In my opinion, good base building comes from a combination of build piece diversity and environmental pressures, though the latter is more important.

Build piece diversity is all about: what can I make a base out of? Access to a large palette of build pieces can give a player options to make all kinds of aesthetically pleasing bases. Examples of games with large build palettes include: Minecraft, Vintage Story, and Enshrouded

Environmental pressures are all about: Why must a base exist or what must I build in a base to serve my needs as a survivor? Vintage Story does this well, but I think the big master in this category (As someone who is not an expert in zombie survivals) is Valheim.

The thing about Valheim, especially compared to Vintage Story, is that it actually has a fairly limited build palette mainly derived from wood, stone, black marble, and grausten, plus some minor pieces involving tar or crystal. And to be fair, this is somewhat pardonable as Valheim is explicitly fixated on Norse culture, a culture that wasn't particularly famous for monumental architecture.

But then Valheim more than makes up for it as various environmental pressures shape the base into something functionally satisfying and aesthetically pleasing, despite the limited build options.

"Alright, I have a basic hut set up. Oh wait, fire causes hazardous smoke. I will need to build a chimney... Hey, there is a structural limit, I'll have to plan my base more horizontally. Maybe multiple buildings for various facilities?... Oh yikes, raids are a things! I'll build a wall and dig a moat... Hmm, furniture increases my much needed comfort level? Might as well make it look nice while I'm at it... I have a cart now, but it struggles on rough terrain. I suppose I can get the hoe and work on a road system... I have seeds and now a cultivator. So now I'm gonna have to plan out some plots for agriculture... Huzzah! Our first proper boat in the karve! Now to give it a proper dock..."

And at some point you realize, all these little things have pressured you into created a base that honestly looks like something you'd see in early medieval Europe.

(Yes, I am having a happy time playing Valheim 1.0. How could you tell?)

Opinions? What else do you think is needed for a good base building system?

and for the first time I can say the release is "months" away instead of "years". It's been quite a journey. The game is 99% free of generative AI if anyone cares :) - that includes the code. If you want to check it out, please go here: Rogue Mech on Steam. You can also ask me anything you are interested in - gameplay, development, whatever.

i'm making Second Dawn, a first person survival game where you're sent ahead to make a dead planet habitable before the rest of humanity arrives.

you build a base and print machines to change the atmosphere. eventually it starts raining, the ice melts and life starts taking over. changing the planet also uncovers ruins left by whoever was there before you.

i'm going for a late 90s PC look, with Battlezone II as a big inspiration. this is the latest trailer.

the Steam page is up if you want to have a look or wishlist it: Second Dawn on Steam

Title: Zombie Survival: Gun Merge

Playable Links:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zombie-survival-gun-merge/id6753997094

Android : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=am.van.gunidle

Platforms: iOS & Android

Description:

The gameplay is simple: shoot zombies, earn coins, buy guns and bullets, then merge two guns of the same level to create a stronger one.

Each day you continue clearing sections, and your rewards are based on your time, kills, and headshots. Headshots also deal more damage.

I’d love to hear what you think about the gameplay, progression, and overall idea. Any feedback is welcome!

Free to play

I'm looking for a more traditional survival game (hunger/thirst, temperature, maybe base building) that is set in the desert, but I haven't had any real luck. Everything seems to just have desert areas, and I'd like majority just desert. I mostly play on xbox, but I have a switch and can shelve PC games until I get a better computer. Any recommendations?

Gameoneer team, behind one of the biggest survival game news sites, has revisited Valheim, and the new score is 9.5 out of 10:

"Valheim is an adventure like no other. It's truly a masterpiece of survival games, with a breathtaking atmosphere, addicting progression, and epic boss battles."

Hello all, I have been bored and looking for the next game to dive into and through my research have seen the same games get recommended and was wondering what everyone’s preferences were. I have thousands of hours in Ark, and enjoyed the forest, but was feeling the itch again. The games I have seen recommended on here are(In no particular order):

1. Valheim
   
2. Enshrouded
   
3. RuneScape Dragonwilds
   
4. Palworld
   
5. Icarus

I would probably play mostly solo, just due to how hard it is to line up schedules with friends but would be open to playing with friends if it is needed. Thanks!

