It’s the weekend once more and time to test your skills in survival games.
Survival games are a great way to test your chops, especially against your friends. We have a great selection for you to boot up this weekend. From the kooky, to the thrilling, or the downright beautiful, there’s something for every gaming group.
Feeling a bit meh about survival games? Don’t panic, we’ve got lots of great weekend multiplayer inspiration for you.
Don’t Starve Together
Don’t Starve Together is the stand-alone multiplayer expansion to the popular survival game, Don’t Starve. The basic premise is you are out in the wilderness (of Tim Burton’s brain), and have to stay alive. Don’t starve… simple, right? Wrong, because there is a myriad of factors at play trying to make that very difficult. Monsters, insanity, hunger, just to name a few. In order to survive this uncompromising environment, you have to craft, forage, and fight for as long as you can.
In Don’t Starve Together, you get to do all of this, together! There are countless resources and threats to discover on the biome-rich, procedurally generated maps. Establish your home base and then venture out into the wilderness. There are even caves, islands, and new content to explore, so you have plenty to do whilst you stave off the hunger.
Don’t Starve Together Official Specifications
Is your gaming PC a vital asset to your survival, or will it slow you down?
| Component | Minimum Specs |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows Vista / 7 / 8 |
| Processor | 1.7GHz+ or better |
| Memory | 1GB RAM |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon HD5450 or better 256 MB or higher |
| DirectX | Version 9.0c |
| Network | Broadband Internet connection |
| Storage | 3GB available space |
| Sound Card | 100% DirectX9.0c compatible sound card and drivers |
Refract Gaming Amber Pre-Built PC
The Refract Gaming Amber is going to be a vital ally in your quest to survive. Equipped with an IAMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, this PC has been crafted for casual and 1080p gaming. The CPU can expertly handle your workloads whilst the GPU will render all your favourite survival games in beautiful detail. Plus, with a 1TB SSD and 16GB DDR5 RAM, lag and input latency won’t have you trailing behind.
Even better, the Refract Amber is pre-built and fully tested, ready to ship with next day delivery (stock allowing). What’s more, it is covered by our comprehensive three years parts and labour warranty. One less thing to worry about in your quest for survival.
SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 Gaming Headset
Survival games require effective communication, so a headset is in order. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 3 is packed with premium features to elevate your soundscape. With High Fidelity Drivers, you can enjoy superior audio quality whilst the ComfortMAX system, with four points of adjustability, will keep you comfy. Plus, the ClearCast Gen 2 noise cancelling microphone will ensure your fellow survivors hear everything you have to say.
Sons of the Forest
Sons of the Forest has you exploring a cannibal-infested hellscape, to look for a missing billionaire. With your trusty AI companion Kevin in tow, you must build shelter, forage from the land, and fight off grotesque mutants. There are no NPCs driving you to certain missions, areas, or storylines – just you and your survival skills. And Kevin, but if you over work him there will be tantrums.
You can brave this island on your own, but why not scare the whole gang? Sons of the Forest features an online co-op mode, where you can work together to overcome the horrors awaiting you. Form a tribe of sorts with up to eight people and see if there truly is safety in numbers.
Sons of the Forest Official Specifications
Will your gaming PC help you to survive, or is it sulking in the corner with Kevin?
| Component | Minimum Specs | Recommended Specs |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-8400 AMD Ryzen 3 3300X | Intel Core i7-8700K AMD Ryzen 5 3600X |
| Memory | 12GB RAM | 16GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB | NVIDIA GeForce 1080Ti AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT |
| DirectX | Version 11 | Version 11 |
| Storage | 20GB available space | 20GB available space |
| Notes | SSD preferred | SSD preferred |
OcUK Gaming Radiance Ember Configurable PC
There’s no question of survival with the OcUK Gaming Radiance Ember in your corner. With an Intel Core i5-13600 CPU, this gaming PC can expertly handle all your work, gaming, and streaming needs. Plus, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GPU will render your games with all the latest innovations Ada Lovelace architecture has to offer. Enjoy Sons of the Forest and all your faves with DLSS 3.5, advanced ray tracing, and buttery smooth frame rates.
