Best Survival Games For Players Who Love The Long Dark

Key Takeaways

• Project Zomboid
  &
  The Long Dark
  share permadeath and character needs management.
• Like
  The Long Dark
  ,
  Subnautica
  offers beautiful but treacherous environments.
• 7 Days to Die, Grounded
  &
  ARK: Survival Evolved
  put players at the bottom of the food chain.

Developed by Hinterland Studio and released in 2017, The Long Dark is a challenging first-person survival exploration game. Resourcefulness is king, and quick thinking is the difference between life and death. In this game, players are pitted against the vicious and chilling enemy of Mother Nature, where a single mistake can spell their doom. Death is the only way this game ends.

The following games have been selected because their gameplay, themes, or the experiences and emotions they evoke are similar to The Long Dark. This includes, but is not limited to, character needs management, survival within an ecosystem, isolation, diverse and beautiful environments, and a constant threat of death.

8 Project Zomboid

Permadeath, Needs Management

Project Zomboid is a survival crafting game that takes place following the total breakdown of society at the hands of a zombie apocalypse. Players must learn to live in this new world devoid of human life, utilizing humanity’s remains for food, shelter, and defense.

Like The Long Dark, Project Zomboid features permadeath and a gameplay loop that sees players learn with every death and character loss. No death is a waste, though it is avoidable. Every new game is a journey further into the apocalyptic unknown, and knowledge and experience are bought with loss. Project Zomboid also sees players explore while managing various needs, including hunger, thirst, and sleep.

7 Subnautica

Beauty, Fear, Isolation

Subnautica is a first-person survival exploration game set in the alien underwater depths of a foreign planet. In it, players must search, loot, and craft to survive and progress the game’s plot.

Fans of The Long Dark can find a lot to love in Subnautica, including their similar atmospheres. Delving into the ocean’s dark depths, players are awestruck at the beauty of Subnautica’s varied environments. Simultaneously, players are also terrified at what monstrosity could be lurking within the murky gloom. Death could be behind any corner.

Like The Long Dark, Subanutica is also a single-player game where players only interact with humanity through the stuff they have left behind.

6 7 Days To Die

Become The Prey

7 Days to Die is a first-person base-building survival game set long after humanity has fallen victim to a zombie apocalypse. Players must fight, loot, and build to survive zombie hordes that will mercilessly hunt down players every seventh in-game day.

7 Days to Die’s seventh-day zombie horde mechanic has players go from predator to prey as hundreds of zombies attempt to claw, punch, and bite their way into players’ bases. Failure by players to respect zombies as their predators will end in demise. The same can be said of The Long Dark’s wolves and bears, a single one of which can lead to a swift death.

5 Valheim

Diverse And Hostile Environments

Valheim is a third-person crafting adventure game set within a Viking mythos-inspired fantastical wilderness. Players must adventure, craft, and build to protect themselves and their loot from monsters.

Players who love The Long Dark will find the diverse lands of Valheim familiar but refreshing. Every biome in Valheim has its own unique challenges and threats that players must learn and overcome. Players who succeed will be rewarded with access to new resources.

Many of Valheim’s biomes require extended travel through the wilderness to access, necessitating players to prepare extensively for voyages and establish multiple bases. Fans of The Long Dark will find great enjoyment in this as it closely parallels The Long Dark’s need for players to always be on the move.

4 Unturned

The Start Of The Apocalypse

Unturned is a first-person cartoon-style zombie apocalypse game where players must survive in a world where the undead recently destroyed society.

Like The Long Dark, Unturned is a game that explores ‘what ifs?’ Unturned’s ‘What if overnight humanity fell to zombies?’ is similar to The Long Dark’s ‘What if society collapsed, trapping someone in the Canadian wilderness?’ Both scenarios give each respective game a fresh feeling. When playing Unturned, players are exploring a new world, one newly produced by a cataclysm. Unturned, like The Long Dark, powerfully captures how something once so familiar and comfortable can suddenly feel alien and hostile.

3 Grounded

Violence Is Not Always The Answer

Grounded is a relatively new entry in the first-person survival-exploration genre. In it, players play as children who have been shrunk to the size of ants within a garden. Instead of zombies and NPCs, players have to survive alongside mosquitos and giant spiders.

Grounded expertly brings a sense of wonder and alienation to a world that many are familiar with, a similar praise given by many to The Long Dark. Players who enjoy exploring everyday experiences from a new perspective will find a lot to engage with in Grounded. Similar to The Long Dark, Grounded also has players living at the bottom of the food chain, so be prepared to prey on and be preyed on.

2 ARK: Survival Evolved

Fighting Isn’t Always The Answer

ARK: Survival Evolved is a first-person survival base-building game. To survive in this prehistoric land, players must build bases and tame a plethora of dinosaurs, both giant and small.

ARK: Survival Evolved is a game that doesn’t hold back, allowing players to encounter ferocious dinosaurs early on. Players quickly learn that survival is not just about who can hit the hardest but also knowing when and if they should engage in combat. Sometimes, running is the best option, or quietly sneaking past and praying that the T-Rex doesn’t spot them. Running headlong into combat will only end in death.

1 The Forest

Beautiful Environments, Varied AI

A thrilling first-person survival game, The Forest sees players tasked with escaping an island inhabited by cannibals and deadly mutant humanoids. Players must manage character needs and base building while under the looming threat of attack.

Beautiful but deadly, The Forest inspires equal awe with its lush and varied environments as it does fear, knowing that a deadly threat could be lurking around any corner. Like The Long Dark, The Forest also has high-quality and varied AI that always keeps players on their toes. Players never quite know what an encounter with cannibals will bring, whether fighting, fleeing, or bringing war to players’ front doors.