What are the best PS5 survival games? From building fortress-like bases, to crafting weapons, to foraging for food and materials, survival games are an intense test of patience, strategy, and skill. For all you PlayStation players out there, we've rounded up all of our favorites to great a handy list of the very best PS5 survival games you can play right now.
Plenty of these titles feature in our overall best survival games list that spans multiple platforms, and some even sneak onto our extensive list of the best PS5 games. Even if you're a newcomer, or you've been burned by mediocre survival games in the past, these are the best games in the genre and absolutely deserve a spot on your hard drive. With survival experiences being so popular at the moment, new ones are cropping up all the time, and we'll be sure to add any excellent newcomers to this list.
The best PS5 survival games are:
1. Minecraft
Minecraft has proven time and time again that it can stand the test of time, and since its release back in 2011, it has become one of the best-selling videogames of all time, and for good reason.
At the heart of the experience, Minecraft is a pure survival game, tasking you with managing your hunger and health and building a haven from the vicious enemies that come out at night, all while trying to find out the mystery of this pixellated universe. As you craft new tools, you'll get access to better resources, and the cycle continues.
However, Minecraft is best when it lets you flex your creative muscles. Want to build a huge farm that you can live off? Go ahead. Thinking about creating a huge cliffside mansion that overlooks your region of the overworld? You can do that. Or if you just want to set your sights on the adventure of a lifetime, then you're free to do as you please.
You can find the best Minecraft survival servers right here.
2. The Forest
This open-world survival horror is set in a vast expanse where you'll need to build, scavenge, and fight for your life. You're the lone survivor of a plane crash that leaves you in a wilderness teeming with mutants that have a taste for humans like yourself. Much like the other games on the list, you're thrown far away from civilization.
At times it resembles a horror experience rather than merely just a survival one. Most of the grotesque enemies looking to kill you are incredibly dangerous and powerful, even as you reach the conclusion of the game. However, this makes surviving The Forest's dangerous world even more exciting.
3. Conan Exiles
Originally released in 2018, Conan Exiles is one of the top sandbox survival games out there. Thankfully, developers Funcom listened to players and gave the game the dedicated new-gen optimization treatment and alongside it a huge expansion, Isle of Siptah.
This means it's improved resolutions and frame rates, more textures, and an all-around higher quality of play. You can build settlements, grow crops, and ultimately fight your way out of sticky situations in this wonderfully barbaric game optimized for PS5.
4. Vigor
When a nuclear war devastates Europe, leaving only a slither of Norway left standing, you have to fight to survive. And that's exactly what Vigor is about; Outlanders fighting over resources in an Escape From Tarkov-like raid experience.
During raids, you'll be going toe to toe with other players online in an attempt to snaffle valuable resources from under their noses. You take in the gear you want to but be warned – a single shot could have you limping home sooner than you hoped.
Fortunately, this is one of the best free shooting games available right now, meaning that you don't have to purchase the game to play it.
5. Rust
We were stoked when Rust made the jump from PC to PlayStation, as it is one of the most fun survival games out there. Rust delivers a realistic survival-focused experience in a persistent world, and while you're able to play solo, its best moments come when playing against, or with, other players in multiplayer.
Whether you prefer to team up with friends and make it one of the best co-op games to play, or prefer to go it alone and take other players' belongings, Rust delivers an engaging time that will have your mood swing from angry to ecstatic constantly.
6. Subnautica
Even thinking about the depths of Earth's oceans is scary enough, but how about a planet that is 99% oceans, with alien life lurking in the dark? Subnautica delivers on your wildest dreams and fears, as your character plunges into a planet coated with oceans as you attempt to survive in the depths of an unexplored planet.
While Subnautica does have a story that is told piecemeal over the runtime, the best part about the game is learning to navigate the darkest oceans and managing your oxygen levels. As you progress, you'll create new gear so you can enjoy longer adventures into the unknown.
Subnautica is easily worth a spot on our best horror games list, as the experience is severely unnerving. But if you can embrace the fear, you'll enjoy one of the best survival games ever made.
7. Fallout 4
'Isn't Fallout 4 an open-world RPG?' we hear you cry. Yes, it is. But if you flick on the game's survival mode, it becomes an intense and challenging survival experience.
