The Top 5 Wilderness Survival Games to Play Now

Wilderness survival games have become increasingly popular over the years, attracting millions of players from all around the world. These games offer a unique and exciting experience that allows players to explore, survive, and thrive in harsh environments.

Whether it’s surviving a frozen wasteland or navigating through a dense rainforest, these games provide endless hours of entertainment.

The Popularity of Wilderness Survival Games

One reason why wilderness survival games have become so popular is due to the rise in popularity of survivalist culture and prepping. Many people now see the importance of being prepared for any emergency situation that may arise, whether it’s a natural disaster or a zombie apocalypse.

Additionally, with the rise of open-world gaming and sandbox-style gameplay, these types of games have become more immersive and engaging than ever before. The ability to freely explore vast landscapes and interact with various elements in the game world has drawn many gamers towards wilderness survival games.

The Benefits of Playing These Games

Playing wilderness survival games can offer many benefits beyond just entertainment value. These games require players to think critically about their situation and make quick decisions that could mean the difference between life and death.

This can improve problem-solving skills and increase overall cognitive function. Furthermore, playing these types of games can also help develop valuable skills such as resource management, basic survival techniques, team building, and planning for emergencies, among others.

As society becomes more reliant on technology for everyday tasks, it’s important to maintain practical skills like those taught in wilderness survival games. Overall, Cool Wilderness Survival Games are an excellent way to unwind after a long day while also challenging your mind and developing useful life skills.

Top 5 Cool Wilderness Survival Games

Wilderness survival games have become increasingly popular in recent years, and with good reason. These games offer a unique experience that allows players to test their survival skills against harsh environments filled with danger at every turn. Here are the top five cool wilderness survival games that you should definitely check out.

The Long Dark: Survive in a frozen wilderness after a global disaster

The Long Dark is a first-person exploration-survival game set in the frigid Canadian wilderness after a global disaster. You play as Will Mackenzie, a bush pilot who crash-lands in the middle of nowhere during the event.

Your only objective is to survive for as long as possible by finding shelter, warmth, food, water, and avoiding dangerous predators like wolves and bears. What makes The Long Dark stand out from other wilderness survival games is its immersive atmosphere.

The game’s visuals are stunningly realistic and the audio design creates an eerie sense of isolation that will keep you on edge at all times. Moreover, it has two modes: story mode for more guided gameplay and survival mode for more free-form play.

Don’t Starve: Explore a strange world and gather resources to survive

Don’t Starve is another popular wilderness survival game that takes place in an eerie gothic world filled with bizarre creatures, dangerous environments, and strange artifacts. You play as Wilson, an inventor who has been trapped by a mysterious demon in this dark world. Your goal is simple: don’t starve!

You must gather resources like food and wood while exploring the world around you to build up your base camp to survive against monsters like hounds or tentacles. Don’t Starve also offers plenty of replayability through its procedurally generated worlds; no two playthroughs will be alike!

Rust: Build shelters, scavenge for supplies, and fend off other players in a post-apocalyptic world

Rust is a multiplayer survival game that pits players against each other in a post-apocalyptic world. The game takes place on an island where you must gather resources to build shelters, weapons, and other tools to survive against harsh weather conditions.

You must also fend off other players who may try to steal your resources or take down your base camp. What makes Rust stand out from the rest of the games is its focus on player interaction and social dynamics.

You can form alliances with other players or betray them whenever you see fit. Additionally, the game has a realistic day/night cycle that affects gameplay; during nighttime, your visibility is limited and predators are more likely to attack.

ARK: Survival Evolved: Tame dinosaurs, build bases, and survive on an island filled with dangerous creatures

ARK: Survival Evolved is another multiplayer survival game that takes place on an island filled with dangerous creatures like dinosaurs and giant spiders. Players must gather resources like food, water, wood etc. while taming these dinosaurs for transportation or protection.

The game offers a vast open-world environment with both PvE (player vs environment) and PvP (player vs player) modes. The graphics are stunningly realistic making it one of the most visually impressive games out there.

But beware! Dinosaurs aren’t the only danger as extreme weather conditions like heatwaves or blizzards can also be fatal.

Green Hell: Navigate the Amazon rainforest while battling hunger, disease, and hostile tribes

Green Hell is another first-person wilderness survival game set in the uncharted depths of the Amazon rainforest where players must battle hunger, thirst as well as diseases like parasites or infections while avoiding hostile indigenous tribes.

Crafting plays a vital role in Green Hell as it allows you to construct your own shelter, weapons, and tools for survival. The game has an engaging story mode where players must explore the jungle to uncover the mysteries that led to their predicament.

All of these games offer a unique and challenging experience where survival is not guaranteed. Whether it’s battling predators, harsh weather conditions or other players, only the strongest will survive!

