Poll: Survival game, without enemies?

[Zenkem]

In pretty much all survival games, whether zombie, post-nuclear or just deserted islands, the gameplay is less survival and more warfare. Throughout the Fallout-series I have killed more bandits than mutants and animals put together, and videogame houses in general tend to have more guns and ammo than comestibles.

I facepalmed so hard when Terminator Salvation had humans hoping machines would leave them alone while trying to rape the resistance members, and Resident Evil Extinction had an entire family dedicated to torturing survivors while living in the middle of a zombie apocalypse!

So, are there any games where the survival would just mean survival in a dangerous environment? I'd like to play a game where radiation, malnutrition and infections kill more people than the player character. I'm not against combat per se, but most of the time the "surival" means picking up a can of beans while collecting shotgun shells and fending off hordes of bandits a day.

Games I know this far:

Stranded I and II - Light shipwreck survival games, but still entertaining.

Burntime - Old, post-nuclear game.

Cataclysm Roguelike - An excellent apocalypse-surival game where food spoils, cold weather and dirty water make you sick, and entertainment and narcotics are needed to keep your morale up.

Unreal World - Pretty accurate game about life in iron age Finland. Also rare in that it includes weather and temperature hazards.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Since when have any of the Fallout games been considered by the developers or anyone as "survival" games?

Seems a bit unfair to criticise a game for something it isn't trying to be.

I don't have any game recommendations but as far as your poll options go is it really that hard to imagine people killing other people to survive after civilisation collapses when people already do that now, in our world? In a world with law and order there are people stealing and killing; in a world without law and order it's utter anarchy.

 

[veloper]

So what are you left with when you remove all the enemies? A game where you're only looking for food and shelter for your characters?
Sim post-apocalyptic farm?

 

[The Funslinger]

snip

To answer the confusion as to why people are assholes to each other in such times:

Well, some people just snap. I haven't seen a lot of that stuff, but maybe that family was utterly butterly. Maybe they were uber religious and thought people needed to repent to stop the zombie plague.

If you want proof this is how people are liable to act in a zombie apocalypse, the best evidence I could give is in the ArmA 2 Day Z mod.

Survival, scavenging equipment and watching out for zombies. Most importantly, permadeath. It does the "we must survive the zombie apocalypse" thing very well. If you bump into other players, best to declare yourself friendly. Even so, huge amounts of the population essentially take the douche bandit route. You can literally be mugged in the highway. If you're lucky, the better armed person/group will just wound you, tell you to drop your stuff and let you walk off. A lot of the time, they'll just scatter your brains across the wall.

 

[Fasckira]

Kill to survive. This extends to killing others for needed items too, so for example if someone had a pile of medical supplies/food/water/whatever and was refusing to share or trade then I'd likely look to kill them if sneaking and stealing the items wasn't possible.

 

[viranimus]

Well I could see a non combatitve, or at least a game where combat is not the primary means of interactivity being something interesting. Bioware could do a pretty damned good dialog based stranded on a desert island type game If they put their mind to it.

However... personally not all that interested. Mobs and NPCs exist for no other reason than to be used and destroyed however the player sees fit. If they can die, then they were created to die. So by not killing them, your really doing them a grave injustice by depriving them of the meaning of their existence.

So kill more mobs.

 

[Lilani]

Games I know this far:

THUS far ;-)

Anyway, Amnesia: The Dark Descent has enemies, but you don't kill them. You just run and hide and wait for them to go away. I guess you sort of kill the guy at the end...well, really you sort of sabotage his portal back to his home world and the monster that was chasing you eats him and is in turn appeased. So I don't really count him.

The thing with enemies is they give the game a sense of pace. Amnesia does have a few environmental hazards, but what really gets your blood pumping is the enemies. I suppose a few environmental things could be implemented similarly, but the only thing I can think of is a puzzle with a time crunch. Closing walls, rising heat, rising water, rising radiation, things like that. But after a while that would get boring, I think. Timers do add pressure, but they're predictable. You always know you only have a certain amount of time, and usually you know about how much time that is. Enemies are unpredictable, and require a different kind of thinking. Also, when done properly, they let your mind scare you a hell of a lot more than they ever could on their own.

 

[Uncle Comrade]

I facepalmed so hard when Terminator Salvation had humans hoping machines would leave them alone while trying to rape the resistance members, and Resident Evil Extinction had an entire family dedicated to torturing survivors while living in the middle of a zombie apocalypse!

As ChupathingyX and others have said, this sort of thing already happens in the world we live in. If you're the sort of person that enjoys raping and torturing others, you're not going be put off by there being zombies about (as long as they aren't breaking down the door at that moment). In addition, the complete breakdown of law and society would only serve to encourage this sort of behaviour. Look at the rioting in London last year. What started off as a protest against a man's death ended up as four days of anarchy, as dickheads took the opportunity while there was no order in the streets to set fire to buildings and loot themselves new tvs and shoes.

On topic, I do think a survival-focused, minimal-combat game would be quite interesting, but it would have to be done well. Endless scavenging could get dull after a while, I think you'd need something to keep your mind occupied.

 

[Dragoon]

Lost in Blue on the DS and I think on the Wii now is a good survival game. You're shipwrecked on an island with a girl and have to go searching for food and water while waiting to be saved. Here's a video of it

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

You could try Fallout New Vegas Hardcore mode. You have to eat food, drink water and sleep to survive.

 

[Ruedyn]

You could try S.T.A.L.K.E.R series I guess, or if you want no enemies, you could try that Man vs. Wild game that was shit. I don't know what you're really asking for.

 

[Autumnflame]

Survival. the ultimate challenge

Focus on food, water, hope , building things skills.

the only enemies are creatures you kill for pelts and meat.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Not quite what OP is talking about but see Sims Castaways.

 

[zehydra]

In a post-apocalyptic world, it is to be assumed that for the most part, people are fighting for their lives. So it's do what you need to do to survive. If that means killing someone else, so be it.

edit: sorry that was in response to the poll, not the OP's question

 

[The Tibballs]

You should check out Day Z mod for ArmA II, sounds a lot like what you're looking for.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Well it is caleld survival of the fittest for a reason unless you don't believe in that concept. As for a survival game without enemies I can't really think of one. I guess some indie game developer should make a game like that.

 

[Zenkem]

I see that I should clarify this a little...

What I mean is a game where staying alive outside combat is the hardest part, and fighting in general is a rare and unrecommendable last resort. For example, two people eat twice as much food, but if you'd get bedridden for whatever reason, having someone to help you would mean more than his portion of loot.

The post-apocalyptic farming game is, without any irony, close to something I've been thinking of. A small group of survivors, limited amount of lootable supplies and land that's unforgiving at best. It would be enough challenge to survive one winter, but the game could be extended by having the environment rapidly decay and requiring relocating to greener pastures. In summers you'd settle down and grow what food you can, and by winter you'd need to have prepared a convoy for an Oregon Trail -type journey, looting what you can and preparing for next summer.


Another idea would be a single character survival game in a completely randomly generated environment, with random flora and fauna. The majority of the challenge would be finding out what things are edible and what can be used for what. In Nethack fashion, this would require paranoid caution when dealing with anything previously unknown, leading to shortish sessions with roguelike mortality a la Binding of Isaac.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I'd kill to survive, I mean if someone has their own needs fair enough, but if they are being a dick about it and not sharing, then I'll do them in.