Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)

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After a great 2024, the survival genre boom is only gonna get bigger.

A survivor in the woods with a weapon and mask
(Image credit: Rebellion)

Hey, you! Don't just stand there half-naked with your stomach growling. Grab a stick, pick up a rock, craft a rope from whatever the heck "plant fiber" is, and combine them to make your first crude axe. Then chop down some trees, build a mech suit (I may have skipped a few steps), climb in, and start running as fast as your sprint meter will allow.

The reason I'm rushing you is because right over the horizon are a bunch of exciting new survival games. The survival genre had a great year in 2024, with original and diverse survival games like Pacific Drive (singleplayer survival in a car), Abiotic Factor (co-op survival in a Half-Life-esque world), Frostpunk 2 (a survival city builder), Enshrouded (a survival RPG), and Soulmask (I didn't play it but it had souls and masks, I think?).

New survival games of 2025

Subnautica 2

Subnautica 2
Co-op | Early Access | Wet | 2025
Hype Level: 🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

Ask any five survival fans what their favorite survival game is, and four of 'em will say Subnautica. We can't wait to see what Unknown Worlds has lurking in the depths of its next open-water adventure.

Dune: Awakening

Dune: Awakening
MMO | Base-building | Thirsty | Early 2025
Hype Level: 💧💧💧💧💧

I'm not even an MMO guy but every time I take a look at Dune: Awakening, I get more excited to try its spicy blend of desert survival, base-building, sandworms, and moisture management.

Atomfall

Atomfall
Singleplayer | FPS | Blimey, guv | Mar 27, 2025
Hype Level: ☢️☢️☢️☢️

Phil called this alt-history survival action game set after a nuclear accident "a very British take on Stalker," and noted it's got a bit of Fallout built in as well. That checks a lot of boxes for me.

Prologue: Go Wayback!

Prologue: Go Wayback!
Singleplayer | Early Access | Woodsy | Q2 2025
Hype Level: 🧭🧭🧭🧭

PUBG creator Brendan Greene is giving you a map and shoving you into the uncompromising embrace of nature in his next survival game, which will generate a dangerous new world every time you play.

Aloft

Aloft
Co-op | Base-building | Cozy | Jan 15, 2025
Hype Level: 🌥️🌥️🌥️

This co-op sandbox survival game takes place in a world filled with floating islands. Explore, craft, and battle corrupted creatures with your friends. It looks both cozy and cool.

Terminator: Survivors

Terminator: Survivors
Hasta | La | Vista | Baby | 2025
Hype Level: 🤖🤖

It missed an October 2024 release date, but hopefully it's back on track for this year. I admit I don't have the highest of hopes, but a survival game where I fight Terminators? I gotta give it a shot, at least.

Upcoming survival games without release dates

Light No Fire

Light No Fire
Co-op | Fantasy | One big planet | TBA
Hype Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 + 🔥

Swapping a jillion worlds for just one, and sci-fi for fantasy, No Man's Sky developer Hello Games is turning you loose on a planet the size of Earth to explore, craft, build, and survive.

Outward 2

Outward 2
Fantasy | Difficult | Cool backpacks | TBA
Hype Level: 🧙🧙🧙🧙🧙

Outward is a personal favorite of mine and had one of the most interesting magic systems I've ever encountered in a fantasy RPG. I'm really looking forward to the sequel, but I don't expect it to arrive in 2025.

Blackfrost: The Long Dark

Blackfrost: The Long Dark
Co-op | Cold | Long | Dark | TBA
Hype Level: ⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄

It was only just announced and probably won't be along until 2026 or so, but I'm excited there's a sequel to the outstanding original survival game. This time you can bring your friends: it's co-op.

Ark 2

Ark 2
Dinos | Diesel | Graphics | TBA
Hype Level: 🦖🦖

We were expecting it in 2022, then 2024, and now… well, they haven't said. But the sequel to dino-riffic survival game Ark has Vin Diesel in it, so it can't hide forever. 2025? We'll see.

StarRupture

StarRupture
Co-op | Base-building | Big bugs | TBA
Hype Level: 🌟🌟🌟

Look, I don't love the name and the trailer was a bit stiff, but this is Creepy Jar, maker of the excellent Green Hell. I wouldn't bet against their new survival base-builder.

Under a Rock

Under a Rock
Co-op | Exploration | Bird buddies | TBA
Hype Level: 🦜🦜🦜

This procedural open world survival game is bursting with color and charm, and already looks like it could be a fantastic hangout game to build and explore with friends. No date yet, though.

Christopher Livingston
Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.