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indielist (beta)

The best survival indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

survivalgenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations

Data report Assembled from live indielist data on 2026-06-06. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 129 survival indie games on Steam, holding 10,936,165 reviews at an average of 87% 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 Terraria with 1,216,769 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are modeled estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Terraria · 1,216,769 reviews · 97% positive · 2011
  2. Rust · 1,140,437 reviews · 87% positive · 2018
  3. ARK: Survival Evolved · 579,234 reviews · 83% positive · 2017
  4. The Forest · 570,988 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
  5. Unturned · 563,169 reviews · 91% positive · 2017
  6. Valheim · 452,821 reviews · 94% positive · 2021
  7. Don't Starve Together · 367,165 reviews · 95% positive · 2016
  8. Palworld · 355,335 reviews · 94% positive · 2024
  9. Project Zomboid · 343,212 reviews · 94% positive · 2013
  10. Subnautica · 331,738 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  11. Raft · 318,148 reviews · 93% positive · 2022
  12. No Man's Sky · 307,436 reviews · 85% positive · 2016
  13. Risk of Rain 2 · 236,687 reviews · 94% positive · 2020
  14. Satisfactory · 228,423 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
  15. RimWorld · 203,546 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
  16. Factorio · 191,633 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  17. Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition · 140,494 reviews · 98% positive · 2009
  18. Stumble Guys · 136,034 reviews · 85% positive · 2021
  19. Oxygen Not Included · 132,230 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
  20. Starbound · 120,582 reviews · 90% positive · 2016

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 modeled estimates, not official sales data.

Want the underlying estimate for your own game? Try the sales estimator, or browse the full game directory.