Games Like The Long Dark

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 45.5% ★, Survival 16.7%, Open World 10.9%, Crafting 4.5%, Exploration 4.4%

Why You'll Like It: A first-person wilderness survival game centered on freezing weather, hunger, crafting, and psychological strain in a snowy landscape.

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.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 50.6% ★, Survival 17.9%, Open World 10.2%, Crafting 5.3%, Exploration 4.2%

Why You'll Like It: Its open-ended exploration, handcrafted survival progression, and isolated atmosphere make it a strong alternative despite the underwater setting.

Survival: Fountain of Youth is a challenging single-player open-world adventure game set on the Caribbean islands. Survive as a shipwrecked 16th-century explorer, craft tools and shelter, and uncover the secrets of both an ancient civilization and your own fate.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 49% ★, Survival 18%, Open World 9.1%, Crafting 6.8%, Exploration 4.6%

Why You'll Like It: Its solo island expeditions emphasize careful resource management, crafting, shelter building, illness, and exploratory self-reliance.

The Wild Eight is an intense survival action-adventure set in the frozen wilderness of Alaska. Team up with friends in online co-op or go solo, explore the mysterious land, craft weapons and fight to live another day.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 53.9% ★, Survival 22%, Open World 8.9%, Crafting 4.5%, Sandbox 2.5%

Why You'll Like It: A snowy wilderness survival game where warmth, food, crafted tools, and dangerous expeditions are central, even when played solo.

Take the role of a plane crash survivor stranded somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Come face to face with some of the most life threatening scenarios that will result in a different experience each time you play. Scavenge. Discover. Survive.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 56.3% ★, Survival 19%, Open World 8.9%, Crafting 5.2%, Exploration 2.3%

Why You'll Like It: It offers a comparable first-person loop of scavenging, crafting, maintaining needs, and venturing into an unforgiving natural world.

Plunge into the open-world survival simulation set in the extreme conditions of the uncharted Amazon jungle. Use real-life survival techniques to craft, hunt, fight, and gather resources, set a makeshift shelter, or raise a fortress. Survive alone or team up with your friends and challenge the jungle together.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 54.8% ★, Survival 19.7%, Open World 8.2%, Crafting 4.9%, Sandbox 2.1%

Why You'll Like It: It trades snow for jungle but delivers similarly demanding solo survival through wounds, nutrition, shelter, crafting, and environmental knowledge.

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.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 55.6% ★, Survival 19.2%, Open World 9.6%, Crafting 4.5%, First-Person 2%

Why You'll Like It: Its detailed first-person crafting and wilderness base survival are compelling for players who want The Long Dark's systems with more hostile encounters.

Stranded at an abandoned Antarctic research base with no hope of rescue, you must battle a deadly blizzard in a desperate fight to find your way home.

Why similar: Survival 33.5%, Open World 16.2%, Exploration 9.5%, First-Person 9.3%, Atmospheric 8.4%

Why You'll Like It: This focused Antarctic survival experience captures The Long Dark's lonely atmosphere and constant battle against lethal cold.

Northern Lights is an open world survival simulation set in the extreme conditions of the arctic tundra. Clinging to life, you must use real-life survival techniques to gather resources, craft, and hunt while tending to your health and sanity. Can you survive your way out of the mysterious island?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 44.4% ★, Survival 15.1%, Open World 10.1%, Crafting 5.7%, Sandbox 4.4%

Why You'll Like It: This solo, snowbound survival adventure focuses on scavenging, warmth, hunger, crafting, and exploring a remote post-disaster wilderness.

Miasmata is a first-person survival/adventure game, developed from the ground-up by brothers Joe and Bob Johnson. You play as Robert Hughes, a plague-stricken scientist on a journey to discover a cure. Your adventure begins on the shores of a remote and mysterious island.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 38.3% ★, Survival 29.5%, Open World 9.4%, Exploration 6.3%, First-Person 4%

Why You'll Like It: Its first-person island survival and navigation systems make exploration feel vulnerable and uncertain rather than combat-driven.

The Solus Project is a single player exploration adventure with survival elements. The adventure is set on a mysterious planet and is the spiritual successor to The Ball - 2010 PC Gamer Action/Adventure Game Of The Year...

Why similar: Survival 45.9%, Exploration 9.7%, Open World 9.5%, First-Person 6.1%, Survival Horror 5.2%

Why You'll Like It: It combines isolated first-person exploration with environmental survival, weather hazards, crafting, and a strong sense of being stranded far from help.

A rogue-like river journey through the backwaters of a forgotten post-societal America. Forage, craft, evade predators.

Why similar: Survival 58.7%, Crafting 10.4%, Post-apocalyptic 6.5%, Exploration 5.9%, Open World 4.9%

Why You'll Like It: A lonely journey through a hostile wilderness where scavenging, crafting, weather, injuries, and route planning determine whether you survive.

