Games Like Survivalist: Invisible Strain

It's one year after the collapse of civilization and self-centered hedge fund manager Joe Wheeler emerges from his specially constructed bunker in search of food. This is a huge open-world RPG where you have the freedom to play how you want - but your choices have consequences.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 21.2% ★, RTS 13.1%, Base Building 12%, Post-apocalyptic 11.9%, Survival 11.7%

Why You'll Like It: The direct predecessor to the seed game, featuring the same core mechanics of survival, crafting, and NPC community management.

A free-roaming squad based RPG. Focusing on open-ended sandbox gameplay features rather than a linear story. Be a trader, a thief, a rebel, a warlord, an adventurer, a farmer, a slave, or just food for the cannibals. Train your men up from puny victims to master warriors.

Why similar: Open World 21.9%, Base Building 15.2%, Post-apocalyptic 14.5%, Survival 13%, RTS 9.8%

Why You'll Like It: Offers an unparalleled open-world sandbox experience where you manage a squad of survivors in a brutal, post-apocalyptic landscape.

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..

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.9% ★, Survival 16.4%, Open World 14.4%, Post-apocalyptic 14.1%, Crafting 7%

Why You'll Like It: Provides the most realistic and deep survival simulation with complex base-building and community management mechanics.

Build, scavenge, craft, and perform occult rituals to survive in a demon-infested, post-apocalyptic colony simulation. Will you survive Judgment day?

Why similar: Colony Sim 34.3%, Base Building 17.7%, Post-apocalyptic 16.6%, Survival 9.7%, Crafting 6.3%

Why You'll Like It: A colony-sim that focuses on surviving the apocalypse by managing a group of survivors and building a fortified base.

The dead have risen and civilization has fallen. Now it's up to you to gather survivors, scavenge for resources and build a community in a post-apocalyptic world – a world where you define what it means to survive in this ultimate zombie survival simulation.

Why similar: Base Building 26.5%, Open World 19.3%, Survival 16.9%, Post-apocalyptic 13.2%, Online Co-Op 10.8%

Why You'll Like It: Combines third-person action with community management and base-building in a zombie-infested open world.

A sci-fi colony sim driven by an intelligent AI storyteller. Generates stories by simulating psychology, ecology, gunplay, melee combat, climate, biomes, diplomacy, interpersonal relationships, art, medicine, trade, and more.

Why similar: Colony Sim 43.5%, Base Building 23.5%, Survival 10.8%, Procedural Generation 9.7%, Open World 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: The gold standard for colony management, focusing on emergent storytelling and the complex needs of individual survivors.

Brave a new world in Stranded: Alien Dawn, a planet survival sim placing the fate of a small marooned group in your hands. Forge your story through compelling and immersive strategic gameplay as you make vital decisions to protect your survivors.

Why similar: Colony Sim 25.7%, Base Building 24.2%, Hunting 17.1% ★, Survival 12.5%, Crafting 9.9%

Why You'll Like It: A 3D colony-sim that challenges you to manage a small group of survivors on an alien world with deep base-building mechanics.

MIST SURVIVAL is a Single-player, survival stealth sandbox game Players will experience the Apocalypse stimulation in the form of virus pandemic, the players have to deal with it to survive through the difficulties such as finding shelter and food, threats from the environment and climate: wild animals, bandits, infected, and dense mist t

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 46.4% ★, Survival 15.1%, Base Building 14.4%, Open World 13.8%, Crafting 7.4%

Why You'll Like It: A singleplayer survival game that emphasizes scavenging, base-building, and protecting NPCs from environmental threats.

Hunt, survive, build and lead in the harsh Middle Ages: Create your own Medieval Dynasty and ensure its long-lasting prosperity or die trying! Play alone or team up with friends to enjoy the ultimate medieval experience.

Why similar: Base Building 25.9%, Crafting 25.4%, Open World 18.5%, Survival 15.3%, RPG 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: Blends survival and RPG elements with village management, requiring you to grow a community from scratch.

A brutal survival management simulator set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Keep your faction of survivors alive, maintain your shelter and scavenge the ravaged world for resources. Befriend and trade with the factions you meet or conquer them by force.

Why similar: Colony Sim 33.4%, Post-apocalyptic 20.9%, Base Building 17.4%, Survival 10.8%, Character Customization 8.5%

Why You'll Like It: Focuses on the intense resource management and interpersonal dynamics required to keep a group alive in a post-apocalyptic bunker.

