Best Survival Games for PS5 & PS4 (2026)

The best survival games on PS5 and PS4 are Subnautica, Palworld and No Man’s Sky, three crafting and wilderness survival games that make staying alive the entire point. This list ranks 15 genuine PlayStation survival games across every sub-style, from underwater and space survival to backyard co-op, forest horror, zombie crafting, dinosaur taming and frozen city-building. Every pick is a real crafting or open-world survival game, not a soulslike or survival-horror title borrowed from a broader genre tag.

By Ugur Saritepe · Updated Jun 21, 2026

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15 games found

1Subnautica
Best overall

Subnautica

4.6(87,840)2018
ESRB Everyone 10+ocean
GreatReview analysis

Overall, players are overwhelmingly positive about Subnautica, praising its immersive world, engaging gameplay, and the blend of exploration and horror elements. However, some critiques point to challenges with resource management and pacing in the later stages of the game, particularly regarding grindiness. Despite these criticisms, the majority of feedback reflects a deep appreciation for the game's atmosphere, visuals, and storytelling.

Why it's here: Survival here means descending, not fighting: the only safe direction on this crash-landed ocean world is down, and the deeper biomes hold both the rare resources and the leviathans that hunt in the dark. Built for explorers who can sit with dread rather than shoot it, the question is whether that mounting pressure thrills or paralyzes.

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2Palworld
Best creature-collection survival

Palworld

4.6(23,124)2024
Co-op: 32ESRB Teenfantasy
GreatReview analysis

Player feedback for Palworld is overwhelmingly positive, with many highlighting its engaging gameplay, expansive world, and unique blend of creature collection, survival mechanics, and crafting systems. However, some players point out performance issues, glitches, and balance concerns, particularly in the solo experience.

Why it's here: Survival here means running a workforce of captured creatures: Pals mine ore, staff factories, and double as mounts, until scarcity forces the choice to butcher one for food. Built for players who liked ARK's base-building but wanted monster-collecting bolted onto it, the open question is how much of that loop still holds up alone.

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3No Man's Sky
Best space survival

No Man's Sky

4.0(116,645)2016
Co-op: 32ESRB Teensci-fi
MixedReview analysis

Overall, player feedback for No Man's Sky is divided, with many praising its vast exploration potential and continual updates, while a significant number criticize repetitive gameplay and technical issues. The game has seen a notable transformation from its rocky launch to a more content-rich experience, yet opinions vary widely regarding gameplay depth and enjoyment.

Why it's here: Survival here means a hazard suit ticking down against extreme heat, toxic storms and radiation on procedurally generated worlds, with mining and crafting the only buffer between a marooned ship and the void. Built for explorers who want freedom over authored structure, though whether the open universe runs deep or thin is the standing debate.

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4Grounded PS4® & PS5®
Best co-op survival

Grounded PS4® & PS5®

4.6(7,500)2024
Co-op: 4ESRB Teensurvival
GreatReview analysis

Players overwhelmingly praise 'Grounded' for its engaging gameplay, creative world design, and enjoyable multiplayer experience. Many find the game to be an excellent survival crafting title that effectively combines exploration, combat, and base-building mechanics, while the aesthetic and thematic elements have left a lasting positive impression. However, some users did note issues related to gameplay mechanics, such as combat clunkiness and the optimization and performance concerns, which slightly detract from an otherwise stellar experience.

Why it's here: Shrunk to insect size, four players scavenge, craft, and build a fortress in a single suburban backyard, where a blade of grass is cover and a wolf spider is a boss fight. Obsidian threads a mystery through the survival loop. Best suited to a trio plus a host willing to chart every weed and bug.

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5Terraria
Best 2D sandbox

Terraria

4.5(72,824)2014
PS+ ExtraPS Plus ExtraESRB Teenfantasy
GreatReview analysis

Overall, players are overwhelmingly positive about Terraria, citing its rich content, replayability, and engaging gameplay. Many reviews highlight the game's depth and the quality of updates that have continued for years, making it a cherished game for both new and returning players.

Why it's here: Beneath the cartoon pixels of a dig-build sandbox sits a survival curve as long as any 3D rival: copper picks give way to a procedural underworld, then a boss ladder from the Eye of Cthulhu to the Moon Lord that Hardmode resets. Built for crafters who want combat with their construction, where the question is how deep the floor goes.

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6The Forest
Best survival horror

The Forest

4.5(72,652)2018
ESRB Maturehorror
GoodReview analysis

Players generally love The Forest for its immersive survival and horror experience, engaging gameplay, and enjoyable co-op features, which lead to countless memorable moments. However, there are mixed feelings regarding the combat and AI mechanics, as well as some frustrations with certain gameplay systems like base-building and inventory management.

Why it's here: The mutants here are not random spawns but cannibal clans with families and pack tactics, flanking, retreating, and massing larger patrols after dark. The whole rhythm is daylight spent felling trees and walling a camp, then bracing as the treeline moves. Best for survivalists who want their dread to feel organized, and ready for combat that fights back clumsily.