The cult classic open-ended wilderness survival roguelike taking place in the ancient North, iron-age Finland. Throughout the years, UnReal World has been praised for its incredible depth, realism, atmos and immersion. Lose yourself in the most intricate, detailed and enchanting iron-age game world.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 49.8% ★, Survival 19.7%, Open World 13.5%, Crafting 7.4%, Sandbox 6.2%

Why You'll Like It: A remarkably deep solo wilderness simulator built around hunting, shelter, seasonal preparation, navigation, and surviving an uncompromising natural world.

Don’t Starve is an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic. Enter a strange and unexplored world full of strange creatures, dangers, and surprises. Gather resources to craft items and structures that match your survival style.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 47.8% ★, Survival 28.7%, Crafting 6.4%, Open World 5.5%, Sandbox 4.2%

Why You'll Like It: Its stylized presentation hides a demanding solo survival game about gathering resources, crafting essentials, reading the environment, and preparing for seasonal threats.

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 57% ★, Survival 22.5%, Open World 9.7%, Crafting 5%, Post-apocalyptic 1.9%

Why You'll Like It: It delivers bleak winter survival, scavenging, base upkeep, and hazardous expeditions in a frozen apocalypse, with more action than The Long Dark.

In This War Of Mine you do not play as an elite soldier, rather a group of civilians trying to survive in a besieged city; struggling with lack of food, medicine and constant danger from snipers and hostile scavengers. The game provides an experience of war seen from an entirely new angle.

Why similar: Survival 67.4%, Crafting 10%, Atmospheric 7.6%, Post-apocalyptic 7.1%, Simulation 3%

Why You'll Like It: It shares The Long Dark's bleak, thoughtful resource pressure and moral weight, though its survival is set in a besieged city rather than wilderness.

Escape to an enchanting, living sandbox surrounded by wildlife and nature. Scavenge materials and craft tools to turn your small cabin into a warm, well-supplied home. Survive by fishing, cooking and growing your own food. Be careful though, the forest is as dangerous as it is wonderful.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 47.2% ★, Survival 16.3%, Open World 10.2%, Crafting 5.4%, Exploration 4.7%

Why You'll Like It: It provides a gentler but similarly peaceful first-person loop of exploring forests, building a cabin, gathering supplies, and living off the land.

Darkwood - a new perspective on survival horror. Scavenge and explore a rich, ever-changing free-roam world by day, then hunker down in your hideout and pray for the morning light.

Why similar: Survival 37.1%, Open World 24.9%, Exploration 10.6%, Atmospheric 9.2%, Survival Horror 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: This is a more horror-focused alternative, but its oppressive isolation, scarce supplies, crafting, and nightly survival tension suit players seeking harsher stakes.

The Red Lantern is a narrative, dog sledding game about survival. You play as the Musher who, along with her team of 5 sled dogs, must find her way home. Care for your dogs, discover their stories, and learn how to navigate the unknowns of the Alaskan wilderness and prepare for your new life.

Why similar: Exploration 49.3%, First-Person 30.5%, Walking Simulator 14.1%, Adventure 6.1%

Why You'll Like It: This atmospheric dogsled survival story shares the frozen solitude, difficult choices, and survival pressure of crossing a merciless northern wilderness.

ICARUS is a solo or multiplayer PvE survival game. Explore a savage wilderness in the aftermath of terraforming gone wrong. Complete narrative quests as either Open World operations or Individual Missions. Explore, build, craft and hunt while seeking your fortune and prospecting for exotic matter.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 51.7% ★, Survival 20.3%, Open World 9.6%, Crafting 6.2%, Exploration 3.8%

Why You'll Like It: Its session-based survival missions require players to prepare for punishing weather, craft shelter and equipment, and explore dangerous wilderness regions.

Card Survival is a card-based survival experience. Stranded on a desert island you must use your wits and skills to stay alive. Use cards and combine them together to explore, gather resources and craft useful tools.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 47.3% ★, Survival 29.5%, Crafting 10.1%, Sandbox 3.3%, Simulation 3%

Why You'll Like It: Though presented through cards, it is an exceptionally granular solo survival simulation about injuries, calories, tools, weather, and hard-earned routines.

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 43.2% ★, Survival 16.3%, Open World 10.9%, Crafting 6.7%, Exploration 4.9%

Why You'll Like It: A mostly solitary first-person survival game built around scavenging, crafting, managing a mobile shelter, and exploring an inhospitable world.

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

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 52.6% ★, Survival 15.5%, Open World 7.9%, Crafting 7.1%, Sandbox 4.9%

Why You'll Like It: A slow-paced solo survival sandbox where gathering, crafting, building, farming, and managing environmental threats take precedence over action.

