Survival News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

The line between bugs and features grows ever thinner as Palworld developer Pocketpair apologizes for "inadvertently fixing a bug" that players were having a lot of fun with. 

When you get into your vehicle for the first time in Pacific Drive, it doesn’t feel any different than your average junker. Sure, it seems like it could fall apart any minute, but it somehow manages to stay mostly together… as long as you don’t run it into trees or through mysterious anomalies. It’s just an average car — until your friends on the radio start questioning how it exists at all. They say it should be impossible for a car to work in the Olympic Exclusion Zone, where the game takes place. The car also has some interesting characteristics: It’s able to take some technologically advanced upgrades like a champ, and despite being a 1950s station wagon, it can handle a paranormal storm with only minimal damage.

Epic Games and The Lego Group have launched a brand-new set of experiences in Lego Fortnite, under a new collection dubbed Lego Islands.

The combined Lego and Fortnite universe is getting bigger — three times bigger, as of today. Lego Group and Epic Games announced two new Lego games, known as islands, will be coming to Fortnite. The first is a multiplayer problem-solving game with a pirate theme called Lego Raft Survival, and the second is a 3D platformer called Lego Obby Fun. Both games will be available to visit inside the Fortnite client starting Tuesday.

Pocketpair, the developer of the hugely popular Pokémon-inspired survival game Palworld, has apologized for “unintentionally” fixing a fan-favorite bug in the game’s latest update.

A major new Palworld patch has just been released that does away with the game's most effective gold-farming method.

After many years of development and countless delays, Skull and Bones has finally arrived. While the main danger you’ll face in the game are other ships, the ocean itself can also send you down to Davy Jones’ locker. While exploring the open ocean area in the middle of Skull and Bones large Indian Ocean map, the seas will often get rough, and occasionally serve up a particularly large “rogue wave,” which can immediately sink your boat if you don’t handle it correctly. This can be a bit panic-inducing, and you’ll probably go down the first time you encounter one, but if you know what to do they’re not actually that dangerous. Here’s how to survive a rogue wave with your ship intact.

NetEase Games and Starry Studios have news about their upcoming game Once Human. They also dropped a chic trailer accompanying the news. So, they’ll be rolling out their beta test on March 28, 2024, for both PC and mobile players. Keep reading to learn more about the Once Human beta test in March if survival games are your thing!

Each week we’ll look ahead to what’s in store for World of Warcraft, share the latest news, and keep you in the know byte by byte. Wrap up February’s Trading Post, learn more about Hero Talents, and more this week. 

Blizzard has posted This Week in WoW which includes 3 new promotions and 8 new hero talent trees!

One Palworld player has amassed a fortune with their vast supplies of honey and patience. 

Ark: Survival Ascended was supposed to launch its newest map on February 28, but after evaluating how far development has come the launch has been inevitably delayed. 

A single developer has been hard at work on the now-officially-announced Primal Planet, a pixel-art Metroidvania that tasks you, a caveman, with protecting your family from dinosaurs...but also aliens. It's in development for PC, and it's playable in single-player as well as two-player local co-op.

Garena Free Fire MAX Redeem Codes for February 24: With a global player base in the millions, Garena Free Fire MAX continues to captivate fans as a thrilling battle royale experience. As players engage in intense matches, the quest for survival becomes even more exciting, especially when played with a squad for that crucial advantage. Beyond its stunning graphics and immersive gameplay, the game consistently thrills users with daily redeem codes. These codes unlock a treasure trove of in-game goodies, from diamonds and skins to characters and weapons, adding an extra layer of excitement to the gaming experience. Today, we bring you the latest batch of redeem codes for February 24, ensuring you stand out in the battlefield with exclusive freebies!

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Nightingale is a game of fascinating contradictions. While I’m still early on in the Early Access version of this co-op survival crafting game, it’s already jumping wildly between intriguing and confusing, aesthetically pleasing and outright ugly, intuitive and obtuse. It does a lot right, and I can see the potential of building a life from the ground up in this mysterious land – but it also does a lot wrong, particularly with how much time and effort it takes to make meaningful progress. I have a lot more to play before I put a score on this review, but so far I can’t quite tell if Nightingale's rough spots will eventually become part of its charm or hold its otherwise interesting ideas back.

If you’re looking for a cheap early access survival game among many other not-as-cheap early access survival games, you’ve got a new option. 