HumanitZ is an isometric, open-world sandbox survival game set in a world ended by a zombie outbreak. Survive alone or with friends by scavenging, crafting, building, and fighting to last as long as ‘humanly’ possible. You can’t change the past, but you can fight for the future of humanity.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 25.4% ★, Base Building 15.6%, Post-apocalyptic 13.3%, Open World 10.9%, Survival 9.5%

Why You'll Like It: A top-down survival game that captures the tension of scavenging and base-building in a zombie-filled world.

7 Days to Die is an open-world game that is a unique combination of first-person shooter, survival horror, tower defense, and role-playing games. Play the definitive zombie survival sandbox RPG that came first. Navezgane awaits!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 28.2% ★, Base Building 11.7%, Post-apocalyptic 11.3%, Survival 9.6%, Open World 8.5%

Why You'll Like It: Offers a perfect mix of voxel-based base-building and intense survival against zombie hordes.

Subsistence is a sandbox, first person, solo or co-op, PvE open-world survival game. Struggle through changing seasons to build a base, develop technology and gear-up in the hostile environment. Defend yourself from wildlife, the elements and AI hunters (who also build bases in the world).

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 51.3% ★, Survival 11.3%, Base Building 11.2%, Crafting 10.6%, Open World 10.2%

Why You'll Like It: A sandbox survival game with a strong focus on base-building and defending against AI hunters.

Conan Exiles Enhanced is an open world survival game set in the mythical lands of Hyboria, now fully upgraded to Unreal Engine 5 with stunning visuals and improved performance. SURVIVE, BUILD, and DOMINATE alone or with friends in a world brimming with adventure!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.9% ★, Open World 15.9%, Survival 14.8%, Crafting 11%, Online Co-Op 6.8%

Why You'll Like It: Features robust base-building and a unique thrall system that allows you to capture and manage NPCs to support your survival.

Don the Ancient Mask. Wield the power of gods. Possess any of your tribespeople, recruit followers, and build a thriving automated civilization. Survive, expand, and forge your own legacy across a vast ancient open world — together with friends.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 23.7% ★, Colony Sim 19.7%, Hunting 15.2% ★, Base Building 11.2%, Open World 7.7%

Why You'll Like It: Features deep tribe management mechanics where you recruit and command NPCs to automate tasks and defend your base.

CryoFall is a sci-fi colony simulation survival game set on a forgotten planet in a distant future. Master technology, agriculture, trading, industry, cybernetics, exploration, and more!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 28.5% ★, Colony Sim 24.7%, Base Building 13.2%, Crafting 8.5%, Character Customization 7.7%

Why You'll Like It: A sci-fi colony-sim that incorporates survival, crafting, and base-building in a persistent online world.

Build, quest, and conquer across an infinite procedurally generated world. Play alone or with friends as you establish a settlement and explore deep dungeons, fight monsters and bosses, mine rare ores, craft magical equipment, recruit specialists for your colony, and more!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 49.1% ★, Base Building 10%, Open World 9.6%, Crafting 8%, Survival 7%

Why You'll Like It: Combines open-world survival and crafting with the ability to manage a growing settlement of NPCs.

The Infected is a sandbox, first-person, open-world survival game. Build bases, craft, farm, hunt, and survive changing seasons. Choose whether to face the hybrid “Vambies” or turn them off for a pure survival experience.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 39.1% ★, Base Building 17.7%, Open World 11.4%, Crafting 10.4%, Survival 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: A survival crafting game that allows for complex base construction and managing NPC needs in a harsh environment.

Choose any real region from the world. Choose your base of operations, then rebuild and readapt the buildings around you to create a self-sustaining settlement. Take charge of a group of survivors from your city. And when the night falls - Defend the zone from the infected!

Why similar: Base Building 24%, Colony Sim 23.7%, Post-apocalyptic 22.6%, RTS 17.9%, Survival 7.6%

Why You'll Like It: A city-builder that uses real-world map data to challenge you with rebuilding society after a zombie outbreak.

The world after a nuclear war. Manage the settlement, learn technology, make decisions, produce weapons, ammunition, organize defense, raid for supplies on other areas, do not let residents die, survive the nuclear winter.

Why similar: Base Building 24.9%, Post-apocalyptic 21.6%, RTS 13.5%, Colony Sim 10.3%, Survival 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: A strategy-focused colony-sim that tasks you with managing resources and survivors in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Winter Survival is a story-driven survival game where trauma turns reality into a reflection of your breaking mind. Battle cold, hunger, hallucinations, and adapt to the wilderness as it adapts to you.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 31.1% ★, Hunting 19.4% ★, Base Building 12.8%, Open World 9.2%, Stealth 7.9%

Why You'll Like It: An atmospheric survival game that emphasizes managing your physical and mental state in a frozen wilderness.

