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Why are survival games (Rust, Ark, Conan, 7 Days to Die) not popular here?
- Thread starter Deleted member 19070
- Start date
Most survival games devolve into a meter-management grind instead of encouraging exploration or fostering a specific atmosphere. There's a reason stuff like Subnautica, The Forest, The Long Dark, Don't Starve and adjacent games like Frostpunk and Darkwood stand out from the rest of the genre
When Rust came out there were a good amount of us from "the other place" that settled down on a server and had a pretty good time with it.
The game is 7 years old though, so that's probably why people aren't talking about it still. I'm sure it'll kick back up on the console release.
The game is 7 years old though, so that's probably why people aren't talking about it still. I'm sure it'll kick back up on the console release.
If you're not interested in PVP, stay away from Rust. Conan is a good bet for PVE, and Ark isn't too bad if you like mostly building and taming animals).
When I played Conan, all of the building, thrall breaking, leveling, upgrading, etc was all used to feed into powering my ability to do dungeons, world bosses, and push further into the inhospitable world. If you're entirely single player it will offer a pretty solid challenge. I found the loop to be very rewarding personally, although I did play with a few others, so I was also enjoying the social aspect.
EDIT: Conan also has a 'purge' system where waves of AI will attack your base every so often, so even without PVP theres some incentive to fortify and defend yourself. Also pretty cool.
Yeah I get that some are a bit janky but I put loads of hours in to Ark and a couple of other survival games.
The misconception that many of these games are multiplayer is wrong. You can play pretty much all of these as single player offline. I had plenty of fun in Ark and Conan Exiles just exploring. Ark has some of the best designed worlds this gen. Just gorgeous.
I think the big problem I've seen is many of these games also include cheat codes. You can go all god mode and craft every item in minutes. Sometimes cheats are needed to make quality of life during the game better (not everyone wants to craft all day to get the thing).
If they can balance out QoL stuff and put out a survival game with no cheats that I can play single player, I'm all for it.
I think the big problem I've seen is many of these games also include cheat codes. You can go all god mode and craft every item in minutes. Sometimes cheats are needed to make quality of life during the game better (not everyone wants to craft all day to get the thing).
If they can balance out QoL stuff and put out a survival game with no cheats that I can play single player, I'm all for it.
Grounded will be popular here because it's an Xbox exclusive and there's already a bunch of excitement around it.
Personally there are several things that stop me from getting interested:
a) I like a guided experience. Often these games just dump you in a world and you survive... until you die. Then you restart. I'm not really motivated to do anything when the only goal is "stay alive" which is something I would naturally try to do in any game I play. I loved Subnautica, however, because the survival was a backdrop towards one goal: get off the planet. Then along the way I discovered mini-goals, like a sunken wreck I wanted to spend more time exploring, prompting me to build better gear which then necessitated scavenger hauls, etc. Even a single overarching goal aside from "survive" is enough for me but so many of them lack any kind of game-like structure and I find it unengaging.
b) The perennial early access. I know a lot of survival games have officially released but if a game is Early Access I'm usually just not that interested. When it's out, that's different
c) A lot of them just look really similar
a) I like a guided experience. Often these games just dump you in a world and you survive... until you die. Then you restart. I'm not really motivated to do anything when the only goal is "stay alive" which is something I would naturally try to do in any game I play. I loved Subnautica, however, because the survival was a backdrop towards one goal: get off the planet. Then along the way I discovered mini-goals, like a sunken wreck I wanted to spend more time exploring, prompting me to build better gear which then necessitated scavenger hauls, etc. Even a single overarching goal aside from "survive" is enough for me but so many of them lack any kind of game-like structure and I find it unengaging.
b) The perennial early access. I know a lot of survival games have officially released but if a game is Early Access I'm usually just not that interested. When it's out, that's different
c) A lot of them just look really similar
1. I don't enjoy pvp.
2. I like my pve games to have a story and characters.
3. Even if I wanted to play multi-player games, at 34 I don't want to dedicate all my gaming time to one game.
4. Not a huge fan of open worlds, unless they offer a story- or character-driven incentive to run around. I enjoyed AC: Odyssey because of the world and characters. Same with Far Cry 4 and why I didn't even bothering to finish Far Cry 5.
5. Not a fan of "jank". I know not all these games are as bad as they are made out to be, I just enjoy that aspect.
6. Again, story. I have played hundreds of hours of strategy games, in campaign mode. I love C&C, Warcraft and Starcraft.
7. I got my multi-player fix from World of Warcraft years ago. I raided hardcore up to Black Temple. Kept playing on and off for several expansions after that, but simply lost interest eventually. I've enjoyed games such as Final Fantasy 14 and Guild Wars 2 for their story. But eventually the time commitment got too much. I'd rather play a single player game or read a book.
2. I like my pve games to have a story and characters.
3. Even if I wanted to play multi-player games, at 34 I don't want to dedicate all my gaming time to one game.
4. Not a huge fan of open worlds, unless they offer a story- or character-driven incentive to run around. I enjoyed AC: Odyssey because of the world and characters. Same with Far Cry 4 and why I didn't even bothering to finish Far Cry 5.
5. Not a fan of "jank". I know not all these games are as bad as they are made out to be, I just enjoy that aspect.
6. Again, story. I have played hundreds of hours of strategy games, in campaign mode. I love C&C, Warcraft and Starcraft.
7. I got my multi-player fix from World of Warcraft years ago. I raided hardcore up to Black Temple. Kept playing on and off for several expansions after that, but simply lost interest eventually. I've enjoyed games such as Final Fantasy 14 and Guild Wars 2 for their story. But eventually the time commitment got too much. I'd rather play a single player game or read a book.
