The Best PS5 Survival Games

Best survival games at a glance

How these survival games were selected

The ranking considers:

• Resource gathering and meaningful scarcity
• Shelter, crafting and base-building depth
• Environmental and creature threats
• Exploration and discovery
• Solo, cooperative and competitive modes
• Long-term progression and replay value
• Accessibility for newcomers
• How central survival is to the full experience

1. Subnautica

Best overall survival game

Subnautica strands the player on an alien ocean world filled with reefs, caves and deep-water biomes.

Oxygen limits early dives, making every trip a decision about distance, safety and available equipment.

Gathered materials support tools, underwater bases and vehicles that gradually extend the reachable depth.

Food and water add pressure without distracting from the central loop of exploration and discovery.

Deeper regions introduce unfamiliar wildlife and environmental hazards that make better preparation essential.

Subnautica is single-player with full controller support.

Choose it for a focused survival journey where progression opens genuinely new environments rather than simply increasing combat power.

2. The Forest

Best survival-horror game

The Forest begins after a crash in a remote woodland occupied by hostile inhabitants.

Trees, plants, animals and salvage provide the resources needed for shelter, tools and weapons.

Base placement matters because defenses, visibility and access to supplies affect long-term safety.

Caves contain important discoveries but create tighter, darker and more dangerous encounters than the surface.

The campaign gives exploration a central purpose while still allowing players to set personal building and survival goals.

It supports single-player, LAN co-op and online co-op.

Choose it for horror, freeform construction and a mystery uncovered through environmental exploration.

3. The Long Dark

Best realistic wilderness survival game

The Long Dark places one person against cold, hunger, fatigue, wildlife and changing weather after a geomagnetic disaster.

Temperature and wind can make a short journey dangerous even when the destination is nearby.

Clothing condition, injuries and carried weight affect how safely the player can travel.

Shelters and supplies are finite, encouraging careful decisions about when to move and what to leave behind.

Its survival mode creates self-directed wilderness runs without zombies or elaborate base construction.

The Long Dark is single-player with full controller support.

Choose it for methodical planning and environmental danger. Players seeking extensive building should choose 7 Days to Die or ARK instead.

4. 7 Days to Die

Best zombie base-defense survival game

7 Days to Die combines first-person combat, crafting and construction inside a destructible voxel world.

Buildings can be entered, modified or dismantled for resources.

Players gather materials and improve defenses before recurring hordes place their bases under heavy pressure.

Skill and equipment progression supports gathering, crafting and combat specializations.

Generated worlds and configurable settings produce different survival conditions across repeated runs.

It supports single-player, LAN co-op, online co-op and online PvP with full controller support.

Choose it for long-term construction and the recurring rhythm of preparation followed by large zombie attacks.

5. Abiotic Factor

Best co-op science survival game

Abiotic Factor traps scientists inside a damaged underground research facility affected by paranormal and military threats.

Office equipment, laboratory materials and industrial components become ingredients for tools, food systems and defenses.

Character roles allow a group to divide work across exploration, research, cooking, construction and combat.

The facility’s connected sectors create a structured sense of progression while preserving survival-crafting freedom.

Its unusual workplace setting gives familiar crafting systems a distinct identity.

It supports single-player, LAN co-op and online co-op with full controller support.

Choose it for coordinated small-group survival and inventive crafting inside a dense science-fiction facility.

6. ARK: Survival Ascended

Best dinosaur survival game

ARK: Survival Ascended combines survival, creature taming and large-scale construction.

Players begin with basic tools before developing equipment, structures and technology.

Tamed creatures can support transport, gathering, defense and combat.

Tribes allow groups to share resources and maintain larger settlements.

Competitive servers add the danger of hostile players and raids, while solo and cooperative settings can focus more heavily on exploration and breeding.

It supports single-player, LAN co-op, online co-op, online PvP and split-screen co-op with full controller support. The game is in Early Access.

Choose it for dinosaurs, extensive progression and ambitious group bases, but expect more complexity than in Subnautica or The Forest.

7. No Man’s Sky

Best space survival game

No Man’s Sky spreads survival and exploration across a procedurally generated universe.

Planetary conditions can require protection from heat, cold, radiation or other hazards.