After several recent brief preview videos, breaking down some of the mechanics, gameplay elements, and the characteristics of the environment of Arrakis and why a survival MMO works there, the latest Dune: Awakening video takes a different direction.

Keen Games announced that its voxel-based co-op survival ARPG, Enshrouded, has hit two million players in its first month of launch.

If you’re a fan of survival and crafting, 2024 has been an absolute treat so far. We’ve already had Enshrouded and Palworld, and a new early access contender has just shown up: Nightingale. Nightingale doesn’t have a strong and immediate hook like Palworld, nor does it have some of the quality-of-life features available in Enshrouded. What this game does have is an immaculate sense of style and art direction, and that’s the lifeline that I’ve been clinging to through my first few brutal hours with the game.

No survival game is complete without the ability to fish, which was why it was so odd that Lego Fortnite launched without this option. Thankfully, that has been rectified in an update, and we finally have a use for all those large bodies of water around the world. Games handle fishing in a few ways, but in this case, you just need to get yourself a rod and set up near some water to collect all the fish you can cook and eat. Of course, you can't just find a rod. Being a crafting game, you will need to make your own, and we've got the recipe for you so you can get right to fishing.

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Nightingale is off to a good start. The horror-tinged, multiplayer survival and crafting game entered early access this week on Steam, and so far has peaked at over 32,000 players. However, like many online games, it’s had a rough first week. One of the most common complaints from users (among the usual early access fare like the lack of some quality-of-life features), according to Steam forums, is the “always online” requirement, which requires even solo players to join a server.

Inflexion Games, the studio behind the early-access survival game Nightingale, has confirmed that it’s already working on an offline mode following feedback from players who weren’t so keen on it being online-only.

Steam survival crafting game Nightingale is getting an offline mode "as soon as is feasible", with developer Inflexion Games deeming it a priority.

Nightingale studio Inflexion Games has said it’s prioritising the development of an offline mode for the recently released game.

Sons of the Forest, the survival game developed by Endnight Games, is now out of early access, and the 1.0 update has brought new features and improvements, including AMD FSR 3 support.

With Nightingale off to an average start, its developer is rolling out an offline mode as soon as possible to win fans back.

Sons of the Forest 1.0 is here, and it’s launched with a plethora of new features and improvements. However, while the full release is compatible with early-access saves, developer Endnight Games has recommended that some may want to start fresh for the full new experience.

Garena Free Fire MAX Redeem Codes for February 23: Garena Free Fire MAX is an extremely popular battle royale game with millions of players around the world. In the game, players must take part in battle royale-style matches and survive till the end to become the winner. While this can be done solo, having a squad to back you up and give you an advantage. Although players can take the help of in-game items such as grenades, loot boxes and medkits, knowing the proper strategy is crucial if you wish to become

Developer Inflexion Games is currently working on an offline mode for Nightingale. Initially, this option was not a priority for the creators of Nightingale, but they changed their minds on the subject after many players expressed their preference to play offline.

Having already played a preview build of Pacific Drive, I felt confident going into my playthrough for this review. I’d learned a lot about this ornery but captivating driving/survival/roguelite game in those few hours — knowledge I thought I could apply from the get-go. I thought I could just start optimizing my resource collection and applying my understanding of some of its arcane systems. I envisioned a smooth run through the early missions as I explored the crumbling, glitching reality of the Olympic Exclusion Zone in the Pacific Northwest, and gradually reinforced my shabby station wagon against the wild hazards of this irradiated wilderness.

Back in November of 2023, developer Endnight Games announced that Sons of the Forest, its latest survival crafting game after The Forest, would finally release Version 1.0 on February 22, 2024 — oh hey, that’s today.

Games Operators and Jutsu Games have announced that their zombie apocalypse survival management game, Infection Free Zone, will enter early access on April 11, 2024.

Survival is the name of the game in Classic Hardcore realms, and while you don’t always have to go it alone, you might just want to. You can take the leap into a new adventure in Classic Hardcore with Self-Found mode on February 29 beginning at 3:00 p.m. PDT (22:00 GMT) around the world.

Palworld has been played by more than 25 million players since its launch, its studio Pocketpair says.

The Early Access release of open-world survival crafting game Palworld has sold approximately 15 million copies on Steam, and the Xbox Series and Xbox One versions have reached over 10 million players, developer Pocket Pair announced.

Myth of Empires, the multiplayer sandbox survival MMO taking place in a feudal world where the threat of war looms, has officially launched on PC via Steam. Explore the world, gather resources and supplies, and craft a society and an army to fit your playstyle. 

