Survival games are one of my favorite genres. I probably have more hours in Ark and 7 Days to Die than most other games. However, it’s also one of the least uniform genres I can think of. Most survival games have a huge identity crisis that stops them from meeting their full potential. Many individual games address some of these issues, only to balloon other ones.
Helldivers 2 isn’t the same game I bought at launch. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had the rug pulled from under me to this degree in a video game. In an overcorrection for mass appeal, Arrowhead has completely torn the game’s original vision asunder. From the game’s 60-day balancing rework onward, Helldivers 2 has become a much easier game even on the highest difficulty.
Oxygen Not Included is a survival-focused colony sim where you have to try and help a bunch of hapless fools called dupes (short for duplicates) survive in a pretty unforgiving environment inside different planetoids.
The biggest thing that separates Oxygen Not Included from other games of the genre is its focus on real-world science and physics, or what I assume is a pretty close video game equivalent because what the heck do I know about any of that?
Marvel Rivals has a pretty big problem that it tried to keep relatively secret. It has bots posing as real players in quick play, and not for a reasonable purpose, like filling lobbies. It uses them as a player retention tactic, feeding players who are on a losing streak free wins to not hurt their feelings. It’s scummy, underhanded, and frankly insulting, and it actually causes severe damage to the overall game.