Wait, Are They Breaking Through The Door?!

Survival games are an interesting genre when it comes to gaming, because people seem to either love them or hate them. I enjoy a good survival game, but I can also understand why people think they're a bit boring. You don't have that level up boost of excitement, or a story-line to follow through the game. The objective is simply: Survive as long as possible. Personally I love story-driven, graphically detailed games with a soundtrack to match. The three games I am going to use to explain the survival genre can be a lot more simplistic in these ways, which makes sense in a game that is more about creating a place to safely hold off monsters, instead of finding the best weapons and having the best stats to kill the final boss and finish the game.

My first example is a game that can actually be completed, but I would still consider a survival game. Minecraft is a very simplistic, easy to understand game. I mean it's in the name. You mine and craft better things to help you survive. The sound track is just as simple. Why was a game like this successful? It was different. When you begin Minecraft, you are put in a random world and are left to fend for yourself against monsters like creepers, zombies and spiders. How are you supposed to do that? Well you start by punching down a tree (I know, unrealistic but it is a video game) and using the wood to make things like a wooden sword and pickaxe to go mining with. It's not the most graphically advanced game (although it can look very nice with texture packs), but it is a game all about surviving and building up your resources. It's also great for people that don't want to have to deal with worrying about whether a zombie is behind that corner with its creative mode. Children and adults alike can go into a creative mode world and spend their time creating a beautiful castle, or recreating their favourite city from their favourite movies (Believe me, some of them are amazing). I think both aspects are great for different types of people. I used to play, but I never touched creative because I enjoyed the danger of losing everything if  I wasn't quick or smart enough to take on the monsters. Generally I would play in hardcore mode, which was a mode where if you died once, you would have to delete your save. One wrong move, mining the wrong block and falling into lava and that was the end of that. All of the work put into that save was gone. It made me work harder and make the smartest decisions I could in terms of whether I should be discovering mines, or going into the wilderness in search for food. Minecraft is a rare survival game that has an end goal; going deep underground, looking for diamonds and obsidian and defeating the ender dragon after finding the end portal. I think Minecraft is a great example of a survival game for people new to the genre.

My second example of a good survival game is Ark: Survival Evolved. A much more graphically intricate game when compared to Minecraft, Ark has much less in terms of an end goal. You can't cut trees down with your fists either. You have to collect wood scraps and work from there, picking up stones and things to create an axe that then lets you chop at trees and collect logs and such. Oh and I forgot to mention, you are stranded on an island inhabited by dinosaurs. Yep, dinosaurs. The herbivores are obviously nothing to be afraid of and you can continue collecting berries and wood to build a house around them, but the carnivores? Run. Run fast. Unless you can take them on, which isn't easy, or you can tame them (yes, you can have dinosaur pets you can ride), don't get near them. This game is much more focused on food and water for survival and the possibility of dinosaurs turning up and attacking you as you explore (although most of them you can see from a mile away).

The only other survival game I have really played is Don't Starve. I had about a 3 week period where I would play it on stream with a few friends, and since then I haven't really played. Don't starve is quite unique in its 2-Dimensional, kind of pop-up book style graphics. You start off stranded on an island with nothing to hand. Collecting sticks from dead bushes and stones lying on the ground can give you an axe, which you will need. The biggest danger from Don't Starve is at night. Monsters lurk in the darkness and unless you can create a fire with wood, the darkness will engulf your screen, pretty much ending that game there.

My personal opinion on survival games is if you enjoy the feeling of surviving that extra day against all the odds (monsters, starving and thirst), then you will enjoy these. I have played my fair share of the three games mentioned, I enjoyed them, and I would happily try another. Until then I think I will stick to RPGs, card games and MMOs. Comment your opinions on survival games below.