Best Survival Games for Mac

Rust

Remember that “Naked and Afraid” show on Discovery? Rust is a lot like it, only with more crafting, less censoring, and you can actually hit people with the stick you just found (else they’ll do that to you). You start the game au naturel, as nature intended, on the beach of a sprawling island and you’re immediately thrust into a ‘collect stuff to make other stuff’ gameplay loop. 

You’ll gather wood, stone, and, hopefully, enough common sense to build a rudimentary hatchet. From there, it’s a grueling climb up the technology tree, where the top branches hold firearms and fortified bases, but to get there, you must first remember to keep your stomach full, your body clothed, and your enemies as far away as possible.

Game	Rust
macOS support	Yes
Alternative methods to play on Mac	Boosteroid, GeForce Now
Platforms and operational systems	Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre	Survival, Open World, MMO, Crafting
Multiplayer	Yes
Single-Player	No
Modding support	Yes (Plenty, and in this game are called Plugins)
Performance on Mac	(The game runs well on all Apple Silicon Macs and on mid and high-range Intel Macs)
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio

Rust’s setting is a brutish, post-apocalyptic wasteland, where every other player could be friend or foe (probably a foe). There’s a way to play Rust alone, without other players, but the game is intended to be played in multiplayer – that’s where it is both at its most entertaining and most challenging. Multiplayer in Rust is like a crucible that forges alliances as often as it breaks them. Trust is often more valuable than the rarest ore because a “lone wolf” approach won’t get you far.

The gameplay of Rust is great but the thing that draws players to this title in particular is the unrelenting emphasis on player-driven stories. The elements and harsh environment pale in comparison to the challenge of surviving human desperation and greed that can cause your next-door neighbor to become your deadliest enemy. It’s a game that combines the joy of crafting with the paranoia of wondering if the player you just met is plotting to steal your trousers.

Valheim

Valheim is a Norse mythology-themed survival game that gives you a whole mythological playground with dragons to boot and a ticket to Valhalla (that is if you can earn it). You play the game as a fallen Viking dropped into a sort of procedurally generated Norse purgatory (that’s actually very pretty and kind of chill). Your goal in this mysterious world between worlds is to prove you are worthy of Odin’s halls – a lofty goal for someone who starts out wearing less than your average scarecrow in a heatwave.

The gameplay isn’t just about chopping trees and building cozy log cabins (though you’ll do plenty of that) but it will also have you craft an arsenal worthy of a Norse saga, sail treacherous waters, and occasionally get your face rearranged by a troll. Valheim’s charm lies in its exploration and the palpable threat of its picturesque biomes that demand more than the usual “hit tree, build house” approach.

Game	Valheim
macOS support	No
Alternative methods to play on Mac	Boosteroid, GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud, Crossover, Parallels, Boot Camp
Platforms and operational systems	Windows, Linux, Xbox One/Series X/S,
Genre	Survival, Open World, Crafting, Sandbox
Multiplayer	Yes (Online Co-op)
Single-Player	Yes
Modding support	Yes
Performance on Mac (local workaround methods)	(The game runs well on all Apple Silicon Macs and on mid and high-range Intel Macs)
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio

You can beat Valheim all on your own, but the game truly shines when you go for the multiplayer experience. You can team up to with fellow fallen Vikings to pillage resources together, tackle fiendish foes, or build the homestead of your dreams. There is no PvP, so playing with other human players is all about working together and helping one another on your path to earning your rightful place in the Halls of Valhalla. 

The best part of this game, other than the polished gameplay, is its sense of progression through a beautiful and mysterious world. You can technically go to any place on the map as soon as you start the game, but you won’t be able to roam there for long if you are not yet ready to weather harsher elements and go toe to toe with the more powerful enemies.

The Forest

The Forest ejects you straight from a plane crash into a playground where the merry-go-rounds are manned by cannibals with a taste for tourist. The game is a frantic scramble to keep your innards on the inside while playing hide and seek with the local mutant populace. By day, you’ll chop wood and assemble your fortress like you’d expect in any survival title. Come sundown and it’s all hands on deck (or rather on your makeshift spear) as you fend off the island’s less-than-hospitable residents.