In regular difficulties, surviving in post-apocalypse Boston boils down to not becoming too irradiated, not being shot too much, and not being eaten by a Deathclaw. In survival mode, there are many more parameters that you'll need to consider, such as sleep, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and illness. Enemy difficulty is also at its highest level, and you can only save your progress by sleeping.
It is an intense survival experience, and throughout it you can still enjoy Fallout 4's engaging open world, complete enticing side quests, and progress its main story and side up with factions. However, survival mode really isn't for the faint of heart.
8. No Man's Sky
Despite a very rocky launch, with lots of missed opportunities and broken promises, developer Hello Games has turned No Man's Sky from being a disappointment to one of the most ambitious and greatest survival games ever made.
The sheer amount of content to enjoy is unfathomable. With an entire universe to explore, there are quintillions (that's 18,000,000,000,000,000,000, to be precise) of planets to find and land on. Once you've touched down, gather resources, document the flora and fauna of the region, build bases, and learn knowledge about the universe.
There is also a huge amount of customization, which covers you and your spacesuit, your multi-tool, your spaceship, and land vehicles too.
If the idea of an open-ended universe sounds appealing to you, then No Man's Sky is a must-play.
9. Ark Survival Ascended
The PS5-enhanced version of one of the best survival games ever (Ark Survival Evolved), Ark Survival Ascended is not one to be missed. In many ways, Ark is as traditional as it gets when it comes to the survival genre – start with nothing, explore your surroundings to find resources to build a base, keep a close eye on your hunger and stamina, and, erm, don't get eaten by a dinosaur.
'Wait, did you just say dinosaurs?' Yes, we did. Ark's main USP is that you're trying to survive on a dino-infested planet, but it's not simply a case of just killing them before they kill you. There's also the ability to tame dinosaurs and keep them as your own. Your prehistoric pets can defend your base while you're not at home, carry you on their backs to make traversal faster, gather resources, and much more.
The best part about Survival Ascended is that it will, overtime, include all of the expansions from Survival Evolved at no extra cost. They are gradually rolled out over time.
We love a bit of Ark, and while we'd love to say that Survival Ascended will be the perfect prep ahead of the Ark 2 release date, the new game is going to launch as an Xbox exclusive. It may hit PS5 later down the line, but even if it never does, Survival Ascended is still a brilliant survival experience. You can grab it from the PlayStation Store here.
10. Pacific Drive
Now here's a survival game with a twist. Pacific Drive tasks you with surviving supernatural phenomena in the Pacific northwest, and while you can explore on foot, the first-person action will largely take place behind the wheel of a beat-up station wagon. Your car is your companion on this adventure, and will cart you around the map as you scavenge for resources and scraps to help improve and modify it.
However, you have to be swift and well-prepared. Spending too long in certain areas of the map can cause the world around you to destabilize, making it difficult to navigate and return back to the safety of your garage. The garage is your sanctuary, where you can make upgrades and repairs to your vehicle.
Mixing tense and eerie moments with straight-up chaotic ones, Pacific Drive delivers an aesthetic and vibe that no other game on this list achieves. Various parameters, such as your car's health and fuel level, keep you on your toes like all good survival games should. But it also greatly values the relationship and bond you build with your wagon.
11. Grounded
When a flurry of former Xbox exclusives were made available on PlayStation in 2024, one of the most exciting games of the bunch was Grounded. Playing as a shrunken child in an enormous back yard, this survival sandbox experience is unlike anything else out there.
The fact that you're fighting off beetles and spiders rather than zombies or sea monsters, combined with its general aesthetic and visual style, may make you think that Grounded is a soft survival experience. However, there's definitely a lot of depth to it.
You have to perfect its combat, hunt and scavenge for food and resources, manage your hunger and hydration levels, and build bases that have all the amenities you need while being strong enough to survive onslaughts of bugs. While at times it feels like a charming, laid-back experience, it will also give hardcore survival fans plenty to get excited about.
There you have it, our best PS5 survival games list. If you're a PS Plus Extra or Premium subscriber, be sure to check our PS Plus games list as you may find that you can play some of these titles through your subscription.