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!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 54.7% ★, Survival 23.6%, Open World 7.9%, Crafting 5.6%, Co-op 2.7%

Why You'll Like It: Its continuous scavenging, crafting, thirst management, and open-ended exploration offer a more relaxed but familiar survival-crafting rhythm.

Northern Canada, 1970. A strange blizzard ravages Atamipek Lake. Step into the shoes of a detective to explore the eerie village, investigate surreal events, and battle the elements to survive. Kona is a chilly interactive tale you won't soon forget.

Why similar: Survival 36.8%, Open World 20.8%, First-Person 8.3%, Exploration 8.2%, Atmospheric 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: Its lonely Canadian winter setting, first-person exploration, and environmental tension make it a natural fit for players who value atmosphere over crafting depth.

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: Survival 51.1%, Post-apocalyptic 14.6%, Crafting 11%, Open World 10.9%, Sandbox 5.4%

Why You'll Like It: Its brutal scavenging, exhaustion, injuries, weather exposure, and difficult travel decisions evoke The Long Dark's unforgiving survival mindset.

You awake to discover yourself no longer in the company of good men or a fine seafaring vessel. Treasure... you remember something about treasure. Wayward is a challenging turn-based, top-down, wilderness survival roguelike. Explore, build, and most importantly survive in these unforgiving lands.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 55.6% ★, Survival 21.7%, Open World 8.4%, Crafting 7.4%, Sandbox 4%

Why You'll Like It: This turn-based wilderness sandbox rewards patient experimentation with hunting, gathering, crafting, shelter, and long-term survival planning.

Northern Québec, 1970. A bizarre mist —the Brume— is disconnecting a rural mining village from its quiet reality. Step into the shoes of Detective Carl Faubert as he unfolds the mysteries haunting the region while battling for his own survival.

Why similar: Open World 28.2%, Exploration 22.2%, First-Person 16.4%, Walking Simulator 14.2%, Adventure 9.1%

Why You'll Like It: A snowy first-person mystery with isolation, exploration, and survival elements that strongly echoes The Long Dark's northern atmosphere.

No remarkable journey is achieved without great effort. In Outward, the cold of the night or an infected wound can be as dangerous as a predator lurking in the dark. Explore the vast world of Aurai solo or in Co-op. The Definitive Edition features both DLCs and quality of life improvements.

Why similar: Survival 39.7%, Open World 38.6%, Exploration 6.2%, Co-op 5.6%, Atmospheric 3.3%

Why You'll Like It: Its open-world journeys make food, temperature, fatigue, navigation, and preparation meaningful, blending survival friction with a more combat-heavy RPG structure.

Fight, Farm, Build and Explore Together in the standalone multiplayer expansion to the uncompromising wilderness survival game, Don't Starve.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 68.7% ★, Survival 24.6%, Open World 2.5%, Crafting 1.3%, Co-op 0.8%

Dive into a freezing underwater adventure on an alien planet. Below Zero is set two years after the original Subnautica. Return to Planet 4546B to uncover the truth behind a deadly cover-up. Survive by building habitats, crafting tools, & diving deeper into the world of Subnautica.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 52% ★, Survival 17%, Open World 9.9%, Crafting 4.2%, Exploration 3.8%

A collaborative exploration and survival game for 1-10 players, set in a procedurally generated afterlife inspired by Viking culture. Battle, build, and conquer your way to a saga worthy of Odin’s patronage!

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 53.3% ★, Survival 17.8%, Open World 11.1%, Crafting 5.7%, Exploration 3.5%

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 43.8% ★, Survival 26.1%, Open World 12.3%, Sandbox 4.4%, Post-apocalyptic 4.1%

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 58.2% ★, Survival 19.4%, Open World 9.4%, Crafting 6.5%, Sandbox 2.5%

Firewatch is a single-player first-person mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness, where your only emotional lifeline is the person on the other end of a handheld radio.

Why similar: Open World 24.6%, Walking Simulator 17%, Atmospheric 16.8%, Exploration 13.8%, First-Person 13.3%

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 50.4% ★, Survival 24.8%, Open World 12.1%, Crafting 4.3%, Sandbox 2.7%

Frostpunk is the first society survival game. As the ruler of the last city on Earth, it is your duty to manage both its citizens and infrastructure. What decisions will you make to ensure your society's survival? What will you do when pushed to breaking point? Who will you become in the process?

Why similar: Survival 65.8%, Post-apocalyptic 19%, Atmospheric 4.5%, Strategy 3.8%, Simulation 2.7%

Miscreated is a multiplayer online hardcore survival game set in a post-apocalyptic future. You will need to survive against mutants, players, and even mother nature herself.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 57.2% ★, Survival 20%, Open World 10.6%, Crafting 3.6%, Post-apocalyptic 3.5%

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 43.5% ★, Survival 16.9%, Open World 10.9%, Crafting 4.8%, Exploration 4.2%

Sent to find a missing billionaire on a remote island, you find yourself in a cannibal-infested hellscape. Craft, build, and struggle to survive, alone or with friends, in this terrifying new open-world survival horror simulator.