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7Minecraft
Best for beginners

Minecraft

4.3(1,930,559)2024
PS+ TrialCo-op: 8ESRB Everyone 10+fantasy
GoodReview analysis

Overall player feedback for Minecraft reflects a predominantly positive experience, with many praises for its immersive gameplay and enjoyment across multiple platforms, particularly on PS4 and PS5. However, there are notable frustrations regarding purchase issues that some players encountered.

Why it's here: The sandbox that drew the survival blueprint: drop in empty-handed, fell trees, craft a pickaxe, and wall out zombies and creepers before a 20-minute night arrives. The first-night loop teaches itself without a tutorial, so a complete newcomer can share one world with a veteran. How far that openness carries past the first base is the question.

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87 Days to Die - Console Edition
Best zombie survival

7 Days to Die - Console Edition

4.5(16,085)2024
Co-op: 100ESRB Mature 17+survival
MixedReview analysis

Overall player feedback for '7 Days to Die - Console Edition' is polarized, highlighting significant enjoyment from gameplay and base building while expressing heavy criticism towards high pricing and recent updates that altered core mechanics. Players appreciate the fun-factor and replayability, particularly in multiplayer settings, but many feel the game is overpriced compared to its perceived value and showcase concerns about developer decisions.

Why it's here: On this survival list it stands apart for one rhythm: scavenge ruined Navezgane by day, then nail every wall and turret into place before the seventh night, when a blood moon throws a horde at whatever fort got built. Made for groups who treat base design as the real test. Whether that countdown grips or grinds is the question.

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9The Long Dark
Best solo wilderness

The Long Dark

4.4(10,604)2025
PS+ ExtraPS Plus ExtraESRB Teensurvival
MixedReview analysis

Player feedback on 'The Long Dark' is notably polarized, with many praising its survival mechanics, atmosphere, and art style, while others strongly criticize the Wintermute story mode, specifically episodes 4 and 5 for poor writing and pacing. Despite the negative sentiment surrounding the story mode, the overall enjoyment of the survival aspects of the game shines through in numerous reviews.

Why it's here: On this list the killer isn't a creature but the thermometer: a frostbitten Canadian wilderness where hunger, exhaustion and a dropping temperature do all the hunting, and one wrong campfire can end a run for good. Built for solitary players who want survival stripped of zombies. Whether its quiet cruelty reads as meditative or merciless is the question.

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10Raft
Best ocean survival

Raft

4.3(4,000)2024
Co-op: 8ESRB Teensurvival
GoodReview analysis

Overall, the feedback on Raft is predominantly positive, especially highlighting the enjoyable multiplayer experience and crafting mechanics. Many players appreciate the satisfying progression from a small raft to a sprawling floating home, though some express disappointment regarding the late-game pacing and story elements.

Why it's here: A survival game where the home and the lifeboat are the same thing: hook passing ocean scrap, then grow a few planks into a floating fortress while a shark circles every edge of it. Built for a crew of up to eight, it keeps the question of whether the late-game islands justify the long sail open.

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11ARK: Survival Evolved
Best dinosaur survival

ARK: Survival Evolved

4.3(214,874)2016
ESRB Teensurvival
MixedReview analysis

Overall, player feedback for ARK: Survival Evolved reflects a deep division, with passionate fans praising its unique gameplay experiences and entertaining mechanics, while a significant contingent expresses frustration over the game’s numerous bugs, optimization issues, and server instability. Many players appreciate the game’s immersive world and dinosaur interactions but lament the technical difficulties that detract from the experience.

Why it's here: What sets this entry apart is its food chain: survival means knocking out and taming the apex predators that hunt everyone else, then riding a Triceratops or a Rex into the next fight. It rewards a tribe willing to sink hundreds of hours into bases and beasts, where the taming loop is either the appeal or a second job.

Other versions: ARK: Survival Ascended

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12Green Hell
Best hardcore survival sim

Green Hell

3.5(9,318)2021
PS+ ExtraCo-op: 4PS Plus ExtraESRB Maturesurvival
MixedReview analysis

Overall, player feedback is sharply divided regarding Green Hell. While a significant number of users praise its immersive gameplay and realistic survival mechanics, many others criticize its numerous glitches, challenging mechanics, and frustrating multiplayer experience. This dichotomy leads to overall mixed sentiment regarding the game, with strong feelings expressed both positively and negatively.

Why it's here: Green Hell models the Amazon as a system that kills slowly: a won fight still festers into a fatal infection, dirty water breeds parasites, and sleeping rough drains sanity into hallucinations, all without an on-screen map. For survival players who want the jungle to teach through punishment, whether that rigor reads as immersion or tedium is the question.

