Best Survival Games For Low-Stakes Playthroughs, Ranked

Attempting to keep one or more video game characters alive in a harsh environment is thrilling, testing a player’s mettle from the comfort of their home. However, it can be incredibly stress-inducing, especially when hours, days, or months of hard work are hanging by a thread and could be lost in an instant.

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Sometimes, it’s nice to play with fewer stakes on the line and less imminent danger, and the likes of Minecraft, Project Zomboid, and many other survival games offer peaceful modes where players are free to build and thrive with few or no hostile threats. Others offer survival with low stakes by default, and here are some of the best out there — ranked based on a combination of their overall quality and popularity.

8

The Sims 2: Castaway

Befriending Chimps And Surviving On A Desert Island

One of many interesting spin-off titles of the popular life simulation series, The Sims 2: Castaway has players controlling up to six sims who are stranded on a desert island after a terrible shipwreck. Gameplay is basically the same as a regular Sims game, making sure that each character’s needs are met, but with the added twist that items and shelter must be crafted.

Traveling between different areas and different islands, there is plenty to do, such as befriending chimpanzees, finding treasure, and uncovering a mystery. The goal is to escape the islands, but the ending received sharp criticism for being a bit flat, so it’s probably advisable to just continue playing, gradually building up dwellings, leveling up sims, and growing that simian social circle.

7

Tail Of The Sun

Quirky And Relaxing Prehistoric Survival

Taking a more humorous approach, Tail of the Sun is a PlayStation exclusive in which players assume the role of primitive humans in prehistoric times, who aim to reach the sun by building a tower of mammoth tusks. Apart from that, there are no particular goals or tutorials. Rather, the player is given freedom from the outset to venture out, explore, and discover as they play.

Growing the village and eating specific foods improve certain attributes and contribute greatly to the main objective, but the protagonist does have an irritating habit of falling asleep randomly. This, combined with the relaxed gameplay, caused some polarization at the time of its release, but overall, there is a humor-filled and unique experience on offer here.

6

The Survivalists

Monkey Management

Indie

Survival

Strategy

Adventure

Released

October 9, 2020

OpenCritic Rating

Fair

In a similar vein to Tail of the Sun, The Survivalists has been criticized by many for being too easy, but that is precisely a quality that some players are seeking. While there are many biomes in the procedurally generated worlds, and plenty to enjoy in this game, the main selling point is the extremely useful monkeys found on the islands.

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It’s possible for players to befriend these primates and use them either as workers or even soldiers in battles against the many hostiles. While this is not a perfect survival game, managing the monkeys as efficiently as possible can eliminate much of the tedium found in the genre, plus it’s just a pure joy to see an army of happy monkey workers.

5

Smalland: Survive The Wilds

Surviving In A Scaled-Up World

Released

December 7, 2023

Developer(s)

Merge Games Limited

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Publisher(s)

Merge Games Limited

Given the diminutive size of the player character and the giant bugs featured in Smalland: Survive the Wilds, it certainly isn’t a game for everybody. Fortunately, the game contains various sliders to cater the experience to each individual player, but even on the hardest settings, it’s not too much of a challenge — just more annoying than difficult.

The crisp graphics and sense of scale really add to the joy and whimsy when playing Smalland, and one of the most useful and fun aspects of the game is mounts. Being able to ride a gargantuan creature like a scorpion is the best way to traverse the map, venturing further into the world to scavenge better materials for crafting and base-building.

4

I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival

Relaxing Rooftop Base-Management

Indie

Survival

Farming

Simulation

Systems

Released

November 13, 2024

Developer(s)

Mandragora

Publisher(s)

tinyBuild

Considering the name of the game, I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival is an unsurprisingly pleasant and slow-paced experience, building a rooftop base in a flooded city. All the typical survival elements are here, with fishing, farming, and crafting being imperative to success, but players can also automate many tasks by utilizing robot helpers.

There is still a mystery to solve — figuring out why the city is flooded — but the lack of time limits means that quests can be carried out whenever the player feels like it. Apocalypse and cozy are two words that don’t often fit together, but here it is very apt and an effective twist on the usually more gritty and bleak genre.

3

Dawn Of Man

Prehistoric City-Building

Systems

Released

March 1, 2019

OpenCritic Rating

Fair

Spanning 10,000 years of human prehistory from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, Dawn of Man begins with a small settlement that gradually grows into a thriving city. There is a technology tree to follow and gradually unlock, making everything run more efficiently as new tools are created, allowing for easier hunts and eventually moving to an agricultural society.

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Many tasks can be automated, such as maintaining livestock populations or winter clothing supplies, meaning that there is very little micromanagement necessary. Some players may struggle with the harsh winters, animal attacks, and even raids, but with careful planning in this slow-paced game, these problems should be easily dealt with, and it’s all underscored by a relaxing soundtrack.

2

Survival Kids

Desert Island Survival In 2D

Survival Kids

A Game Boy Color exclusive, Survival Kids is a 2D survival game following two characters who are stranded on a desert island after a storm causes their boat to capsize. Gameplay is non-linear, and the story is minimal, giving players the freedom to play in their own way.

There are some stressful situations, such as food having adverse effects or not meeting the character’s needs in time, but much of the fun is derived from experimentation. Merging items allows for different tools to be crafted, and spices have all kinds of effects on food, which are different in every playthrough. Overall, Survival Kids is surprisingly deep considering the hardware and the fact that it was primarily targeting a younger audience.

1

Wildmender

Bringing Life Back To A Dying World

Indie Games

Action

Adventure

Survival

Farming

Released

November 8, 2022

Developer(s)

Muse Games

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Publisher(s)

Kwalee

While restoring a barren wasteland may seem like high stakes indeed, Wildmender manages to make this benevolent mission a cozy experience. Beginning with a small garden spring in the middle of a hostile desert, players will reforest the landscape, tree by tree, using seeds found while exploring and harnessing the power of magic to completely transform the world.

Naturally, there are survival elements, such as aggressive enemies and the need to satisfy thirst and hunger, but these are not too stressful to deal with. The cutesy aesthetic and beautiful game world epitomize the relaxing nature of Wildmender, and it’s hard to find a similar game offering such freedom and satisfying gameplay.

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