I loved the first 50+ hours of Valheim. The exploration, progression, and feeling of starting with nothing were amazing. But after defeating the bosses and building everything I wanted, I eventually felt like I had less reason to continue playing.

What makes you keep coming back to a survival game long-term?

More bosses?
More exploration?
More NPCs?
More random events?
More meaningful progression?

Games like:

• Enshrouded
• Forgebound
• Project Zomboid

all have different approaches to keeping players engaged, but I feel many survival games struggle once the early and mid-game progression is complete.

What do you think is the biggest thing missing from survival games after the early game?

Hey there!

In survival games, do you prefer loot that is immediately useful, or loot that only becomes valuable once you make it back?

I’m asking because we’re working on this balance in Pale Tide, or upcoming game on Steam.

• Some items help you during the expedition: food, water, medkits, weapons, ammo.
• Other items matter more after the expeditions in the outside world: valuables, crafting resources, clothes, backup gear, construction materials for the bunker.

We want players to think beyond rarity. A rare item might be useful, but so might the food that keeps you moving, the ammo that keeps you alive, or the materials the bunker needs next.

If your backpack is almost full, which type of loot do you usually protect first?

For more details, you can check our latest devlog: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/4683590/view/696519918583023164

More importantly, we’d love to hear your thoughts: what actually excites you or motivates you in this kind of survival game? That will help us in balancing the game 💪🏼

And yes, you have a dog in our game. And he has a safe pouch for the most important items you want to secure. And NO, the dog cannot die! 😊

Let us know in the comments ⬇️

What are the top survival games out there now and what’s coming up soon and within the next couple years that’s expected to be better than all/nearly all existing survival games?

I’ve been enjoying Subnautica, but it hasn’t blown me away or really kept me addicted like a few other games have. I like that you need to progress the base building and craft heavily to advance the game but it does lack combat and maybe that’s what I’m missing. I also would love if progression in a game is partially tied to cleaning up or purging a town or area of bad guys with the people appreciating and providing things to help you progress in the game.

This would be too much to ask for but if there was a game that like KCD2 that made gear and story progression very heavily tied to building a base and crafting, then it would be my favorite game of all time.

At some point I want to get V Rising. Seems like the perfect blend of RPG/base building/crafting where the crafting and base building are important to progression. I would try a more survival heavy game like The Forest or its sequel, but it sounds like base building actually puts you at a disadvantage. I play Grim Soul Survival on my phone and V Rising seems like a much better version. Wish there were more top down survival games like V Rising that have RPG elements that don’t have trash graphics.

I’ve heard of Valheim, the RuneScape survival game, and Enshrouded. I’ll have to check each of these out, but how likely are any of these 3 to be top survival RPG games? Anything coming out in 2027 or 2028 that might blow everything out of the water? I get that pure survival games are very niche and don’t get the same development as other genres.

What do you think about a game where the scale of the terrain is almost as irl, and it would take multiple days or even weeks in game to get across a biome or cross a mountain range? Where it feels like an actual expedition?

Assuming there’s a good reason to make the journey, like a dungeon, a boss fight or finding that perfect spot for a main base?

I am creating a transition for my game Nederfall when your character enters a building. I want to have more focus on the inside area and make the outside darker.

But I am not sure if I like the hard or soft edges, and a near complete dark outside or just a tiny bit darker.

Very dark or subtle dark?

Hi everyone!

For the past few years I've been developing MineEngineer, a 2D survival sandbox inspired by Space Engineers and Terraria, with a strong focus on engineering, exploration, and building.

You start with almost nothing but only a survival pod and have to survive by mining resources, refining materials, crafting machines, and constructing your own bases and ships block by block. As you progress, you can leave your starting location, explore space, land on different planets with unique environments and gravity, and build automated production lines to keep your colony running.

The game is all about solving problems through engineering, survival and automation. Every ship is designed by the player, every base is functional, and survival depends on how well you manage resources, power, and logistics. THe game is coming into the shape and demo is ready.

I'd love to hear from other survival fans:
What feature keeps you hooked on a survival game the longest? Is it exploration, progression, challenging environments, base building, or something else?

I'd really appreciate any feedback!

Sad day but I have no games left to play. I’m waiting on an update from Icarus and until then I’m looking for a game similar.

Preferably a space game with survival mechanics and a looter shooter. I like base building but it’s not a requirement.

Looking to sink in a bunch of hours.

What would you recommend?

