Best Open World Survival Craft Games on Steam
Open survival games about gathering, crafting, building, hunger, threats, and exploration.
Browse all Open World Survival Craft →
1Terraria - Dig, fight, explore, build! Nothing is impossible in this action-packed adventure game. Four Pack also available!
May 16, 2011
In this game, you can…
- kill one world-changing boss and watch new biomes appear, new ores rise up, and the whole map turn into a deadlier version of itself.
- hunt down specific triggers to summon absurd bosses, like catching a rare worm just to call up a sea monster that can wipe you.
- fight a boss rush that starts with a cult leader, escalates into world-invading pillars, and ends with a final boss dropping in immediately after the last pillar falls.
- build a tiny shelter before night, then hold out until dawn against monsters that suddenly flood the surface.
- dig so deep you stumble into giant underground landmarks like beehives, buried pyramids, and hidden mushroom biomes.
- build a custom arena with platforms and buffs, then use it to fight bosses on your own terms instead of wherever you happen to meet them.
- build a hotel-like tower of houses to attract dozens of NPC residents, then watch them move in and sell new gear and services.
2The Forest - As the lone survivor of a passenger jet crash, you find yourself in a mysterious forest battling to stay alive against a society of cannibalistic mutants. Build, explore, survive in this terrifying first person survival horror simulator.
Apr 30, 2018
In this game, you can…
- get knocked out, dragged through the forest, and wake up trapped in a cave you have to escape.
- watch cannibals scout your camp, retreat to call reinforcements, and come back as a coordinated raiding party.
- fight off a base siege where mutants smash your walls and one rips up a whole tree to use as a weapon.
- wake up after a plane crash and hunt for your kidnapped son by following clues through caves, boats, and survivor camps.
- build treehouses, cliff forts, and spiked walls, then have a falling tree smash your own structure to pieces.
- craft gear by gluing teeth to your axe, wearing bones as armor, and turning skulls and bodies into lamps and defenses.
- creep through pitch-black caves, squeeze through flooded passages, and surface missing gear with enemies still hunting you.
- turn the crash site into a long-term fortress, or build rafts and dock houses into a whole river-and-coast base network.
3Don't Starve Together - Fight, Farm, Build and Explore Together in the standalone multiplayer expansion to the uncompromising wilderness survival game, Don't Starve.
Apr 21, 2016
In this game, you can…
- get turned into a ghost when you die, then haunt specific items to resurrect yourself back into your body.
- steal a giant bird egg, keep it from overheating by the fire, and hatch it into a baby that follows you around.
- discover a friendly pig village, use it as a safe base, and then watch the pigs turn into werepigs later.
- turn a tiny camp into a real settlement with farms, spider dens, bee hives, and even a beefalo herd.
- build a trap-filled room just to protect a stolen egg from spiders until it finally hatches.
- bring friends back from death with things like a heart, an amulet, a touch stone, or the starting portal.
- watch a one-eyed giant arrive in winter with ground-shaking footsteps, smash your camp, and force you to survive in the dark.
4Valheim - A brutal exploration and survival game for 1-10 players, set in a procedurally-generated purgatory inspired by viking culture. Battle, build, and conquer your way to a saga worthy of Odin’s patronage!
Feb 2, 2021
In this game, you can…
- build a house with a fireplace and die if you forget ventilation.
- drag a cart full of ore across the wilderness, then end up building roads and supply routes to get it home.
- ship ore and even livestock across islands by building docks and running maritime trade routes.
- hunt sea serpents on purpose at night for food.
- watch enemies from different regions start fighting each other while you just stand back.
- build with structural support so big halls and towers need real beams, not just stacked walls.
- sail in a night storm, guide a friend's ship to port by torchlight, then sprint to the walls when a raid warning hits.
- tear down a bad build and get all the materials back, so you can rebuild freely.
5Dying Light - First-person action survival game set in a post-apocalyptic open world overrun by flesh-hungry zombies. Roam a city devastated by a mysterious virus epidemic. Scavenge for supplies, craft weapons, and face hordes of the infected.
Jan 26, 2015
In this game, you can…
- swing across the skyline with a grappling hook that opens up entirely new routes.
- outrun night hunters, flash an ultraviolet light to buy seconds, then hide in a pipe until the chase ends.
- dropkick enemies off rooftops so they ragdoll down six-story drops.
- chain parkour into kills by vaulting a zombie and instantly drop-attacking for a finisher.
- turn the city into a weapon by luring zombies into spikes, fires, and exploding barrels.
- risk going out at night for bigger rewards, then sprint safehouse-to-safehouse when the world flips into hunt mode.
- craft melee weapons with elemental effects that set zombies on fire or shock them on hit.
- join a friend in co-op and race rooftops together, turning escapes into shared, chaotic near-misses.
