The answer is no, by the way. But there are so many examples of bad survival games that it’s important to remember the good ones. Adam wraps himself up in the Long Dark, while Matt gets sea sickness from Subnautica. But it’s not all barbequed pork chop and pointy sticks. Brendan is enjoying card game roguelike Slay the Spire. Adam is climbing a mountain in tough platformer Celeste, and Matt is second guessing the intentions of the cyberpunk heroes of The Red Strings Club.

And, bonus: We've also got Quickfire Questions with Charlie Cleveland of Subnautica developers Unknown Worlds Entertainment.

Links:

The Long Dark is survival at its brutal best: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/01/09/the-long-dark-sandbox-review/

Subnautica review: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/01/24/subnautica-review/

The Forest is beautiful and terrifying: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/01/18/the-forest-review-early-access-2/

Zelda’s hardcore survival island: https://tay.kinja.com/breath-of-the-wilds-eventide-island-is-nothing-new-but-1793447344

Dying Light: The Following review: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/02/12/dying-light-the-following-review/

Have you played… I Am Alive? https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/11/07/have-you-played-i-am-alive/

The Solus Project early access review: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/05/31/the-solus-project-review/

The deadly creatures of Rain World: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/03/30/the-deadly-creatures-of-rain-world-a-bestiary-in-gifs/

The Long Dark’s story mode wasn’t great: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/08/01/the-long-dark-review/

Project Zomboid devs talk zombies with Dean Hall: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/01/forever-undead-dean-hall-and-indie-stone-talk-zombies/

This is Dead State: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/12/11/pc-game-review-dead-state/

And this is State of Decay: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/10/21/have-you-played-state-of-decay/

Frostpunk asks why we survive: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/06/26/frostpunk-preview-survival/

Have you played… UnReal World? https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/10/20/have-you-played-unreal-world/

Pour cyberpunk drinks in The Red Strings Club: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/01/22/the-red-strings-club-review/

9 minutes of mountain climbing in Celeste: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/01/12/celeste-mountain-climbing-gameplay-video/

Slay the Spire made Adam love deck building: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/12/19/slay-the-spire-deck-building/

It also has a goblin who runs a gameshow: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/01/17/slay-the-spire-good-roguelike/