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indielist (beta)

The best survival indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

survivalgenre-guidedata-reportrecommendations

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

indielist tracks 133 survival indie games on Steam, holding 10,267,115 reviews at an average of 86% 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 1,216,936 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are modeled estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Terraria · 1,216,936 reviews · 97% positive · 2011
  2. Rust · 1,140,888 reviews · 87% positive · 2018
  3. ARK: Survival Evolved · 579,335 reviews · 83% positive · 2017
  4. The Forest · 571,186 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
  5. Valheim · 452,869 reviews · 94% positive · 2021
  6. Don't Starve Together · 367,214 reviews · 95% positive · 2016
  7. Palworld · 355,416 reviews · 94% positive · 2024
  8. Project Zomboid · 343,332 reviews · 94% positive · 2013
  9. Subnautica · 332,025 reviews · 97% positive · 2018
  10. Raft · 318,202 reviews · 93% positive · 2022
  11. No Man's Sky · 307,639 reviews · 85% positive · 2016
  12. Risk of Rain 2 · 236,737 reviews · 94% positive · 2020
  13. Satisfactory · 228,559 reviews · 97% positive · 2024
  14. RimWorld · 203,592 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
  15. Factorio · 191,670 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  16. Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition · 140,520 reviews · 98% positive · 2009
  17. Oxygen Not Included · 132,250 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
  18. Starbound · 120,579 reviews · 90% positive · 2016
  19. ASTRONEER · 117,850 reviews · 92% positive · 2019
  20. Frostpunk · 112,372 reviews · 93% positive · 2018

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 modeled estimates, not official sales data.

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