Hot (weeks) off the back of Sons Of The Forest and the Resident Evil 4 remake coming out, we're celebrating your bestest best, most favourite survival games this month. Your votes have been counted and tallied, and your accompanying words of praise and affection matched accordingly. But which game has survived to make it to the top of the pile? Come and find out as we count down your 25 favourite survival games of all time.
]]>The monsters lurking within Sons Of The Forest may have been delayed, but they're still very much coming to get you. We're creeping ever closer to the hit survival sequel's February 23rd release date, but IGN have lead the foray with a hands-on preview that reveals a little more about what to expect. Expect mutants with improved AI and individual tastes, better building, and companions you can boss around.
]]>Ah, The Forest. I returned to it recently and remembered that there are horrors in the game beyond the creatures that look like God’s spare parts bin got tipped over. The building system still feels like it never left early access, and I wished I could craft cabins that looked like mansions. Luckily, I've found the best Forest mods to help with that, while also allowing me to turn the whole game on its head by making it into an action RPG. You could say I’ve mutated it. So who has six thumbs and wants the best mods for The Forest?
]]>Most survival games have an element of horror, giving us an inhuman hunger that'll kill us if we don't eat a three-course meal every five minutes. I like jokes. The Forest goes hard on horror, having cannibals and mutants stalk us, and the story-driven survival game's sequel is looking just as wonderfully horrible. The developers, Endnight Games have announced they plan to release Sons Of The Forest in 2021, and shared a new trailer showing what's waiting for us in the trees. I do not like it, which I like.
]]>There's never been a better time to get into survival games on PC, as the recent revival of the genre means Steam is now awash in some truly great games, both in early access and in full release. There are more arriving every year, too, which is why we've done the hard work for you and ranked the very best survival games to dive into today. Fair warning - there are some early access games on this list, which mean they might be a little janky early on. Give them the time they deserve, though, and you'll find they often blossom into some truly great games over subsequent updates. We've only included the very best and most complete-feeling survival games on this list, though, so you can rest assured that every game here will leave you hungry for more. It's by no means exhaustive, but it should give you a nice selection of wolf-taming, base-building, carrot-picking action to choose from.
]]>Like a heavily-sponsored Santa Claus, the Game Awards swept in last night and left us a pile of presents to unwrap. If you did the smart thing and slept through the event, you'll have missed a bunch of new announcements. Alice O and Graham did some amazing work in writing up as much as they could as it happened, but a few sly games snuck past 'em. Plus, sometimes it's just nice to have everything all in once place. Here's everything that was announced.
]]>Weird new mutants, hang-gliders and twisted effigies of a comfortable suburban life lost - The Forest is getting a bit stranger in a big update next week. After four years in early access, the sandbox survival-horror game launched in full back in April, but Endnight Games never stopped work on it. Since launch, the game has seen a full VR mode added, a lot of tweaks and tuning and continued bug-hunting. The next update will be expanding its vaguely lovecraftian world a bit, with new things to build and fight and I think the player character may be cracking up a bit in the trailer below.
]]>There are weeks when the Steam Charts surprise us! There are weeks when interesting new and old games reappear, pushing out the dreary regulars! And then mostly there are weeks like this one, where it's so depressingly bland that it starts raining outside the moment you glance at it. Not good rain, just bland drizzle.
]]>Welcome to my nightmares. As chronicled last week, all human progress is wiped out by a Steam Sale. Where once we were a species that revelled in new, interesting ideas, pursuing our dreams, we are once more wedged neck-deep in the past, doomed to buy the same £40 five-year-old games until we rot and coagulate into a molten horror. Welcome to the Steam Charts!
]]>We've just passed the half-way point of 2018, so Ian Gatekeeper and all his fabulously wealthy chums over at Valve have revealed which hundred games have sold best on Steam over the past six months. It's a list dominated by pre-2018 names, to be frank, a great many of which you'll be expected, but there are a few surprises in there.
