Wake up on a beach, make a fire, do not die
The premise is always the same and the games could hardly be more different. You wake up with nothing, you chop something, you build a shelter, and then the design shows its hand. Some of these are complete games you play at your own pace. Some are live services where a base decays while you are at work and another player can take it apart. Knowing which you have installed, before you have put twenty hours into it, is most of the decision.
Three games wearing the same coat
| Kind | What the loop is | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Single player sandbox | Explore, build, no pressure | Anyone who wants to be left alone |
| Session based survival RPG | Raid a zone, return, upgrade | Short bursts with real progress |
| Live base building | Your base exists while you are away | People who log in daily and mean it |
| Roguelike survival | Die, lose it, start again wiser | Short runs and no long term guilt |
| Open world premium | One purchase, no interruptions | Anyone tired of energy meters |
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What to install
The best known of the zone-raiding survivals: gather, return to base, upgrade, repeat. Free to play with a strong pull towards paying, and your base persists whether you are there or not.
The same structure in a dark fantasy setting, from the same studio, and slightly more forgiving in its early hours. Good atmosphere and the same monetisation to keep an eye on.
The Norse one, built around co-operation with other players rather than raiding them, which changes the feel considerably.
You start on a raft with a hook and pull rubbish out of the sea. A clear, simple loop that works offline and in short sessions.
A vast post-apocalyptic map with genuinely deep crafting and survival systems. It looks plain and it has more design in it than most of this list.
The paid version of the same game: no advertising and no waiting, which is exactly the trade many people want from the genre.
The most technically ambitious survival on the platform, and a multi-gigabyte download to match. A capable phone and a good connection are both required.
A top down survival from the studio behind the original, about forty megabytes, and unusually honest about wanting to kill you. The one for a phone with no space.
A block building sandbox with a proper survival layer and a tiny download. The demo is generous enough to see whether it is for you.
The trial for a game that is a genuine classic of the genre on any platform. Two dimensional, enormous, and not a live service.
The full version, bought once, no advertising and no timers. If one game from this list is worth paying for, it is this one.
The mobile version of the dinosaur survival, ambitious and heavy: expect a download of a couple of gigabytes and a warm phone.
A large open island to build on with no other players involved, which makes it the relaxed end of the genre.
A pixel art survival adventure with a clear ending, for anyone who wants a game that finishes rather than continues indefinitely.
Ocean survival with a multiplayer mode, lighter than the big names and reasonable on a modest phone.
What this genre does to a phone
Survival games are among the largest things on Android, because they ship whole worlds. At the top end the most ambitious of them run to several gigabytes installed, and the download is only the start: the first update after installation frequently adds a substantial amount more. At the other end there are properly designed survival games of forty megabytes, and they are not lesser games, only smaller worlds.
- Check the free space before downloading, not during An install that runs out of space part way through leaves a broken state that is tedious to clear up.
- Download on a wireless network Several gigabytes on a mobile plan is an expensive way to be disappointed by a game.
- Expect the first launch to download again Many of these fetch assets on first run, so the install size is not the final size.
- Play the small ones on the old phone The best designed games here are often the smallest, and they run on anything.
- Clear the cache before deciding storage is full These games cache heavily, and a cache clear frequently recovers more than deleting a different app would.
Timers, decay and knowing when to stop
The live base builders are built on the fact that your base exists while you do not. Resources gather, walls decay, and other players can arrive. That is what makes them compelling and it is also what makes them a second job. If you find yourself opening the game at a specific time because something will be lost otherwise, the game is scheduling you rather than the other way round.
- Pauses properly when closed
- One purchase removes the friction
- Progress saved locally and playable offline
- Difficulty comes from design, not waiting
- Timers that run while the app is shut
- Structures that decay if you do not log in
- Energy meters that refill over hours
- Limited time events every single week
None of that makes the live games bad. They are frequently the most polished things in the genre, and the social side of a shared world is real. It is worth going in with the knowledge that you are joining something ongoing, rather than discovering in week three that a weekend away costs you a base.
Decide first whether you want a world that waits for you or one that carries on without you. Everything else about this genre follows from that answer.
Frequently asked questions
Which of these work offline?
The single player sandboxes and the premium games generally do. Anything with other players in your world does not, and some free to play games check in even for solo play.
Is any of this playable on an old phone?
Yes. The smallest survival games here are tens of megabytes and run on almost anything, and two of them are among the best designed in the list.
How large are the big ones?
The most ambitious run to several gigabytes installed, with more arriving in the first update. Check your free space before starting the download.
Can I play a live base builder casually?
Up to a point. Progress slows and a base can decay while you are away, so a casual player in a competitive server is at a permanent disadvantage. A co-operative server or a single player game suits casual play far better.
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