Collected materials fuel technology, repairs, construction and travel between worlds.

Players can build planetary bases, improve ships and follow trade, exploration or combat goals.

Flexible settings allow the survival pressure to be adjusted around a preferred style of play.

It supports single-player, online co-op and online PvP with full controller support.

Choose it for scale, construction and discovery. Choose The Long Dark when environmental survival should remain the main challenge.

8. Days Gone

Best story-driven survival action game

Days Gone follows a drifter crossing a post-pandemic open world by motorcycle.

Fuel, ammunition, crafting materials and motorcycle condition shape preparation between missions.

Stealth helps conserve resources when direct combat would attract too many infected enemies.

Large hordes create set-piece challenges that require route planning, traps and sustained firepower.

The motorcycle connects distant regions but also creates a dependency on maintenance and fuel.

Days Gone is single-player with full controller support.

Choose it for a substantial story and large infected hordes. It is more action-adventure than sandbox survival, so players seeking construction should choose another game here.

Which survival game should you play first?

Match the recommendation to the challenge you want:

• Underwater exploration and discovery: Subnautica
• Horror and freeform base building: The Forest
• Cold-weather realism: The Long Dark
• Zombie defense and destructible bases: 7 Days to Die
• Co-op scientific crafting: Abiotic Factor
• Dinosaurs and tribe progression: ARK: Survival Ascended
• Planetary exploration and construction: No Man’s Sky
• Story, motorcycles and infected hordes: Days Gone

Subnautica is the strongest all-around starting point for solo players. Abiotic Factor is the clearest structured co-op recommendation, while The Long Dark provides the most unforgiving environmental challenge.

Best co-op survival games

Abiotic Factor supports one to six players and gives groups useful roles across crafting, exploration and defense.

The Forest combines cooperative building with caves and survival horror.

7 Days to Die supports long-term group bases, shared resource gathering and recurring horde defense.

ARK: Survival Ascended offers the broadest tribe and creature systems, alongside co-op, PvP and split-screen support.

No Man’s Sky supports online co-op across exploration, building and space travel.

Subnautica, The Long Dark and Days Gone are single-player recommendations.

Best survival games for base building

7 Days to Die provides the strongest defensive construction loop because bases must survive recurring zombie attacks.

ARK: Survival Ascended supports larger settlements tied to tribes, technology and tamed creatures.

The Forest allows flexible shelters and defenses within a horror-focused island.

Subnautica uses modular underwater bases to support deeper exploration.

No Man’s Sky offers broad creative construction across many planets, while Abiotic Factor turns laboratory and office spaces into improvised safe areas.

Best survival games for beginners

No Man’s Sky allows players to reduce pressure through flexible settings and focus on exploration or construction.

Subnautica introduces equipment progressively, although deep-water exploration can become tense.

Days Gone uses a guided story and familiar third-person action systems.

The Forest is easy to understand but provides less safety once hostile encounters escalate.

7 Days to Die, ARK and The Long Dark demand more planning and punish poor preparation more severely.

Survival games versus survival-horror games

A survival game creates pressure through resources, health, shelter and environmental systems.

A survival-horror game also uses vulnerability and uncertainty to produce fear.

The Forest and Subnautica use isolation and hostile creatures to create horror within open survival systems.

The Long Dark creates tension through weather and wildlife rather than supernatural threats.

7 Days to Die combines survival crafting with zombie horror, while Days Gone uses survival elements inside a more action-driven structure.

More survival games to explore

Players seeking survival strategy can continue with games like Frostpunk, games like RimWorld or games like Banished.

Final recommendations

Subnautica is the best overall survival game for exploration, progression and atmosphere. The Forest leads for horror, while The Long Dark provides the strongest environmental survival challenge.

Choose 7 Days to Die for zombie base defense, Abiotic Factor for co-op science crafting or ARK: Survival Ascended for dinosaurs and tribe progression.

Choose No Man’s Sky for a vast space sandbox or Days Gone for a story-focused open-world action experience.

The right survival game depends on the pressure you want to manage: oxygen, cold, hunger, hostile creatures, recurring hordes, limited fuel, dangerous players or the distant shelter that may not be reached before nightfall.