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I've been playing minecraft the past few months, nearly to being burnt out on it. So to aleve that I'm looking for alternatives.
I found 1 game, UnReal World, which is a finnish(?) , iron age survival sim of sorts. It's pretty good when you've got a sense of how to get in the fast lane(I'll list more on that at the end of this post). I'm curious if anyone's come across or knows of any survival sims that don't lean on zombies, but more on surviving through smart choice and maybe even fair options in crafting.
****Warning, Unreal World lingo below****
As for Unreal world I've found that of all the quick start options, beginning by the Driik territory can be a good way to secure food. Clubs are the best bet for trading, build up quality of club and you're almost printing money. Trade up to Master axes(woodsman for cutting trees, broad for making buildings)
Comments
I think Unreal World is the only/best survival realism sim I've found (excluding the 2 zombie based games below). I didn't enjoy Unreal World all that much for a variety of reasons unrelated to the survival aspect, but sadly I've yet to find any other survival games that come close to the survival realism found in Unreal World. Most "survival" games I find aren't really about survival...the developers think if they require you to eat and drink and let your character get sick or whatever then the game is automatically a survival game. It isn't.
All I can do then is list some games that were recommended as survival games by someone at some point or another but failed to meet my standard of survival realism and fun.
Robinson's Requiem. I got this from gog.com, but the weirdly angled graphics and awkward game mechanics were just too much for me to handle. The game is too dated. It didn't come off as a survival sim so much as a typical video game with a bunch of random survival aspects to it. This game suffers from terrible combat mechanics, terrible enemy ai, and a lack of real survival options.
Haven and Hearth. MMO by the folks behind Salem. This game requires you to eat food and drink and build a shelter, but it's a far cry from the survival realism you can find in Unreal World. This is more of a crafting game with mmo social aspects thrown in - ie grouping up with friends to build a community, or PVP'ing against enemies, or both. This game is kind of about survival (against animals, the wilderness, PVP'ers), but it doesn't come close to the depth of Unreal World. So it was another dud in my book.
Dwarf Fortress and other similar games such as Goblin Camp and Towns. Fun games but more about the survival of a bunch of characters instead of just one. Lots of survival aspects, but these games are usually focused more on the construction aspects and progression of your community/structures than survival against the elements. These games usually have a lot of depth, but again it's a different kind than the depth found in Unreal World. So these are good games, but not exactly survival in the same sense you might be wanting.
Notrium. I haven't played this one much. I think it's at least semi wilderness survival based, but I don't know how much. Your character has crash landed on a planet and you need to start working to survive against the elements and deadly aliens. My guess is that it has some survival elements to it but that it's more like an arcade version of Robinson's Requiem...
Project Zombloid and Rogue Survivor. Both of these are zombie based. I know you're not looking for zombie games but these really should be included in the list since this list is for everyone. Rogue Survivor is a roguelike with survival realism aspects like Unreal World. I think it's a pretty good survival game, but I liked Unreal World more. I think development has ceased for it and the game never left alpha status. They may be working on a sequel, but I don't know if that's true. Project Zombloid is the survival game I am waiting for. It's not wilderness survival like Unreal World but I think it will have to do. I've been looking for years for a good survival realism game and this one might be it. Then again, it might not. I would suggest you at least check it out once version RC3 or whatever comes out in the next month or two.
I probably could have included more roguelikes, but I don't know of any that do it better than Rogue Survivor. I don't know of any other survival games worth trying.