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indielist (beta)

The best survival indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

survivalgenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations

Data report Built from live indielist data on 2026-10-23. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 185 survival indie games on Steam, holding 10,970,924 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 Terraria with 1,247,686 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Terraria · 1,247,686 reviews · 97% positive · 2011
  2. Rust · 1,176,471 reviews · 87% positive · 2018
  3. ARK: Survival Evolved · 588,535 reviews · 83% positive · 2017
  4. The Forest · 583,870 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
  5. Valheim · 475,018 reviews · 93% positive · 2026
  6. Palworld · 416,579 reviews · 95% positive · 2026
  7. Don't Starve Together · 377,538 reviews · 95% positive · 2016
  8. Project Zomboid · 370,897 reviews · 94% positive · 2013
  9. Subnautica · 343,137 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  10. Raft · 324,860 reviews · 93% positive · 2022
  11. No Man's Sky · 310,268 reviews · 85% positive · 2016
  12. Risk of Rain 2 · 242,114 reviews · 94% positive · 2020
  13. Satisfactory · 236,679 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
  14. RimWorld · 210,586 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
  15. Factorio · 196,758 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  16. Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition · 141,936 reviews · 98% positive · 2009
  17. Oxygen Not Included · 136,058 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
  18. Starbound · 120,658 reviews · 90% positive · 2016
  19. ASTRONEER · 119,232 reviews · 92% positive · 2019
  20. The Isle · 113,444 reviews · 80% positive · 2015

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.