Originally posted 2017-05-03 15:13:29.

I’m gonna let you readers in on a little secret about myself – I am a huge nerd.  I love video games, and especially the sub genre of survival video games.  These always seemed to  hold my attention the most, and who doesn’t love a good fright and a fight for your life once in a while?  So, here’s my short list of the best survival video games.

Half Life & Half Life 2

Half Life may be one of the most famous  & innovate first person survival video games of all time – paving the way for so many others that came after it.   Developed by Valve & Sierra Studios, Half Life was released in 1998 for PCs.   In Half Life, you assume the role of scientist Gordon Freeman, who is working on mysterious portal technology deep under ground in a decommissioned military base turned laboratory known as the Black Mesa Research Facility.  Things go from routine to macabre one day when you accidentally unleash alien life into the facility, and the game is spent trying to survive and make it to the arid surface of New Mexico and escape.

Half Life 2 was released in November 2004, & takes place approximately 7 years after the initial incident. However, in this episode, you find that the aliens have conquered Earth and placed a fascist puppet government in charge.  I won’t ruin the plot for you, but if you’ve never played the Half Life series and you’re into survival video games, you should really pick them up.  They are of course, available on steam but you can probably find disk versions as well.

Resident Evil series

Probably the freakiest games I have ever played, at least for their ‘scare the crap out of you’ nature, has got to be the Resident Evil series.  I wasn’t really old enough to get into these games until I owned Resident Evil 4 (on my trusty old game cube)

All of the Resident Evil games have slightly different plots, but they all pretty much revolve around the evil Umbrella Corporation and the T Virus, which is responsible for the many different undead enemies you encounter in the game.  Resident Evil always includes a little bit of puzzle solving along the way, and if there’s one thing any of these games has taught me, it’s that you have to conserve that ammo!  Some of the most difficult times I have ever had playing survival video games were had in the Resident Evil world.

Oregon Trail

Now, I’m gonna move away a little bit from what most people would consider survival video games, but how can this list be complete without mentioning the Oregon Trail series?   Made famous in elementary school computer labs the nation over, the Oregon Trail pits you as a family who has decided to make the grueling trip out west to strike their fortunes.  It really is about survival though, as you have to make hard decisions on how much food, oxen, and gear you will take with you – you must fight off animals, hunt for food, and try not to get dysentery along the way.  For some reason every time I play this game all my sons die from rattle snakes.  A classic in survival video games for anyone who grew up in the 1990s.   I think there are some newer remakes available out there for PC.

Harvest Moon series

 

If you’re not familiar with Harvest Moon, well, they could best be described as a ‘farming simulator’   As cheesy as that sounds, the Harvest Moon games are my favorite video game of all time.  You start out as a young man / woman, and the plot usually goes like this.  Your grandfather has died, leaving his withering farm to you .  The nearby town’s mayor then will give you a few years to make the farm productive again, or it will be bulldozed for a mall / amusement park / parking lot.   In the game you will begin by farming the cheapest, easiest to grow crops, and you eventually will work your way into lumber, animal husbandry and more as you expand your farm and gain more experience and strength.

The coolest part about the Harvest Moon games isn’t the farming, but the interactions and relationships you develop with the nearby townsfolk – helping one person will make others resentful towards you, and you strive to build balanced relationships (sometimes even resulting in a marriage) with the people around you.  It’s an excellent series of games, but be warned they can be a real time sink (you will look up and it’s 8 hours later from when you began playing.. it’s that addictive).  They’ve also come out with a fantasy version of Harvest Moon, known as Rune Factory – if you’re more into a Legend of Zelda styled game.  So, that’s my list of survival video games.  Which ones are your favorite?