have a few friends to play it with, the game becomes a hundred times more fun.
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky has taken a few giant leaps in quality since it released. Back in 2016, this game got huge backlash due to the unfulfilled promises, unfinished mechanics, and boring gameplay. It was hyped to the point where everybody thought this would be the next big thing, and everyone and their mother wanted to get their hands on it. It was, for lack of a better word, utterly disappointing.
That’s not the case today, however. It has been updated a lot, to the point where it’s a pretty good survival/exploration game. I gotta say, this game made a comeback like very few have managed to pull off. Crafting is very in-depth, almost every material you collect has a purpose, and the potential to be useful. The graphics have been overhauled. Multiplayer has been added, which gave so much more life to the game. And while it’s not THE one and greatest sci-fi game of all time, it is really satisfying to play for every fan of survival and/or science fiction games.
This War of Mine
Based on the title and the cover, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking This War of Mine was just another FPS set in a war-torn nation where you play as this badass soldier with demons who gets betrayed by one of his teammates. Thankfully, it’s not.
For starters, it’s a 2.5D platformer, and you’re not a badass soldier who trained his entire life, you start out as a regular civilian desperately clinging to life.
You not only have to worry about finding supplies, food, and medicine but also trying to survive ruthless snipers and scavengers that want to stay alive as bad as you. Every time you start, the world is different, which really adds to replayability.
Unlike most survival games, here, your decision matters. Characters you send out to scavenge might never come back, and you will be forced at some point to make some really messed up decisions… And I love it.
The Long Dark
So, picture this, you’re a pilot, and you barely managed to survive a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness. This is a sandbox survival that doesn’t hold your hand. You have to worry about not freezing to death, avoiding injuries since they can be a pain to recover from without medicine. And if your injuries get infected, then be prepared to say your goodbyes.
The story mode has been on the works for years, and it shows, the dialog is really engaging. It’s split into chapters, a decision that I’m not a big fan of, but it kept me hooked to the point where I’m looking forward to more.
The art style is gorgeous. I’m a sucker for this style reminiscent of the Walking Dead game and Firewatch. And you know a game is good when sidequests have you biting your nails the same way the main missions would.
I would highly recommend picking up the Survival mode as well; it’s challenging and focuses on resource managing as much as the dangers of the wild and the cold.
The Forest
In The Forest, you’re surrounded by several different cannibalistic tribes that don’t take long to make themselves known. What makes them extra disturbing compared to enemies from other games is that their AI behaves differently. Members of the enemy tribes will follow you to your base. They’ll avoid combat if they think you’ll beat them, gang up on you if given a chance, and will implement tactics to throw you off the same way a real player would.
The feeling you’re left with is an unsettling one. The fact that someone could be watching you from afar or studying how you’ve changed the environment really adds to the dread that comes with survival.
The caves are another source of anxiety. The story unravels its mysteries through clues in the environment rather than cutscenes, giving more weight to your actions and grounding the setting even more.
Not only that, but the Forest goes a step beyond other survival games by providing a sanity gouge next to the hunger and thirst ones, reminding you that you’re gonna have to make sacrifices to stay alive and some of those are the kind that your fragile mind might not recover from.
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