Games like Days Gone: 8 survival games with hordes and vehicles
The closest games to Days Gone give you two things: a vehicle that needs fuel and repairs, and a horde that you must avoid. Here are 8 PC games with one or both of those parts, plus our own game. The table shows which game has which part, so you can choose by what you liked most.
What Days Gone does
Days Gone is a third-person open-world game from Bend Studio. It came out on PS4 in 2019 and on PC in 2021. You ride the Drifter bike across Oregon. The bike uses fuel, and heavy damage can stop it. You refuel at gas stations and camps, and you repair the bike with scrap.
The Freakers can gather into large hordes that chase you. If the bike breaks down near a horde, an escape becomes very hard. So the game makes you plan each trip.
The games at a glance
| Game | Vehicle care | Main threat | Players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Route 48 | Fuel, part repairs | Infected, armed survivors | Solo |
| State of Decay 2 | Gas cans, repair kits | Zombies | Solo or co-op |
| Pacific Drive | Fuel, parts, panels | Anomalies, storms | Solo |
| Dying Light | Buggy fuel and parts | Infected at night | Solo or co-op |
| Project Zomboid | Detailed car mechanics | Hordes of hundreds | Solo or co-op |
| 7 Days to Die | Build and repair vehicles | Blood Moon hordes | Solo or co-op |
| Death Stranding | Battery, damage | BTs | Solo |
| Mad Max | Upgrades, fuel | Gangs | Solo |
| DayZ | Fix cars and trucks | Infected, players | Online only |
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.
Route 48 has the Days Gone loop of fuel, repairs, and hard choices on the road, but with a car and in first person. You scavenge for fuel and parts, and a broken vehicle can mean the end of your journey, although you can continue on foot. You fight the infected and armed survivors with guns. You decide when to fight, when to avoid danger, and when to get back on the road. It is in Early Access on Steam now.
State of Decay 2
Developer: Undead Labs. Released: 2018 (Juggernaut Edition on Steam in 2020). Players: Single-player or online co-op for up to 4 players.
State of Decay 2 puts vehicles at the center of each supply run. You lead a community of survivors, choose a base, and send people out for food and ammunition. Cars need gas from gas cans, and repair kits fix the damage. The trunk carries your loot back home.
Zombies attack your base, and plague hearts take over parts of the map. You must destroy a plague heart before you can claim the area again.
How it differs: you manage a whole community and its base, not one hero.
Best for: players who want the camp side of Days Gone to be the main game. See more in games like State of Decay.
Pacific Drive
Developer: Ironwood Studios. Released: 2024. Players: Single-player.
Pacific Drive is about one car and its upkeep. You drive an old station wagon into the Olympic Exclusion Zone, and you bring it back to a garage for repairs and upgrades. You must keep fuel in the tank and body panels on the car. Some problems, such as a flat tire, need a specific item.
How it differs: the threat comes from anomalies, radiation, and Zone Storms, not from hordes.
Best for: players who liked to maintain the Drifter bike more than the combat.
Dying Light
Developer: Techland. Released: 2015 (The Following expansion: 2016). Players: Single-player or online co-op for up to 4 players.
Dying Light is a first-person zombie game in a large city. You climb and run across roofs, scavenge supplies, and craft weapons. At night, the infected become much more dangerous, and you must decide to fight or to flee.
The Following expansion adds a countryside map and a buggy. Its parts wear out, so you repair them or craft new ones. You also scavenge fuel for it from old cars and trucks.
How it differs: in the base game, you move on foot with parkour. The buggy comes with The Following.
Best for: players who want first-person zombie combat and a vehicle to maintain.
Project Zomboid
Developer: The Indie Stone. Released: 2013, Early Access. Players: Single-player, online co-op, or split-screen.
Project Zomboid is a zombie survival game with an isometric view. Zombies come in hordes of hundreds, and they follow sight and sound. One gunshot can bring a crowd to your position.
The vehicles use full physics and detailed mechanics, so a car that works is a valuable asset. You also manage hunger, boredom, illness, and stress.
How it differs: the game is slow and detailed, and it expects your character to die at some point.
Best for: players who want a horde to feel like a real danger. See games like Project Zomboid.
7 Days to Die
Developer: The Fun Pimps. Released: 2024 (version 1.0). Players: Single-player, online co-op, or PvP.
7 Days to Die mixes first-person combat, survival, and base defense. You find parts and recipes to build vehicles, from bicycles and minibikes to 4x4s and gyrocopters. By default, a Blood Moon horde attacks every seventh night.
You can play the Navezgane map or a world that the game generates at random.
How it differs: the horde comes to you on a fixed schedule, so you build a fort and defend it.
Best for: players who liked the horde fights more than the escapes.
Death Stranding
Developer: Kojima Productions. Released: 2020 on PC. Players: Single-player, with online features.
Death Stranding is about the journey. You carry cargo across a broken America, and you plan each route around the terrain. Vehicles such as the Reverse Trike run on a battery and take damage. Tar from BTs, creatures from the afterlife, can trap a vehicle.
How it differs: deliveries are the core activity, and the route is the main challenge.
Best for: players who want a slow, careful journey with a vehicle to protect.
Mad Max
Developer: Avalanche Studios. Released: 2015. Players: Single-player.
Mad Max is a third-person open-world game in a desert wasteland. You build and upgrade a car, the Magnum Opus, with scrap. You also find fuel for it, and your mechanic, Chumbucket, repairs it.
Car combat is a large part of the game. You fight gang vehicles with a harpoon, rams, and mounted weapons.
How it differs: the enemies are gangs, not hordes.
Best for: players who liked the bike more than the zombies. See games like Mad Max.
DayZ
Developer: Bohemia Interactive. Released: 2018. Players: Online multiplayer only.
DayZ is an online survival game on large maps such as Chernarus. The infected attack on sight, and up to 60 players share each server. You can find and fix a car or a truck, then travel with a friend.
How it differs: the Steam store page lists no single-player mode.
Best for: players who want vehicle repair and survival with other people. For solo options, read games like DayZ.
How we picked these games
Each game has a vehicle that needs care, a horde or another strong threat to avoid, or both. We checked the developer, the release year, and the player modes on the Steam store page for each game. We used a second source for details about vehicles and hordes.
Which one should you play first?
- For a vehicle and a community under zombie pressure, start with State of Decay 2.
- For car maintenance as the main activity, try Pacific Drive or Route 48.
- For first-person zombie combat with a buggy, try Dying Light with The Following.
- For huge hordes and slow, detailed survival, try Project Zomboid.
- For a long, quiet journey, try Death Stranding.