Skip to content
indielist (beta)

The best open world survival craft indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

open-world-survival-craftgenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations

Data report Built from live indielist data on 2026-06-13. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 53 open world survival craft indie games on Steam, holding 7,598,485 reviews at an average of 85% positive. This list ranks them by Steam review count, the most reliable public sales proxy, with a white-box sales estimate behind every title. The most reviewed is Terraria with 1,218,154 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Terraria · 1,218,154 reviews · 97% positive · 2011
  2. Rust · 1,142,741 reviews · 87% positive · 2018
  3. ARK: Survival Evolved · 579,791 reviews · 83% positive · 2017
  4. The Forest · 572,957 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
  5. Valheim · 453,292 reviews · 94% positive · 2021
  6. Don't Starve Together · 367,610 reviews · 95% positive · 2016
  7. Palworld · 356,085 reviews · 94% positive · 2024
  8. Project Zomboid · 344,149 reviews · 94% positive · 2013
  9. Subnautica · 333,593 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  10. Raft · 318,498 reviews · 93% positive · 2022
  11. No Man's Sky · 308,241 reviews · 85% positive · 2016
  12. Satisfactory · 229,323 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
  13. Starbound · 120,582 reviews · 90% positive · 2016
  14. ASTRONEER · 117,913 reviews · 92% positive · 2019
  15. The Long Dark · 110,320 reviews · 89% positive · 2017
  16. Subnautica: Below Zero · 97,862 reviews · 90% positive · 2021
  17. SCUM · 96,987 reviews · 74% positive · 2025
  18. Don't Starve · 96,238 reviews · 97% positive · 2013
  19. Conan Exiles Enhanced · 78,525 reviews · 79% positive · 2018
  20. Grounded · 74,237 reviews · 90% positive · 2022

How this list is built

Games are ranked by Steam review count, the most reliable public proxy for sales when actual figures are private. Each title links to its indielist page, where the white-box sales estimate expands into the full Boxleiter formula, so you can audit the number rather than trust a black box. Review counts come from Steam; sales figures are estimates, not official sales data.

Want the underlying estimate for your own game? Try the sales estimator, or browse the full game directory.