Survival Crafting

Valheim is a co-op survival crafting game set in a procedurally generated Norse purgatory, blending base-building, exploration, and challenging boss fights with a striking low-poly art style.

✦ Best for co-op survival enthusiasts

I Am Alive thrusts players into a devastated world where every decision can mean life or death. As a survivor, you must scavenge for resources, manage health, and navigate dangerous environments while helping other characters. The game blends intense action with strategic survival mechanics, offering a gritty, immersive experience. Its atmospheric setting and challenging gameplay keep players on edge as they strive to rebuild hope in a shattered world.

✦ Best for hardcore survival fans craving deep resource management

Human Element is an ambitious shooter and survival game developed by Robotoki and published by Robomodo. Set against a terrifying backdrop of a zombie apocalypse, the title focuses heavily on resource management, human interaction, and staying alive in a drastically altered world. Originally slated for multiple platforms including PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One, the project generated significant anticipation among survival game enthusiasts. However, development faced severe hurdles, and the game officially entered an indefinite hiatus status in January 2015.

✦ Best for gaming historians and zombie survival fans studying unreleased indie shooters.

Terraria is a 2D sandbox action-adventure game with platforming and role-playing elements where players create a character and explore a procedurally generated world. You will mine resources, craft equipment, build structures, and battle formidable enemies and bosses to unlock new tiers of items and biomes. The game features a flexible gear-based class system, NPC recruitment tied to achievements, and robust support for both single-player and multiplayer modes. With official modding support through tModLoader, players can enjoy endless replayability and community-created content across numerous platforms.

✦ Best for sandbox, survival, and rpg enthusiasts wanting endless exploration and multiplayer.

The game blends open‑world exploration with cooperative multiplayer, letting up to four players team up to complete quests, craft gear, and uncover the mystery behind the infection. Its blend of horror atmosphere and hack‑and‑slash action delivers a gritty survival experience.

✦ Best for fans of co‑op hack‑and‑slash survival in open‑world settings

Dead Island Riptide plunges players back into the nightmare on the newly introduced island of Palanai within the Banoi archipelago. After thinking they had escaped the horrors of the original outbreak, the survivors find themselves stranded amidst rising tides, torrential storms, and hordes of bloodthirsty the undead. Building upon the visceral first-person combat of its predecessor, this action-packed horror title introduces a new playable character, deadly weapons, terrifying mutated enemies, and cooperative multiplayer gameplay. Players must scavenge, craft, and fight for their lives as hope slowly vanishes in a corrupt and drowning world.

✦ Best for co-op gamers wanting brutal melee combat and weapon crafting.

DayZ is a hardcore open-world survival game where your only goal is to stay alive no matter what. Navigate a massive post-apocalyptic landscape overrun by an infected zombie population while competing against other players for scarce resources, weapons, and medical supplies. Make critical choices about cooperation and betrayal as you forge your own story. Whether you team up with strangers or survive as a lone wolf, every decision matters in a persistent world where death is permanent and loses everything you've gathered.

✦ Best for hardcore survival fans wanting a massive, tense open-world shooter.