The gameplay in The Forest offers visceral combat encounters and has a penchant for unexpected jump scares but the thing that truly sets it apart is how it weaves its story into the very environment. Explore caves and snoop around old campsites, and you’ll piece together a narrative that’s as deliciously twisted as the game’s disturbingly intelligent AI.

Game	The Forest
macOS support	No
Alternative methods to play on Mac	Boosteroid, GeForce Now, Parallels, Boot Camp
Platforms and operational systems	Windows, PlayStation 4
Genre	Survival, Open World, Crafting, Horror
Multiplayer	Yes (Online Co-op)
Single-Player	Yes
Modding support	Yes
Performance on Mac (local workaround methods)	(The game runs well even on older and weaker Macs)
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio

It’s definitely one of the more spine-chilling survival titles out there, but that’s what we love about it. Few other survival horror games manage to capture the sense of being watched and surrounded by a horde of thinking enemies who adapt to your actions and find creative ways to get the drop on you. Crafting system? Check. A sanity meter? Check. Sleepless nights? Double-check.

Don’t Starve Together

Don’t Starve Together invites you to a gothic-themed only to throw you headfirst into a blender of Tim Burton-esque nightmares, where you must set the table while keeping your limbs attached. This survival title plays a frantic juggle of sanity, hunger, and creatures that appear as if they’ve just escaped the pages of an H.P. Lovecraft novella. 

The gameplay revolves around the deceptively simple goal of not dying horribly. To achieve it, you’ve got to gather sticks, stones, and whatever else hasn’t tried to kill you yet, and craft them into slightly less pathetic sticks and stones.

Game	Don’t Starve Together
macOS support	Yes
Alternative methods to play on Mac	Boosteroid, GeForce Now
Platforms and operational systems	Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre	Survival, Open World, Crafting, Adventure
Multiplayer	Yes
Single-Player	Yes
Modding support	Yes
Performance on Mac	(The game runs great even on older and weaker Macs)
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio

Each game session drops you into a randomly twisted landscape that could be anything from haunted forests to deserts that forgot to be sunny. The secret sauce of the gameplay is cooperation, or the lack thereof. The game will frequently make you and your supposed friends ask yourselves if sharing is truly caring when a monster fancies your entrails for tea.

Don’t Starve Together is best summarized as a game about forging friendships in the dark, only to potentially stab those friends in the back for a carrot. It’s a splendid way to test the boundaries of camaraderie under the constant threat of an unnatural death.

Subnautica

Subnautica chucks you into an alien ocean and yells “Swim, you plonker!” after your spaceship performs an impromptu one-ship reenactment of the Hindenburg disaster on a planet more waterlogged than a British summer. The survival in this game happens underwater and your only way out of the vast oceanic expanse is to go deeper.

Subnautica marries the primal fear of the unknown depths with a compelling urge to discover what’s over the next reef or lurking in that worryingly dark crevice. The story unfolds through scattered debris and ancient ruins that you uncover as you descend deeper into the alien ocean. You’ll eventually start to notice signs that you might not be the first to have crashed here (but you could certainly be the next not to leave).

Game	Subnautica
macOS support	Yes
Alternative methods to play on Mac	Boosteroid, GeForce Now
Platforms and operational systems	Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X|S. Nintendo Switch
Genre	Survival, Open World, Crafting, Adventure, Horror, Sci-fi
Multiplayer	Yes
Single-Player	Yes
Modding support	Yes
Performance on Mac	(The game runs well even on older and weaker Macs)
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio

So gear up for an aquatic adventure where every gulp of air is precious and every shadow could hide toothy death. The world of Subnautica lures you with its promise of hidden secrets and undiscovered wonder and in doing so it compels you to learn and master its elaborate but logical survival mechanics. It’s one of the games to best nail the balance between the wonder of discovery and the dangers that come with it, all of which is enhanced by its unusual but perfectly fitting setting.

