Outdoor survival games have surged in popularity, capturing the imagination of preppers and enthusiasts alike. These games offer a thrilling blend of adventure and education, challenging players to hone their survival skills in various scenarios. Whether you’re a seasoned prepper or just starting out, diving into these games can be both fun and incredibly beneficial.
Key Takeaways
- Survival games improve skills like resource management, navigation, shelter building, and teamwork, making them valuable for preppers and enthusiasts.
- Great survival games have diverse terrain, realistic weather, and scenarios that mimic real-life challenges, fostering critical thinking, adaptability, and teamwork.
- Augmented Reality in survival games blends physical and digital worlds, enhancing engagement and promoting physical activity and social interaction.
This article covers the top 30 outdoor survival games, helping you choose the right one while highlighting their benefits and the latest trends.
What Makes a Great Outdoor Survival Game?
A great outdoor survival game blends realism with adventure, challenging players to adapt and think critically. Features like diverse terrain, realistic weather, and survival scenarios require skills in navigation, shelter building, and resource management. The games keep players engaged with risk and unpredictability while promoting teamwork and problem-solving. Insights from survival shows can enhance understanding of these skills. These games teach practical survival skills that are useful in real life.
Top 30 Outdoor Survival Games
The following list of top 30 outdoor survival games has been curated based on criteria such as realism, educational value, player engagement, and overall fun factor. Whether you’re into online game settings or prefer battling in hostile worlds, these games will provide a fun game experience for all, attracting millions of players.
1. The Forest
Players survive a plane crash on an island with cannibals, gathering resources and building shelters. The game emphasizes resource management, building skills, and defense strategies in hostile environments, crucial for preppers.
2. Rust
“Rust” is a multiplayer survival game where players gather resources, craft tools, and build shelters while dealing with other players. It highlights the importance of teamwork and human interactions, essential skills for preppers.
3. The Long Dark
Set in the frozen Canadian wilderness, “The Long Dark” requires players to manage warmth, health, and supplies while facing harsh weather and wildlife. The game features both an episodic story mode and a survival mode, each offering different experiences.
4. DayZ
“DayZ” is a multiplayer zombie survival game that focuses on realism. Players must scavenge for resources and navigate a world filled with zombies and hostile players. This game reflects real-world prepping scenarios, emphasizing the importance of resource management and survival skills against both environmental and human threats.
5. Subnautica
In “Subnautica,” players survive on an alien ocean planet by exploring underwater environments, gathering resources, and building underwater bases. The game’s stunning visuals and unique underwater setting provide a fresh take on the survival genre.
6. Scum
“Scum” offers detailed survival mechanics set on a maximum security prison island, where players must manage their metabolism, vitamins, and overall health. Its in-depth character stat system and realistic survival elements, such as managing food intake and physical health, set it apart.
7. Escape from Tarkov
“Escape from Tarkov” is a realistic multiplayer survival game set in a fictional Russian city. Players navigate a hostile environment, gather resources, and engage in tactical combat. The game’s realistic ballistics, weapon customization, and tactical gameplay offer an immersive experience. For preppers, this game highlights the importance of tactical planning, resource scavenging, and strategic thinking in survival situations, making it a valuable tool for learning and practice.
8. State of Decay 2
In “State of Decay 2,” players manage a community of survivors in a zombie apocalypse, gathering resources, building defenses, and maintaining morale. The game focuses on community management and balancing resources and survivor needs, offering a unique approach to the genre. It emphasizes the importance of community, resource management, and strategic planning, crucial skills for preppers and enthusiasts looking to understand group dynamics in survival scenarios.
9. How to Survive
“How to Survive” is a top-down zombie survival game with a comedic twist, where players follow a survival guide to navigate a zombie-infested island. The game’s combination of humor with survival elements and its variety of crafting options make it unique. This game provides a lighter take on survival while still teaching important skills like resource management and crafting, making it an enjoyable yet educational experience for preppers.
10. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG)
“PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG)” is a battle royale game where players parachute onto an island, scavenge for weapons and gear, and fight to be the last one standing. Known for its intense gameplay and large maps, PUBG combines survival with tactical combat. It emphasizes quick thinking, strategic planning, and adaptability in high-pressure situations, all of which are valuable skills for preppers to practice and hone.
11. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
“Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead” is an open-source survival game set in a post-apocalyptic world. Players manage hunger, thirst, and other survival needs while exploring and fighting off monsters. Its extensive customization and modding options allow players to tailor their experiences. This game focuses on managing various survival aspects and adaptability, providing a comprehensive survival training ground for preppers.
