Games

Survival Games With The Most Unique Biomes

Published

2 months ago

November 11, 2024

Christoph Rediske

Key Takeaways

Unique biomes in survival games provide varying challenges and rewards, enhancing replay value.
State of Decay 2, Outward, and Valheim offer realistic and diverse biomes that impact gameplay.
Games like ARK: Survival Evolved and No Man’s Sky feature vast, procedurally generated worlds with countless unique biomes.

Biomes in survival games play a crucial role in the overall gameplay, with different biomes offering their own sets of challenges, rewards, and difficulty. From dense forests filled with resources to enemies to icy wastelands where even the NPCs struggle to survive, biomes in survival games are more than just visually pleasing locations.

With each new biome, a new set of challenges arises. It’s these new obstacles that make survival games so fun to replay time and time again. Whether it’s a sandbox-style survival game with randomly generated biomes or a more linear experience with a predetermined map, unique biomes can leave a long-lasting impression on the gaming community.

8 Open-World Games With The Most Diverse Biomes

These open-world games have a vast range of biomes for players to get lost in, providing players with great variety.

9 State of Decay 2

A Realistic Survival Horror Game

Systems

State of Decay 2 combines survival and horror with a dose of realism to create a unique zombie-based experience. Set in the USA, State of Decay 2 has four main locations: Cascade Hills, Meagher Valley, Drucker County, and Providence Ridge. The game’s developers tried to them as real as possible.

Unlike similar games, State of Decay 2 tries to stay within the realm of realism by incorporating rural farmlands, dense forests, rivers, deserts, urban areas, and suburban neighborhoods. Although this may not seem overly unique, these biomes create a more gritty and grounded experience.

8 Outward

A Charming Open-World Fantasy & Survival Game

Outward Definitive Edition player stares at ships

Outward is an open-world survival RPGwhose unique and stunning biomes place an emphasis on exploration. Not only are the biomes visually pleasing, but they play a key role in the survival mechanics of the game.

Outward has four main biomes: the coastal region of Chersonese, the lush Enmerkar Fores, the swampy Hallowed Marsh, and the vast Abrassar Desert. The gameplay mechanics linked to these biomes help make Outward more difficult and enjoyable. The Abrassar Desert, for example, has scorching heat during the day and subzero temperatures at night, meaning players need to prepare for two vastly different experiences.

7 Valheim

An Unforgiving Survival Game Inspired By Norse Mythology

Systems

Released: February 2, 2021
Developer(s): Iron Gate AB

Valheim has various unique biomes that directly correlate with a player’s skill and ability. For example, the Meadows biome is the safest and most forgiving biome and is the first biome players will encounter.

2:34

Pro Tips For Valheim You Need To Know

Players may be ready to jump into Valheim as soon as possible, but that may not be the best idea. Here are some pro tips you need to know first.

Valheim has seven unique biomes: Meadows, Black Forest, Ocean, Swamp, Mountain, Plains, and Mistland. Each biome gets harder, but resources grow more plentiful, pushing players to continue exploring this vast world. As Valheim is based around Viking mythology and history, the biomes, although quite standard, are unique and filled with Viking-based structures and items.

6 Conan Exiles

A Survival Experience In the World of Conan the Barbarian

Conan Exiles characters battling with weapons and a horse Best Persistent World Games, Ranked

Set in the Exile Lands, Conan Exiles players can experience seven fully realized biomes: Savanna, Highland, Jungle, Desert, Tundra, Snow, and Volcano. Each biome offers a unique experience with different enemies, creatures, and weather challenges.

Although the biomes themselves aren’t anything groundbreaking, the additions like creatures, cities, and vast cave systems make the biomes truly unique within the survival genre. Players need to prepare and plan their trips into certain biomes like the Volcano or Snow biomes, which have extreme temperatures that can drain players’ resources and equipment quickly.

5 ARK: Survival Evolved

A Prehistoric Survival Experience

Ark: Survival Evolved, Dead Island and Animal Crossing are some of the 13 Best gamaes set on an abandoned Island

ARK: Survival Evolved is the most popular dinosaur-based gamearound today, and one of the most popular survival games of all time. ARK: Survival Evolved has 12 unique maps, each with varying biome types and sizes. These maps all boast caves and ruins, exclusive creatures, and unique artifacts.

ARK Survival: Ascended - Best Worlds collage

Best Worlds In ARK: Survival Ascended

Ark: Survival Ascended offers players many worlds to explore, but these are the best in the game.

The game features a total of 12 maps for players to explore, offering a selection of biomes. Players can roam through grasslands and forests, vast deserts, snowy tundra, underwater caverns, and even alien landscapes.

4 Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

A Survival Game That Evolves Throughout

A monkey swings over to another money who is waiting on the bank of a river next to some palm trees.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Developer(s): Panache Digital Games
Released: August 27, 2020

In Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, gamers play as a family of apes through multiple generations, learning new skills and abilities, essentially playing through the evolution of humankind. Because the game takes place over millions of years, the biomes see significant changes, creating a one-of-a-kind experience.

The biomes vary between dense jungles, vast savannas and lush islands, but what makes the biomes stand out is how they adapt over the course of the game. Each time players take control of the new generation, key differences can arise in the biomes, such as new and improved vegetation, rock formations, rivers, and streams.

3 Subnautica

An Underwater Survival Experience

Systems

Released: January 23, 2018

Subnautica is an underwatersurvival game that takes players on a deep dive into an unknown alien world. At first, besides the alien life, the biomes seem fairly standard. But once the players progress further into the story and delve deeper into the ocean, the biomes become unique and exciting.

Subnautica has ten unique biomes for players to explore, whether swimming or in a submarine. Each of the biomes is visually striking and unique, especially with the alien creatures and vegetation.

2 Minecraft

One Of The Most Popular Games Of All Time

Minecraft

Platform(s): 3DS , Android , iOS , Nintendo Switch , Nintendo Wii U , PC , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PS Vita , Xbox One , Xbox 360
Released: November 18, 2011

Minecraft is one of the most popular games of all time, and almost every gamer has played it at least once. Minecraft is the king when it comes to the sheer number, variation and unique biomes, with 64 biomes in Java Edition and 90 in Bedrock Edition.

2:27

Minecraft Steve in front of a collage of biomes

Minecraft: 20 Great Biome Mods You Need To Try

Gamers bored with vanilla Minecraft biomes should try these fantastic biome mods that drastically change the game.

Minecraft has three distinctive worlds. The Overworld has more than 50 biomes, the Nether has 5 biomes, and the End has 5 biomes. The sheer variation of these biomes alone is enough to make Minecraft one of the best games of all time.

1 No Man’s Sky

Near-Infinite Possibilities

Open-World Xbox One Games - No Mans Sky b

No Man’s Sky is perhaps the biggest game of all time. It offers near-infinite procedurally generated worlds for players to visit, each with truly unique biomes. With over 255 galaxies to explore, it is easy to say that No Man’s Sky has the highest number of unique biomes not only in survival games, but in gaming as a whole.

With 18 quintillion planets, it is impossible to comprehend the sheer number of potential biomes players can encounter. To this day, the developers update the biome variations regularly for even more interesting and obscure generations.

6:18