Ark Survival of the Fittest

To get a sense of what playing ARK: Survival of the Fittest is like, Imagine being flung into a “Hunger Games”-style deathmatch, but instead of fighting just your fellow man, you’ve also got dinosaurs to contend with. This multiplayer online survival arena pits you against other players in a prehistoric pressure cooker and puts your ability to craft, tame, and combat to the ultimate test.

The gameplay is like the show “Survivor” but with scales and fangs. The game begins like any other multiplayer survival and your first goal is to gather resources, craft rudimentary weapons, and maybe build a shelter. After you climb the first couple of branches of the tech tree, you can try to tame a few dinosaurs to turn them into your personal war mounts. It’s risky, but you’ll want to do it – nothing quite like terrorizing your neighbor from the back of a giant T-Rex.

Game	Ark Survival of the Fittest
macOS support	Yes (The base game Ark Survival Evolved is on macOS)
Alternative methods to play on Mac	GeForce Now
Platforms and operational systems	Windows, macOS, Linux, Play Station 4, Xbox One
Genre	Survival, Dinosaurs, MOSA (Multiplayer Online Survival Arena)
Multiplayer	Yes
Single-Player	No
Modding support	Yes
Performance on Mac	(The game runs well even on older and weaker Macs)
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio

The beast-taming mechanic is obviously the main selling point of this game. The survival gameplay is nice, but the option to tame dinosaurs is what transforms this game from just another PvP brawl into a chaotic jamboree of Jurassic proportions. What we mean to say is that survival, dinosaurs, and PvP is a winning combination and it’s what made us add this game to our list.

Green Hell

Green Hell takes you to the Amazon rainforest in all its unbridled glory. The only thing thicker than the foliage there is the swarm of insects waiting to treat you like an all-you-can-eat buffet. The game throws you into a festering pit of despair from the get-go, with little more than your wits and a profound respect for insect repellent.

The gameplay in Green Hell is unique in its focus on the need to micro-manage your burgeoning collection of tropical diseases and bodily injuries. You’ll still spend a lot of your time starting cozy campfires and crafting spears and shelters, but you’ll often find that your bigger need is a particular type of bandage for the sort of oozing wounds that make medical textbooks squeamish. The setting is an active participant in your misery which is a key aspect of any survival title worth its salt. The jungle is gorgeous to look at but about as welcoming as a bear trap.

Game	Green Hell
macOS support	No
Alternative methods to play on Mac	Boosteroid, GeForce Now, Crossover, Parallels, Boot Camp
Platforms and operational systems	Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Genre	Survival, Open World, Crafting
Multiplayer	Yes (Online Co-op)
Single-Player	Yes
Modding support	Yes
Performance on Mac (local workaround methods)	(The game runs well on higher-end Macs. It can also run on older and weaker ones, but only if you use the lowest settings.)
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio

Green Hell is survival at its purest and one of its main selling points is its attention to the nitty-gritty details of keeping yourself alive. Every calorie counts, every scratch can mean sepsis, and this is without even getting into the variety of deadly rain forest inhabitants. Green Hell is your ultimate test in jungle gym class, where the lesson plan is written in venom and vines.

Last Day on Earth: Survival

Last Day on Earth: Survival takes the charming concept of the apocalypse and adds a twist of being perpetually on the brink of disaster – but, hey, at least it has colorful cartoony graphics. 

The only currency worth a damn in this game is the sweat on your brow and the zombie gristle under your nails. The gameplay is about the joyous pastimes of scavenging for scraps to craft makeshift tools and weapons, and to construct a fortress. The aim is to keep the udead at bay but also manage more mundane survival needs like hunger and thirst. The game is set in a grim, post-apocalyptic world, so every element of the environment screams “Doom!”, and there’s the ever-present threat of death by zombie (or worse, dehydration).

Game	Last Day on Earth: Survival
macOS support	No
Alternative methods to play on Mac	Bluestacks, Nox Player 6
Platforms and operational systems	iOS, Android
Genre	Survival, Crafting, Zombies
Multiplayer	Yes
Single-Player	Yes
Modding support	No
Performance on Mac (local workaround methods)	N/A
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio	(Free-to-play with in-app purchases)

The aspect that sets it apart from other titles in the crowded field of the best survival games for mac is its persistent online world. Your soggy cardboard defenses can and will be trampled – if not by the AI-driven deadheads, then by Joe Schmo from Idaho, who’s just as desperate and probably twice as cunning.

