Subsistence

You can’t please everyone all the time.
Moving from UDK to a fully licensed engine source is not some small patch. That’s foundational work. That’s long term vision. That’s future proofing the game instead of just slapping content on top of technical limits.
People forget this is not a studio with 40 developers, a cinematic team, and a marketing department. This is one developer putting years of effort into a sandbox survival game that many of us have put hundreds of hours into.
I have 145 hours in this game. That doesn’t happen by accident. That doesn’t happen if the core loop isn’t solid.
Early access means evolution. It means risk. It means sometimes rebuilding the foundation so the house can grow taller.
Critics are often the most invested players. If you care enough to complain, you care enough to want it better. But this move unlocks performance improvements, material pipeline changes, and future features that were literally impossible before.
That’s not regression. That’s growth.
To the dev: don’t get discouraged. A lot of us appreciate the grind, the consistency, and the fact that you’re still pushing this forward. That matters.
Looking forward to diving back in.

I'm writing this review since it bothered me to see its "mixed" score from recent reviews.
This game is named Subsistence for a reason. It's a slow paced game where you'll literally live a virtual life as a survivor fighting the environmental challenges of seasons, wildlife and scavenging. That means it's a heavy grind game, you won't be building your vehicle so soon and that's why the sense of accomplishment every time you get something is much more satisfying. Because it literally took years to get it.
You can turn off hunters for an even more chilling experience where all you'll do is listen to the environment sounds (no background music, love it) and live your routine of grinding. I personally leave them activated but only in revenge mode, that way there's that additional challenge whenever I have to dive down to the underground caves searching for minerals that are obtainable only there and makes the modern weaponry available worth grinding and upgrading.
One more thing that people should know before bashing the game is that ColdGames is a one-man-army company. Yeah, you heard it right: a single human work. While there are a lot of games out there backed up by teams of dozens that are sh1et compared to this one and provides nothing new, we are periodically getting new stuff, fixes and answers whenever we ask for something. Take this into consideration before going after the guy to complain about something specially if it isn't game-breaking stuff.
If you are looking for a more action paced game with more fighting/shooting, low grinding system and shortcuts to get your stuff you'll most likely be disappointed but I still recommend you to try it. You might get surprised with how this can be relaxing if you're not the type of person that focus on getting to highly-optimized-meta-endgame as quickly as possible and are just looking for something to spend some time chilling.

Subsistence is the only game where I can wake up, stretch, breathe in the crisp morning air, and immediately get mauled by a wolf I didn’t even see. And honestly? That’s part of the charm.
This game throws you into the wilderness with nothing but hope, anxiety, and the world’s weakest starter axe. From that moment on, it becomes a daily battle between me and literally everything that moves. Wolves? Violent. Bears? Violent. Chickens? Surprisingly judgmental. The weather? Also violent.
Building a base in Subsistence feels like constructing a luxury home out of pure spite. Every plank of wood is a victory. Every wall is a middle finger to nature. My base starts as a sad little rectangle, but after hours of grinding, panicking, and screaming, it becomes a slightly less sad rectangle with a door. Progress.
And the hunters? Oh, the hunters. These dudes show up like they’re on a corporate team‑building retreat and I’m the icebreaker activity. They roll up, shoot at me, steal my dignity, and leave. Meanwhile, I’m crouched behind a bush eating raw berries like a feral woodland creature.
But here’s the thing: I love it. I love the chaos. I love the suffering. I love the fact that every day in Subsistence feels like a new episode of “Will Alan Survive or Will a Bear End His Career Again.”
The game is unforgiving, unpredictable, and occasionally rude — but it’s also incredibly satisfying. Every tiny win feels like I’ve conquered the universe. Every time I don’t die, I feel like a genius. Every time I do die, I blame the wolf because it’s never my fault.
Subsistence isn’t just a survival game.
It’s a psychological experiment, and I am failing beautifully.