6Palworld - Fight, farm, build and work alongside mysterious creatures called "Pals" in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!
Jul 9, 2026
In this game, you can…
- hand a sheep a rocket launcher and let it wipe out a bandit camp for you.
- lasso a fire-breathing duck and hook it up to your base generator for electricity.
- put cute creatures on an assembly line to mine ore and mass-produce ammo around the clock.
- craft guns after starting out with nothing on a beach.
- catch creatures, then assign them to fight, mount, and work at your base before everyone eats and sleeps together.
- use your creatures to run your whole base: smelt, harvest, haul, build structures, and keep production going as long as they're fed.
- ride creatures across land, sea, and sky to reach places you can't access on foot.
- enter a boss portal that tells you what's inside, kill or capture the boss, and bring it home in a loot explosion.
7Project Zomboid - Project Zomboid is the ultimate in zombie survival. Alone or in MP: you loot, build, craft, fight, farm and fish in a struggle to survive. A hardcore RPG skillset, a vast map, massively customisable sandbox and a cute tutorial raccoon await the unwary. So how will you die? All it takes is a bite..
Nov 8, 2013
In this game, you can…
- look down from a skyscraper roof at thousands of zombies swarming below, then get trapped inside and survive by rationing food.
- trade Sonic fan fiction for gasoline in multiplayer, then crash the car and die four minutes later.
- kill your bitten friend after he turns into a zombie, using a frying pan on the side of a highway.
- load a car with supplies, drive out for a VHS-store run, and find a pristine video store packed with tapes after clearing the street.
- press one wrong key, accidentally shout, and pull the whole neighborhood into your base like a siren.
- turn a lumber mill into a fortified co-op settlement with roof crops and water projects, then lose it to a kitchen fire and a converging horde.
- loot a gun store, get chased deeper into the city by a helicopter, fight from a rooftop until the door breaks, then jump off and keep going on a shattered leg.
- level skills by doing physical work like dismantling furniture and electronics, stripping car parts, and even practicing first aid by bandaging your own injuries.
8Raft - Raft™ throws you and your friends into an epic oceanic adventure! Alone or together, players battle to survive a perilous voyage across a vast sea! Gather debris, scavenge reefs and build your own floating home, but be wary of the man-eating sharks!
Jun 20, 2022
In this game, you can…
- drop anchor at an island, jump off to loot it, and realize your raft can drift away if you didn't secure it first.
- use antennas and a receiver to follow radio coordinates to story locations packed with puzzles and notes explaining why the world flooded.
- play co-op where one person builds, another cooks, and you can carry unconscious teammates back to bed like it's normal.
- start on a 2x2 raft with a plastic hook.
- yank floating trash with a hook, then turn it into a purifier, grill, sail, bed, and research table as your raft becomes a real ship.
- reinforce your raft so a shark stops tearing off platforms, turning it from a threat into background noise.
- dive underwater to scavenge reefs for ore and rare materials, then surface to unlock higher-tier crafting.
- build nets that automatically catch drifting debris, so the ocean feeds you a constant stream of materials.
9Subnautica - Descend into the depths of an alien underwater world filled with wonder and peril. Craft equipment, pilot submarines and out-smart wildlife to explore lush coral reefs, volcanoes, cave systems, and more - all while trying to survive.
Jan 23, 2018
In this game, you can…
- throw a fish to distract a predator, then have it come back carrying scrap metal for you.
- pilot a giant submarine you can live in, including growing food onboard for long expeditions.
- take a mech suit into extreme depths and outfit it with a drill and grappling hook to mine and swing around.
- crash onto an alien ocean world and start with only a lifepod.
- keep pushing deeper until the surface stops feeling reachable.
- get trapped in twisting underwater caves where there's no straight swim back up.
- scan wrecks and fragments to unlock new tools and vehicles, turning scavenging into a tech tree you build yourself.
- leave a crashed spaceship because you lack the tools, then return later with new gear to open more of it up.
- build modular underwater bases that store vehicles, generate power, and start leaking if the pressure gets too high.
10Satisfactory - Satisfactory is a first-person open-world factory building game with a dash of exploration and combat. Play alone or with friends, explore an alien planet, create multi-story factories, and enter conveyor belt heaven!
Sep 10, 2024
In this game, you can…
- walk in one direction for 30 minutes and realize it's all one connected 30 km² world.
- build a 4 km pipeline just to bring crude oil back to base.
- power an acre-long production line with nuclear energy, then use the leftovers to build a racetrack in the desert.
- turn a pristine alien landscape into a sprawling logistics megafactory.
- go from hand-mining ore to running powered drills, vehicles, jetpacks, and trains in the same save.
- string conveyor belts across cliffs and valleys until the terrain is basically your factory's floor plan.
- expand from hand-crafting parts to fully automated production lines that keep making them while you do something else.