2018 releases Jurassic World Evolution, Far Cry 5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Warhammer: Vermintide II are wearing some spectacular money-hats, for example, while the relatively lesser-known likes of Raft, Eco and Deep Rock Galactic have made themselves heard above the din of triple-A marketing budgets.
]]>I have reached a conclusion. Everything that's bad is the fault of Steam sales. Two weeks ago these charts had reached a place of being a fertile ground of interesting new games and discounted classics. Today, they're back to being mostly a miserably predictable list of games that even the undiscovered tribes of Papua New Guinea have on their Steam accounts.
]]>"Miss, Miss, it's so sunny, can we have Steam Charts on the field?"
"NO. Sit down and write about popular PC games in this oppressively hot room until the DAY YOU DIE."
]]>Thank goodness you're here! If you weren't to read the Steam Charts today, you would DIE.
]]>Please sit down. Make sure you have a friend with you, or available on the telephone. Plunkbat isn't at number one. Somehow, it's something even more boring. But the rest of the charts are a splendid sight! No GTA, no CS:GO, no Witcher 3, no Skyrim!
]]>I've loved The Forest when I've played it in the past. I first took a look in 2014, finding it limited but a lot of fun. I then went back in 2015 to discover it was hugely improved and far more involved. I even videoed half an hour of my inept ambling. I have been back since then, but not written any more, but it's probably close to two years since I really dug into it. Now it's out in a final version, I'm surprised how little has changed in the last three years, but also pleased to find the same mix of survivor and terror. Not quite so pleased to discover so many of the classic bugs are still there.
]]>A pleasingly fresh collection of games dominating the top ten Steam moneymakers this week, along with the shock absence of Counter-Strike: GO! No shocks at the #1 spot, but a couple of surprising appearances in the top 5.
]]>Hallo! John's away so I'm taking over for our latest weekly rundown of the biggest-selling games on Steam over the previous seven days. Familiar faces are here, of course, but the charts also include more survival games than I've seen in yonks. The slightest peek of sun outside and you lot start acting as if it's the end of the world, eh?
]]>Hullo! John is preoccupied with wizards right now, so I'm taking over for the rundown of last week's top ten on Steam. It was an interesting week, bringing back some welcome old games and slamming in some shiny new ones. Largely, it's all about robots and survival.
]]>Subnautica may be the latest big thing in the survival sandbox sphere, but Endnight Games' The Forest was there first. Released as early access in 2014, it has evolved and mutated into a surprisingly deep blend of survival horror and sandbox. Today, it is officially finished, and version 1.0 has rolled out. Within, some quick thoughts on the new version of the game, plus a rather grim and violent launch trailer.
]]>The Early Access folks are getting one last chance to help uncover secrets (and technical bugs) of The Forest, as the last final penultimate pre-launch update for the game hits. The Forest is just about almost out, with less than 24 hours remaining til v1.0, and there's still mysteries and twists being added. Like... uh... there's a new locked door on a ship. I adore that this is the kind of information given out in a mostly bug and errors based update, but The Forest does love to bury its surprises.
]]>Add this one to my list of games that I thought was released released more than a year ago, The Forest is finally unlocking v1.0 at the end of April. I... I really have to keep better track of these things. My time in The Forest was super enjoyable (that's not the word for mutant cannibal island) but knowing that so much content was locked off until now, I'm ready to dive back in.
]]>Four years in early access, a highly active player-base and enough sales to make it a regular front-page bestsellers fixture on Steam, The Forest has done very well for itself, considering its lengthy public development cycle, and crowded genre.
While not quite as ambitious as the excellent (and recently finalized) Subnautica, The Forest puts its own narrative-driven, oft-horrific spin on the survival sandbox genre. Development on the game has shifted gears in recent months, and developers Endnight Games are planning for it to leave Early Access this April, accompanied by one massive final update.