Publisher tinyBuild and developer DogHowl Games will host a closed beta test for multiplayer extraction horror first-person shooter Level Zero: Extraction, formerly Level Zero, for PC via Steam from March 15 to 18, the companies announced. Sign-ups are available now.

If you’re cutting down dozens of trees in Nightingale and are wondering whether or not they regrow, we have an answer for you.

During Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase, we learned about two of the Xbox Game Studios titles that are going multiplatform. The games in question are Obsidian Entertainment’s Grounded and Pentiment, and the latter will launch tomorrow on Nintendo Switch.

After confirming that some of Microsoft’s console exclusives would be heading to new platforms, two of them have been confirmed for their Switch debut. Two Obsidian games, Grounded and Pentiment, are making their way to Nintendo Switch.

Obsidian Entertainment's former Xbox-exclusive titles Pentiment and Grounded are coming to Nintendo Switch.

Xbox Game Studios titles Pentiment and Grounded are coming to the Nintendo Switch.

Obsidian Entertainment's Grounded and Pentiment are the first Xbox-exclusive titles to launch on Nintendo Switch.

Pentiment and Grounded have both been confirmed for a Nintendo Switch launch.

Nightingale is one of the prettiest survival and crafting mash-ups we've ever seen, but its character creator has disappointed many fans. 

Xbox games Pentiment and Grounded are confirmed as coming to Nintendo Switch.

MY.GAMES, a prominent European video game developer and publisher, has unveiled an exciting update for its mobile RPG survival strategy title, Zero City. The latest patch introduces a significant addition to the game: the Colossi. These are a group of fighters that players can recruit to bolster their efforts against the relentless zombie horde.

This week in WoW, the Dragonflight Mythic Dungeon International continues on February 23rd and Classic Hardcore Self-Found goes live on February 29th!

Before Palworld combined the adorable monster-collecting appeal of Pokémon with survival and crafting gameplay, there was Temtem, the game that blended MMO mechanics with friendly monsters. Now, the folks behind Temtem are mashing up Tems with another style of game — the “bullet heaven” genre popularized by Vampire Survivors.

Italian developer Untold Games has announced City 20, a new systems-driven city simulator set in a post-apocalyptic world in which the city will adapt to your actions, good or bad, as you attempt to survive in what's left of the world. It's in development for PC, with an Early Access release scheduled for later this year. Take a look at the announcement trailer above and the first screenshots in the gallery below.

I don’t think Sigmund Freud was much of a gamer but if he were, Alisa would probably be his favourite game. Freud’s seminal discussion of the Uncanny remains one of the clearest accounts of what makes certain things incredibly creepy to us – and chief amongst his examples is the animated doll. Alisa takes this creepiness and puts it centre stage, taking an intricate love letter to the origins of survival horror and replacing the zombies with dolls. It makes for a timely and appropriate change of focus.

The new open world survival game set in the Terminator universe, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, and also GreedFall II: The Dying World will be three of the games publisher Nacon is set to reveal during its next Nacon Connect event. It'll take place on 29th February 2024 at 6pm GMT / 10am PT, with around 30 minutes of news and information prepared.

Sony has lined up another third-party PS5 console exclusive for 2024, and this time it comes from indie studio Far From Home. Forever Skies is a first-person, sci-fi survival game that's been in early access for nearly two years, but it'll fully launch later this year. When it does, it'll be a timed console exclusive on Sony's system.

Armor sets in Helldivers 2 will affect more than just some stats and numbers behind the scenes. Just like your primary weapon, the type of armor you pick will dictate your playstyle and needs to be heavily considered before each mission. Each one comes with a different rating in three stats, plus there’s a passive that makes it stand out, but all fall into either light, medium, or heavy roles. While the number of options isn’t terribly overwhelming, comparing and contrasting all those stats and abilities on top of things like Boosters and Stratagems can become tedious. If you just want to get out there and blast some bugs, here are the best armor types to pick in Helldivers 2.

Canadian developer Inflexion Games had previously announced its debut project, the survival crafting game Nightingale, would support both AMD FSR 3 and NVIDIA DLSS 3 when the game launches on early access.

Publisher Nacon is finally ready to show more of its open-world Terminator survival game during a showcase set for later in February.

The upcoming survival game Once Human has been making waves since the open beta basically broke down, thanks to too many testers jumping in at once.