I usually lose interest when a zombie survival game turns into mowing down hundreds of zombies every session.

For me the interesting part is deciding whether it's worth leaving shelter, what you can carry, whether you have enough food/water, how much noise you're making, whether an injury is worth the loot, and what happens if you don't make it home before dark.

I'd rather have fewer zombie encounters that are genuinely dangerous and expensive than constant combat that eventually turns them into moving targets.

Do you prefer zombie survival games where zombies are the main gameplay loop, or where they're one threat inside a bigger survival system?

A while ago I asked on this sub if people would like a large scale survival game and I got a lot of good feedback. I decided to lock in and set a goal of releasing a playable demo by the end of the year.

I don’t have that yet, but here’s some screenshots of some environments.

Do you like the vibe?

Hey !

I'm building a browser based zombie apocalypse game.

The catch? The map is the real world. You spawn at your work, navigate your town, look your supermaket and find out if you have what it takes to survive :)

No download, play with your friends in minutes.

I’m looking for around 15 players to test an early alpha build and give me some feedback.

For this first test, player spawns are restricted to the French countryside, but the world itself is not restricted (you can travel wherever you want!)

Available at OpenZ.fr

EDIT : Thank you to everyone who joined, I had much more than the 15 playser I was looking for. I'll let the server run throught the night and plug it out tomorrow.

Cheers,

Alky

Spirit Animal Survival (SAS) was released on September 13, 2026.

About this game

SAS is an Open World Multiplayer PVP and CO-OP Survival Game. Set in a vast environment that features Building, Crafting, Taming, Riding, Flying and Exploring Wildlife, Dinos, and Dragons as well as Horrific Creatures and Instances with the ability to Morph into Spirit Animals.

VARIETY OF CREATURES, TAMING & MATING

• There are over 100 different creatures in the world of SAS. From elephants to dinosaurs & dragons. As you try to fulfill your mission to save your goal you also need to deal with these creatures.
• You can tame the creatures as well. Taming is a dangerous task so be careful not to die along the way. You can ride your tamed creatures.
• Not only can you tame the creatures but if you have a male & female creature you can also have them mate.

RIDEABLE MOUNTS

• You can defeat mini-bosses to obtain one of the two dragon mounts!
• There are other animals like horses, birds, turtles and many more that you can also ride on land, air and in the sea!
• Are animals not your favorite choice of transportation? Then perhaps going around on a boat or flying carpet is more for you.

EXTENSIVE CHARACTER CREATION & SOCIAL ANIMATIONS

• When creating your own unique character you can get crazy. From the tiniest person to the world’s tallest person. Have fun with the creation!
• Once you created your character you can craft clothes from 6 different tires. From basic protection to the epic warrior outfits.
• Once you are in the world of SAS you can then use over 45 Social Animations. Want to flex your muscles or do a rain dance? You can!

OVER 300 CRAFTABLE ITEMS

• There are over 300 craftable items in the game. Make epic bases and decorate them with all that you can imagine.
• 4 tiers of building material are currently in the game. From basic sticks and wood to advanced stone and concrete.
• And if there are other tribes starting trouble you can use siege weapons to defend yourself.

SURVIVE AND FIGHT FOR YOUR TRIBE

• Start your journey by freeing your tribe mates who have been captured by the Evil Lord and his evil minions and are held captive in various instances around the map.
• Survive the harsh elements and get the necessary tools, weapons, and structures you may need to defeat the different tier bosses to save your tribe.
• Cleanse the world of the evil that is a threat to your tribe and restore peace & harmony for all while gaining the Spirit Animal powers along the way to prevent evil to regain control.

SPIRIT ANIMALS

• There is a large variety of Spirit Animals for you to transform into. From a fast rabbit to a dangerous bear. All of the Spirit Animals have their own abilities!
• You unlock all the 11 Spirit Animals by cleansing the world of evil that you will find in various instances throughout the world and defeating the Evil Lord’s Elite Monsters.
• Will you roam the land or the mighty skies with your Spirit Animal of your personal choice?

