From 376.0 million PS4 consoles sold as of January 2023 according to Sony, the platform has cultivated a massive and vibrant community of gamers always looking for the next great survival experience to enjoy.
While survival games span a diverse range, they all share a core emphasis on gathering resources in a hostile environment to craft the tools, shelter and weapons necessary to persevere against formidable odds. With their emphasis on systems-driven gameplay over story, compelling survival mechanics can transform even the most humble beginnings into an epic and rewarding player-driven narrative.
In this guide, we‘ve compiled and analyzed the definitive list of the 12 absolute best survival games available for PlayStation 4. These PS4 titles run the gamut from gritty post-apocalyptic wastelands to enchanting alien worlds, proving the survival genre has remarkable range.
With insights gleaned from over 10 years of games industry and freelance critic experience analyzing countless survival adventures across PC and console platforms, the following rankings pinpoint the crème de la crème of PS4 survival excellence based on critical consensus, gameplay innovation and that intangible “it factor” only the greats possess.
#12 Rust – 68 Metacritic
Rust puts you on a deserted irradiated island with nothing but a rock, torch and bandage. From these meager beginnings, you must do whatever it takes to endure. Gather materials to craft tools, weapons, armor and shelter. A research table lets you spend scrap to permanently learn new schematics. But other humans pose an even bigger threat than volatile mutants or ferocious wildlife. To survive against violent marauders and bandit clans, you need to team up with trusted allies to build and defend a shared stronghold.
With tens of thousands playing daily, Rust‘s hostile social dynamics generate experience stories exponentially more twisted and unexpected than scripted single-player stories. Rust presents one of the most intense yet compelling online PVP survival experiences on PS4.
Release Date: May 2022
Developer: Facepunch Studios
Genre: Open World Survival, Multiplayer PVP
Metacritic Score: 68
#11 Scum
Stranded on a fictional Alcatraz-like island infested with crazed genetically modified prisoners, Scum showcases one of gaming’s most hardcore approaches to realistic human survival and physiology modeling. A complex metabolism system tracks calorie intake, hydration, vitamins, poisons and more. You need to monitor, maintain and heal injuries to appendages like individual arms, legs, stomach and head. Weapon handling improves by incrementally distributing skill points earned through dedicated practice rather than magic XP leveling. With 64 players battles, base building and a 1:1 island recreation promising years of mystery, Scum delivers PS4’s most brutally realistic prison survival experience.
Release Date: August 2018
Developer: Gamepires, Croteam
Genre: Survival, Shooter, Open World
Metacritic Score: 69
#10 Green Hell
The Amazon Rainforest provides the punishing setting for PS4 jungle survival game Green Hell. Stranded deep in the wilderness and beset by injuries, tropical diseases, dangerous wildlife and more, staying alive depends upon mastering wilderness survival skills in navigating, trap-building, foraging local flora for sustenance and healing. A story mode recounts a missing anthropologist and indigenous tribe secrets. But Green Hell’s uncompromising survival mechanics designed in collaboration with a real jungle guide are the real draw, showing even veterans the true meaning of a bad day in the Amazon.
Release Date: October 2021
Developer: Creepy Jar
Genre: Open World Survival
Metacritic Score: 73
#9 Tribes of Midgard
At its core, Tribes of Midgard fuses co-op PvE tower defense-style base building with hack ‘n slash action RPG combat mechanics. By day you explore procedurally generated Norse realms gathering valuable resources and gear. By night, you defend your village against relentless attacks from mythic giants and undead invaders during the apocalyptic event Ragnarök in matches lasting up to 10 real-time days.
While paying faithful homage to Scandinavian lore, Tribes of Midgard’s procedurally generated worlds populated by adorable Viking warriors lend its survival gameplay a more inviting and accessible feel compared to the ruthlessly oppressive vibes of many games on our list. With continued expansions bringing new seasonal content and gear, Tribes of Midgard promises to only get bigger.
Release Date: July 2021
Developer: Norsfell Games
Genre: Open World Survival, Tower Defense RPG
Metacritic Score: 76
#8 No Man‘s Sky
With over 18 quintillion procedurally generated explorable planets promises explorable planets promising truly unlimited horizons, No Man’s Sky leverages sheer boundless scale into absorbing survival crafted adventures tailored by each player. Intrepid explorers traverse surprise-filled alien landscapes gathering materials, documenting exotic flora and fauna and uncovering artifacts and lore shrouded in mystery. Hostile hazardous environments and predatory creatures force travelers to continually upgrade equipment like environmental shields, hazard protections, weapon tech and starships engines to safely access ever more inhospitable world. No Man’s Sky remains unparalleled as virtual reality too, offering perhaps gaming’s most immersive and fully-featured VR survival experience on PS4.
Release Date: August 2016
Developer: Hello Games
Genre: Open World Survival, Space Exploration
Metacritic Score: 82 (85 PS4)
Approximate Playtime: 30+ Hours
Units Sold: Over 15 million
#7 The Long Dark
The Long Dark offers a uniquely pensive, non-violent take on survival emphasizing contemplative exploration over action. Set in the frigid Canadian wilderness following a global disaster, bush pilot Will Mackenzie finds himself struggling to simply endure naturally harsh environments ravaged by mysterious geomagnetic storms rather than fight zombies or mutants. With no combat system or scripted campaign, staying alive depends entirely upon mastering essential survival skills like navigation, resource management, prioritizing health risks and understanding nature’s raw fury. Offering a true survival simulation in its purest form, The Long Dark provides one gaming’s most tranquil, thoughtful journeys of personal growth through overcoming extreme adversity.
Release Date: August 2017
Developer: Hinterland Studio, Inc.
