23 Games Like Rust
Our list of games like Rust features other survival adventures where you will battle the environment, AI and other players.
Rust quickly captivated a large audience when it began its alpha (through Steam Early Access) in late December 2013. Challenging players to not only survive the zombies in the game but also the elements and other players, it’s one of the great open world survival games.
As the game developed zombies were eventually removed and the focus of the game shifted more towards the player interactions (or lack of) that players would experience in each and every game. With only a single life to make a name for yourself it’s a journey of constant fear and strange encounters. AI controlled enemies weren’t completely removed from the game though to ensure a good balance of PvE and PvP experiences.
Crafting and shaping the game world is also at the heart of the Rust experience with players able to forge tools, weapons and houses to increase their chances of survival. With the large range of resources needed and the potential upgrades to find through the blueprint system Rust encourages players to group together to form factions and even raid others in large group engagements.
The games like Rust on this page focus on other games were survival is a key theme. While the majority of the games here are multiplayer focused some of the options are single player adventures, we’ve also included some free and online options. Please note only games in later stages of development are included on our pages.
Planet Calypso
Planet Calypso leverages the framework of Entropia Universe to create a science fiction MMO with a wealth of content, mechanics and sizeable community waiting to be explored. Most notably is the adoption of a game currency that is closely tied with real money that provides the potential for players to profit from their acti...[Read Review]
Life is Feudal: Your Own
Step into a massive medieval world in Life is Feudal: Your Own that blends combat, crafting, building, sandbox, realistic directional combat and many other mechanics to create an adventure set far into the past. Alternatively explore the much larger world in Life is Feudal: MMO, the MMO variant of the title with different f...[Read Review]
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG)
Starting the battle royale craze in 2017 PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) quickly commanded an audience of millions and gave birth to a wider genre that would dominate the gaming industry for years to come. Subsequent to its success on Xbox One and Windows the game was released on the PlayStation 4 and on mobile d...[Read Review]
The Long Dark
In The Long Dark players will be taking on the harsh environment of the Canadian wilderness. After a global disaster leaves the world without power players step into the shoes of a crash landed pilot who finds himself surrounded by the cold dark environment of the wild. Gameplay in The Long Dark happens in a first person pe...[Read Review]
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 continues the co-operative zombie adventure with all new characters, locations, enemies and weapons to change up the popular gameplay introduced in the original Left 4 Dead. The popular AI director also makes a return with plenty of tweaks to ensure players are always challenged. Just like the original game pl...[Read Review]
State of Decay
State of Decay combines the open world genre with a zombie outbreak to create one of the largest and most impressive games in the genre to date. The game started out as a title on the Xbox Marketplace and eventually made its way to Windows. The game plays out in an open world environment with players taking control of their...[Read Review]
This War of Mine
Most war games have you take on the role of a soldier in the middle of the battlefield with weapons and armour. This War of Mine, on the other hand, puts you in charge of a household of civilians trying to survive a brutal war with what minimal supplies they can scavenge. In the day, you cannot leave the house because of sn...[Read Review]
Escape from Tarkov
Using a realistic military shooter as its base and adding layers of deadly difficulty is Escape From Tarkov, a title under development by the Russian studio of Battlestate Games. The core premise of Escape From Tarkov has players scavenging instanced maps for resources while avoiding the threats of other players and AI whic...[Read Review]
Dead Island: Riptide
Dead Island: Riptide is the second game in the Dead Island series and continues on from your previous adventure but takes place on a whole new island. The game launched in 2013 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, delivering a very similar experience to the first game. The events in Dead Island: Riptide occur right after those of the ...[Read Review]
ZombiU
ZombiU (Zombi on non Wii U platforms) brings the zombie genre onto Nintendo’s platform with an amazing and horrifying experience that shows off some unique mechanics and potential of the Wii U. On non Wii-U platforms some of these features are taken out or redesigned while still retaining the impressive fundamental design o...[Read Review]
Don’t Starve
Don’t Starve is a single player survival game that has many unique features and a dark art direction that makes it a stand out open world survival experience. The game was released in April 2013 by Klei Entertainment with a standalone expansion pack released in 2016 under the name Don’t Starve Together which introduce...[Read Review]
CastleMiner Z
CastleMiner Z is a sequel to the popular Xbox Live Indie Game of CastleMiner while also bringing the series to the computer environment via Steam. While the original CastleMiner was a creatively focused experience the sequel pushes the game into survival orientated gameplay instead aligning it with other games in the genre ...[Read Review]
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead (L4D) is a zombie survival experience that focuses on co-operative gameplay against a varied and randomised zombie infection. Left 4 Dead separates itself from similar co-operative shooters by promising a different experience each time you load up a game map thanks to the AI director that alters aspects of the m...[Read Review]
Sir, You Are Being Hunted
Sir, You Are Being Hunted is one of the more unique games to be released in recent years offering a free roaming sandbox adventure focused on stealth gameplay. As the name might suggest players spend their time in the game being hunted in a procedurally generated game world. In the game you won’t be chased by zombies, mutan...[Read Review]
Mortal Online
Offering a hardcore sandbox experience Mortal Online is not a game for the faint-hearted player. Set in a deep medieval fantasy realm the struggle of life in Mortal Online is a real challenge for even MMO veterans. Your game starts in Mortal Online in a similar manner to other MMO titles with you carving your own character ...[Read Review]
Dead Island
In Dead Island you’ll have to explore an open world environment and try to prevent being eaten by using whatever weapons you can find around the place. Dead Island is a great role playing experience for fans of survival horror and is available on Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Dead Island features a fictional island ...[Read Review]
Salem
Salem is a free to play MMO with a focus on exploration and crafting mechanics. Seatribe is behind development of the game who also run the popular hardcore MMO, Haven and Hearth (to which Salem has many similarities). Just like in Haven and Hearth players can expect permanent death in Salem so it definitely isn’t for the f...[Read Review]
Wurm Online
Wurm Online is a sandbox style MMORPG that has a creative focus allowing you to create your own adventure. You can play Wurm Online with a basic account for free but to remove some restrictions you will have to commit to a subscription based premium account. The game also has a stand alone version released on Steam in 2015 ...[Read Review]
Fallen Earth
Fallen Earth is set in a post-apocalyptic game world and offers it to players with a free to play MMO experience. The game is a mixture of FPS and role playing features making it akin to the later games in the Fallout series. The game is centred around the Grand Canyon area which is now a wasteland after a series of events ...[Read Review]
Haven and Hearth
Haven and Hearth is a free to play survival based MMORPG that will have you fighting to survive in an unforgiving game world with permanent death. You will have to fight off animals, hunger and other players. The game is being developed by Jorb and Loftar and takes place on a persistent single server. Haven and Hearth is fr...[Read Review]
Miasmata
Miasmata is a unique survival adventure that has you attempting to cure yourself from a deadly disease. The only thing you have at your disposal is your scientific knowledge and the plant life around the island. Miasmata is one of the most unique and impressive adventure games released in recent years and is even more impre...[Read Review]
Stranded 2
Stranded 2 is a free to play 3D game that challenges you to survive by yourself on an island. Building on the original game by offering improved graphics, larger islands, additional items and better randomisation you’ll get plenty of more hours of Stranded gameplay. Allowing players to play either through the story mode tha...[Read Review]
Infestation: The New Z
Infestation: The New Z offers another iteration of The War Z and Infestation: Survivor Stories with a free to play open world shooter made for PvP play across various game modes. Ignoring the rocky history that this franchise has had with countless development issues and decisions that have been less than well received by t...[Read Review]