Best Survival Games to Play in 2025

Survival games have remained a staple of PC gaming, offering players a chance to test their resource management, strategy, and adaptability in challenging environments. In 2025, the genre continues to offer a mix of established hits and new entries, ranging from narrative-driven adventures to sandbox simulations. Players can explore nuclear wastelands, harsh deserts, and alien planets, all while trying to stay alive.

Best Survival Games to Play in 2025

The Alters

The Alters from 11 Bit Studios combines survival mechanics with a sci-fi narrative. Players control Jan Dolski, stranded on a hostile planet after a crash, and must use a resource called Rapidium and a Quantum Computer to create alternative versions of themselves. Each alternate self helps manage resources, defend the base, and survive anomalies. The game challenges players to think strategically while managing multiple characters in a hostile environment.

Pacific Drive

Ironwood Studios’ Pacific Drive puts players behind the wheel of a battered station wagon in the mysterious Olympic Exclusion Zone. The game uses a roguelike structure, sending players into areas with environmental hazards and supernatural anomalies. Success depends on careful preparation, vehicle upgrades, and exploration, with the game emphasizing atmosphere and tension over traditional crafting mechanics.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Stalker 2 is a first-person survival shooter set in a post-nuclear environment. Players navigate the Zone, facing both human and mutant threats while managing resources. The game builds on the original with improved mechanics and a more detailed world, balancing survival with combat and exploration. Players looking for high-stakes, atmospheric survival will find it here.

Kenshi

Kenshi is a sandbox survival game with no set storyline. Players can survive as nomadic traders, farmers, or warlords in a world populated by slavers, bandits, and cannibals. Base building, squad recruitment, and resource management are central, while the lack of level scaling makes every encounter potentially deadly. The game rewards strategic thinking and adaptability.

Dune Awakening

Set on Arrakis, Dune Awakening challenges players to survive extreme heat, dangerous wildlife, and scarce resources. Players scavenge for materials, build bases, and navigate hostile terrain. The game reimagines the Dune universe by offering a survival-focused take, combining resource management, exploration, and combat.

DayZ

DayZ remains a benchmark for zombie survival games. Players navigate the open-world Chernarus, managing food, water, and health while avoiding zombies and hostile humans. The 2024 Frostline expansion added a cold-weather map, new wildlife, and updated mechanics, enhancing the survival experience. Exploration and cooperation are key, especially when traveling with friends.

Frostpunk 2

Frostpunk 2 builds on the original’s city-building survival gameplay by adding political and social systems. Players manage resources, infrastructure, and citizen needs while navigating extreme environmental conditions. Decision-making is critical, as social unrest can quickly threaten survival. The game offers a mix of resource management, strategy, and narrative tension.

Project Zomboid

Project Zomboid is an isometric zombie survival game known for its attention to detail. Players scavenge for supplies, manage injuries and disease, and survive in a persistent open world. The game’s ongoing updates and realistic mechanics make it one of the most in-depth survival games on PC.

Once Human

In Once Human, players face the alien entity Stardust, which has made Earth a hostile environment. Base-building, combat, and exploration are core to survival, and multiplayer options allow players to navigate the world together. The game blends post-apocalyptic and sci-fi survival elements in a challenging setting.

Abiotic Factor

Abiotic Factor places players in the role of a scientist in a containment breach scenario. The early access game combines crafting, exploration, and combat against hostile anomalies. Players must manage resources and navigate a hazardous facility, with gameplay that draws comparisons to both the SCP Foundation and Half-Life.

Planet Crafter

Planet Crafter focuses on survival in space, where players terraform a hostile planet while managing basic needs like oxygen, warmth, and food. The game offers modular construction, resource harvesting, and cooperative multiplayer. It provides a balance between methodical survival and creative exploration, allowing players to tailor their experience.

V Rising

V Rising is a vampire-themed survival game with open-world exploration, base building, and combat. Players must manage sunlight exposure, gather resources, and build castles while taking on boss encounters. The game combines gothic aesthetics with strategic resource management and character progression.

Sons of the Forest

The Sons of the Forest continues the survival mechanics of its predecessor. Players build shelters, gather resources, and fend off mutants and cannibals. The game emphasizes crafting, exploration, and survival in a hostile environment, introducing more advanced enemies and environmental challenges than the original.

Other Survival Games

Other notable titles in 2025 include Enshrouded, Palworld, Icarus, Valheim, and Scum, each offering different survival mechanics, from fantasy exploration to detailed simulations of human needs. Established games like Minecraft, Rust, and Ark: Survival Evolved remain popular for their open-world crafting, exploration, and cooperative gameplay.

Final Thoughts

The best survival games on PC in 2025 provide a wide range of experiences, from narrative-driven adventures to open-world sandbox challenges. Players can explore post-apocalyptic wastelands, alien planets, or dangerous fantasy settings while managing resources, combat, and environmental hazards. These games continue to demonstrate the genre’s versatility, offering both new and experienced players meaningful survival challenges. Here’s a full list of all the survival games mentioned:

1. The Alters
2. Pacific Drive
3. Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl
4. Kenshi
5. Dune Awakening
6. DayZ
7. Frostpunk 2
8. Project Zomboid
9. Once Human
10. Abiotic Factor
11. Planet Crafter
12. V Rising
13. Sons of the Forest
14. Enshrouded
15. Palworld
16. Icarus
17. Valheim
18. Scum
19. Minecraft
20. Rust
21. Ark: Survival Evolved

Frequently Asked Questions 

What are the best Survival games in 2025?

Top new survival games expected in 2025 include Dune: Awakening, a desert survival MMO with a focus on water conservation, and Subnautica 2, the much-anticipated sequel to the beloved underwater exploration game. Other notable upcoming titles are Atomfall, a British-themed survival shooter, and Aloft, a co-op game set on floating islands. Players can also look forward to Light No Fire, an open-world fantasy survival game from the creators of No Man's Sky.

What are the best Survival games for PC in 2025?

The best survival games for PC in 2025 include upcoming titles like Dune: Awakening, Subnautica 2, and Light No Fire, as well as popular ongoing games such as Sons of the Forest, Palworld, and Enshrouded. Other top choices span diverse settings, from the post-nuclear waste of Atomfall to the fantasy realms of Light No Fire and the unique world of Aloft on floating islands.

Which new Survival games are coming in 2025?

Several new survival games are slated for release or early access in 2025, including Dune: Awakening, Subnautica 2, Light No Fire, Terminator: Survivors, Solar Punk, and Rooted, with many more anticipated as the year progresses. These titles cover a range of sub-genres, from co-op and base-building to large-scale MMOs and fantasy settings, offering diverse experiences within the survival genre.

Which are the No. 1 Survival games so far in 2025?

Top-rated and highly anticipated survival games of 2025 include the open-world MMO Dune: Awakening, the underwater exploration game Subnautica 2, and the alternate-history post-nuclear game Atomfall. Other notable titles like The Last of Us Part II Remastered offer new survival modes, while games such as Aloft and Kiora explore unique themes of floating islands and pixel manipulation.