Hosting your own survival game server takes this experience to the next level, allowing you to create a unique multiplayer world where you and your friends can face the elements, battle enemies, and build your own survival strategies. In this article, we’ll explore some of the best survival games for hosting, each offering a distinct experience that can be tailored to your preferences.
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1. Minecraft
No list of survival games would be complete without Minecraft, the game that has captivated millions with its blocky world of infinite possibilities. While Minecraft offers several modes, its survival mode is one of the most popular, challenging players to gather resources, build shelters, and fend off mobs like zombies and creepers.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Minecraft’s survival mode is highly customizable. You can tweak the difficulty settings, add mods for new challenges, and even create custom maps. Hosting your own server allows you to control every aspect of the game, making it perfect for tailored survival experiences.
- Ideal For: Players who love creativity, exploration, and a mix of building and survival challenges.
2. ARK: Survival Evolved
ARK: Survival Evolved drops players into a prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs and other ancient creatures. Survival isn’t just about finding food and shelter; it’s about taming and battling these massive beasts while building a base strong enough to withstand both the environment and other players.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: ARK offers extensive server customization options, including resource rates, difficulty settings, and custom maps. You can also add mods to enhance gameplay, such as new creatures, building materials, and even entire new worlds. Hosting your own ARK server allows you to create a truly unique survival experience.
- Ideal For: Fans of dinosaurs, prehistoric settings, and survival games that combine combat, exploration, and base-building.
3. Rust
Rust is a hardcore survival game where players must navigate a harsh world, gathering resources, building shelters, and defending themselves against both the environment and other players. Rust’s PvP (player versus player) element adds a layer of intensity, as players can raid each other’s bases, steal resources, and form alliances.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Rust servers are highly customizable, allowing you to adjust everything from loot spawn rates to player health and damage. You can create unique game modes, such as team-based survival or solo hardcore experiences. Hosting a Rust server gives you the power to craft a brutal, unforgiving world that challenges even the most seasoned survivalists.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy competitive survival games with a strong focus on PvP and resource management.
4. Valheim
Valheim is a Viking-inspired survival game that has quickly gained popularity for its beautiful, procedurally generated worlds and cooperative gameplay. Players are tasked with surviving in a world full of mythical creatures, crafting weapons and armor, building bases, and defeating powerful bosses.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Valheim’s cooperative gameplay makes it ideal for hosting a private server where friends can work together to explore, build, and conquer. The game’s procedurally generated worlds ensure that each server is unique, offering endless exploration and adventure. You can also customize the server’s difficulty and progression, making it as challenging or relaxed as you like.
- Ideal For: Groups of friends who enjoy cooperative survival games with a focus on exploration, crafting, and combat.
5. Conan Exiles
Set in the brutal world of Conan the Barbarian, Conan Exiles is a survival game that emphasizes combat, base-building, and exploration. Players must survive in a harsh desert environment, battling enemies, crafting weapons, and building fortresses to protect themselves from other players and the environment.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Conan Exiles offers extensive customization options for server hosts, including the ability to adjust resource gathering rates, crafting speeds, and combat difficulty. You can also add mods to enhance gameplay, such as new weapons, building materials, and even custom maps. Hosting a Conan Exiles server lets you create a challenging and immersive survival experience in a rich, dark fantasy world.
- Ideal For: Fans of dark fantasy, intense combat, and survival games with a strong emphasis on base-building and exploration.
6. DayZ
DayZ is a post-apocalyptic survival game that challenges players to survive in a world overrun by zombies and hostile players. With limited resources, players must scavenge for food, water, weapons, and medical supplies while avoiding or confronting other survivors.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Hosting a DayZ server allows you to create your own apocalypse, with customizable loot spawn rates, weather conditions, and zombie behavior. You can also introduce mods to add new weapons, vehicles, and scenarios, creating a survival experience tailored to your vision. DayZ’s intense atmosphere and high-stakes gameplay make it a favorite for survival enthusiasts.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy hardcore survival games with a focus on realism, resource management, and player interaction.
7. The Forest
The Forest is a survival horror game that blends traditional survival mechanics with a dark and eerie atmosphere. After a plane crash, players find themselves stranded in a forest filled with cannibalistic mutants. Survival involves gathering resources, building shelters, and uncovering the mysteries of the forest while fending off terrifying enemies.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: The Forest’s combination of survival and horror elements makes it a unique choice for hosting. You can adjust the game’s difficulty, enemy behavior, and environment settings to create a truly terrifying experience. Hosting your own server allows you to share this chilling adventure with friends, turning survival into a collaborative effort against the horrors of the forest.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy survival games with a horror twist, focusing on exploration, crafting, and intense combat.
8. 7 Days to Die
7 Days to Die is a survival horror game that combines crafting, combat, and tower defense elements. Players must survive in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies, scavenging for resources, building defenses, and preparing for the inevitable hordes that attack every seven days.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Hosting a 7 Days to Die server allows you to customize everything from zombie spawn rates to day/night cycles, making the game as challenging or relaxed as you like. The game’s emphasis on base-building and defense makes it perfect for cooperative play, where friends can work together to survive the zombie apocalypse.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy survival games with a strong focus on base-building, resource management, and cooperative gameplay.
9. Subnautica (Multiplayer Mod)
Subnautica is a survival game set in an underwater world filled with alien creatures and mysterious landscapes. While the game is primarily single-player, the modding community has developed a multiplayer mod that allows players to explore the ocean depths together.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Hosting a Subnautica server with the multiplayer mod enables you and your friends to explore the game’s vast underwater world together. The game’s emphasis on exploration, crafting, and survival makes it a unique and immersive experience. With customizable settings and the ability to add other mods, you can create a tailored underwater survival adventure.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy exploration-focused survival games with a unique setting and cooperative gameplay.
10. Terraria
Terraria is a 2D sandbox game that combines elements of survival, exploration, and crafting. Players can explore vast underground worlds, gather resources, build structures, and battle enemies. While Terraria offers a creative mode, its survival mode is where the game truly shines.
- Why It’s Great for Hosting: Hosting a Terraria server allows you to create a persistent world where friends can join in at any time to explore, build, and fight together. The game’s rich content, including bosses, biomes, and crafting systems, offers endless possibilities for customization and challenges. Terraria’s 2D world may be simple, but it’s packed with depth and replayability.
- Ideal For: Players who enjoy 2D sandbox games with a mix of survival, crafting, and combat.
Conclusion
Survival games offer some of the most immersive and challenging experiences in gaming, and hosting your own server takes these experiences to the next level. Whether you’re surviving the elements in Minecraft, battling dinosaurs in ARK, or fending off zombies in DayZ, these games offer endless possibilities for customization and adventure. By hosting your own server, you can create a unique world tailored to your preferences, making every session a new and exciting challenge.