Survival sims: Trying not to die.
Demiurge
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Survival sims are one of my all time favorite game genres, they come in many forms but not many get released these days and I'm itching to try and find some. Here's a list of some of my favorites:
Biosys (1999) puts you into the role of Professor ALan Russel, an eco-activist who has been contracted to design Biosphere 4. You wake up in the jungle with amnesia and must puzzle together the disaster that has destroyed dome 4 while you try and revive its biosphere while at the same time keeping dome 1,2 and 3 alive. You have to eat fruit harvested in the biodomes and try to manage any infections or parasites you pick up during your adventure and find a wealth of lost equipment to survive in the wild.
Robinsons Requiem places you in control of Robinson, a castaway who has crash landed on an alien planet. You need to salvage what you can from your ship and create makeshift weapons to hunt and survive, be sure to disinfect any water you pick up or you might just die of infection!
Deus has you as a would be bounty hunter, sent onto a penal planet to kill a bunch of criminals. It is a lighter version of Robinsons Requiem in that you don't die as much but it has many of the same features. You need to bind your wounds, wear warm clothes in cold enviroments.
Wolf is a survival game where you play a wolf, you can start either as a lone wolf or in a pack, nurture cubs, migrate to new grounds and hunt larger animals. If you are successful and eat well, you will grow stronger and maybe you can challenge the alpha wolf for control of the pack.
These are games I enjoyed immensely when I was younger (they're quite old) but I haven't seen anything even remotely close to the depth they offer in recent years. So share your own favorites or just just survival sims you have played in general.
Biosys (1999) puts you into the role of Professor ALan Russel, an eco-activist who has been contracted to design Biosphere 4. You wake up in the jungle with amnesia and must puzzle together the disaster that has destroyed dome 4 while you try and revive its biosphere while at the same time keeping dome 1,2 and 3 alive. You have to eat fruit harvested in the biodomes and try to manage any infections or parasites you pick up during your adventure and find a wealth of lost equipment to survive in the wild.
Robinsons Requiem places you in control of Robinson, a castaway who has crash landed on an alien planet. You need to salvage what you can from your ship and create makeshift weapons to hunt and survive, be sure to disinfect any water you pick up or you might just die of infection!
Deus has you as a would be bounty hunter, sent onto a penal planet to kill a bunch of criminals. It is a lighter version of Robinsons Requiem in that you don't die as much but it has many of the same features. You need to bind your wounds, wear warm clothes in cold enviroments.
Wolf is a survival game where you play a wolf, you can start either as a lone wolf or in a pack, nurture cubs, migrate to new grounds and hunt larger animals. If you are successful and eat well, you will grow stronger and maybe you can challenge the alpha wolf for control of the pack.
These are games I enjoyed immensely when I was younger (they're quite old) but I haven't seen anything even remotely close to the depth they offer in recent years. So share your own favorites or just just survival sims you have played in general.
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It's not a genre I have much knowledge of, though. The only games I've found are things like Notrium (http://www.instantkingdom.com/notrium/), which was pretty good, but a bit too shooty, or the Stranded games, which are nothing to write home about.
this excites me
Any, more modern games of this genre?
That Notrium game at least looks fairly interesting.
I mean, that's a cool idea, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't sound at all like the games in the OP, none of which I've played. Are those things on GOG?
But you get hungry and thirsty so incredibly fast that the majority of your time is spent cooking. And you have to feed and shelter a mostly hapless AI companion, which is seldom fun.
Why I fear the ocean.
A dead genre, it sounds like.
It all sounds fascinating but I must admit it does not look like the games have aged that well. A real shame.
It is basically a roguelike with basic graphics, none of this fancy polygon nonsense. It has also been updated this decade so it is way ahead of most games of this type.
edit: Pete0r!!!!
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
I expected too much.
It's pretty poor graphically and you should not play the "story" because it's balls out retarded, but the sandbox mode just puts you on a deserted island and you have to gather fruit and wood and build a hut and construct weapons to defend yourself and hunt food
It was bizarrely satisfying
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Survival Kids, the Gameboy game that Lost in Blue was a spiritual sequel to, was much better. You guys should both give that a shot.
Not so much the Sim part, but the Survival part. :P
On a more serious note, would Nethack games count?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBThUMHK948&feature=showob
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
What's the pacing and gameplay like?
In hindsight I don't think I was playing it right.
That said, I am very sad that I missed out on this genre. I feel like a deep survival system like this could be implemented into some kind of Fallout-type RPG.
I guess when I have something worth testing/playing I should stick it in this thread for you all to enjoy/berate. :P
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You already have your wish. Play New Vegas on Hardcore Mode
Xbox Live Gamertag: Suplex86
Damn you, I was just about to mention this game!
Instead I'll mention Pathologic...
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True, true, but the food/healing system in NV is still pretty simplistic (and my experience with NV has convinced me that hardcore mode would be way more frustrating than fun).
But one I've played that isn't in this thread is Schiffbruch ("Shipwreck" a freeware game - don't mind the German name, the English translation works fine). Your basic island survival game. Forage bushes, build a shelter, lay traps, and fish while you explore and try to draw attention to yourself with fire and signs drawn in the sand. With randomly generated islands (and apparently some buried treasure you can try to find as well).
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
That fording was a proper solution to a surprising number of problems.
Why I fear the ocean.
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I was just about to come and suggest that game. It can be very challenging, what with trying to simulate life in iron age Finland. There's anything from trapping, fishing, hunting, tracking, building shelters, farming, to building an actual farmhouse with a root cellar and a sauna. In addition to fighting against the eastern raiders and manufacturing all sorts of gear. The seasons also change, so eventually you'll have to stockpile food(if you survive that far) for the winter, and make warm clothing. If that gets boring, you can always go exploring the caves that can be found in the world, or raid a Njerpezi encampment, or try to woo a wife from one of the villages, or start your own herd of animals, or anything, really. It's a pretty great game, once you get past the limited graphics and if roguelike controls don't bother you.