This is a multiplayer cooperative open world construction survival sandbox game, where you and your friends must find supplies and build shelters in this world. You have to keep an eye on your character's needs state at all times, a bad state is likely to lead to death.

Why similar: Open World 19.7%, Post-apocalyptic 19%, Survival 18.3%, Crafting 13.5%, Online Co-Op 10.2%

Why You'll Like It: A realistic survival game with deep crafting and base-building mechanics set in a post-apocalyptic world.

SurrounDead is an open world survival game. Taking place in a world ravaged by an apocalyptic catastrophe. The dead reign free and will stop at nothing to kill you.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 24.6% ★, Post-apocalyptic 19.1%, Open World 15.7%, Survival 13.3%, Base Building 11.5%

Why You'll Like It: A zombie survival game that emphasizes exploration, scavenging, and base-building in a large open world.

Build and manage your own castle settlement in a land reclaimed by wilderness. With detailed management, survival strategy, and a moddable sandbox world, Going Medieval challenges you to build the mightiest colony this side of the apocalypse.

Why similar: Colony Sim 34.9%, Base Building 19.4%, Procedural Generation 13.6%, Crafting 10.6%, Survival 9.9%

Why You'll Like It: A colony-sim that focuses on building and defending a settlement in a post-plague medieval world.

'Night of the Dead' is an open-world game that combines elements of exploration, tower defense, survival, and crafting. Traverse a world dominated by zombies while collecting various resources and powerful equipment. Build a fortress to survive the hordes of zombies that swarm every night!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 28.5% ★, Hunting 16.8% ★, Base Building 11.5%, Online Co-Op 9.2%, Open World 7.8%

Why You'll Like It: Focuses on the intersection of survival and tower defense, requiring you to build a base to survive nightly zombie attacks.

You’re a castaway stranded in the middle of nowhere. Storm is gone, the worst certainly not. Look for food and resources, craft gear, make shelters. These are the basics, you need much more to stay alive on this cut-off-the-world, yet not desert island. Build & burn, sail & explore, be Out of Reach!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 46.8% ★, Open World 10.8%, Survival 10.6%, Crafting 9.1%, Hunting 8.6% ★

Why You'll Like It: A survival game that focuses on building bases and managing resources on a dangerous island.

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!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 39% ★, Online Co-Op 12.1%, Base Building 12%, Open World 10.1%, Survival 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: Provides a rewarding survival and base-building loop that encourages exploration and community cooperation.

Clanfolk is a colony sim set in the Scottish Highlands. Harness your environment to survive - fish, gather, hunt, and farm as you prepare for the winter. Build an inn, trade with other clans, have children and marry them off - live life and prosper across the generations.

Why similar: Colony Sim 47%, Crafting 17.5%, Open World 16.9%, RPG 10.8%, Simulation 7.8%

Why You'll Like It: A colony-sim focused on the survival and generational growth of a family in the harsh Scottish Highlands.

Survive a brutal open world alone or with friends. Explore a procedural wasteland scorched by chaos. Build and defend your base, trade for what you need, complete deadly quests, and fight to claim faction outposts before someone else does.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 26% ★, Post-apocalyptic 11.9%, Base Building 11.7%, Procedural Generation 9%, Online Co-Op 8.3%

Explore, loot and fight in an open world action game set in a post-apocalyptic future after a devastating meteor strike. Assemble your team and take the fight to the enemy or choose a stealthy approach to gain the upper hand. Expand your base to research new gear and get ready to survive the fall.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 28.3% ★, Base Building 13.4%, Post-apocalyptic 13%, Stealth 10.5%, Open World 8.5%

Stranded in a hostile alien world, you must fight to survive. Hunt, harvest, craft, advance skills, and build using local resources along with technology from your voyage.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 54% ★, Survival 11.5%, Open World 10.1%, Crafting 7.1%, Online Co-Op 5%

Why You'll Like It: An open-world survival game that emphasizes crafting, base-building, and combat against hostile creatures.

LifeZ - Survival is a third-person sandbox-survival game. Build your hideout, search for water and food, mine resources and fight against zombies and finally find ways to contact the outside world and leave Catastrophie Area.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 39.4% ★, Base Building 12.4%, Survival 9.7%, Post-apocalyptic 8.5%, Crafting 6%

Why You'll Like It: A survival simulation that focuses on the basics of crafting, building, and staying alive in a zombie-ridden world.

Hobo: Tough Life is an urban survival role-playing game where you play as a homeless person. Play alone or team up in online co-op. Explore the streets of Praslav, scavenge for food and supplies, beg, steal, and do whatever else it takes to survive the forthcoming winter.