Why similar: Survival 37.2%, Open World 21.8%, Crafting 8.9%, Survival Horror 5.2%, Exploration 4.9%

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 58.5% ★, Survival 20%, Open World 9.3%, Post-apocalyptic 4%, Crafting 3.3%

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 47.1% ★, Survival 15.9%, Open World 11.2%, Crafting 6.8%, Sandbox 4.7%

Survive in outer space! Together with your immortal chicken, discover the truth behind your sudden spaceship crash. Craft tools, pilot vehicles, and even control space stations to survive and explore the wreckage.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 53.8% ★, Survival 16.4%, Open World 6.6%, Sandbox 5.1%, Crafting 4.9%

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 47.1% ★, Survival 24.3%, Open World 11.6%, Post-apocalyptic 5.3%, Sandbox 4.5%

The only aim in Rust is to survive. Everything wants you to die - the island’s wildlife, other inhabitants, the environment, and other survivors. Do whatever it takes to last another night.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 39.6% ★, Survival 29.4%, Open World 12.2%, Crafting 8.1%, Sandbox 3.8%

Hurtworld is a hardcore multiplayer survival FPS with a focus on competitive gunplay and strategic map control. Built for hardcore gamers, Hurtworld aims to punish.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 48.3% ★, Survival 25%, Open World 12.4%, Crafting 6.7%, Sandbox 2.9%

Sheltered is a deep and emotional survival management game. You take on the role of protecting four family members who, after a global apocalypse, have found their way to a deserted shelter.

Why similar: Survival 59.3%, Post-apocalyptic 16.2%, Open World 9.4%, Crafting 7%, Simulation 1.9%

Face the supernatural dangers of the Olympic Exclusion Zone with a car as your only lifeline in this driving survival adventure! Scavenge resources, load up your trusty station wagon, and drive like hell to make it through alive.

Why similar: Survival 35.7%, Crafting 12.4%, Post-apocalyptic 9%, Exploration 9%, Sandbox 6.9%

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 47.3% ★, Survival 19.9%, Open World 10.4%, Crafting 5.5%, Sandbox 4.8%

Force of Nature is a Sandbox game that combines Action, Adventure, RPG, Strategy and Management genres

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 54.7% ★, Survival 17.6%, Open World 9%, Crafting 7.5%, Sandbox 4.3%

Hardcore open-world survival where preparation is everything. Scavenge, craft, fortify during the day. When night falls, the infected hunt in numbers. Play solo or with friends in a brutal post-apocalyptic sandbox where survival is earned through smart decisions. How many Nights will you survive?

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 48.8% ★, Survival 21.1%, Post-apocalyptic 7.7%, Sandbox 7%, Atmospheric 5.1%

Frozen State is a brutal, survival game set in a world embraced by the man-made ice age meant to protect mankind from pestilent hybrids. Bitter cold and numbing fear are the constant companions in the journey through the retro-futuristic Frozen State world.

Why similar: Open World Survival Craft 40.6% ★, Survival 27.6%, Open World 9.3%, Crafting 7%, Exploration 3.5%

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 51.2% ★, Survival 17%, Open World 11.2%, Crafting 6.4%, Exploration 3.8%

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: Survival 45.8%, Open World 27.5%, Post-apocalyptic 7.9%, Crafting 4.1%, Sandbox 3.8%

Experience the wild as a badger sheltering your cubs from harm. On your journey, you will be stalked by birds of prey, encounter perils of the night, cross fierce rivers, escape forest fires and face the looming threat of starvation. Food is to be found, but is there enough for everyone?

Why similar: Survival 37.3%, Open World 24.3%, Exploration 10.5%, Atmospheric 8.2%, Walking Simulator 7.6%

Explore a frozen, mysterious land in this top-down survival adventure. Gather resources, craft tools, and fight to stay alive as you uncover a story of memory and redemption. Try to escape The Hollow.

Why similar: Survival 26.8%, Open World 18.6%, Crafting 11.2%, Post-apocalyptic 10%, Sandbox 9.2%

DESOLATE is a first person horror survival experience. Form a research team with up to 4 players and explore an open world filled with mysteries and unsolved questions, or do it all on your own.

Why similar: Survival 48%, Open World 30%, First-Person 7.1%, Adventure 2.8%, Atmospheric 2.5%

Chernobylite is a science-fiction survival horror RPG. Set in the hyper-realistic, 3D-scanned wasteland of Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone, explore a non-linear storyline in your search to uncover the truth of your tortured past.

Why similar: Survival 36.1%, Post-apocalyptic 13%, Crafting 10.4%, Exploration 8.1%, First-Person 7.7%