Best Survival MMORPGs to Play in 2023 | MMORPG.com

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Best Survival MMORPGs to Play in 2023 | MMORPG.com

Survival games are available in droves these days but very few games have been able to successfully mix the genre with MMORPG elements. While there are very few true MMOs with survival-style gameplay, some developers have managed to find a happy balance between both genres. Here are our picks for the best survival MMORPGs that you can play in 2023.

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McSleaz

I see survival games in the list but I don't see any "MMO".

Darkhawke

Another day Another article pushing the same narrative.. There are No MMORPGs on that list,  just call them what they are Survival games , people like them just the same.

Slapshot1188

Add Kingdom of Atham as one to keep an eye on. More multiplayer sandbox RPG than pure survival but it’s fun. Early Access though so keep that in mind. A ton of fun though if you like a lot of crafting, building and character skills.

OG_Solareus

I;m going to argue, those aren't mmo's. They are MRPSG, Multiplayer roleplaying survival games.

cameltosis

I've only played two of them: ARK and Valheim.


Neither are massively multiplayer.

Neither are roleplaying games.


They both have their charms and I've certainly put 100s of hours into ARK, so I enjoy the game a lot. But MMORPGs they are not. Like, not even remotely close.

DigDuggy

McSleaz said:

I see survival games in the list but I don't see any "MMO".

Too much emphasis on the definition of MMO at this point. A 1000 people have their own wonderful definitions and won't be budged from them. By now, I think we understand from context that they're referring to Survival games. It's much easier to go by the spirit of the law than the letter of the law than to constantly point out the 'MMO' in every article, post, opinion...

Kyleran

You gotta love this description of 7 Days to Die, while still in Alpha (like 20.1) it apparently is ready to be sunset.

"Despite it being an aging game, there is a small community of gamers who are keeping the game alive and you can find public groups where members are willing to group up and have fun together."

Theocritus

Kyleran said:

You gotta love this description of 7 Days to Die, while still in Alpha (like 20.1) it apparently is ready to be sunset.

"Despite it being an aging game, there is a small community of gamers who are keeping the game alive and you can find public groups where members are willing to group up and have fun together."

7 Days to Die isnt that hard....You dont really need to group up for anything unless you really want to play with others.....I have over 1300 hours played in it...To me it was the best of the open world survival games, but it is far from a MMO.....If some of these alleged great MMOs gave us a great world to explore with skyscrapers filled with zombies, I'd go try them too....

Darkhawke

Slapshot1188 said:

Add Kingdom of Atham as one to keep an eye on. More multiplayer sandbox RPG than pure survival but it’s fun. Early Access though so keep that in mind. A ton of fun though if you like a lot of crafting, building and character skills.

I've been testing there builds for about 10 months, good bones and alot to like here , but it has a ways to go .. Another that is under the radar I've been testing for 6 months is Dead Reach , same as  KoA some good bones and great ideas ..Looking forward to watching these 2 Survival games grow this year.

corrosivechains

Kyleran said:

You gotta love this description of 7 Days to Die, while still in Alpha (like 20.1) it apparently is ready to be sunset.

"Despite it being an aging game, there is a small community of gamers who are keeping the game alive and you can find public groups where members are willing to group up and have fun together."

Yeah, not the only instance of such writing in this article. Like the part about Conan Exiles: "Conan Exiles is a game that did not impress many at launch but the game has gotten noticeably better over the years. " This is the game that literally saved Funcom from bankruptcy and made them profitable again on launch.

Nilden

So we are at the point now where we have a list of MMORPGs without a single MMORPG on it.

olepi

Qbertq said:

McSleaz said:

I see survival games in the list but I don't see any "MMO".

Too much emphasis on the definition of MMO at this point. A 1000 people have their own wonderful definitions and won't be budged from them. By now, I think we understand from context that they're referring to Survival games. It's much easier to go by the spirit of the law than the letter of the law than to constantly point out the 'MMO' in every article, post, opinion...

The gaming community and this site do that a lot. Same with the terms "alpha", "beta", and "release". All used so loosely that they have lost the real meaning they used to have.

So why did they call them MMO's if the word has no real meaning anymore?

Slapshot1188

Darkhawke said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Add Kingdom of Atham as one to keep an eye on. More multiplayer sandbox RPG than pure survival but it’s fun. Early Access though so keep that in mind. A ton of fun though if you like a lot of crafting, building and character skills.

I've been testing there builds for about 10 months, good bones and alot to like here , but it has a ways to go .. Another that is under the radar I've been testing for 6 months is Dead Reach , same as  KoA some good bones and great ideas ..Looking forward to watching these 2 Survival games grow this year.

Where can I download Dead Reach?  I went to their website and it appears to just be a description page with no DL link.  Not found on Steam...

xdave78

Nilden said:

So we are at the point now where we have a list of MMORPGs without a single MMORPG on it.

So what makes a Game a MMO? Massively Multiplayer...so what is "massively"? For Playstation Players "massively multiplayer" is everything above 1 Player...the common definition , referrig to wikipedia is : "A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ." Well, I played some of these Games with up to 70 ppl on one server.

Next...what is the exact definition of a rpg? Lets take a look what wikipedia says:
"A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development."