]]>No. Let's not be ridiculous. But there are so many examples of bad survival games that it’s important to remember the good ones. So that’s what we are doing on the latest RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. We're breaking stones over the heads of rubbish survival games, but cooking, salting and eating the delicious ones. Adam wraps himself up in The Long Dark but reluctantly sets Project Zomboid on fire to stay warm. Matt gets sea sickness from Subnautica but wants to swim again anyway. And Brendan freedives into Subnautica too, in an attempt to escape from all the mediocre survival games set on red planets.
]]>Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games. But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol' breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months.
Below is the full, hundred-strong roster, complete with links to our coverage if you want to find out more about any of the games, or simply to marvel at how much seemed to happen in the space of 52 short weeks.
]]>Heavens to Murgatroyd, it's only the weekly Steam charts! That is to say, the ten games which sold best on Steam last week.
After a string of backwards-looking weeks, it's beginning to look a lot like 2017 at last.
]]>The Forest [official site], a pretty-but-harrowing singleplayer survival/crafting game, has been traipsing through the Early Access woods for three years now, and it impressed us even in its earliest days. I've yet to have the pleasure of butchering turtles or being savaged by cannibals, but with The Forest back in the charts and well over a year's worth of development under its belt since the last time we looked at in earnest, I decided that now was the time. Time to live on a steady diet of squirrel kidneys, in a log cabin adorned with severed heads. Beats reality, right?
]]>Cor blimey, it's only the weekly Steam Charts! As always, these are based on the accumulated sales on Steam over the previous week, not what's doing best for itself at this exact moment in time.
A nice number one this week, but a rather old-fashioned top ten otherwise - with one unexpected aberration.
N.B. there is NO VENGABUS this week. Repeat NO VENGA BUS. It'll return when it is most needed.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
I've played enough Early Access survival games to have had my fill for now. The Forest [official site] is the one that sticks with me, partly because its enemies are creepy-weird cannibals rather than poorly animated animals, and partly because I'll never forget John rolling a shark around on the beach. It's an odd game.
]]>Having returned to The Forest last week, I really didn't want to stop playing. I ended up spending an afternoon I'd booked off as holiday back in front of it, and recorded half an hour or so of that. To share! After spotting a giant sinkhole, and being so excited I had to hit record, it's safe to say there's some early disappointment. But then as I keep exploring, there's lots of new things to discover, and indeed needlessly hit with an axe. You can watch it below.
]]>In checking up on the affecting and devastatingly difficult The Long Dark, and the underwhelming Stranded Deep, I ran into the same issue. After many months, I returned to these early access survival sims to find the same silly, easily fixed issues persisted, despite enormous great chunks of new game being added in. Not so with The Forest [official site]. This is a game that, each time I go back, seems to have leapt leagues forward. Although, to be fair, it's somehow been over a year since I last delved into this part-serene, part-terrifying world. Gosh, it's good.
]]>Early Access games are here to stay, but is that cause for concern or celebration? We gathered to discuss whether early access benefits developers or players in its current state, and how we'd make it better. Along the way, we discussed the best alpha examples, paying for unfinished games, our love of regularly updated mods, Minecraft and the untapped potential of digital stores.
]]>The Forest hit early access and impressed first Adam and I and then John. Maybe it can now impress us all simultaneously, as the latest update to the island survival game just added co-op multiplayer.
]]>In early 2012, a mod for Arma II called DayZ was released. Two-and-a-half years later, its odd mixture of multiplayer, horror, and a need for players to keep themselves fed and watered, has given rise to the survival genre.
Let's celebrate that genre.
]]>My diaried adventures within The Forest began with my foolhardy attempt to build a log cabin. It was hubris. So following a remarkably similar plane crash into a remarkably similar - but slightly different - woodland, I've attempted a more modest life of brutal fights, daring cave escapes, and most of all, sharkrolling.
]]>The Forest has been doing really rather well on Steam's Early Access this year. A survival game with an emphasis on crafting and building, and yet it's not made out of cubes. In fact, it's really quite impressively realistic. Apart from, maybe, the mutant horrors. I hope. Oh God, please don't let those be realistic.
I've decided I'm going to master this game. I'm going to be Lord Of The Damned Woods. I'll document my attempts, in words and video. Here's the story of my first go.
