Survival games, as a genre, has exploded in the last few years. The Steam charts are filled with all types of survival games, from hardcore survival simulators to classic survival horror. In this article, Gurugamer has compiled the 6 best survival games to play on PC in 2022.

1. Don't Starve

Don't Starve is an excellent game that combines roguelike and survival gameplay, dumping you in a strange territory to explore, forage, learn, craft and progress on your own terms. For the most part, the controls and interface are intuitive, so it's simply a matter of deciding where to go or what to do.

Don T Starve

With the game literally called Don't Starve, hunger is indeed a major theme. If you go a few days without food, you will die. That said, there are plenty of other things to kill you - a variety of animals and monsters, environmental hazards, and your own dwindling sanity. To battle this, you rely on building your own equipment, consumables and structures, ranging from weapons and armor to crock pots to unwholesome magical devices.

2. Valheim

Overall, Valheim provides an excellent creative outlet. You get to explore, craft, build, and play 'your' way in a visually pleasing environment. It is a solid survival experience when played solo and even better with more people to add more to the game world. Combat is a bit basic but otherwise, everything about the game is great. The building system is easy to use and works well and there are a ton of things to gather and craft.

Valheim Architecture

There is a good variety of gear to acquire and enemy types to battle. Sailing around looking for the next adventure is pretty sweet, and each new world being randomly generated adds a nice touch of mystery to it.

3. ARK: Survival Evolved

What sets ARK apart from other survival games is its setting (frigging dinosaurs), its general art style (sci-fi-looking HUD and inventory/character screen), its graphics (looking seriously impressive) and the fact that you can tame your very own dinos!

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Instead of killing the giant murder machines (or players), you can choose to knock them unconscious instead, beginning a rather lengthy taming process during which you must keep the creature subdued while also feeding it its favored food. Eventually, it will become your (and your tribe's) companion, able to aid you in combat, bear your burdens and even be ridden as a personal mount (works with flying dinos, too!). What more needs to be said, really.

4. Rust

This game is a great example of a survival sandbox game. You can literally do whatever the hell you wanna do. Do you wanna roleplay? Go for it. Do you wanna build stuff and let your creative mind blow off some steam? Go for it. Do you wanna murder another player in cold blood with your trusted rock? Go for it.

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There's a lot of ways to express your creativity - basebuilding, gearsets, drawing on other people's bases...etc. There is no real endgame, so you can set your own goals - while sounding pretty simple, it can still be very rewarding.

5. Subnautica

It's hard to overstate what a magnificent exploration and adventure game Subnautica is. What really stands out to me is that experience—not an XP bar, but the accumulation of knowledge about the game world, its locations, and its inhabitants—is the most powerful weapon in a player's arsenal.

Subnautica Below Zero

There's a lot to find and a lot to do in this game. The need to unravel the game's central mysteries and to obtain blueprint fragments, salvage, and rare materials from wrecks, grottoes, and strange installations will force you to leave your comfort zone time and again. First you'll crawl out of the Safe Shallows, then you'll creep further and deeper, then you'll swim further still until one day you'll be amazed at how far away from Lifepod 5 you've gone, at the readout on your depth meter, and you'll wonder how you ever thought that the seaweed areas just outside of the Safe Shallows were in any way scary.

6. Astroneer

Astroneer is such a satisfying and heartwarming game. It scratches the same "itch" that games like Minecraft & Factorio aim for. Start with basically nothing, and work your way up into a big base of operations through mining resources and exploration. The wonderful twist that Astroneer brings to the table is that you can fly to another planet. When you arrive on this planet, assuming you don't know what you're doing, you basically get to start all over again but with a new set of minerals available to you. You can then fly back to your original planet and drop of the new stuff, or start working on an entirely new base set on this new planet.

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There's plenty of stuff to do on your home planet as well. With the addition of vehicles, and road-construction equipment (pavers) you can make a planet-wide highway and connect special points of interest to it. You can get into automation and have robo-arms pick up and place resources in specific slots for you. Being able to watch your base "live" by itself is something I imagine a successful parent feels every day.

>>> Read more: Top 5 Best Simulation Games On PC (2022)