Survival

Project Zomboid

Website: Project Zomboid

Current Status: No Ending

Project Zomboid is a game I have noted many times on my browsing through Steam. At a first glance it doesn’t appear to be much of a competitor to most survival games currently available. The videos and screen shots in the Steam store do not bring it justice. I came across the game again via content creators on YouTube, and what I seen from their run throughs of the game changed my opinion instantly! This game has so much depth. The things you can do in the game in terms of crafting, survival, item usage, and mechanics are astounding! The difficulty in the game is certainly high, there is no doubt about that, however. One bite, or once you have the infection from another wound source or poor hygienic habits and you’ve effectively sealed your fate. You will die in a matter of time at that point. Several of us come back to PZ every now and then to enjoy this great game and all it has to offer!

7 Days to Die

Website: 7 Days to Die

Current Status: No Ending

The absolute best Zombie Apocalypse game to date. A mixture of crafting, building, and survival on a level that I personally have not seen topped by any other survival game on the market. I believe the majority of our group started playing around Alpha 16, and we have visited this game numerous times since. The sheer horror one can experience on first starting this game, is both hilarious, and speaks volumes of the games design. Eventually, you do get used to the frequent attacks, the Blood Moon hordes of Zombies that seek you out every 7th night. I still get the occasional jump scare here and there, but it isn’t near what it was when I started the game a few years ago. If survival games are your thing too, this game should not disappoint.

Valheim

Website: Valheim

Current Status: No Ending

Valeim came into the survival genre shattering records. The game has done fantastic in terms of sales. My personal opinion of this viking masterpiece, is that it is one of the more difficult survival games out there. It might just be the play style I use, but the tiered method of gainging access to other materials, recipes, and crafting can certainly prove to be a challenge at times. All that said, it is certainly a work of art. For the graphics it offers it never disappoints with the creative ways the storms, sailing, oceans, and terrain shine through. The developers of such a marvelous little gem truly deserve their due credits.

Conan Exiles

Website: Conan Exiles

Current Status: No Ending

Conan Exiles gets frequent visits by our group, and it is certainly no slotch in terms of what it brings to the table. In its own right, it is worthy of plenty of praise. It boasts a unqiue set of play to the ocean of survival games that are available today. Combat is fantastic, albeit a bit frustrating at times (or maybe I’m just getting old). There are dark dungeons to explore, vast areas, and the latest expansion brings on new sets of gameplay and exploration.

No Man’s Sky

Website: No Man’s Sky

Current Status: No Ending

To be perfectly honest, I’m not usually big on Space games. Space has always something I had some interest in to some extent, the unknown, the unexplored, the mystery of it all. All that said, I just haven’t played a lot of games that deal with Space. For me, NMS is that exception. I absolutely love this game! There seems to be quite a bit to do to keep me busy. It’s one of the first games I’ve played in years, where I’m anxious for the work day to be done so I can log in and start exploring!

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria

Website: Return to Moria

Current Status: No Ending

To be fair, I suspect LoTR: RtM could fit into one of several gaming genres. Given the survival like nature of the game, I decided to place it under survival for NH tracking purposes at least.

“Reclaim the Dwarven Homeland of Moria”

The majority of us are still in the early part of giving this game a play through. I haven’t done an incredible amount of research at this time, so in truth, I’m not really sure if it has any viable ending or not. I suspect like most survival games, you could call an ending at some point, given the story like nature. Although in most cases, no one really wants to just stop playing in the world they’ve dedicated many hours to building. I decided for now to list it with no ending, and see how the play through goes so I can update this description at a later time.

Sons of the Forest

Website: Sons of the Forest

Current Status: No Ending

Sons of the Forest shows a terrific amount of promise as an upcoming survival game. Our gaming group has been enjoying our current run through of the title. It can certainly use some quality of life upgrades, if I’m being completely honest, but it still has some delightful additions to add to the genre. I also find that even given the textures, detail, artwork, etc… it still runs very nicely for me, which is a great bonus. If the developers are able to take it to its full potential, this will certainly be a game worth your time in the (hopefully) near future. As it stands right now, you could get bored with some of the lack of options available in comparison to other survival games, but it is still very early access as of this mention (03.17.23).

Minecraft

Website: Minecraft

Current Status: No Ending

Ah, the game that should probably be credited for starting the survival based genre of games out there today. What started off as a hobby in java, became a huge success in the gaming, and development world we all know and love. My wife, my son, my daughter, and I have all had many great adventures in numerous spans of our lives in this wonderful master piece. We started off with copies of the java version, and accounts with mojang, and later got Windows copies via the platform changes for free. Of the 4 of us, my wife and I probably played it the most. One of my most fond memories in Minecraft is the time she blew us both to pieces in a desert temple. Such great times, Many laughs, so many memories. In several restarts, my wife and I wandered the Nether in fire resist gear we’d crafted. We never did get to the Enderworld, as our thing was mostly exploration, crafting, and building our camp. We did learn the hard way that only one piece of that fire resist gear is effective in the Nether. We used to play on a weekly basis, although it has certainly been some time since last we graced the worlds of Minecraft. Perhaps the day will come again when we fire up this classic and give it our all on another adventure of exploration, crafting, farming, and fun.

Friday The 13th: The Game

Website: Friday The 13th: The Game

Current Status: No Ending

What started out as a random game conversation with my son, ended in a weekend of great gaming. We were initially discussing a free to play weekend on Steam for Dead By Daylight, and my son brought up the Friday The 13th: The Game and how him and some friends really enjoyed it on console quite a few years ago. We gave the game a look on Steam, and jumped right in. There is an unfortunate downside though. It appears the game will no longer be available for purchase after the 31st of December for this year, and after that, it might completely disappear on the 31st of December 2024. The game is challenging no matter if your are a counselor trying to avoid Jason or Jason. The level of skill some of the community has developed is almost unreal, and we certainly encountered a great bunch of people over the weekends play throughs. That said, there is also a level of toxicity to be sure, but fortunately you can mute players giving you grief if so desired. If survival games are your thing, and you enjoy a game that can scare you like old school 7 Days to Die, I’d highly recommend giving Friday the 13th: The Game a look.

Stardew Valley

Website: Stardew Valley

Current Status: No Ending

Stardew Valley certainly has a fast pace about it! Short days with pressure to make it back to your cabin before 2 AM or suffer passing out where ever you stand! Initially, I wasn’t very sure about the game. It had aspects I certainly enjoyed and found interesting, but other aspects that can’t be changed with gameplay that I found to be quite annoying. I came around to love it eventually. My wife and I certainly had some grand adventures in SDW. The over all depth this game offers is hard to see at the start of the game. I can also see where it would hold some pretty decent replay value, if anything just to correct mistakes you make from the previous run.

Dead By Daylight

Website: Dead By Daylight

Current Status: No Ending

For me, this game is a bit terrifying if I’m being honest. A good friend and I encountered this masterpiece quite some time ago during a free to play weekend on Steam. We loved the game, but ultimately didn’t purchase it at the time because we noted an absolute plethora of DLC content for it. My son and I did recently pick up the base game during a Steam sale, as we want a valid replacement for Friday The 13th: The Game (FT13THTG) should it go under in Dec of 2024. I found it pretty amazing that some of the things I earned on that free to play weekend were still waiting on me when I returned. This genre of game can be a lot of fun, and for me a good rush of emotion as I’m struggling to control my character the way I ‘think’ I can with all the panic that ensues. I mean everyone panics to a point that they sling their mouse and spin their character into oblivion, almost never stopping at a point that is advantageous to them right?