I got my log cabin. All my life I’ve been waiting for the chance to be stranded in the woods, and have both the resources, and the wherewithal, to build a log cabin. I may have also killed a woman.
]]>Is an early access release shit? Not in The Forest. The survival horror survival sim is about building shelter and gathering food to survive against the elements, where one of those elements is "naked slick cannibals". Even in its first release it's a fun time, and now there's a new update coming today which introduces new features (sharks!) plus bug fixes.
]]>Each Monday, Chris Livingston visits an early access game and reports back with stories about whatever he finds inside. This week, fighting savages while becoming one in survival-horror crafting game The Forest.
Interesting how priorities can change. Two days ago, my crafting goal was to build a log cabin. Today, I'm more interested in assembling a tower of human body parts. Of course, the day before yesterday -- when I was a civilized, practical person pulling myself out of a plane wreck in The Forest -- was a long time ago. Things have happened since then. Things. Now, I'm a wild-eyed, blood-spattered maniac, my body half-plastered with lizard skins, tightly gripping a rusty axe and slashing at anything that moves. On the plus side, I only need one more dismembered head to finish today's crafting project! Whose will it be?
]]>The Forest is a singleplayer FPS which mixes Rust-like crafting and survival with a setting more visually stunning than you'd think possible from a four-person indie team. It entered early access on Steam last week, and Adam and Graham spent the weekend shivering alone in the rain (and in the game) so they could bring you their impressions.
Graham: I am slick and naked like a fine young cannibal. LET'S DO THIS. Where "THIS" is talk about The Forest, the new survival horror/Minecraft-alike/singleplayer Rust/early access game that came out late last week.
Does an Adam shit himself in The Forest?
]]>Perhaps it's time to look at early access releases another way. Don't become frustrated by games which aren't yet what we hope they'll be, find games which right now are something we want. DayZ was once a brisk countryside hike. Star Citizen is still a gorgeous spaceship museum to visit, fleeting perfection for someone who wants nothing more than to gaze at spaceships. And The Forest, well, it's now on Steam Early Access but has yet to fully round out the survival stuff, so perhaps it's as close as it'll ever be to the woodland stroll I crave on a Friday evening.
]]>Name a horrible situation you could find yourself in and I've almost certainly sat through a Discovery channel recreation of it. Les Stroud, Ray Mears, I just recently rewatched all of Bush Tucker Man. Yup, there's now nothing I don't know about watching other people tying to make fire in the bush*. It's for that reason that I'm intrigued by The Forest, a game about surviving after a crash into an island and using the elements to keep you alive. Plants grow, the tide comes in, and the inhabitants of the island want you dead. To keep them at bay you build traps, which is something I'm incredibly excited about. Super grim trailer is below, and I'd suggest you watch it with a parent or guardian. Preferably both.
]]>Let's put words to it: 2013 was the year of the roguelike; 2014 is the year of the survival game. Whether they're still in alpha or not, this feels like DayZ and Rust's moment, and there are a dozen games on the horizon hoping to get in on the fun. The Forest is one of them, putting a significantly different singleplayer horror spin on the foraging formula.
In an interview with Eurogamer, with Endnight Games' creative director Ben Falcone, laid out some details of the game's story and NPC AI.
]]>The Forest is Minecraft meets Slender, or Lost: The Game, or Sir, You Are Henry David Thoreau, or any one of a number of other lazy comparisons that does more to make me look knowledgeable than it does to actually tell you about the game.
Ahem. So watch this new trailer instead. It's Stalker meets Wurm Online!
]]>The Lost game Ubisoft put out a few years ago was a stinky pile of monster droppings. It was such a shame: if they'd managed to do it correctly, they might have stolen a march on what can only be described as a tsunami of survival games. It's a genre that's exploded in recent years. There's people vs zombies, there's people vs dinosaurs, and now there's people vs trees, in The Forest. Oh, alright. I'm joking. But it's what's in the trees that's scary.
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