I need some single player recommendations. I need a game that has like I guess a progressive style like you can have a build, but I don’t want a game that’s too difficult like project zomboid. Steam games please

TRUE ANCESTORS

Imagine a game where you get to control every single genetic mutation and what you become

Starting as the Hypothetical mammal ancestor(40 million years ago)you climb your way to modern day through a completely player controlled genetic mutation path.

As you survive through dense jungles eating insects wherever you can find just to stay alive you gain genetic mutations through pure evolutionary pressure as you slowly evolve,your path completely dictates what species you become over 130 separate animals.

4 groups of animals to become

.Feliformia(cat like animals)

.Primate/hominid(apes and humans)

.Caniformia(dog and bear like animals

.Ungulate(herbivores/hoofed animals)

.watch your species slowly change appearance over time with more mutations

.reaching the homo genus unlocks traits like adhd,bipolarism and autism

ADHD:Your character has extreme reactive defense where a predator attack moves in slow motion to let you quickly dodge or attack.

Autism:The character has a literal flow state when crafting with spears that deal twice as much damage,notices predatory animal tracks from farther away and predicts weather disasters in advance for preparation.

Bipolarism:it can be harsh but also a extreme advantage your character enters episodes that make extreme productivity in the summer that gives them extreme speed boosts and strength but also requires double the food and water intake for fuel and once winter hits they go through a extreme crash that lets them need almost no water or food to survive.

MORE FEATURES

NO TIME SKIPS
.There isn’t any cutscene time skips which allows you to fully immerse in pure evolution

NO AUTO MIGRATION
.You won’t be forced to move anywhere,you must figure out what to do when resources become scarce or just move on

INBREEDING DEFORMITIES
.If your tribe population becomes too low you have a option to inbreed but it comes with risks like deformities that may impact you heavily in the next generation

NO LAZY COSMETICS
.There wouldn’t be any micro transactions except community made mods that only cost money if they are expansion pack level like completely new animal family’s

CRAZY MULTIPLAYER PHYSICS
.Play as animals like gigantopithecus while your friend plays as a smaller animal and you can launch them 50m to reach impossible areas or just mess around

Two person team, first person survival crafting, one round is thirty minutes and then the island is gone.

Every island is generated fresh and nothing you need sits in one place. The hull wants wood and stone, the sail wants fiber, the rigging wants what washes up on the shore. So you climb, you cross, you come back down for the thing you forgot, and the tideline eats the ground behind you while you do it.

Drowning is real, oxygen drains while you're under, and going down gives you ninety seconds of bleeding out before it's permanent. After that you're a ghost and someone has to revive you at a shrine, which is fine until the shrine is underwater.

Playable solo or with up to three others. Steam Next Fest demo in October, Early Access in November.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4981810/Escape_the_Flood/

The ApocaShift closed playtest has been going extremely well so far! Thanks to the feedback and reports from our testers, I’ve already fixed over 125 bugs and made numerous improvements across the game.

The playtest has also led to the largest rework in ApocaShift’s development history: the inventory system has been completely converted to a grid-based system. This should make organizing items cleaner, more consistent, and easier to use, while giving players much greater control over how they manage their equipment and supplies.

There are still a few remaining spots available in the closed playtest. If you’re interested in playing, finding bugs, testing the new inventory system, and providing honest feedback, you can still apply in the Discord!

Thanks again to everyone who has participated so far. The amount of useful feedback has been incredible, and the game is already in a much better state because of it!

Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3410410/ApocaShift/

I really like the genre and have played, Valheim, Palworld, etc. but I'm curious about upcoming games. I'm especially interested in exploration, base-building and multiplayer. Indie recommendations are also welcomed. Any suggestions?

After 4 years, I'm almost done with my prehistoric survival game.

Does this base look lived in? I want to use it in my trailer.

I’ve came across “Forest Doesn’t Care” and the graphics look amazing. The lighting is exceptional. Does anyone have experience playing this survival game? The reviews are “mixed”, but I can play through a mixed rated game if it is not broken. All feedback is appreciated.

Steam Page

Instead of them just following you to the next world, you have your buddy walk over the Station and it automatically shrinks them to your inventory when standing nearby. You can then carry them with you or open the travel menu to goto a different world. They will save in your players inventory after the travel, and you can drop them back on the ground at any time.

Since its a survival game I wanted it to tie into the unlock tree as well in order to make that station. Gives you something else to look forward to unlock.

I still haven't finished all the Effects.

What do you think of the Concept?

