Not all RPGs have you galloping across the lands without a care in the world, with many having the difficulty set significantly right from the start. By limiting your resources, your access to progress, and forcing you to live on the land, suddenly every step forward becomes much tougher, but at the same time much more rewarding.
These games may not be the most difficult in terms of combat difficulty or mechanical skill, but they represent a level of challenge that can only be overcome by those willing to dive into the trenches and dig their way out piece by piece. It doesn't matter if you're struggling to cross a treacherous desert or pushing your way through an overgrown city, the journey will never be easy.
For variety, we will not only cover traditional survival games.
Kenshi
Survival is progress
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Food, shelter and safety come first
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The world offers no help to new players
Kenshi throws you into one of the toughest open worlds ever created. You start out as little more than another survivor trying to make it to the next day, and to do so you must overcome everything from starvation to slavery to wild animals that are more than happy to make you your next meal.
There are no heroes or generous tutorials, simply a brutal world where every meal and every piece of equipment must be earned. I'm still amazed at how steep the curve is, and even after you feel like you've got a handle on the basics, there's still so much to learn before you're fully self-sufficient.
Outwards
Preparation is a must
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Survival is constantly threatened
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Every expedition requires planning
Outwards rejects the traditional RPG formula where leveling solves all problems. Before you leave town, pack up your resources and prepare to scavenge, as a single forgotten item can be the difference between a routine adventure and a gruesome death.
The wilderness itself becomes your biggest obstacle, and the majority of your equipment comes from gathering ingredients and scavenging for valuable materials that can only be found by taking the hard way. It feels like a constant cycle of risk-reward, and a real standout for those tired of the same old RPG loops.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Everyday difficulties
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Hunting and foraging will help you survive
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Medieval life is recreated in an authentic way
Kingdom Come: Deliverance grounds each of its systems in realism, making you think about everyday needs alongside combat. Henry is a person, and so he gets hungry, tired, and injured, and just like traditional medieval life, you have to meet all of these needs by just using the world around you.
Instead of giving you endless comforts, the game encourages you to live like a regular medieval traveler, and the more you lean into your imagination, the better the game gets. I had a hard time early on, trying to play it like any other RPG, but once I gave in to the archaic way of life, I was treated to an exceptional adventure that I still think about to this day.
Gothic II
The wilderness is the greatest teacher
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Dangerous wild animals control safe zones
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Every resource feels valuable
Like many RPGs from the early 2000s, Gothic II refusing to make it easy to survive. Powerful creatures roam the countryside from the get-go, and you're placed at the bottom of the food chain, with no other way up than to gradually build up enough strength to venture further from civilization.
Exploration becomes naturally tied to resource gathering, and you'll find that seemingly small materials like herbs and ore all play an important role in determining how far you can advance in the world. Instead of flooding you with constant change and satisfaction, Gothic II ensures that nature proves to be your most valuable resource.
Elect
Danger in nature
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Resources must be carefully scavenged worldwide
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Exploration is more about caution than anything else
Let's stick with it Gothic IIs developer, Piranha Bytes, for now.
ELEX The post-apocalyptic world is filled with valuable supplies, but reaching them is rarely easy. You have to contend with both powerful factions and a whole host of dangerous creatures that can be seen roaming around pretty much the second you spawn in.
The grind to safety is long and sometimes tedious, but as rough as it sounds, there are no shortcuts to a life of comfort. If you want to stay alive, you must pick your battles, stay in the shadows and only engage when absolutely necessary, otherwise all your patience will have been for naught.
Wrapped up
Building a future
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Image via Keen Games -
Image via Keen Games -
Image via Keen Games
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Resources drive each progression system
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Better opportunities are found through discovery
Wrapped up combines traditional open-world exploration with robust survival mechanics, meaning you'll spend as much time building and crafting as you will exploring. Base construction is a fundamental aspect of the game's progression loop, and the only way to acquire a more robust home is to lay the foundation brick by brick.
The Shroud is what I think gives the game a unique edge and ensures that every expedition carries meaningful risk, and to get deeper into corrupt areas you need to take the steps necessary to level up and prepare for the fight ahead. I really like the back-and-forth loop of hunting in construction, and I would recommend any survivalist to try it out, especially considering how much content the game has to offer.
Elin
The purpose behind the smallest materials
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Notorious highlight
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Self-sufficiency is required from the start
Elin expands on the sandbox philosophy of its predecessor by giving you an extraordinary amount of freedom to survive however you choose. Farming, fishing, hunting, gathering, crafting, and settlement building all become viable ways to establish a sustainable life in the vast world, and I think most people end up at the first hurdle simply because of how much choice there is to offer.
These survival systems are central to the experience, and there's never a time when it feels like you've got everything perfect, because there's always another crop to plant or area to explore. The gradual path to a thriving home is what drives you to do better, and while it may not be as brutal as Elonait's still pretty damn hard.
Project Zomboid
It's called the Apocalypse for a reason
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Risk behind every step
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Forces you to make constant tough decisions
Project Zomboid begins with a simple promise: “This is how you died.” Everything that follows revolves around delaying the inevitable outcome for as long as possible, whether that means eating spoiled food or even sacrificing a teammate, just to make it another day in the wasteland.
Due to how hostile the world is, you constantly need to adapt and change your playstyle, and with an entire army of other players aiming for the same goal, you'll quickly realize that zombies are the least of your problems. The simplistic visuals may be a turn-off for some, but I'd argue that no game captures the despair and inevitability of a zombie apocalypse like Project Zomboid,