12. Survive the Nights
“Survive the Nights” is a realistic zombie survival game with a focus on managing food, water, mental health, and skills development. The game’s realistic day/night cycle and detailed survival elements make it stand out. It teaches the importance of preparation, resource management, and maintaining mental health in survival situations, offering preppers a well-rounded view of what it takes to survive long-term in a hostile environment.
13. Next Day: Survival
Set in a post-Soviet state, “Next Day: Survival” involves surviving in a toxic environment, interacting with other players, and joining factions. The game’s faction system and toxic fog environment provide unique challenges. This game emphasizes the importance of community and adapting to environmental hazards, making it a valuable tool for preppers to understand group dynamics and environmental survival strategies.
14. Days Gone
“Days Gone” is an open-world zombie survival game set in the Pacific Northwest, where players control a drifting bounty hunter fighting against zombies and human threats. The game combines an open-world environment with a strong narrative and dynamic weather systems. It highlights the importance of mobility, resource management, and tactical combat, offering preppers insights into managing resources and navigating hostile environments.
15. Fallout 4
“Fallout 4” is a post-apocalyptic RPG where players explore a world devastated by nuclear war, manage resources, and build settlements. The game’s extensive crafting and building systems, along with its rich narrative, provide depth. It emphasizes resource management, building sustainable communities, and dealing with post-apocalyptic challenges, making it an essential game for preppers to understand large-scale survival strategies.
16. Enshrouded
“Enshrouded” is a fantasy RPG survival game where players wake up in a fog-filled world and must work hard to survive and uncover the world’s secrets. The game’s deep fantasy setting and narrative-driven survival experience are unique. It combines traditional survival elements with an engaging story, emphasizing exploration and resourcefulness, valuable traits for preppers to cultivate.
17. Sand
In “Sand,” players explore a sandy planet to find treasures and resources left by a fallen empire in an alternate history setting. The use of a mech for exploration adds unique elements to the game. It teaches resource management and exploration in challenging environments, providing preppers with a different perspective on survival in harsh and unfamiliar settings.
18. Aloft
“Aloft” involves surviving on floating islands, building and sailing to other islands within a massive hurricane vortex. The game’s floating island mechanic and dynamic weather system provide a unique survival experience. It emphasizes adaptation to changing environments and creative problem-solving, skills crucial for preppers in unpredictable survival scenarios.
19. The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
Set after the events of Tolkien’s trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria” allows players to reclaim Moria as dwarves, dealing with orcs, trolls, and other dangers. The game’s Middle-earth setting and focus on dwarven survival add depth. It highlights the importance of teamwork, resource management, and tactical combat, providing preppers with insights into managing resources and group dynamics in survival situations.
20. Ascent of Ashes
In “Ascent of Ashes,” players survive in a post-apocalyptic world filled with alien creatures and human threats, managing injuries and resources. The game’s unique alien creatures and realistic survival tactics offer a different survival experience. It emphasizes the importance of adaptability and resource management in hostile environments, making it a valuable tool for preppers to practice and refine their survival skills.
21. Wanderlost
“Wanderlost” is a cute survival game featuring zombies, where players build homes and explore the wilderness. The game’s art style and combination of survival with light-hearted elements make it unique. It provides an accessible entry into survival games while still teaching important skills like resource management and crafting, making it an enjoyable yet educational experience for preppers.
22. Icarus
“Icarus” is a session-based survival game on an alien planet, where players complete missions and gather resources before returning to a space station. The game’s session-based structure and detailed survival mechanics make it stand out. It teaches the importance of mission planning and resource management in survival, providing preppers with practical insights into organizing and executing survival strategies effectively.
23. Valheim
In “Valheim,” players survive in the Norse wilderness, building shelters and foraging for food, progressing through different biomes. The game’s Norse mythology setting and cooperative play options provide a unique experience. It emphasizes teamwork, resource management, and gradual skill progression, essential skills for preppers to understand and practice in real-life survival scenarios.
24. Raft
“Raft” involves surviving at sea on a small raft, gathering materials to build and improve the floating base. The game’s ocean setting and focus on raft-building offer a unique survival experience. It highlights the importance of resource management and improvisation in survival, teaching preppers how to adapt to constantly changing and challenging environments.
25. Frostpunk
“Frostpunk” is a city-building survival game where players manage the last city on Earth during a post-apocalyptic ice age. The game involves making difficult decisions to ensure the survival of the city’s inhabitants while balancing resources, technology development, and social issues. The game’s unique mechanics include managing heat to prevent citizens from freezing, enacting laws to address societal needs, and making moral choices that impact the community’s future. This game is valuable for preppers because it teaches resource management, leadership skills, and the importance of making tough decisions under pressure.
