How to Survive

 PC
Metascore
60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 19
  3. Negative: 2 out of 19
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. Worth Playing
    Nov 20, 2013
    91
    There are no areas where How to Survive really stumbles, and there are plenty of areas where it shines. The combat flows well, though ranged seems to be a better idea than melee, and the enemy variety keeps things from becoming stale.
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 11, 2014
    80
    Surprisingly entertaining to play, it it just too easy. [Dec 2013]
    All this publication's reviews

Awards & Rankings

77
#77 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 306 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 144 out of 306
  2. Mixed: 122 out of 306
  3. Negative: 40 out of 306
  1. sean_vikoren
    Oct 30, 2013
    0
    This game was advertised as multiplayer co-op and it's not. May all liars burst into flame; they stole my money.

    The idea of surviving by    This game was advertised as multiplayer co-op and it's not. May all liars burst into flame; they stole my money.

    The idea of surviving by making cool things from items found in the environment is great, but the execution on this idea is abysmal. It really has the feel of a High School project.

    The gameplay is dull and repetitive, the spawns are infinite giving everything you do a pointless feel.
    Building things might be interesting, except they managed to take all mystery out of that process.    … Full Review »
  2. Cytokinesis
    Oct 23, 2013
    5
    Disclaimer: I've played this for 2 hours as of writing this. I will continue to play it and will adjust the review/score accordingly ifDisclaimer: I've played this for 2 hours as of writing this. I will continue to play it and will adjust the review/score accordingly if something major changes. This games premise is pretty good. The execution leaves something to be desired, however. The controls on PC are just weird at the start; although aiming is easy the movement feels more like you are controlling and old nes game with a dpad. Movement is much more fluid with a controller as you don't "steer" with the mouse unless you are aiming so it gets some getting used to. It's quite linear so far with a bit of sandbox. You move from island to island (as of writing this I'm on the 3rd island) and do (sort of) what you want on each island. The downside is you really don't have much time with the respawning enemies and how obnoxious it is to explore at night. I applaud the premise of this but the execution just makes exploration very menial and more high risk low reward. Resources seem to respawn every once in a while meaning it's basically impossible to run out of ammo. Fatigue is particularly annoying because you can only rest in designated areas and sometimes that means going back from where you came and the enemies respawn and now it's night so you have more annoying enemies after you too. They needed to either implement more rest areas or allow you to construct your own rest areas. The crafting system is decent but it only allows you to combine when there is something to combine so there isn't any experimentation. If it says combine when you select something then you can combine. I have been playing on ironman and the difficulty is lacking but the tediousness is quite high, so maybe if you play on a lower difficulty it would be more enjoyable. Overall it's an extremely mediocre title so far with nothing exceptional. It's repetitive and tedious at times and the best it has to offer is the feeling of getting some parts and making a cool new weapon. I'm glad I bought the game at a heavy discount with store credit rather than paying money. Could be worth a few hours romp but lower your expectations coming in and you might enjoy it more.… Full Review »
  3. ernuk
    Nov 1, 2013
    6
    This game is good, IN THEORY. Survive against zombies while exploring four different islands! Uncover a mystery! Keep track of yourThis game is good, IN THEORY. Survive against zombies while exploring four different islands! Uncover a mystery! Keep track of your physiological needs! How long will you last?

    Well the answer is; forever. Or at least for as long as the campaign lasts, which is to say only a few hours. See, the premise is all fine and good. You shipwreck into a random island somewhere, which happens to be full of zombies and there's some creepy dude helping you survive. Only a few minutes into the game you realize the combat system is primitive (although it admittedly works) and the islands themselves are more like tunnels than sandboxes.

    An hour into it you realize the food/drink/sleep system is almost inconsequential, the writing is pretty bad, moving around the islands feels like a grind and that the creepy dude is mainly there to be a funny gimmick you can show off in trailers. Nonetheless, there was something about the game to keep me going. Although, the way I played it was mostly one hour at a time. I'd fire it up, play for an hour, get bored but come back eventually.

    If anyone's planning to get this for the co-op, don't. It's even more pointless than the single player. There's no "surviving together", it's just running through hordes figuring out an overlying puzzle to complete the the challenge. Again, in theory it's great that the different characters have different skill sets to complement each other, but it never comes down to that. If you're having a hard time, just go play single player to gain some better equipment and levels. Oh, and you can only play story mode in local co-op.

    Anyhow, it can be somewhat amusing, but it all comes down to the fact that this game is like 3/4 of a really good game. It's relatively close, but no cigar. Maybe a tobacco. A sequel expanding all of this could be worth it. I don't expect DLCs to amount to anything.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »