10 Best Survival Games on Nintendo Switch (2025)

When enemies breach your home base, will you have strong enough defenses to hold them off? Are you willing to bear the harsh environmental conditions out in the wild for the chance that you might run into scarce resources or valuable loot? How long can you go without food or water? 

These are some of the challenges survival games throw at you. They want to see how long you can live, not because you’re constantly in the heat of battle, but because you have no choice but to sustain your character in a cruel, hostile world. 

While Nintendo Switch is often the go-to platforming console, we’ve compiled some notable selections for the best survival games on Nintendo Switch below.

What is a Survival Game?

A survival game is a branch of action games that focuses solely on staying alive in a hostile world. You do so by building safe havens, managing scarce resources, and often fighting invaders or other online players. 

Overall, the foundation of survival games is built on resource gathering, crafting, and combat.

Best Survival Games on Nintendo Switch

Looking to test yourself on how long you can live in a hostile world? Be sure to check out some of the best survival games on Nintendo Switch below.

10. Windbound

The worst that could happen is getting trapped on the shores of some unknown island, cut off from the world. Worse? If said new home is known as the “Forbidden Islands.”

Yet the human instinct is to survive no matter what. So, Windbound builds on the will to live, giving you a mysterious island to explore and adapt to. You navigate the land, uncovering rich resources and crafting useful tools for hinting and defense. 

But the sea will soon call, urging you to explore further into discovering the secrets of the past and uncover glimpses into the future. 

9. Ark: Survival Evolved

It seems getting stranded on a mysterious island is a constant theme in survival games, with Ark: Survival Evolved presenting yet another opportunity to discover the unknown.

You must go hunting for food, exploring the depths of the island for resources and possibilities. You may run into other players, also striving to survive and dominate on very little. 

But the overall goal is to escape this place, to be careful not to be sweet-talked into sticking around for the pet dinosaurs or the thrilling battles against the Ark’s mythical creatures.

8. Outward

Another of the best survival games on Nintendo Switch is Outward. This one’s for the lovers of adventure, who find themselves in the wild, hiding and defending themselves against the creatures of the night. But the environment, too, has it out for you, with lots of dangers from infectious disease to hunger.

While adventuring has its perks, it needs putting up with the dangers it brings. You’ll discover new cities but also engage in dangerous dungeon crawling and battles against formidable beasts. 

7. This War of Mine

Most military games have had us relive the Great War on the frontlines of battle. But This War of Mine takes a different approach. Rather than be the soldier, you’re the ordinary citizen caught in the crossfire. 

Imagine the trauma you witness and the constant danger you have to shield your family from. Imagine surviving on minimal food and medicine. This one truly hits home with its heartfelt storylines and genuine experiences of war. 

6. Don’t Starve Together

Don’t Starve Together already picks up from one of the best survival games on Nintendo Switch and other major platforms, Don’t Starve. It’s a multiplayer game that tosses you and your friends into a harsh, hostile world. The world awaits you to explore its crevices. Yet dangers, stranger creatures, and more surprises await. 

You’ll gather resources and craft useful tools to help you stay alive. While you have the blueprint for building structures, ultimately, your playthrough is entirely dependent on you. However, cooperation is advised, as you learn to trust strangers online and work together to come out on the other side. 

5. Stranded Deep

Yet again, you find yourself “Stranded Deep” somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Your plane has just crashed into the unknown, and now, it’s up to you to brave the terrifying encounters you’ll face and explore the endless environments in the game with resilience and determination for escape.

4. Minecraft

Minecraft has set the pace for a ton of other best survival games on Nintendo Switch. It’s probably already familiar to you as the sandbox game where you can literally do anything you want. You can gather resources, build skyscrapers, and wage war against nearby communities, all in good fun, of course.

3. Subnautica

For me, the ocean is the scariest place on Earth, especially the deep seas. Some of the aquatic life down there isn’t even known to man. Meanwhile, you reach places that are pitch dark. For that reason, you’ll less likely find me deep-sea diving, but definitely playing Subnautica. It’s my supplement for the fear of deep-sea waters?

Anyway, if you’re like me and want to experience coral reefs and aquatic sea life in the most breathtaking ways, Subnautica is the game for you. It’ll have you upgrading your submarine to survive treacherous deep-sea trenches but also enjoying the wonders of aquatic life.

2. No Man's Sky

There might not be a survival game as big as No Man’s Sky. I mean, the planets here procedurally generate infinitely. So, you can never really run out of new planets to explore and conquer. 

1. Terraria

And finally, we have Terraria. It can be your supplement for Minecraft, for a similar digging, fighting, exploring, and building survival game with a fresh concept for visuals and story.

The caverns you can exploit are near-limitless. These then feed you with resources to build your own city and conquer neighboring territories. 

Over time, you’ll strengthen your borders and expand your reach, always with room to grow stronger with each effort put into uncovering more of Terraria’s unique adventure.