Best indie survival games on PC: 9 picks from small studios
The best indie survival games come from small teams with a clear idea. This list has 9 PC survival games that Steam lists in the Indie genre, plus our own game. For each one, we say what you do, who made it, and who it suits.
What small studios do well
Small studios often build one system in great depth. On this list, that system can be a raft, a body with many wounds, or a world without a main story. Many of them also release a game in Early Access and improve it with player feedback over years. Several games on this list did exactly that.
If you want to know how that process works, read what Steam Early Access is.
Route 48 (our game)
Full disclosure: we made Route 48, so we put it first.
Developer: HOLY STUDIOS. Released: 2026, Early Access. Players: Single-player.
HOLY STUDIOS is an independent studio, and it is both the developer and the publisher of Route 48. The game is a first-person driving survival game: you scavenge for fuel and parts, repair your car, and fight the infected and armed survivors. It is in Early Access on Steam, and player feedback will shape the vehicle physics, the procedural generation, and the gunplay balance.
Kenshi
Developer: Lo-Fi Games. Released: 2018 (Early Access from 2013). Players: Single-player.
Studio note: Chris Hunt worked alone on Kenshi for years, and then he hired a small team in 2013. Kenshi was one of the first games in Steam Early Access.
Kenshi is a squad-based sandbox RPG in a post-apocalyptic world of more than 870 square kilometers. You are not a chosen hero. Each body part has its own health, and a severe injury can mean a robotic limb.
Who it suits: players who want total freedom and do not need a main story.
Raft
Developer: Redbeet Interactive. Released: 2022 (Early Access from 2018). Players: Single-player or online co-op.
You start on a small raft in the open ocean. You use a hook to catch debris from the water, and you grow the raft into a home on the sea. A shark circles you, and it can attack you or damage the raft.
You manage hunger and thirst, craft tools and sails, and build a radio receiver that leads you to story islands.
Who it suits: players who want a building game at sea, alone or with friends.
Project Zomboid
Developer: The Indie Stone. Released: 2013, Early Access. Players: Single-player, online co-op, or split-screen.
Studio note: The Indie Stone is an independent studio from Britain and Canada, and it publishes the game itself.
Project Zomboid is an isometric zombie survival game in Knox Country, a fictional quarantine zone in Kentucky. Hordes can have hundreds of zombies, and they react to sight and sound. You loot houses, build defenses, and manage hunger, boredom, illness, and stress.
Who it suits: players who want a slow, detailed zombie survival game. See games like Project Zomboid.
Survivalist: Invisible Strain
Developer: Bob. Released: 2025. Players: Single-player or online co-op for up to 4 players.
Survivalist: Invisible Strain is a colony-building game in a zombie apocalypse. You recruit survivors through friendship, respect, or fear, and you manage their shelter, food, warmth, and morale. Characters remember your actions, and those memories change how they see you.
The special threat is the Invisible Strain. An infected member of your group looks normal until the day they turn on you. You give orders from an overhead view, or you take direct control in third-person action.
Who it suits: players who like to manage a community of survivors.
Green Hell
Developer: Creepy Jar. Released: 2019. Players: Single-player or online co-op.
Green Hell is a first-person survival game in the Amazon jungle. You inspect your body for wounds, treat infections, and track your nutrition with a smartwatch. Hallucinations can affect your mind.
A story mode follows an anthropologist who searches for his lost wife. A free prequel, Spirits of Amazonia, adds more story.
Who it suits: players who want detailed body care in a jungle setting.
Unturned
Developer: Smartly Dressed Games. Released: 2017 (Early Access from 2014). Players: Single-player, online co-op, or PvP.
Studio note: Nelson Sexton was the main developer, and he was 16 years old at the first release.
Unturned is a zombie survival sandbox. You scavenge supplies, hunt for food, fight the undead, and build a shelter. You travel by land, air, and sea. The community makes new maps in the Steam Workshop.
Who it suits: players who want community maps and both solo and server play.
NEO Scavenger
Developer: Blue Bottle Games. Released: 2014. Players: Single-player.
NEO Scavenger is a turn-based survival RPG on a hex map of a near-future, post-apocalyptic Michigan. The game tracks hunger, thirst, fatigue, and cold, and each wound can bleed or get infected. Death is permanent.
You craft with substitutes, such as a rifle scope from binoculars. Local folklore and strange creatures add a sense of mystery.
Who it suits: players who like to read, plan, and survive one turn at a time.
Valheim
Developer: Iron Gate. Released: 2026 (Early Access from 2021). Players: Single-player or online co-op for up to 10 players.
Studio note: Valheim began as a side project of Iron Gate co-founder Richard Svensson, and a five-person team built the game. It was in Early Access from February 2021 until its full release in September 2026.
Valheim is a survival and exploration game in a procedurally generated world based on Norse mythology. You gather resources, build longhouses and forts, sail to new lands, and fight bosses to progress. Food gives you more health and stamina.
Who it suits: players who want a long adventure, alone or with friends.
The Forest
Developer: Endnight Games. Released: 2018 (Early Access from 2014). Players: Single-player or online co-op.
After a plane crash, you are the only survivor in a forest with a clan of mutant cannibals. They watch and test you before they attack, and they become more aggressive if you attack them. You build shelters, traps, and defenses, and you explore caves below the ground.
Studio note: Endnight Games is a Canadian studio. Its sequel, Sons of the Forest, had its full release in 2024.
Who it suits: players who want survival horror and base building.
How we picked these games
Every game here except Route 48 is in the Indie genre on its Steam store page. We checked the studio facts on a second source. We also chose different settings, so you can pick the threat that interests you most: zombies, the sea, the jungle, or the wasteland.
Which one should you play first?
- For a long sandbox, start with Kenshi.
- For co-op building, try Valheim or Raft.
- For detailed zombie survival, try Project Zomboid.
- For survival horror, try The Forest.
- For a car and a new world each time, try Route 48.
To learn how a wishlist helps a small studio, read how Steam wishlists help indie games. If you want games without other players, see the best single-player survival games.