Why similar: Dialogue Heavy 25.6%, Base Building 17.6%, Open World 13.3%, Survival 11.7%, Crafting 9.7%

Embark on an adventure set in a fantasy survival RPG. Visit a borderless, open world where you manage resources to construct your base and new types of equipment to support your conquest.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 33.4% ★, Base Building 13.3%, Online Co-Op 9.6%, Crafting 9.3%, Open World 9.3%

You are just an ordinary person, with only a small boat serving as your home, struggling to find a way to survive in the ruthless ocean of the post-apocalyptic world.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 35.5% ★, Post-apocalyptic 15.5%, Base Building 14.9%, Survival 6.6%, Third Person 5.4%

Experience the frontier as a chief of a Native American tribe and resist the onset of the settlers. Explore the vast world full of hostile humans and animals while defining your narrative through the decisions you make.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.4% ★, Stealth 15%, Open World 11.1%, Survival 9.9%, Crafting 7.4%

iZolated - This is a post-apocalyptic 2D action game with elements of survival and RPG, which throws you into a harsh open world where the slightest mistake costs you your life. Find equipment, engage in fights, and prove that you are the top of the food chain in this chaos!

Why similar: Post-apocalyptic 15.4%, Open World Survival Craft 15.3% ★, Base Building 13%, Character Customization 11.2%, Procedural Generation 10.2%

A first-person survival game set on a post-apocalyptic, ecologically ruined Earth. Play solo or with up to 3 friends as you build, upgrade, and fly a high-tech airship. Scavenge resources, craft tools, and face dangers on the surface as you hunt for a cure to save humanity.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 33.4% ★, Base Building 16.3%, Post-apocalyptic 13%, Open World 10.4%, Crafting 9.7%

Survive on a remote Island, where a mysterious Outbreak awakens bloodthirsty monsters at night. Craft, build and defend your base in the brutal world of Outbreak Island, an open-world sandbox survival horror game.

Why similar: Base Building 19.4%, Post-apocalyptic 19.3%, Survival 14.9%, Crafting 12.8%, Open World 12.6%

A living world full of surprises, secrets and danger awaits in The Survivalists, an adventure-filled survival sandbox set in The Escapists universe. Explore, build, craft and even train monkeys with up to three friends in a desperate bid to survive. Have you got what it takes to be a Survivalist?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 25.5% ★, Hunting 13% ★, Base Building 10.7%, Online Co-Op 10.2%, Crafting 9%

Crushed — is an Singleplayer and Multiplayer First-Person Survival Sandbox in an Open World! Challenge the wild and be ready to survive in harsh conditions. Explore the world, get resources, cook food, build a house, farm, hunt, and enjoy nature.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 37.1% ★, Base Building 11.4%, Post-apocalyptic 10.4%, Open World 10.1%, Survival 8.2%

Make your stand against the collapse of society in the ultimate zombie survival-fantasy game. Explore an open world full of dangers and opportunities that respond to your every decision. Recruit a community of playable survivors, each with their own unique skills and talents.

Why similar: Base Building 23.8%, Open World 20.1%, Survival 18.1%, Post-apocalyptic 16.8%, Third Person 6.5%

MISERY is a 1–10 player co-op survival game set in a nuclear disaster zone. Here, every day is a struggle: search radioactive ruins for resources, build your bunker, craft weapons, and explore a weird, procedurally-generated world with your friends. Beware of anomalies, monsters, and armed bandits.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 26.4% ★, Post-apocalyptic 14.3%, Base Building 11.8%, Online Co-Op 11%, Procedural Generation 8.6%

The year is 2033. You, an ex-Marine with little opportunities left, have signed up with Utopia Arura, a large mining corporation on Mars. They have sent you to a location they have proposed but you have chosen for mining. Everything else is up to you.

Why similar: Colony Sim 22.9%, Open World Survival Craft 20.9% ★, Dialogue Heavy 16.9%, Post-apocalyptic 13.9%, Base Building 12.4%

The Last Plague: Blight is an authentic survival experience rooted in realism and immersion. Endure the hazards of a brutal open world and uncover the origins of a mysterious disease. You are humanity’s final hope in ending the Blight

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 47.3% ★, Base Building 16.8%, Post-apocalyptic 13.3%, Third Person 10.6%, Survival 10%

Scavenge abandoned ruins, craft gear from scrap and salvaged materials, and fight the environment itself as hunger, exposure, and exhaustion push you to your limits. There are no second chances—only adaptation or death.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 41.1% ★, Base Building 16.7%, Open World 11.2%, Crafting 11%, Survival 9.3%

Want to survive? - Arm yourself and survive. Crafting, shooting, transport and much more awaits you in the Survival game. What happened to the world around and why he died - you may find out. But is this the main question now?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 54.6% ★, Post-apocalyptic 13.5%, Survival 12.4%, Open World 10.6%, Crafting 5.8%

The world has ended. You are deep underground, and all alone with a cheery AI companion. You will have to mine and build to survive, and search for other survivors to help you. Will you be able to reach the surface? And what will you find when you get there?