This multiplayer element puts the gameplay loop into a perpetual cycle of tension, strategic resource management, and the kind of interpersonal drama that only comes from people fighting over the last can of beans. Welcome to the end of the world; hope you brought snacks.

Oxygen Not Included

Oxygen Not Included presents itself as an adorable colony sim with cartoony graphics about space dwarves, but this is only a disguise for a game about as forgiving as a tax auditor with a hangover. It’s a relentless juggle of breathable air, drinkable water, and less toxic varieties of lunch starting from day one. And all of that, while you are literally living under a rock. You’re burrowed into an asteroid where even the most basic necessities like oxygen are in woefully short supply.

The gameplay is like spinning plates, but the plates are your life-support systems that constantly threaten to crash down around your ears. Your job is to engineer a viable space bunker which means you must meticulously manage everything from the plumbing to the air scrubbers to stave off inevitable disaster.

Game	Oxygen Not Included
macOS support	Yes
Alternative methods to play on Mac	Boosteroid, GeForce Now
Platforms and operational systems	Windows, macOS, Linux
Genre	Survival, Base Building, Colony Sim, Building
Multiplayer	No
Single-Player	Yes
Modding support	Yes (There are a few mods)
Performance on Mac	(The game runs great even on older and weaker Macs)
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio

Oxygen Not Included excels in masochistic complexity. Each survival element intricately interacts with the others and makes every decision a potential domino-effect disaster. It’s a deliciously deceptive ordeal that wraps its steep learning curve in an exterior of whimsical art. Step up if you think you’ve got what it takes to micromanage the very air your colonists breathe without inadvertently engineering their mass asphyxiation.

Raft

Raft literally tosses you into the deep end, where your only hope for survival is a patchwork platform floating in the vast, unforgiving ocean. But there’s your chance to prove humanity can thrive in the most hostile of situations and environments. The game’s about survival but it’s also about the expansion of your tiny, wobbly raft into a sprawling multi-story sea fortress. 

You build up your saltwater homestead from a delightful assortment of oceanic odds and ends that float past. You fish out barrels and bits of plastic when you aren’t dodging the loving attentions of a shark that thinks your raft is a chew toy.

Game	Raft
macOS support	No
Alternative methods to play on Mac	Boosteroid, GeForce Now, Crossover, Parallels, Boot Camp
Platforms and operational systems	Windows
Genre	Survival, Open World, Craft
Multiplayer	Yes (Online Co-op)
Single-Player	Yes
Modding support	Yes
Performance on Mac (local workaround methods)	(The game runs on mid and high-range Macs, but is nearly unplayable on weaker or older Macs.)
Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Soundtrack and Audio
Community and Support
Replay Value
Price/Value ratio

The demands that you balance the mundane needs of food and water with the constant expansion of your floating shelter. You can do that in single-player or try the multiplayer experience, where you’ll cooperate with another sailor. This will turn your solitary confinement into a floating house party, albeit one where the guests might starve if nobody remembers to fish.

Raft’s unique charm is in its focus both vertical and horizontal expansion. A lesser survival title could go the conventional way and not try to do anything creative with its unique premise, but Raft turning what could be a static survival slog into a dynamic exercise in aerial aquatecture. You’re not just surviving but building upwards, outwards only to occasionally stop and wonder how your two-story ocean villa still hasn’t capsized.

Notable Mentions

A few other we will list here if the list above didn’t whet your appetite quite enough. As far as survival goes, some of these are more horror than survival, but it’s hard fitting them with gameplay survival games.

• Ark Survival Evolved
• Alien Isolation
• Darkwood
• Frostpunk

The most special mention here is Frostpunk, since the game truly is one the permeates the survival theme in all aspects, but it’s a strategy city building game and doesn’t feel like it fits with what users expect a survival game is.