Best Upcoming Survival Games 2023

Searching for new survival games to play in 2023? Check out this list of the best upcoming survival games for PC and consoles.

If you welcome the challenge of living through the harshest of circumstances, then you can look forward to playing this year’s best survival games.

From open-world sandboxes to survival horror, there are a bunch of unique survival games to get excited about in 2024 and beyond.

In this list, we’ll highlight the best upcoming survival games releasing on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch platforms.

We suggest checking back in the future for updates and announcements concerning the best new survival games for PC and consoles.

Related:Best Upcoming PC Games 2023 (And Beyond)Best Upcoming Open World Games 2023Best Upcoming Horror Games 2023

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First up, we’re highlighting the upcoming remake of the original Dead Space that’s currently in development at Motive Studios.

Considering Dead Space 3 released back in 2013, the return of EA’s iconic sci-fi horror survival shooter has been long overdue.

The remake will breathe fresh life into the 2008 original with completely remade assets, visual effects, expanded dialogue, and more.

However, at its core the story remains the same: engineer Isaac Clarke finds himself aboard a derelict mining vessel whose crew has turned into grotesque monsters.

If you like your survival games to have highly technical gameplay systems, Occupy Mars might be right up your alley.

The game sees you exploring the Red Planet in hopes of establishing a colony for future generations to inhabit.

Your job is to build and upgrade your base, research nearby regions, gather resources, grow crops, generate oxygen, and much, much more.

There’s an emphasis on realism and simulation, but not to the point of being unforgiving; that said, expect plenty of deaths early on as you come to grips with life on Mars.

Reminiscent of cowboy games like Red Dead Redemption 2 with a survival management sim twist, Wild West Dynasty is definitely worth keeping on your radar.

In it, players are tasked with building their own ranch while surviving any obstacle the Old West throws their way.

The game includes a dedicated story mode with hundreds of missions to tackle as well as customizable town-building and even a horse you can ride.

While further details are scarce at the moment, we can count on developer Virtual Magic to provide more information early next year.

For those unfamiliar, The Forest is an ambitious survival horror game that focuses on crafting and combat with surprisingly intelligent enemy AI.

Like many survival games, the story is fairly nonlinear but there was always enough to chew on for players interested in learning about the game’s creatures and setting.

For the sequel, developer Endnight Games looks to be expanding the universe with new characters and events revolving around yet another mysterious island.

Along with better graphics and more fluid combat, Sons of the Forest will emphasize team-driven gameplay that supports online multiplayer.

When the original System Shock was released in 1994, critics praised the game’s relatively realistic physics and the scale of its 3D environments.

Today, the series is remembered for elevating the first-person genre even though its success was short-lived.

Fortunately, developer Night Dive Studios is looking to bring the original back to life with a backer-funded remake currently in the works.

The remake will yet again see us controlling a resourceful hacker as they explore a space station brimming with terrifying creatures and a hostile AI named SHODAN.

Fans of open-world survival crafting games can set their sights on Voidtrain, an upcoming indie game by Hypetrain Digital.

Designed for both co-op and single-player, this game has you becoming a crew member of an Interdimensional Express Train.

Your mission? To discover a new world packed with weird creatures, enemies, and locations housing valuable resources.

These resources can be collected to upgrade and customize your train, allowing you to visit new places and build better weapons.

Nightingale is another open world survival crafting game that tasks you with staying alive in a hostile world comprised of different fantastical realms.

This can be done solo or cooperatively with friends, with each of you assuming control of Realmwalkers, skilled warriors capable of navigating transdimensional portals.

These allow you to discover new locations, including the magical city of Nightingale, which serves as the last bastion of humanity.

Guarding this realm with all your strength, you’ll need to seek out materials for crafting more powerful weapons and gear to aid you in battle.

Next up, Honeycomb is another PC-exclusive survival game expected to release in 2023 by developer/publisher Frozen Way.

Combining themes of space, nature, and exploration, the game vouches to “awaken your inner bioengineer,” by having you investigate a dangerous planet.

Dubbed Sota7, this alien world is ripe with useful materials that can be crafted into items for expanding your base and fending off threats.

There’s a big emphasis on experimenting to see how different materials and objects interact with the world while playing alone or with friends.

Boasting a stylized look that’s equal parts cute and charming, Wildmender is a new survival game out of Muse Games and Kwalee.

In it, up to four players find themselves piecing together a damaged world whose environments have long since withered away.

To bring it back to life, they’ll have to explore the world in search of seeds to cultivate gardens and restore nature to its former beauty.

Standing in the way are a host of larger-than-life creatures that can only be defeated with arcane magic spells.

Middle-earth fans are in for a treat when The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria releases later this year.

Billed as a survival crafting game set in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth, it sees you and your companions taking on the role of Dwarves.

Together, you’ll embark on a new adventure to reclaim and restore the Dwarven homeland of Moria.

This requires you to gather materials, build and expand bases, and construct new tools and weapons to defend your home from invaders.

Played from a first-person POV, Forever Skies is a new survival game set on a post-apocalyptic Earth ravaged by ecological disaster.