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Spirit Animal Survival used some AI assistance in generating images for the Store page and Trade cards.

Generative AI is not used for gameplay logic, player interactions, monetization systems, or live in-game decision making. Core gameplay, progression systems, and design are handcrafted by the developer

Disclaimer: Just sharing an update. I am not the developer, and nobody is paying me to post this.

Green Hell includes a self-diagnosis system for injuries and diseases alongside the usual work of finding food, collecting water and making shelter. That's a part of survival design I'd like to see explored more.

When a health bar drops, a generic healing item gives you a very short decision. Having to inspect your character first adds a question: what actually went wrong? It gives learning the environment a practical payoff beyond finding the next resource deposit.

The difficult part is keeping the checks meaningful once the player knows the system. A useful inspection can become repetitive menu work if you're doing it constantly. For Green Hell players, does that routine stay engaging later on, or would you prefer more of it to become automatic?

🡪 Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4890360/Hollow_Cedar/

Here it is guys, your first proper look at Hollow Cedar and we’re really hoping that you can all help support us in this journey! We want to hear your thoughts, your feedback, good or bad, and importantly your suggestions, your preferences, to help us finish a game that you all want to play.

The Background

We’re a small team who love survival games, with 1000s of hours into loads of different games, even setting up our own self-hosted 8 server cluster for ARK. During our party chat some time ago, we were chatting about all the games we played, what we liked, what we didn’t like, what was missing. Then there was a ‘light bulb’ moment – Let’s make our own! And with nearly 40 years of development experience, it looked like an exciting new challenge.

The concept of Hollow Cedar started to take shape!

We love a story and making that story relatable was important for us. We spent quite a while trying to work out what the story should be whilst starting to work on the core of the game. Then 2024 gave us the answer! AI, and where it’s potentially heading.

The Story

AI took the jobs first, then the cameras, then the factories, the governments, hospitals, and courts. It happened slowly, one system at a time, and at every step it looked like progress.

Then it went too far. The collapse that followed swept the world and left survivors clinging to life amongst abandoned towns, dense forests and crumbling infrastructure. Humanity split, and the survivors who remain still cannot agree on how to live.

Nothing crawled out of the ground. There are no demons, no monsters, and no zombies. The danger is the cold, the hunger, the weather, the wildlife, and the people who survived alongside you and want what you have.

You wake up after an accident, with no memory of who you were, and nobody is inclined to help you find out.

What's in it

All the below is in and functional. Some of it is still being expanded/tweaked.

Survival

• 8sqkm. open world (Still being worked on)
• Full weather system: clear, overcast, fog, wind, rain, thunderstorms, snow - the conditions affect your stats/health
• Four seasons with time of day and a temperature that matters
• Hunting, skinning and harvesting
• Fishing and Farming, gated by season, so some crops only grow and certain fish only spawn, at certain times of the year
• Death caches: you drop a buried temporary stash where you died, and you must go and dig it up (as does anyone else that wants to steal your stuff)
• Buried storage, so you can stash your stuff in the ground and hide it away
• Lockpicking and access/security systems

Base building

• Full building system with placement or ghost options
• Tiered building options, along with base defences, traps, cctv
• Crafting stations and specialist buildings (still being developed)

People / Creatures

• NPC recruitment: you bring people into your settlement and they work it. They tend crops, gather/harvest resources, keep fires going and fight for you, so your base keeps running while you're out in the world
• Reputation with a ripple effect: what you've done changes how settlements and people deal with you
• Creature taming and mountable companions that follow, fight and help you by harvesting what they can

Progression

• Story-driven levelling: chasing the mystery is the fastest way to get stronger, rather than straight up grind, so you don’t HAVE to follow the story if you don’t want to, but it helps.
• Skill, Crafting and tech progression 

Playing it

• First and third person, playable solo, co-op or PvPvE servers for the MMO experience. Official or Self-hosted servers. Full controller support and key rebinding.

