Survival Game Analysis

Survival games are those in which you face off against a hostile environment in what is generally an open world, often starting with only meagre equipment, supplies and limited inventories.

These games incorporate aspects of crafting useful tools and weapons in order to stave off hunger, thirst or an enemy threat.

While many other genres of video games incorporate survival elements, the survival genre as a whole is one which places the element of combat as secondary and often avoidable.

Survival games are often open-ended, with the player tasked with either surviving for a certain amount of time or as long as they can in that individual play through.

Survival games are often slow paced and require methodical thinking. However, there have been exceptions, e.g. dead rising, where the survival aspects are placed into a story line and the action is fast paced.

How are survival games played?

• Finding supplies

• Taking shelter

• Crafting some gear

• Researching new unlocks

Unlike action games, survival games tend to place mid to long-term planning as the most important component of the gameplay.

Where do survival games originate?

UnReal World, released in 1992, is generally considered the most significant example of early survival games. Set in Iron Age Finland, this game uses a simple graphical style to portray the challenge of survival against the harsh elements of the freezing environment. 

UnReal included systems as complex as frostbite to individual body parts.

Modern survival games are more heavily linked to the horror genre and post-apocalyptic concept. Examples of survival games would be Resident evil or Silent hill that, while may not have hunger bars or frostbite, have the player hide for their life when in danger.