Best Survival Games Set In Cold Climates

Highlights

• Survival in frigid environments presents unique challenges such as freezing temperatures and scarce resources.
• Video games allow players to explore and experience survival in extreme circumstances, testing their skills and strategies.
• Games like Subnautica: Below Zero and Rise of the Tomb Raider offer gripping narratives and challenging gameplay in harsh environments.

Stories of survival have captured human imaginations throughout history. This makes a lot of sense, given the struggles of early humans. There is no shortage of perils that people have had to survive against, and hostile environments to which they’ve had to adapt. The world is full of danger, especially when it comes to being isolated in extreme environments and being cut off from any form of social order. Deserted islands have been a popular setting for such stories for ages, from Robinson Crusoe to Cast Away, but some more unique challenges come from surviving a much colder environment. Harsh weather, deep snow, scarce food, and the temperature itself can all be a person’s undoing.

Naturally, video games have also continued humanity’s fascination with survival in extreme circumstances, and that includes exploring survival in frigid conditions. Being stranded in the cold creates a good setup for game progression, as a big part of the game involves the player developing skills, equipment, and strategies for surviving whatever the game is ready to throw at them.

7 Praey For The Gods

Metascore: 61

This peculiar indie game follows an unnamed heroine shipwrecked on a frozen island, in a world that’s already falling victim to an endless winter. Saving the world requires her to defeat each of the titular “gods” in Shadow of the Colossus-inspired boss fights, but a big part of the game is also just trying to survive the hostile environment.

The open world is covered in snow and blizzards happen regularly. It is very easy to get lost. To survive, the player must find ways to keep warm (both through collecting resources to make fire and finding better protection), use whatever shelter is available, and hunt wildlife for food. If she can keep it up, the protagonist might just stand a chance against the bosses.

6 Distrust

Metascore: 75

This surprise indie hit was inspired by John Carpenter’s The Thing, a movie about people trying to act rationally in a situation that defies rationality. While it takes place in the Arctic, rather than the Antarctic setting of the movie, it still features similar themes of isolation, paranoia, and uncertainty about what’s really going on.

Distrust involves various characters struggling to survive in a difficult situation where they are not only worried about resources but also their sanity. Failing to properly meet anyone’s needs can lead to them going mad and becoming a liability.

5 The Long Dark

Metascore: 77

The Long Dark is a popular indie game centered around a pilot who crash-lands in the Canadian wilderness during one of its notoriously harsh winters. This game takes into account just about everything it would take to survive such a climate.

To have any chance, the player will need to find food, shelter, and resources. They also need to avoid freezing to death and fight off predators. There is even the possibility of contracting diseases. Players really need to be on their toes with this one, since there is a lot to keep track of, and it can be very easy to slip up.

4 The Pale Beyond

Metascore: 77

Antarctica has a long history of research expeditions that ended in disaster. Stories like those of Shackleton and Scott are the inspiration for Bellular Studios’ survival RPG The Pale Beyond, where the player has to manage one such expedition. The ship is trapped in ice, and nobody knows when or even if help is coming.

That puts the player in a difficult position, having to manage both their own survival and that of the crew. Part of the job involves allocating limited resources, and figuring out what can be obtained from the surrounding environment, but it also means making difficult decisions and keeping up morale.

3 Rise Of The Tomb Raider (Endurance Mode)

Metacritic: 85

The second game of Tomb Raider‘s survivor timeline, considered by many to be the best so far, sees Lara Croft exploring the Siberian mountains in pursuit of the mythical city Kitezh. Most of the game naturally takes place in frigid environments that test Lara’s ability to survive and adapt. She has to spend a lot of the game mountaineering, hunting, navigating blizzards, and collecting resources to improve her chances of survival.

Things are made more difficult by the presence of Trinity, an enemy she has to fight by learning to use the environment against them. The challenging nature of the setting is further reinforced by the ability to find the remnants of past visitors to the mountains who found it too much and succumbed to the harsh environment.

Now, the basic content is mainly an action-adventure project with very limited survival mechanics; however, Endurance Mode turns Rise of the Tomb Raider into a fairly conventional entry in the genre. Anyone specifically searching for a survival game should give this mode a try.

2 Subnautica: Below Zero

Metascore: 82

The follow-up to 2018’s hit Subnautica returns to the mysterious planet 4546B, this time exploring its frigid polar regions. Put simply, the planet’s equivalent of the Arctic or Antarctic oceans. This adds a whole new aspect to survival: freezing cold temperatures.

While all the diving mechanics of its predecessor return, the player character in Below Zero now has to deal with hypothermia. Even in freedom mode (which somewhat alleviates pressure by removing hunger and thirst), she still needs to find ways to keep warm or else risk freezing to death.

1 Frostpunk

Metascore: 84

11-Bit Studios’ RTS has become notorious for its extreme difficulty. Set in a world ravaged by extreme volcanic winter, the player is tasked with taking what remains of humanity and trying to rebuild civilization. To accomplish that end, they will have to face an assortment of challenges. Figuring out how to gather and distribute resources is hard enough, and there is the inevitable challenge of establishing and enforcing laws.

Yet it is also a game about how humanity can be its own worst enemy. One of the main reasons the game is so infamous is simply because it is so easy to mess up, and one wrong move can cause everything to come crashing down.MORE: Best Sci-Fi City Builders