Want to be friends?
Plenty of us play PC games. Look over at the the Building PC thread and PC gaming thread.
I still think it's because multiplayer stuff generally has more dedicated places to discuss it already.
Multiplayer, PC focused, survival mechanics, RNG mechanics, like kryptonite for a lot of this forum's base.
I mean even games like Fortnite are like, only on a 2nd OT. Dragalia Lost's OT2 will soon catch up to it in posts.
I mean even games like Fortnite are like, only on a 2nd OT. Dragalia Lost's OT2 will soon catch up to it in posts.
I've played Rust on-and-off, I enjoy the Minecraft-type gameplay and with a world that feels more alive; but of my real life gaming buddies I'm the only PC gamer who is interested in that type of game.
So playing solo is super rough, to put it mildly. Since Rust is a 24/7 persistent world, it also takes a time commitment that's not usually afforded to me.
I do agree with a previous comment about the toxic, screeching, community. I'd love to know the average demographic of the user base, but based on the sort of signage that gets posted in-game, and general chat quality, I have my suspicions.
I do know that whenever I boot up Rust to play, I'm going to regret it a few days later.
So playing solo is super rough, to put it mildly. Since Rust is a 24/7 persistent world, it also takes a time commitment that's not usually afforded to me.
I do agree with a previous comment about the toxic, screeching, community. I'd love to know the average demographic of the user base, but based on the sort of signage that gets posted in-game, and general chat quality, I have my suspicions.
I do know that whenever I boot up Rust to play, I'm going to regret it a few days later.
They're very difficult to have forum discussions about. The fun is usually found in emergent moments witnessed by an insular play group and recounting those moments is incredibly boring to anyone outside that group. "Remember when we built that crude catapult to launch Thomas into the enemy base but it messed up and launched him backwards into the river?" is an incredible moment for the people that witnessed it and an utter nothing sentence for the rest of the internet. Those moments are also hard to reproduce organically, so you can't even really have a "we did this and so can you" conversation, the best you can do is a "this is possible and I hope something equally fun happens to you".
I got a buddy who plays Conan. I like the idea of it...I just don't give a fuck about Conan. I need one with a cooler setting.
Put hundreds of hours into Ark and 7 Days to DIe. Both fantastic games, mostly on private servers with friends though, PVP is toxic as hell. Tried both Rust and Conan but couldn't get into them like Ark and 7DtD. The Forest is also a great survival game, unlike the others it actually has a sort of story and end game too.
OP
OP
Yeah the whole "cheat available whenever thing" really ruined Ark for me. I eventually used cheat codes to go God mode which felt good in the moment, but now I can't get back into the game b/c I've seen all the high lvl shit.
Thanks, I'll check it out the next time I have a survival game itch
For awhile there I played a ton of 7 days to die with a buddy of mine.
That game sucks
but it was fun chatting and catching up while playing
That game sucks
but it was fun chatting and catching up while playing
OP
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If I had the time I would run one, but it's a lot of work keeping up with a server. You need to be available for moderation incidents (like if someone cheats or builds too close to resource hubs etc).
Would love to join a casual one as most of the ones out there have played for thousands of hours and the world is just filled with structures and high lvl stuff.
I just don't have the time or desire to play online games anymore. That being said, I put about 100 hours into ARK solo and had a blast. Playing these games solo eventually gets old due to running out of new things to work towards though.
Bingo. Only so much pleasure can be mined from suffering unless you have an awful personality... and the ones with an awful personality make for poor people to hang out with.
I've had some of the most unsettling moments of my life playing persistent survival games.
One that really sticks out was playing I think Rust. I was hiding in a bush crafting something, and I heard this heavy breathing all of the sudden from behind me. Then a voice with a thick southern drawl said "this is mah land N (n bomb). What are you doin on mah land boy."
I shut down the game and never played it again after that.
One that really sticks out was playing I think Rust. I was hiding in a bush crafting something, and I heard this heavy breathing all of the sudden from behind me. Then a voice with a thick southern drawl said "this is mah land N (n bomb). What are you doin on mah land boy."
I shut down the game and never played it again after that.
OP
OP
I'm guessing you were playing on a public server? Public servers in those games are a haven for racist. They can say whatever they want with no repercussions and often no way to be muted. There's seemingly no moderation with any of these games on public servers.
GAF had a Rust server back in Alpha and it was an awesome experience. Some of my favorite gaming moments were had there.
I personaly love them, but I know that is not a genre for everyone. I put over 100 hours on 7 Days to Die and it was on the PS4, a well known very bad port.
Those games are more fun to play than talk about and also Era is very console centered.
There're hardcore PC users here but not a whole lot and they don't use Era all that much either.
I am getting into PC gaming now and the deeper I get the more disconnected I feel from Era.
There're hardcore PC users here but not a whole lot and they don't use Era all that much either.
I am getting into PC gaming now and the deeper I get the more disconnected I feel from Era.
I love survival games, the isolated atmosphere and sense of threat is really exciting IMO, but I can't seem to find any good ones recently. Played The Forest and The Long Dark and enjoyed them quite a bit. Would love to hear suggestions. I play mostly on PS4 and prefer online co-op games. Been looking at Hunt Showdown now that it's available on PS4 but I'm not sure if it's a survival or more of PVP focused game.
even with MP survival is a very isolating genre. you go about things at your own pace, you don't particularly want to talk about how you chopped down 50 trees on a forum afterwards
i remember the Ark community dropped off like a rock on neogaf despite the game getting more and more popular
i remember the Ark community dropped off like a rock on neogaf despite the game getting more and more popular