Retro-inspired survival horror game Heartworm was scheduled to release this year, but after multiple obstacles were encountered during the development of the game, its release window has been pushed back once again. Now, the game is set to release in 2025, but no further details as to which quarter or month were provided. 

Another week of PC game releases is upon us and oh heck, slow down. There are an alarming number of games out this week that I want to play, from large-scale 3D productions to itty-bitty time-killers, each sinisterly appropriate to my Steam stats and wider research interests. Are videogame publishers and The Maw in cahoots to overwhelm me with impulse-buys and sabotage my attempts to Report the News? It’s possible. It’s possible. The Maw can be pretty cunning for an indiscriminate force of cosmic famine. The creature has been known to forge alliances with misguided mortals, seeking to flank and overwhelm harried news writers. How else to explain Phil Spencer’s T-shirts?

Helldivers 2 has proven a smash hit on both Steam and PlayStation, as players fend off hordes of bugs with guns, explosions, and the kitchen sink. You'll need all of that if you want to survive, as Helldivers 2 is proving to be quite a tricky game when it comes to difficulty. Most players are making through the game with relative ease, though there is one type of mission that is proving a little too chaotic for players to deal with.

Sometimes the excitement of unlocking a rocket launcher to use against droves of innocent creatures overwhelms us, leading to situations where an entire home gets accidentally, err, damaged. It's not just you, though! Palworld players can't stop blowing up their bases, accidentally or otherwise.

The next addition to has a chance to make use of a narrative direction which shied away from. The latest entry in the franchise has an impressive story told with a wide array of unique characters. However, also arguably wasted several opportunities, which its successor is now perfectly poised to incorporate into itself.

There are only three days left before the PC early access debut of Nightingale, the first game released by Canadian developer Inflexion Games.

We all know the feeling. Boot up a survival game, slip into an online server, and set yourself up with a little base so you can be ready to explore the vast and glorious digital landsc – Oh. You're dead. Oh, and now someone's teabagging your looted corpse. Cool. Just wonderful.

We've all dreamed of running away from the stresses of modern life and living in the forest, and this cozy campervan survival game lets you do exactly that. 

Alan Wake 2 received widespread critical acclaim when it was released in late November. Our own Francesco De Meo gave it a 9/10 and said:

Nightingale, the debut title of Canadian studio Inflexion Games, is scheduled to launch on PC early access via Steam and the Epic Games Store next Tuesday.

We’ve all wondered why no one gets in a car and drives away from the terror in scary movies and games. Pacific Drive by Ironwood Studios lets us live out that scenario. This upcoming first-person survival adventure drives a customizable station wagon into the genre.

Having spoken to Mass Effect veteran Aaryn Flynn, CEO of Inflexion Games - the developers working on upcoming survival crafting game Nightingale - it's clear he's aware of the stiff competition vying for our attention in the genre. When our game libraries are saturated with well-rounded titles like Valheim, Palworld, and Sons of the Forest, pulling in an extensive player base for Nightingale isn't going to be an easy task. But is all that competition so bad? 

Last year’s Alan Wake 2 was a triumph, not only in the survival horror genre but in AAA gaming in general. Given the high praise, it’s no wonder we declared it one of our favorite games of 2023. And for good reason, too.

Alan Wake 2 has sold 1.3 million copies since going on sale on October 27, 2023 across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC via the Epic Games Store, making it developer Remedy Entertainment's fastest-selling game ever.

Millie Bobby Brown switches demogorgons for dragons in the new Netflix fantasy movie Damsel, providing what the director has called a "fantastic" performance.

Total sales for Alan Wake II have surpassed 1.3 million units worldwide, developer Remedy Entertainment announced. It is the company’s fastest selling game to date.

I have spent the last few days delving into the darkness of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, and have only occasionally taken a break to come up for air. This is yet another take on the bullet-hell survival formula established by Vampire Survivors, using the sci-fi setting of the original Deep Rock Galactic. It’s a combination that works as well as chocolate and peanut butter. I’ve spent hours fleeing from bugs and mining valuable ore, and yet every time I step away, I find myself yearning for the mines.

Pacific Drive's developers, Ironwood Studios, have shared a developer diary that reveals that its artstyle is based on a "twisting of the familiar" and leaving a distinct impression with a surreal world that's not too far from our own.

Airship-themed first-person survival adventure game Forever Skies will launch for PlayStation 5 as a “console debut exclusive” alongside its PC (Steam) version in 2024, developer Far From Home announced.