Assuming control of a survivor, players will get to work flying, upgrading, and customizing a cutting-edge airship base.

To stay afloat, you’ll have to scavenge resources by traveling to different regions on the surface, many of which are overrun with hostile wildlife and viral pathogens.

Only through research and exploration will you be able to progress and eventually find a cure for the mysterious illness that wiped out mankind.

Rendered in colorful 2D pixel art, Wanderlost is an upcoming survival sandbox with farming sim and roguelike elements.

The focus of this game is making your way around a zombie-infested world to gather materials, craft an assortment of weapons and tools, and build fortified shelters.

The world is quite massive and spans nine different biomes with unique dangers and resources to keep an eye out for.

When you’re not busy fighting off zombies, you’re free to farm, fish, and build to your heart’s content.

Due out in 2023, Dissident: Frostland Escape is a new survival game about prisoners escaping from forced labor camps.

Combining forces with their imprisoned comrades, players will hatch an escape plan and brave the many dangers of the surrounding frozen wasteland.

Expect to deal with challenges such as frostbite, hunger, and thirst, as well as your character’s sanity and natural predators like wolves.

This all comes together in an open-ended and replayable experience with procedurally generated modular maps and a wide array of characters to play as.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are known for getting nitty-gritty with their approach to surviving in post-apocalyptic open worlds.

While they’ve always been reminiscent of games like Metro and even Fallout RPGs to some extent, the series suddenly disappeared after just three releases.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will see players venturing into “The Zone,” an irradiated wasteland surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site.

The area stands out for its high radiation levels, which causes scavengers to develop supernatural abilities that affect traversal and combat.

If you’re anything like us, then you love diving into the weirdest simulation games PC gaming has to offer.

This includes Winter Survival Simulator, an upcoming survival sim that sees players attempting to brave the harsh environments of Mount Washington State Park.

Lost and with little to no supplies, you’ll have to work tirelessly to survive the bitter cold and hostile wildlife with persisting hunger and thirst.

While developer Drago Entertainment has yet to provide a release date, there’s currently a demo you can check out now on Steam.

Considering Frostpunk was a massive hit for 11-bit Studios, it was only a matter of time until we got a sequel to the city builder survival game.

Set 30 years after the apocalyptic blizzard that thrust humanity into hardship, Frostpunk 2 sees you playing as the leader of a new metropolis on the brink of collapse.

In order to keep your population alive, you’ll have to hunt down a new source of power in the form of oil while navigating political divisions within your community.

Much like the original, players can expect to have to make tough sacrifices along the way all for the sake of providing humanity with a better future.

Another co-op survival game that shows promise is Survival Machine, a third-person open-world game from indie developer Grape Pickers.

In it, you and your friends traverse ever-changing lands via a massive vehicle that also serves as your base of operations.

Gameplay revolves around building, upgrading, and fortifying the machine to ward off zombies that try to overtake it at night.

Along with outfitting your machine with cannons, spikes, and other traps, you can craft weapons and armor to defend yourself while you’re out exploring the world.

As much as we love Grounded, there’s enough room for two small-scale survival games that let us live out our fantasies (and nightmares) of being shrunk down and let loose in a sprawling backyard sandbox.

However, to see the best Smalland‘s world has to offer, you’ll have to brave brutal weather conditions and survive run-ins with various enemies including spiders, birds, rats, lizards, and more.

Fortunately, there is an abundance of hidden resources you can use to craft armor, weapons, shelter, and other tools such as mountable bugs.

You can also customize outfits to acquire special resistances and abilities using various workshops at your camp which can be upgraded over time.

A third entry in the zombie survival horror series State of Decay is currently in development for Xbox and PC.

State of Decay 3 intends to offer the ‘ultimate’ zombie survival simulation and judging by the announcement trailer, Undead Labs is off to a great start. 

Fans can look forward to battling even more undead humans along with a new contender: zombie deers.

We anticipate the game’s graphics benefitting greatly from next-gen hardware and overall shorter load times.

Toeing the line between weird and genuinely exciting, Palworld is an upcoming open-world RPG from Pocketpair Games, best known for Craftopia.

It puts its own spin on the survival crafting genre by throwing in Pokemon-inspired creature collecting, with various “Pals” for you to tame.

Monsters you collect have special powers that can come in handy during battles, farming, building, fishing, and more.

While it’s a bit jarring to see such adorable creatures appear alongside shotguns, assault rifles, and rocket launchers, there’s something so interesting about Palworld’s concept.

Inspired by games like Alien: Isolation, Level Zero is an online multiplayer survival horror game that pits humans against terrifying creatures.

The main objective for the humans is to try and repair the space station they’re currently on while the monsters relentlessly pursue and try to kill them.

Both sides come equipped with unique skills and equipment that can come in handy for completing their mission and it’s up to players to decide when and where to use them.

If you enjoy fast-paced multiplayer games with plenty of action and competition, make sure to keep this one on your radar before it releases later this year.

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Justin Fernandez

As a fan of both indie and triple-A games, Justin finds joy in discovering and sharing hidden gems with other passionate gamers. In addition to reporting on the latest and greatest titles, he manages GamingScan’s social media channels.

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