What’s more, the OcUK Gaming Firefly Enthusiast is one of our configurable gaming PCs. This means you can adjust the base spec to best suit your needs. Customise the cables, graphics card, operating system, and choose up to three high-speed SSDs. Please note that all changes will affect the price.
Back when it first released in February, Sons of the Forest racked up some mind-blowing stats in its first twenty-four hours of gameplay. Read all about it!
The Front
The Front is a survival open-world crafting shooter, launched for early access this October. You’ve been sent back to a post-apocalyptic time to stop the rise of a tyrannical empire. To succeed in your mission, you must collect resources, build shelters, craft tech, and fight monsters. This war-torn sandbox has ruins to explore, deadly combat to engage in, and tower-defense style traps to leave for monsters; meaning there’s plenty you can do to ensure the survival of your base and success of your mission.
Work together with your friends in coop gameplay or go head-to-head in PvP and conduct some sporting sabotage! You play in Solo/Hosted servers that can be password protected if you want to just keep it between mates, or join dedicated servers that hold more players.
The Front Official Specifications
Is your gaming PC at the forefront of battle, or stuck in the past?
| Component | Minimum Specs | Recommended Specs |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system | Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system |
| Processor | Intel i5-8400 | Intel i7-9700 |
| Memory | 16GB RAM | 32GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB | NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti |
| DirectX | Version 11 | Version 12 |
| Network | Broadband Internet connection | Broadband Internet connection |
| Storage | 40GB available space | 40GB available space |
OcUK Gaming Empath Configurable PC
With the OcUK Gaming Empath on your side, there’s nothing you can’t handle. The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X CPU is built on the innovative Zen 4 architecture, primed to provide a five-star gaming platform. Paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, you can enjoy the best of the latest tech. Plus, with DDR5 RAM, high-speed storage, and support for WiFi 6, you won’t be the weak link lagging behind the rest of the team.
The OcUK Gaming Empath is another of our configurable gaming PCs. Make adjustments to the PC case, processor, memory, graphics card, and operating system, plus choose up to three SSDs for fast and flexible storage. Please note that any changes will affect the pricing.
We love the freedom of a sandbox game. Here are five more that you can boot up in your down time – either solo or with friends!
Wildmender
Work together in Wildmender to restore a barren desert into a bountiful garden once more. You start with a tiny spring and the help of a spirit who has lost their memory. From there, you can explore the far reaching, procedurally generated map, to find resources, ghosts, and the secrets of the past. As you restore harmony, kind spirits will bestow you with great powers, to better cultivate the land and protect it from harm. For there are corrupting wraiths waiting to destroy your hard work.
Wildmender offers co-op play with up to four people, complete with crossplay support across platforms! Take on this beautiful journey together and build a thriving oasis for people and critters, alike. Plus, you have complete freedom when it comes to designing your garden, allowing you to truly craft a masterpiece of nature.
Wildmender Official Specifications
Can your gaming PC cultivate an oasis, or is it a barren desert?
| Component | Minimum Specs | Recommended Specs |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 11 / 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7 64-bit | Windows 11 / 10 64-bit |
| Processor | 2.5GHz Quad Core or Similar | Intel i5 9600K @ 3.7GHz |
| Memory | 8GB RAM | 16GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti | NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti 6GB |
| DirectX | Version 11 | Version 11 |
| Network | Broadband Internet connection | Broadband Internet connection |
| Storage | 8GB available space | 8GB available space |
MSI Cyborg 15 Gaming Laptop
Restore your oasis on the go with the MSI Cyborg 15. This gaming laptop is packed with everything you need to enjoy Wildmender in stunning quality. The Intel Core i7-12650H utilises hybrid core architecture and Intel Thread Director to intelligently manage your workloads and assign the best core for each job. For immersive gameplay, this laptop pairs an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU with an FHD screen that boasts a 144Hz refresh rate. The end result: photo realistic graphics and buttery smooth refresh rates.
