Games like The Long Dark
If you like The Long Dark (survival, contemplative and cold), these 10 games are similar in what you do and how you play. They go from most to least similar.
Don't Starve
- In common: long sessions and exploring
- Difference: more building
When you have an afternoon ahead and fancy a survival challenge where every run teaches you something.
Project Zomboid
- In common: long sessions and management
- Difference: more co-op
When you have hours and want the most complete, tense survival simulation.
Subnautica
- In common: exploring and long sessions
- Difference: more building
When you have hours and want to explore: each deeper dive reveals new biomes and story progress.
Don't Starve Together
- In common: long sessions and exploring
- Difference: more co-op
When you have friends and an afternoon ahead to survive together in a world that wants you dead.
This War of Mine
- In common: management and a challenge
- Difference: less exploring
When you want survival with moral weight that shows war from the civilians' side rather than the soldier's.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition
- In common: exploring and long sessions
- Difference: less management
When you want to get properly lost in a strange, fascinating world, with no rush and no arrows to follow.
Fallout: New Vegas
- In common: exploring and long sessions
- Difference: less management
When you have hours and fancy an RPG with choices that really change the ending.
Grounded
- In common: long sessions and exploring
- Difference: more co-op
When you want survival with friends, with an adventurous tone and 90s-film humour.
Amnesia: The Bunker
- In common: a challenge and exploring
- Difference: shorter sessions
When you want to be properly scared in a short adventure: a first playthrough takes around five or six hours.
DREDGE
- In common: exploring
- Difference: easier
When you want something calm with a touch of mystery. A day's fishing takes a few minutes and always improves something.
How we pick them
We compare the tags the Steam community gives each game with our own classification: what you do (action, story, building…), the difficulty, how long sessions last and whether you play alone or with others. Nobody pays to appear.
About The Long Dark
You survive in the Canadian wilderness after a geomagnetic disaster. No zombies: just the cold, hunger, wolves and your own planning. Quiet, beautiful and tense, with a story mode and a sandbox mode.
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