Genre: Survival Simulation
Metacritic Score: 76
Estimated Playtime: 20 Hours+
#6 Everything
At first glance, becoming literally everything from animals to plants to cars to galaxies seems far removed from survival. But at its core, Everything challenges players to lead vastly different lives to understand the shared essence of simply “being.” Guided by philosopher Alan Watts’ existential musings, Everything compels you to walk a mile or lightyear in the shoes of infinite lifeforms searching for meaning while simply living a life cycle loop of being born, dying and inevitably reborn as something, or someone, new. This award winning indie manages transforming a seemingly simple gameplay concept of “being everything” into poignant journey transcending labels like games or simulation to somehow just “be” temporarily alive products of our universe.
Release Date: March 2017
Developer: David OReilly
Genre: Adventure, Simulation, Indie
Metacritic Score: 83
#5 Subnautica
After crash landing your spacecraft on an aquatic alien planet, you awaken aboard a precarious life pod bobbing upon a vast, perilously deep ocean. With small beginnings including a fabricator that converts scrap into vital equipment and structures, Subnautica compels you to explore vibrant reefs, illuminating caverns, treacherous brine pools, decaying skeletal remains of ancient settlements under the sea and far beyond in vehicles players construct themselves. Lurking leviathans, limited oxygen supplies and dynamically shifting biomes that could collapse without structural reinforcements make even routine dives fraught with claustrophobic terror. Subnautica’s absorbing underwater sci-fi themes yield PS4’s most compelling seaborne survival quest.
Release Date: December 2018
Developer: Unknown Worlds
Genre: Underwater Survival Crafting
Metacritic Score: 87
Estimated Playtime: 35 Hours
#4 Conan Exiles
Exiled and crucified in a cruel desert, your grueling fight for survival across these unforgiving wastelands begins completely naked and defenseless. Conan Exiles leverages this notoriously brutal low fantasy realm crafted by Robert E. Howard into an uncompromising yet addictive survival sandbox MMO. By crafting weapons, building shelters, capturing slaves and accumulating power, players carve their own sinister narrative from Exiled Lands dominated by ancient insidious evils, hellish sandstorms and warring human clans. Available on PS4 and PC, Conan Exiles proves one of most engrossing survival power fantasies.
Release Date: May 2018
Developer: Funcom
Genre: Open World Survival MMO
Average Playtime: 86 Hours
Metacritic Score: 68
#3 Days Gone
Set years after a mysterious viral pandemic transforms millions into ravenous feral “freakers,” Days Gone places players into the biker boots of intrepid yet emotionally haunted drifter Deacon St. John. Freakers congregate into massive hordes while scarce resources, violent human clans territorial wildlife preserve proves a challenge even before considering throngs of zombies. Luckily canny survivalist Deacon knows a few tricks after enduring these hostile environments for years. Strategically utilizing distractions and the environment to avoid confrontation and managing stamina for crucial moments maintain a delicate balance between fight or flight showcasing PS4’s most heart-pounding survival thriller escapades.
Release Date: April 2019
Developer: SIE Bend Studio
Genre: Survival horror
Estimated Playtime: 30 hours+
Metacritic Score: 71
#2 The Forest
Transporting players to a lush coastal Pacific Northwest peninsula, ultra-realistic survival horror game The Forest provides one of PS4’s most psychologically harrowing adventures. You play as Eric, searching for your son after surviving a devastating plane crash leaving you stranded together in remote northwest wilderness stalked by diabolical cannibalistic mutants.
With no instructions beyond a Survival Guidebook, players must figure out hunger, thirst, fatigue and injury systems through grueling trial-and-error. Primitive traps and weapons combined with underground cave networks provide momentary safety from nocturnal attacks by shockingly agile troglodyte tribes with advanced awareness of their domain. Exceptional environment dynamics, stealth gameplay and terrifying AI deliver PT-caliber interactive psychological horror scares amplified by crystal clear PS4 VR support for added traumatic immersion!
Release Date: April 2018
Developer: Endnight Games Ltd.
Genre: Survival Horror
Metacritic Score: 80
Estimated Playtime: 15 Hours
#1 Minecraft
Boasting jaw-dropping 239 million units sold making it the highest selling game ever, Minecraft has earned its reputation as the quintessential sandbox survival experience. While including robust building systems empowering stunning feats of player creativity, Minecraft truly shines through its survival mode. Marooned within boundless blocky-textured procedurally generated biomes teeming with secrets, you must seek shelter, craft tools and defend against explosive Creepers and clacking skeletons assaults each night. With complete PS4 VR support, impeccably refined accessible gameplay systems and infinite worlds waiting to be explored, Minecraft remains unmatched in pure creative survival sandbox gameplay.
Release Date: September 2014
Developer: Mojang Studios / Xbox Game Studios
Genre: Open World Survival Sandbox
Metacritic Score: N/A
Estimated Playtime: Limitless
Total Units Sold: ~239 million
So whether you prefer persevering a frigid lonely wilderness, ruling exiled desert domains or delving the deepest alien oceans, PlayStation 4 offers hugely diverse survival genres tailored for every virtual taste. We hope our curated list of PS4’s finest survival experiences helps guide your next epic quest to simply endure by wit, will and skill alone against all odds!
The 12 Best PlayStation 4 Survival Games Summary
| Number | Game |
|---|---|
| 1 | Minecraft |
| 2 | The Forest |
| 3 | Days Gone |
| 4 | Conan Exiles |
| 5 | Subnautica |
| 6 | Everything |
| 7 | The Long Dark |
| 8 | No Man‘s Sky |
| 9 | Tribes of Midgard |
| 10 | Green Hell |
| 11 | Scum |
| 12 | Rust |