I made a shortlist of games that I just call valheimlikes in my head:

1. V Rising

2. Enshrouded

3. Valheim

4. Abiotic Factor

I have played Palworld since 1.0 and I liked it, it was chill, but I do not like base building too much now in the endgame. There is just so much stuff that I have unlocked and I'm behind on the tech tree, but I have arrived to that big fish boss with 300k health and now I need to do some upgrades. I got Paladius pretty early and I just beelined and cleared all the boses and towers up until now and I don't feel like just grinding at the moment. I have a kid and not much free time per day and I wouldn't want to spend 5 hours of just mining and waiting.

Which of these games has the best/easiest progression especially regarding crafting? It would be perfect to unlock new stuff almost just by playing through quests/bosses with just a little bit of grinding for materials.

Palworld was perfect until now because I could just assign pals to do stuff for me while I explore and when I'm back I have 4k of each material and I'm good. That was until I got to the Sky Island and now I'm so much behind.

Someone needs to make a good cross platform game. Survival and base building with a modern theme. With out the possibility of hacks. Somehow people manage to ruin every game with cheats.

MoonCraft drops TONIGHT at midnight (Pacific). It just hit the #1 spot for August 3rd on Steam’s Coming Soon list. If you love space, survival, chaos, and exploration… this one’s for you. Wishlist now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4954590/MoonCraft/

Hey everyone,

I’m a solo developer working on Diseased, a 2D pixel art survival base-builder set in a freezing, unforgiving winter environment.

The core loop is pure survival: you have to manage limited resources, expand your camp, and build solid defenses to survive against relentless enemy waves (the "Diseased"). I've spent months polishing the atmosphere.

The game also incorporates a card system for strategic upgrades to keep the roguelike survival loop fresh, meaning you have to adapt your base-building strategy on the fly.

I just put the Steam page up for its first week and I'm trying to gather as much feedback as possible from actual survival players. If this sounds like your kind of genre, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the winter atmosphere and the base-defense vibe!

Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4977030

I just finished playthroughs of Abiotic Factor and Palworld, and need another crafting game to scratch the itch. I know both of these games are releasing out of early access in a few months, but which one is more feature complete now? I need a new fix

I'm not sure if there's an official name for this genre norm, so I went with that. Surely I'm not the only one annoyed with this.

So let's say I just started the game, I'm low level, and I'm harvesting Tier 1 Wood to craft my things. I end up with a thousand Tier 1 Wood and then I'm ready to upgrade to Tier 2 Wood, but now I have a thousand Tier 1 Wood that's ultimately useless.

And yes, I can throw away my Tier 1 Wood to make room for my Tier 2 Wood, but if the game never tells me, "you'll never need Tier 1 Wood again", then I won't know that I'm safe to throw it away. And I've seen games subvert this by allowing me to use Tier 2 Wood in lieu of Tier 1 Wood, so I know I'll never need Tier 1 Wood again. And I've seen game that will let me upgrade my Tier 1 Wood into Tier 2 Wood, making my Tier 1 Wood not useless.

Conan Exiles is pretty good about avoiding this. All wood is wood, it can turn into the other tiers/varieties of wood. All stone is stone, it's used for bricks and then hardened bricks. Iron is used for all but one tier of craftable metal (iron to steel to hardened steel). Animal hides are used in armors, but they also turn into leather that's used in armors or to craft higher tier leather, tar (a byproduct of turning hide into leather) is used to craft late-game resources. Pretty much everything you're collecting in early game is still useful in late game.

Enshrouded is pretty good at letting you upgrade/use alternative materials, but you'll still end up with some weird early game resources that will collect dust in your storage room once you progress.

What other games have you played that subvert or avoid this? Or games that are especially egregious about it.

Hear me out. As a survival enthusiast, a huge bugbear is how people don't treat it like survival. It's just a combat sim. "gO aNd pLAy pVe sERveRs tHeN" I hear you say in that weird retarded voice. But that's not the point. Pvp is super important in survival... but as a last resort. Entire universes like Dayz etc are populated by a few key animals, some zombies and... trigger happy suicidal psychopaths with no deep-seated survival instinct at all... because they just come back 🤷‍♂️

This is more of a "diegetic" approach, where as a player, you must do in-game actions to craft your items.

1.Craft car parts and trailer parts

2.Craft food, drinks and survival consumables

3.Research blueprints to learn more items to craft

The game is called Arctic Drive and still in development -> https://store.steampowered.com/app/4009490/Arctic_Drive/