It’s no secret, survival games are one of the most popular game genres out there. Offering up a balance between adventure, player growth, environmental management and open-endedness, this genre has blessed us with wonderful titles from Minecraft and Terraria to Valheim and The Forest.
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran to the survival genre, or a total newcomer, mastering this genre is ultimately not so complicated—it just requires a certain type of mindset. So let’s take a look at 9 features which will help you master any survival game.
1. Make a Safe Space, Quick
The fundamentals of almost all survival games are the same—you start out as a weak and relatively helpless character lost in the wilderness. So your first port of call is almost always to get yourself a shelter to protect you from whatever dangers the world holds.
Do this early, ideally on your first day. But don’t make it anything special. This first base wants to be functional only, allowing you to craft a bigger and better base if and when you find a more suitable location. Then, once that’s located, you can begin building up a more permanent base.
2. Gather and Store Materials
Resource gathering is the bread and butter of the survival genre. So be sure to gather and store any materials you find out in the world. Chances are, you will need them. Even if its tens of hours from the moment you first find them.
Also try to implement some kind of logical storage system, which will help you be able to find those materials when you need them. It’s worth highlighting that this system will likely be very different for different people.
3. Explore
While it’s tempting to settle down in survival games, you’ll likely do better by exploring further afield. This will allow you to find new places and treasures, and potentially meet new traders, quest givers and more. Ultimately, you should be exploring and creating a mental note of what the world looks like.
4. Build Relationships
If you’re playing online—in either a closed or open survival game—building up a team can be the difference between life or death. In games like Rust, it’s worth collaborating with other players to share knowledge, resources and tools. You’re a more formidable force together than alone—just like in the real world.
5. Develop Survival Skills
This one may sound basic, but you’ll need to develop a variety of game-specific survival skills. For example, finding the most reliable ways to gather food, manage environmental dangers and deal with enemies. These will ensure that you can survive even if everything falls apart—and it likely will at some point!
6. Plan Ahead
Survival is often simply about planning for every scenario. This is as true in games as it is in real life. So be sure to plan a few moves ahead. What will you do once you complete your house? How about after you craft that armour? How about after you conquer that fort?
You shouldn’t only plan for what’s next, either. Making some rough plans for what happens after failures—like if your home base is destroyed or your equipment is lost can save you huge amounts of time and effort in the long run. This is especially important in games like Whiteout Survival; but grabbing some whiteout survival frost stars can bolster your ability against the cold!
7. Enjoy the Journey
Survival games are exciting because they leave so much up to you. You’re able to explore, figure out the crafting system, develop relationships and build your own base. Leading to plenty of fun, failure and unexpected moments. Your journey will certainly have its highs and lows—but make sure to enjoy both. As you certainly couldn’t have one without the other.