The best survival indie games, ranked by reviews
5 min read for players
survivalgenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations
Data report Built from live indielist data on 2026-07-24. Rankings update as data changes.
indielist tracks 184 survival indie games on Steam, holding 11,130,821 reviews at an average of 86% positive. This list ranks them by Steam review count, the most reliable public sales proxy, with a white-box sales estimate behind every title. The most reviewed is Rust with 1,383,303 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.
The ranking
- Rust · 1,383,303 reviews · 87% positive · 2018
- Terraria · 1,227,439 reviews · 97% positive · 2011
- ARK: Survival Evolved · 583,081 reviews · 83% positive · 2017
- The Forest · 577,971 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
- Valheim · 455,972 reviews · 94% positive · 2021
- Palworld · 379,930 reviews · 94% positive · 2026
- Don't Starve Together · 373,459 reviews · 95% positive · 2016
- Project Zomboid · 350,081 reviews · 94% positive · 2013
- Subnautica · 338,617 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
- Raft · 321,118 reviews · 93% positive · 2022
- No Man's Sky · 310,268 reviews · 85% positive · 2016
- RimWorld · 243,385 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
- Risk of Rain 2 · 238,509 reviews · 94% positive · 2020
- Satisfactory · 232,215 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
- Factorio · 193,619 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
- Oxygen Not Included · 142,787 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
- Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition · 141,936 reviews · 98% positive · 2009
- Poppy Playtime · 140,634 reviews · 88% positive · 2021
- Starbound · 120,624 reviews · 90% positive · 2016
- ASTRONEER · 118,359 reviews · 92% positive · 2019
How this list is built
Games are ranked by Steam review count, the most reliable public proxy for sales when actual figures are private. Each title links to its indielist page, where the white-box sales estimate expands into the full Boxleiter formula, so you can audit the number rather than trust a black box. Review counts come from Steam; sales figures are estimates, not official sales data.
Want the underlying estimate for your own game? Try the sales estimator, or browse the full game directory.