Why similar: Colony Sim 30.2%, Post-apocalyptic 13.7%, Base Building 13.2%, Character Customization 11.3%, Open World 8.2%

While searching for a new home, an unexpected failure in your ship has left you stranded on a planet surprisingly similar to Earth. Discover a vast open world, hunt for food, develop technologies, and build yourself a new home to survive!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 45.2% ★, Base Building 14.4%, Open World 12.1%, Crafting 10.5%, Survival 9.9%

The end is here. Life as you knew it has gone to hell after the mother of all zombie outbreaks. Now you and the few scattered survivors must band together to survive and rebuild in a 3rd-person action game set in a dynamic open world.

Why similar: Open World 21.2%, Post-apocalyptic 19.5%, Survival 19.4%, Base Building 14.4%, Third Person 8.4%

A realistic open-world survival experience. After a harrowing plane crash, you find yourself stranded in the wilderness. Battling freezing temperatures and hunger, you face an unknown virus that slowly paralyzes muscles, leaving its victims motionless and at the mercy of the unforgiving cold.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 42.2% ★, Open World 13%, Base Building 11.8%, Survival 10.8%, Crafting 8.8%

Brave a savage, unforgiving procedurally generated world where extreme weather and the nightmares of the dark will hunt you down. Alone or in co-op, survive, build, and explore to turn a cursed hellscape into your sanctuary of light.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 36.2% ★, Base Building 12.7%, Online Co-Op 9.9%, Crafting 9.6%, Open World 9%

VEIN is a post-apocalyptic survival multiplayer sandbox game. Gather supplies to survive, explore abandoned buildings, defend your home, and rebuild society, whether alone or with friends.

Why similar: Base Building 19.6%, Post-apocalyptic 17.7%, Open World 15.2%, Survival 12.5%, Crafting 9.1%

Establish and expand your own settlements, liberate the land and assist its villagers, and recruit others to your cause while learning more about a life you had to leave behind. Command your forces, prove your valor through combat, and cement yourself as the hero of your people.

Why similar: Open World 20.9%, Online Co-Op 18.9%, Survival 18.1%, Crafting 16.6%, RPG 6.7%

Explore a handcrafted survival game with an emphasis on crafting and base building. Export manufactured goods to earn funding, manage colonists, defend against hostile aliens, and work towards terraforming Ceres from a frozen ball of ice to a tropical paradise.

Why similar: Colony Sim 32.8%, Base Building 16.9%, Crafting 12.1%, Open World 11.3%, Survival 10.4%

Mr. Prepper is about being prepared. You know something is wrong. The risk of a nuclear war is in the air and you need to get ready for what's coming.

Why similar: Base Building 33.7%, Survival 19.9%, Crafting 18.6%, Simulation 9.6%, RPG 8.3%

NEO Scavenger is a game where you must survive in the wasteland long enough to figure out who you are. Each turn, you must decide where to go, how to scavenge for supplies, and how to deal with anything and anyone you encounter.

Why similar: Post-apocalyptic 32.9%, Survival 21.2%, Procedural Generation 15.6%, Crafting 12.8%, RPG 9%

Fade to Silence is a single-player and co-op survival adventure set in a post-apocalyptic world that is frozen in an eternal winter. Snow and ice have shaped a merciless landscape. Nature is corrupted. Monstrous creatures out of an Eldritch horror dream roam the frozen wasteland.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 42.2% ★, Survival 11%, Base Building 8.9%, Open World 8.8%, Crafting 6.9%

Warning: This is an Early Access game! Welcome to an enigmatic world, where a new gaming experience in exploring, building and surviving is waiting just for you. Experience a sandbox world with survival elements, and join us in creating a full version of the game.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 33.8% ★, Base Building 12.3%, Open World 9.6%, Post-apocalyptic 9.6%, Crafting 8.4%

Terminus: Zombie Survivors is a 2D turn-based survival roguelike set during a zombie apocalypse. Each journey is unique, and every decision can mean the difference between life and death. Can you brave hunger, cold, and the undead in order to reach the Terminus and find salvation?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 42.7% ★, Post-apocalyptic 13%, Survival 11.8%, Open World 11.6%, Crafting 9.2%