Niche Wilderness Survival Games

While games like The Long Dark and Rust have received a lot of attention, there are also some lesser-known wilderness survival games that offer unique experiences.

These games may not be as widely known, but they are still worth checking out for gamers who enjoy the genre.

The Forest: Survive on an island inhabited by cannibalistic mutants

In The Forest, you play as the sole survivor of a plane crash who must survive on an island inhabited by cannibalistic mutants. You will need to gather resources, build shelter, and craft weapons to defend yourself from these dangerous creatures.

The game has a day-night cycle where you will need to avoid the mutants during the night and gather resources during the day.

The graphics are stunning, with lush forests and realistic lighting effects. One interesting aspect is that you can chop down trees to create your own fortifications or use them as fuel for fires.

Raft: Build a raft to escape from a deserted island while collecting resources to stay alive

Raft puts you in the shoes of a survivor stranded in the middle of an endless ocean on nothing but a small raft. Your goal is simple: survive by collecting debris floating in the water, fishing for food, purifying water, and expanding your raft while avoiding shark attacks.

You’ll have limited space aboard your raft so clever usage of every inch becomes important especially when building up multi-level structures with houses and gardens. Raft has procedurally generated maps which means each time you play it’s different.

Deadside: Scavenge for supplies in a post-Soviet country overrun by zombies

Deadside drops players into 1990s post-Soviet country overrun by zombies where they must scavenge for supplies, and survive against the undead and other players.

The game is essentially a sandbox survival game where players can form alliances or make enemies in a bid to take over territories, control resources, and loot structures. The game has an impressive map with various locations that offer different opportunities for survival.

Players will need to be mindful of their needs such as hunger and thirst while also keeping an eye out for supplies that can help them survive longer. Weapons are scarce so players will need to rely on stealth tactics or melee weapons as they navigate through the world full of zombies.

These niche wilderness survival games offer unique experiences for gamers who are looking for something different from mainstream titles in this genre.

Whether you want to fend off cannibalistic mutants in The Forest, build your own raft in Raft, or scavenge for supplies in a post-Soviet country overrun by zombies in Deadside, these games are sure to provide hours of engaging gameplay.

Small Details That Make A Big Difference

When it comes to wilderness survival games, it’s often the small details that can make or break your chances of survival. For example, paying attention to the weather can be crucial in determining what actions you need to take. If you’re playing The Long Dark and a blizzard is on the horizon, you’ll want to hunker down in a shelter until it passes.

Similarly, knowing what time of day it is can be essential for making strategic decisions. In The Forest, for example, cannibal mutants tend to roam around more at night, so it’s safer to stay hidden in your shelter during those hours.

Another important detail is proper hydration and nutrition. Many wilderness survival games feature hunger and thirst meters that deplete over time if not replenished.

It may seem like a small thing, but neglecting these needs for too long can lead to exhaustion or even death. Knowing which resources provide the most sustenance and how often you need to consume them is key for surviving in games like Don’t Starve or ARK: Survival Evolved.

Paying attention to hazards in the environment can save your life. In Green Hell, for instance, there are various poisonous plants and insects that players need to avoid or neutralize with medicine crafted from other resources found in the game world.

Discussion of Overlooked but Important Aspects of Wilderness

It’s important to note that survival games don’t always accurately portray real-life wilderness survival scenarios. However, they do highlight some elements that are often overlooked by media depictions of “roughing it” in nature.

One overlooked aspect is mental health and its impact on physical well-being. Being stranded alone in an unfamiliar environment would understandably take a toll on anyone’s mental state; however many games do not account for this factor.

The Long Dark does an excellent job at portraying how isolation and hopelessness can lead to a character’s demise. Players must maintain their character’s morale by finding food, shelter, and positive distractions like reading.

Another aspect typically overlooked is injury management. Sprains, broken bones, and cuts are all common injuries in survival games; however, the process of healing these wounds is often simplified or entirely ignored.

Green Hell does an admirable job of showcasing how infection can set in if wounds aren’t properly cleaned and dressed. The game forces players to take care of injuries with a limited supply of bandages and antiseptics.

Related: The Ultimate Guide To Wilderness Survival Gear And Equipment

Final Thoughts

Wilderness survival games offer unique challenges that can be both fun and informative. While many games simplify aspects of survival or leave out important details altogether, they still provide valuable insights into what it takes to survive in the wilderness.

By paying attention to small details like weather patterns and resource management, players can increase their chances of making it through even the toughest scenarios.

Despite their fictional nature, these games also bring attention to crucial aspects like mental health and injury management that are often overlooked in media depictions of wilderness survival. Ultimately playing these games provides an entertaining way to learn about real-life skills needed for surviving in nature.

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