So well...fits to every of these games.
Otherwise not one single MMORPG would exist at the present time...the vast majority of players in WoW, FF14, TESO etc. do not really "act out their characters within the narrative" especially not through "literal acting" or "structured decision making". They click the guy with the question mark and follow the questmarker, kill 244 boars and head back to get the reward.
Maybe your definitions have to be overthaught

Scot

You can't beat the MMORPG.com forums, we are the Survivors!

Nilden

"massively multiplayer" is everything above 1 Player



So pong is a MMO now? 

You see I remember when 64 players in a Battlefield match was just multiplayer so to be massively multiplayer you would need to have more than that. Don't let reality get in the way of making words meaningless though.

The logic is just astounding. I mean if everything above 1 player is a MMO how exactly do just regular multiplayer games even exist? I guess everything is just a MMO now.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

ultimateduck

Good grief, what a bunch of whiners about what an MMO is.

I've played most of those games to some degree. They all have a fairly massive flaw from my perspective. Character progression and loot are shallow, and people take "survival" as kill everyone as often as possible and take their stuff whether you need it or not... which just gets old.

Some games, like Rust, you either live in the game or log back in with everything missing because you never really log out. They are basically PvP crafting games where all the loot kinda sucks.

The_Korrigan

They may not be "Massively", I agree with that, but many of those are very cool.
V Rising, Conan and Valheim get my votes.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

The_Korrigan

Slapshot1188 said:

Add Kingdom of Atham as one to keep an eye on. More multiplayer sandbox RPG than pure survival but it’s fun. Early Access though so keep that in mind. A ton of fun though if you like a lot of crafting, building and character skills.

Trying the demo right now.
Looking not bad at all for an indie.

TheDalaiBomba

xdave78 said:

Nilden said:

So we are at the point now where we have a list of MMORPGs without a single MMORPG on it.

So what makes a Game a MMO? Massively Multiplayer...so what is "massively"? For Playstation Players "massively multiplayer" is everything above 1 Player...the common definition , referrig to wikipedia is : "A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ." Well, I played some of these Games with up to 70 ppl on one server.

Next...what is the exact definition of a rpg? Lets take a look what wikipedia says:
"A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making regarding character development."

So well...fits to every of these games.
Otherwise not one single MMORPG would exist at the present time...the vast majority of players in WoW, FF14, TESO etc. do not really "act out their characters within the narrative" especially not through "literal acting" or "structured decision making". They click the guy with the question mark and follow the questmarker, kill 244 boars and head back to get the reward.
Maybe your definitions have to be overthaught

Lol.

TheDalaiBomba

Nilden said:

"massively multiplayer" is everything above 1 Player



So pong is a MMO now? 

You see I remember when 64 players in a Battlefield match was just multiplayer so to be massively multiplayer you would need to have more than that. Don't let reality get in the way of making words meaningless though.

The logic is just astounding. I mean if everything above 1 player is a MMO how exactly do just regular multiplayer games even exist? I guess everything is just a MMO now.

This site might as well drop the MMORPG moniker and rename itself to something more accurate to what it does.

I honestly see no reason to hold onto the title save for catching random folks googling the acronym for a few extra clicks, and that's exactly the click bait shit the internet doesn't need.

Kyleran

TheDalaiBomba said:

Nilden said:

"massively multiplayer" is everything above 1 Player



So pong is a MMO now? 

You see I remember when 64 players in a Battlefield match was just multiplayer so to be massively multiplayer you would need to have more than that. Don't let reality get in the way of making words meaningless though.

The logic is just astounding. I mean if everything above 1 player is a MMO how exactly do just regular multiplayer games even exist? I guess everything is just a MMO now.

This site might as well drop the MMORPG moniker and rename itself to something more accurate to what it does.

I honestly see no reason to hold onto the title save for catching random folks googling the acronym for a few extra clicks, and that's exactly the click bait shit the internet doesn't need.

I just checked, www.PissandVinegar.com is available....

DigDuggy

olepi said:

Qbertq said:

McSleaz said:

I see survival games in the list but I don't see any "MMO".

Too much emphasis on the definition of MMO at this point. A 1000 people have their own wonderful definitions and won't be budged from them. By now, I think we understand from context that they're referring to Survival games. It's much easier to go by the spirit of the law than the letter of the law than to constantly point out the 'MMO' in every article, post, opinion...

The gaming community and this site do that a lot. Same with the terms "alpha", "beta", and "release". All used so loosely that they have lost the real meaning they used to have.

So why did they call them MMO's if the word has no real meaning anymore?

Realities of definitions for some words change over time.  A website with a community such as this, in an age where 'feel' is more important than 'definition'.  Look at past topics of a 'battle of definition' nature.  I feel that MMOs are this, I feel that they should be .......  How can anyone keep up?  This isn't unique to the gaming community.  It's pervasive in our culture at the moment.

I'm a person who likes definition and have had to pull back on my defense on many platforms because people aren't interested in it.  Feeling trumps it.  So now, I just look at the spirit of the law, as opposed to the letter of the law.  I understand what the topic is about, as well as I think that most others do.  At the moment, it's a losing proposition to debate the use of the terms because most don't agree on them.   A more relaxed attitude saves a bunch of 'triggering' debates.  I don't get triggered, but people these days seem to relish being triggered.