Whether surviving in the jungle, in the mountains, on the open sea or everywhere at the same time, survival games are always very popular. Here are our top 10 best survival games of 2023.
Whether it’s a spirit of adventure, co-op with friends, or simply battling the elements, survival games have always featured prominently in the most popular releases. Popularized by the very famous Minecraft, this category has found its way into the video game landscape, pushing many more or less humble studios to offer their own vision of the survival game through various small nuggets. We’ve rounded up these nuggets for you in our top 10 best survival games of 2023, just below. Of course, each of the games featured here has the tools to appeal to different types of players, but we’ve tried to rank them as objectively as possible.
5 – Greenhell (PC, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch)
Reserved for hardcore survival enthusiasts, Greenhell will push even the most seasoned players to the limit. This production from Creepy Jar and Forever Entertainment, which plunges you into the heart of the Amazon rainforest without resources, has made a name for itself in the survival games genre thanks to its high level of difficulty and attention to detail. In Greenhell, absolutely everything around you can become a problem at some point. From tropical diseases to river parasites, the locals more or less understand your protein intake… The dangers are many and the game rewards you well, giving the most motivated players a sense of accomplishment with each new sunrise. Sun, not to mention her scenario, which is anything but ridiculous. Technically, despite its relatively venerable age (2018), Greenhell is a feast for the eyes, benefits from numerous mods on PC and allows for hassle-free play with friends for up to four players. We simply blame it for its lack of replayability.
4 – Sons of the Forest (PC)
Released just a few weeks ago, Sons of the Forest quickly made a strong impression on survival game enthusiasts. This sequel to the famous The Forest, which revolutionized the genre when it was released in 2014, has proven its relevance with its near-pristine engineering and highly addictive gameplay. For lovers of extreme survival, it might seem a bit easy at times, mainly due to the many edible collectibles that make hunger a minor matter. But its complete construction system and exciting fights inherently make it a reference of the genre. Add to that a delightfully spooky story and the fact that you can play with up to 8 players and you have a game that deserves its place in this top 5.
3 – Project Zomboid (PC)
It’s hard to make a top 5 best survival game without mentioning the little nugget Project Zomboid. Developed by independent studio The Indie Stone since 2011, this UFO of the genre has won over gamers and critics with its own personality and organic sandbox side. By offering players complex gameplay where each survivor must manage parameters such as hunger, mental stability, fatigue and pain, and all on servers with up to 126 players, Project Zomboid creates environments that are believable, even almost realistic . Enough to forget the 2D graphics, which are a bit outdated, to immerse yourself in adventures so immersive that you almost get involved in an involuntary role-playing game, which I think is the essence of excellent survival games. Be sure to try it.
2 – Valheim (PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series with Crossplay, Linux)
Defining Valheim as a survival game is ambitious enough, but it’s hard not to repeat the excellence of this Iron Gate Studios creation under all roofs. Released in 2021, the independent game quickly made a name for itself in the genre and within weeks became one of the biggest commercial surprises in video game history. In less than a month, the dozen or so people behind the development of this humble survival game have sold no fewer than 8 million copies on Steam. Enough to catch the attention of Xbox, who quickly made it one of the successors to Xbox Game Pass and later pushed for a release on Xbox One and Xbox Series. It has to be said that Valheim has it all. An incredible soundtrack, simple and beautiful landscapes, a wide variety of animals and creatures to defeat, progression through biomes that is as challenging as it is refreshing, a realistic building system, epic boss fights… attract even the most die-hard Minecraft fans. Today, the game benefits from admittedly late but extremely complete updates, and even players who had already played through it upon release might be tempted to play a new game under the Yggdrasil branches.
1 – DayZ (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Admittedly, it may seem strange to put a 12-year-old game on the top spot for best survival games, but any gamer who has dared to invest time in DayZ will be able to agree. Far from being the most accessible of the games on this list, DayZ is a real crossroads. Your apprenticeship will be long, your death painful, your frustration immeasurable, but none, and I mean no game offers the same sensations as this Bohemia Interactive creation. It’s taken ten years for developers and a dedicated community to turn this former Arma 2 mod into one of the best games ever, with community-modded servers whose diversity will appeal to all types of gamers. In DayZ, you’ll be dropped off on a beach, in t-shirts and shorts, with no map, no compass, in the midst of zombies on steroids, and hunted by players far more skilled and equipped than you. Does that seem like too much? Wait, you’ll also have to manage your hunger and thirst, avoiding disease, broken bones, sprained ankles (yes, yes), poison gas, jammed guns, wild animals and of course the cold. What’s special about it, though, is that this hassle is for everyone, and DayZ offers proximity chat that creates unwanted RPG moments in the middle of the action.
Only DayZ lets you mourn the loss of a stranger you shared a box of spaghetti with a few hours earlier, only DayZ lets you trade for your life with unpredictable players, only DayZ pumps adrenaline through your veins gunfights where the the slightest misstep means your death or that of your friends. So yes, the game is outdated, some animations seem outdated and it’s hard, very hard to learn. But with great risk comes an all the better reward, and at a time when players are getting tired of repeating the same actions in the same games year after year, DayZ brings plenty of freshness and difficulty to the most determined. Not to mention the extremely realistic gunplay that doesn’t need to be ashamed of Tarkov and which, moreover, has managed to seduce many big names in the competitive FPS scene, including Shroud and Summit, just to name a few. A game that is not for everyone, but should be tested at least once.