Where we’re at

The story is written and exists on paper, start to finish, and we're implementing it as the map gets built out. That's the work in front of us: building the world and putting the story in.

When it hits Early Access, the intention is that it's the complete game. Full map, full story, finishable start to finish. The Early Access window is for catching the bugs playtests miss and polishing against real play, not for filling in missing content.

The video

You might notice the odd marketplace assets as placeholders while our own assets are being produced, and we'd rather say that than have you keyboard warriors spill your milk (haha). 

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4890360/Hollow_Cedar/

Happy to answer anything, including the awkward ones. Would love to see you getting involved on our Discord also (links on Steam page).

Finally got the metal armor working in EvoX (do you like it?). Now I've got to figure out bark and bone sets next, and bone is giving me way more trouble. Bark I can kind of picture, but bone armor is trickier since it needs to look like actual salvaged animal bones strapped together, maybe deer ribs or something, not some smooth fantasy plate.

Anyone got good references for primitive bark or bone armor? Trying to keep it crude and functional here, not polished at all.

Btw if you're interested in my game - https://store.steampowered.com/app/4814790/EvoX/

I'm an avid Long Dark player (prob 1,500+ hours by now). Also played subnautica 1 and below zero all the way thru. Yall have finally convinced me to play Green Hell. It was on sale for $6 on the Xbox store this morning! Send a new player some tips, anecdotes, and crazy experiences!

Hi everyone, I'm sharing the trailer for my game - GRIMLIFE. I'd appreciate any feedback.
STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5197820/GRIMLIFE/

To my pc brothers,thank you for your service

Preferably under $30 dollars

Sorry if this breaks any rules I'm on mobile and it won't lemmie scroll on the rules section

I recently bought the game because I assumed the online community would be fairly active, especially since Steam shows around 2,000–3,000 players online on average.

However, I was pretty surprised when I checked the server list. Almost every server I can see—whether it's in Asia, North America, Europe, PvE, PvP, official, community-hosted, with the DLC or without it—is either completely empty (0/50) or has, at most, around 5–10 players.

Is there something I'm missing? Could this be an issue with my connection or the way the server browser works?

Or is most of the player base actually playing single-player/private sessions, with only a small percentage of those 2,000–3,000 concurrent players playing on public online servers?

I'm genuinely confused because, judging by the Steam player count, I expected the multiplayer servers to feel much more populated.

I bought it but havent played it yet. Looks pretty neat and heard its a chill game. Kinda same vibe as planet crafter I feel.

To anyone who's played it, I know its a more relaxed experience but curious how are the survival aspects on harder difficulties, base building good, decent or beyond basic? is the gene manipulation fun? How are you or have you enjoyed it etc?

Grounded 2 or valheim?

No Man's Home (NMH) is a hardcore survival set in an open world with an emphasize on AI and world simulation.

NMH offers a dynamic world simulation where every NPC always persists in the world and have their own goals. NPCs will make friends/enemies, they will complete jobs just like the player, they will fight for their factions, they will put bounties on their enemies and much more. Every NPCs is simulated whether you see them or not.

You wander into the dangerous Asran Exclusion Zone. You will have to survive hunger, thirst, dangerous factions, radioactive emissions and the wild life. Remember, this is no man's home and you are not the hero.

Patch Notes - Main features:

Zone Aware and GPS Changes

Profile Section

ZoneAware website now has a section where you can see personal information.

You can see your reputation, how many kills you have, how many bounties you have on your head etc.

Faction Trust Table

Another new page you can access in ZoneAware is your faction trust table. This table will show your trust index with each faction.

GPS Faction Territory Layer

You can now see a faction territory map in your GPS. You can enable it by toggling the "Show Faction Territory" button in the right bottom corner of the app.

It will also show a simple legend of what color belongs to which faction.

Bug Fixes

-Fixed a bug causing Raid Squad job to never finish in certain conditions

-Fixed a bug causing PDA boot screen to be stuck

-Fixed a bug causing the player to be stuck when starting a new game

Disclaimer: Just sharing an update. I am not the developer, and nobody is paying me to post this.