It’s important to stay cool in the desert. The MSI Cyborg 15 is equipped with CoolerBoost technology, a next-gen thermal system engineered to keep up with the demands of modern gaming. The CPU and GPU are cooled by a shared pipe design which enables real time heat dissipation for improved efficiency.
We were lucky enough to get our hands on a copy of Wildmender ahead of its release. Read up on the gameplay, specifications, and what we thought of this beautiful game.
ARK: Survival Evolved
Everything is better with dinosaurs, especially survival games. ARK: Survival Evolved took this to heart and gave our prehistoric friends armour and weaponry. Thankfully, you can tame the primeval creatures roaming the land and use them to dominate the other survivors on this strange island. Perchance you’ll even escape. Until then, you must battle against the elements, stay fed and warm, even lay down roots as you farm, forage, and build a base.
ARK: Survival Evolved has multiplayer gameplay down. Firstly, you can form a Tribe with your friends, so that you can all ride each other’s tamed creatures. This system also increases your number of home spawn points, and you can even have Tribe Admins who can distribute resources across the group. What’s more, on the hundred-plus player servers, everything you’ve built or tamed stays within the game. Even when you leave. Plus, you can travel your character and items between all the different ARKs, via the Obelisks and downloading your data to Steam. There’s so much to see and do, with near infinite replayability.
ARK: Survival Evolved Official Specifications
Does your gaming PC dominate (Domin8 even), or is it dinosaur food?
| Component | Minimum Specs |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7* 64-bit |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2400 AMD FX-8320 |
| Memory | 8GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GTX 670 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB |
| DirectX | Version 10 |
| Storage | 60GB available space |
| Additional Notes | Requires broadband internet connection for multiplayer |
Refract Gaming Jade
The Refract Gaming Jade is your perfect survival partner. Pre-built by our team of tech experts, with cherry-picked hardware, the Jade has been crafted for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 seamlessly handles all your single and multi-threaded workloads, thanks to Zen 4 architecture. Bringing the dinosaurs back from extinction, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GPU will render ARK: Survival Evolved and all your favourite survival games in stunning detail with features such as AI-enhanced upscaling.
As with all the Refract range, the Jade comes with three years parts and labour warranty, for that extra peace of mind should anything go wrong. Sadly, being crushed by dinosaurs isn’t covered.
Streamplify HUB DECK 5
A key component of survival is being organised. What better way to increase your odds, than getting your gaming desk in order? Instead of wasting precious time messing about with your peripherals and devices, have them all connected in one place. The Streamplify HUB DECK 5 is a five port USB hub, made of four USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0A with power charging. Each port has a corresponding keycap to denote what’s plugged in and an LED backlight to show when powered. There are seven keycaps in total, allowing you to swap them around and organise this hub to best suit your needs. Better yet, a cable comb tidy is included within the scope of delivery to keep all those trailing wires as tame as your dinosaur friends!
Do You Have What It Takes To Survive?
Are you ready to head-to-head in a survival of the fittest match? Or will you work together because there is safety in numbers? Let us know which your favourite survival games are to play with the squad in the comments below!
PC specs are subject to change.
- 11 min read
Emily Haylock
Author
Emily is a board and cosy gamer, keyboard obsessive, and content copywriter for Overclockers UK. She has been with Overclockers UK for two years, writing about everything from noblechairs to 8Pack PCs. She writes from within her desk nest with a foster pup at her feet. (What, a desk duvet is a totally normal thing!) In her downtime, she likes to play board games, farming sims, and old-school Final Fantasy. IX to be specific. It is the best, and that is a hill she will die on.
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