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13Don't Starve: Console Edition
Best roguelike survival

Don't Starve: Console Edition

4.4(85,000)2014
ESRB Teensurvival

Why it's here: A wilderness survival game where staying sane is its own meter: let darkness and monstrous nights gnaw at Wilson's mind and the world warps before hunger ever finishes him. Every death is permanent, restarting the run from nothing. Built for players who treat a brutal procedural climb as the point, not a punishment.

Other versions: Don't Starve Together: Console Edition

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14V Rising
Best vampire survival

V Rising

4.2(7,752)2024
PS+ ExtraCo-op: 10PS Plus ExtraESRB Teen
GoodReview analysis

Players overwhelmingly praise V Rising for its captivating atmosphere, solid progression system, and engaging mechanics that offer a blend of survival, crafting, and action-RPG gameplay. However, some criticize repetitive grinding and challenging boss fights that can feel artificially difficult, leading to a mixed endgame experience.

Why it's here: Survival here runs on blood, not berries: a freshly woken vampire grows stronger by draining prey, raising a castle stone by stone while the daytime sun threatens to reduce the hunt to ash. Built for players who want their crafting loop laced with isometric action combat and an optional choice between cooperative PvE and cutthroat PvP.

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15Frostpunk
Best survival city-builder

Frostpunk

4.6(6,388)2019
PS+ ExtraPS Plus ExtraESRB Maturesurvival
GreatReview analysis

Players overwhelmingly praise Frostpunk for its deep, rewarding mechanics, immersive atmosphere, and the intense challenge it offers. While many find the game captivating and addictive, a notable number of players criticize its steep learning curve and punishing gameplay, especially for newcomers.

Why it's here: Survival here is governed from above, not at the campfire: as the last city on a frozen Earth, the player rations coal and heat while a Book of Laws forces choices between mercy and child labor. A strategic society-builder for those drawn to command rather than craft, where keeping people alive and keeping them human rarely align.

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What Makes a Great Survival Game

A great survival game turns staying alive into the whole point: it forces players to manage hunger, thirst, temperature and stamina, gather raw materials, craft tools and shelter, and defend what they build against the environment or other players. The best ones pair that core loop with a world worth exploring and a sense of genuine threat, so every supply run carries risk. This list is hand-curated for the PlayStation survival games that deliver that loop well and spans the sub-genres survival fans gravitate toward: underwater exploration like Subnautica, creature-collection like Palworld, space survival like No Man’s Sky, open-world crafting like ARK and Conan Exiles, hardcore realism like Green Hell and The Long Dark, ocean survival like Raft, zombie survival like 7 Days to Die, and survival management like Frostpunk. Soulslikes and survival-horror games are deliberately left off, because they belong to different genres despite often sharing the survival tag.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best survival games on PS5?
Subnautica is the best survival game on PS5, a tense underwater crafting adventure with no guns and a genuinely frightening ocean to explore. Palworld and No Man’s Sky are the strongest open-world survival picks, Grounded is the best for co-op, and Frostpunk is the best survival city-builder. Every game on this list is a genuine crafting or wilderness survival title available on PlayStation.
What is the best survival crafting game on PS5?
Subnautica, Minecraft and Terraria are the best survival crafting games on PS5. Subnautica builds entire bases on an alien seafloor, Minecraft is the genre-defining sandbox and the most beginner-friendly, and Terraria packs a deep boss and crafting ladder into a 2D world. Terraria is included on PS Plus Extra.
Are there open world survival games on PS5?
Yes. No Man’s Sky, ARK: Survival Evolved, Palworld and V Rising are the best open world survival games on PS5. No Man’s Sky spans a procedural galaxy, ARK fills an island with tameable dinosaurs, Palworld pairs creature-collecting with base-building, and V Rising is an open world vampire survival game. All four support online co-op.
Which survival games have co-op on PS5?
Grounded, Raft, Don’t Starve Together, ARK: Survival Evolved, 7 Days to Die, V Rising and Palworld all support online co-op survival on PS5. Grounded and Raft are built around a crew of four to eight sharing one base, and several of these games scale their threats to the number of survivors in the world.
What is the most realistic survival game on PS5?
Green Hell and The Long Dark are the most realistic survival games on PS5. Green Hell models real first aid, infection and parasites in the Amazon with no on-screen map, while The Long Dark builds its entire challenge around cold, hunger and exhaustion in a frozen wilderness with no monsters at all. Both reward patience and planning over combat.
Are survival games beginner-friendly?
Difficulty varies widely. Minecraft, Terraria and Grounded ease new players in with adjustable difficulty, peaceful modes and forgiving early hours. Green Hell, The Long Dark and Don’t Starve are far more punishing and expect players to learn through failure. Each game’s detail page includes player reviews that flag whether the survival curve is gentle or steep.
Are any survival games free on PS Plus?
Several survival games rotate through the PS Plus Extra and Premium catalogs. Terraria, Green Hell, The Long Dark and V Rising have all appeared on PS Plus Extra. Check our PS Plus Extra games page to see which survival picks are currently included with your subscription before buying them separately.