26. Ark: Survival Evolved
“Ark: Survival Evolved” is a survival game where players are stranded on a mysterious island populated by dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Players must gather resources, craft tools, build shelters, and tame dinosaurs to survive. The game’s extensive crafting system, open-world exploration, and the ability to ride and utilize dinosaurs in various ways make it unique. For preppers, this game emphasizes the importance of resourcefulness, adaptability, and strategic planning in an unpredictable environment.
27. Green Hell
“Green Hell” is a realistic survival game set in the Amazon rainforest. Players must navigate the dense jungle, gather resources, hunt for food, and build shelters while managing their health, hydration, and sanity. The game features a detailed crafting system and realistic survival mechanics, including dealing with injuries, diseases, and the psychological effects of isolation. This game is great for preppers as it highlights the challenges of surviving in a harsh natural environment and teaches valuable skills like foraging, crafting, and maintaining physical and mental health.
28. Conan Exiles
“Conan Exiles” is a survival game set in the brutal world of Conan the Barbarian. Players must survive in a vast open world by gathering resources, crafting weapons and tools, building shelters, and battling enemies. The game includes unique mechanics like worshipping gods, capturing and enslaving NPCs, and exploring ancient ruins. For preppers, this game emphasizes the importance of resilience, combat skills, and resource management in a survival scenario, as well as the benefits of establishing and defending a stronghold.
29. Outward
“Outward” is an open-world survival RPG that focuses on realism and player immersion. Players must manage their health, hunger, thirst, and fatigue while exploring a dangerous world filled with monsters and hostile environments. The game includes mechanics like travel planning, disease management, and the need to balance various survival needs. “Outward” stands out for its realistic approach to survival and its emphasis on preparation and strategic planning. For preppers, this game provides insights into long-term survival strategies and the importance of careful planning and adaptability.
30. Grounded
In “Grounded,” players are shrunken to the size of insects and must survive in a backyard environment filled with giant bugs and other hazards. Players gather resources, craft tools and weapons, build shelters, and explore the environment from a new perspective. The game’s unique setting and mechanics, such as navigating through grass blades and using everyday objects as resources, make it a fresh take on the survival genre. For preppers, “Grounded” emphasizes creativity, resourcefulness, and the ability to adapt to a drastically changed environment, which are essential skills in any survival situation.
Benefits of Playing Outdoor Survival Games
Playing outdoor survival games offers more than just entertainment; it helps develop practical survival skills like building shelters, finding food and water, and navigating unfamiliar terrain, which can improve real-life preparedness for outdoor adventures or emergencies. These games also boost physical fitness through demanding tasks, enhancing strength, endurance, and overall health. Additionally, they challenge players mentally by promoting problem-solving and decision-making under pressure, which can improve cognitive abilities and stress management.
How to Choose the Right Outdoor Survival Game for You
Choosing the right outdoor survival game depends on your interests, skill level, and desired experience. Beginners might prefer games with guided scenarios and gradual difficulty, while experienced players might seek more challenging games that test advanced skills. Consider what aspects of survival you enjoy, such as navigation or resource management, and find games that focus on those elements. Also, think about the game’s environment—whether it’s set in forests, deserts, mountains, or urban areas—and select one that matches your interest or real-life scenarios. Additionally, decide if you prefer a solo game or one that requires teamwork and communication.
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Latest Trends in Outdoor Survival Games
Recent trends in outdoor survival games emphasize realistic visuals and immersive gameplay. Players are more engaged with games that feature detailed, lifelike environments. Augmented reality (AR) is also becoming popular, blending physical and digital worlds to let players interact with virtual objects in real settings, which enhances engagement and promotes physical activity and social interaction. Another trend is emotional engagement, where games influence and are influenced by players’ emotions, especially in survival horror genres. Additionally, outdoor survival games are being used in educational settings to support physical and mental health. These trends make games more immersive, engaging, and beneficial.
Wrapping Up Your Survival Game Journey
Outdoor survival games are not just a source of entertainment; they offer a unique opportunity to build valuable skills, improve physical fitness, and foster teamwork. From understanding what makes a great game to exploring our top 30 picks, you now have the insights needed to dive into this exciting world. Remember, the best game for you will align with your interests and provide the right level of challenge.
FAQs
What are outdoor survival games?
Outdoor survival games are activities that simulate real-life survival scenarios in a controlled environment. They challenge players to use skills such as navigation, shelter building, and resource management to survive in various terrains and conditions.
Why should preppers play survival games?
Preppers should play survival games to practice and refine their survival skills in a safe setting. These games offer a fun and engaging way to learn essential techniques, improve problem-solving abilities, and build confidence for real-life emergencies.
Can outdoor survival games help in real-life scenarios?
Yes, outdoor survival games can help in real-life scenarios by providing practical experience and knowledge. The skills learned and practiced in these games, such as finding food and water, building shelters, and navigating terrain, can be invaluable during actual survival situations.