I've played a lot of this game. I mean a lot.
I won't sugar coat it... this one is a hard one, and not in a good way, but hear me out.
You're gonna die. It's gonna happen, either by your own hand or by the several things that'll get ya. This is where you'll learn what to do and how to do it. For instance, don't build the base thing right away... it stalls the humans from spawning. You're limited in things to do, but you can gather, craft and prepare. Then when you're ready, you'll have the advantage. Remember, they're armed to the teeth when they FIRST appear, a new player won't see that coming and easily rage quit. Not their fault, they want to go forward like the game expects them to. Play by your own rules and you'll have a better time.
The human enemies are terrible. They have laser pinpoint accuracy and if you don't have a helmet, they'll eventually get a lucky shot on ya; especially the pilots who can have lever action rifles and magnums... and a new player might be curious only to be met with violence and a possible rage quit. I get it, it happens, but that shouldn't happen.
The humans however, are rather dumb and with enough patience, you can turn the tables on them. I've created essentially, pillboxes around their compounds. They thought they were the hunters... they met the wrong one. You can easily farm the AI and sometimes get good stuff from them like high level crafting items, just build a shelter close by, shoot one and they'll all swarm and be confused as all get out. I'll tell you this, I've never crafted a single explosive or shotgun shell, they provide those for me at very good trade of a few ounces of lead. But I imagine this isn't how you're supposed to play. If you try to take them head on... you'll have a harder time. They will hit you very often with ease, while it takes you multiple laser focused misses before you can maybe get a good hit. Or... you can do it my way and never lose.
But... oh yes, there's a but... getting into their homes is a pain. Early stages, you'll need a lot of pickaxes and axes, which need materials you can generally find in stashes or boxes... and herein lies the grind. Search, take, craft, steal, fight, die. It will get tiring, it will get monotonous and it will get boring, very quickly. At 400+ hours, I've done pretty much everything, minus a few things like build an atv... if that's not jumping a shark, I dunno what is. I can only find one berry in a bush in an entire meadow, but I can build an atv. Yeah, no.
Animals are also equally stupid and violent. If you play their game you'll lose... but you can build a small blind where you spot them and make them come to you and just let a few arrows fly or if you're in a good spot, reach down and a few smacks with the ax. Be on a ledge and pull an animal, the sumbish'll try to scale the wall, giving you free reign. Again, probably not how it should be done, but it works.
There's a lot that might not make sense to a new player, basic survival is one of those. If you can't provide the player with a basic survival tutorial, at least give them a sort of starting pack for first night's survival. Again, I've played this game a lot, gimme my ax and am good, I'll have hot brass on the grass within days, but a new player will get angry and will not come back. Start with basic survival for the player, a tutorial or better yet, a starting pack with essentials for at least surviving the night. A buff to item boxes as well would be good.
There's a lot of wonky business going on in the game too... don't get me started on crafting, but if you'll craft anything, craft a pistol and pistol ammo. This is gonna be your bread and butter, put it on number two because she will never leave your side, unless you're not very smart. Don't question how you can craft these things with generic stuff you find in boxes, but that's the wonky stuff.
Hunt, yes... but fish and gather. Seaweed in the water will help you, it's not much, but go find it and eat it. Search for it near the shores, or look for obvious textures in the water. If you're cold at night with no fire... there's a chance the water is warmer and you might survive if you go in. Fishing is fantastic, be careful of eagles. The water is your friend, unless you're chased by animals, then no water. Hunters see the water and freak out. You can hide in it and even build on it, make a blind in the water and hunt humans at their home all day.
If you want to win at this game... you have to play by different rules. Use the game against itself, and you'll win every time.
If you, by the grace of the deity of your choosing, manage to find a friend to play this with, bless them and go play something better together because they are gonna rage quit unless... you think outside the box the game gives you. Then, you might enjoy it.
Do I recommend the game, yes... but with a huge caveat. This game needs a lot of work. Basics need to be communicated or at this point, just given to the player. This is to keep them playing, to get them to want to play. Give them a reason to play vs punish them for trying. I don't want to give too many suggestions because I imagine others have, but I will say this: the game is playable, and you can make it fun.
There's worse things you can play, and I legitimately enjoyed playing. I make my own fun. I've put my time in and I didn't regret it (for the most part) but the early days were rough, and I think if the developer would ease that curve a little for new players, they might stick around more.
Aside all the news, because am not here for that. I just wanted to tell you how the game is, and yeah it's ok. I dig it.

I really can't say anything negative against the game. It's pretty much just a hard core survival game where it's hard not to die numerous times. There can be some pretty harsh penalties for dying - such as the loss of what appears to be about 30% of the items ON your character, and you can end up respawning a LONG ways away from where you died. If you died at night or during the winter, then good luck making it back to your corpse before dying again, or dying multiple times. Also, it "appears" that after a certain number of deaths, when you respawn, you respawn without the beginner pistol and with a virus that reduces your health and stamina by 30% as well. So far the virus has not been easy for me to cure in the early game as it requires some resources, such as fish oil, that can only be found by harvesting fish. In the early game it's challenging to get food, particularly protein, so those fish become vital sources of protein to help keep you alive. Anyway, the game is about prioritizing choices and options that can help keep you alive, and while still learning it's not always obvious what some of those priorities should be.

I enjoy survival games, and I particularly like that this one is just man against nature and wilderness beasts - no zombies or mythical beasts are out to get you in this one!

For a solo Dev, I'm impressed. I definitely give this game a Thumbs Up!

As a side note, if you purchase the game and it crashes right after the Unreal screen pops up, go into the games discussion boards and head over to the Technical Issues discussion board on the right side of the main boards. There is a thread in there that may be the fix to your problem - it was for mine.

I'm surprised the game isn't more popular than it is. It's by far one of the best survival games on the market. And I mean a real survival game. The updates over the years have made the game a much better experience as I'm just coming back to it again now. It's still grindy, which is what I want... but you get much more resources now which is making it a much better experience since it almost took a little too long to gather resources prior. Instead of finding one fibre plant to make rope, you'll find a bush with several. So the grind is still there but it's just much more balanced in terms of loot.

I see a lot of other games struggle with their AI implementations but this dev has been getting it right. They build their own bases, they fish, they hunt, etc... It's quite unique and enjoyable to have them as a threat. You can set it so they don't attack you unless you attack them first, which is a great option to add for players.

In terms of survival mechanics, it's quite vast. You build plant beds for crops, diving tanks to go under water to search for underwater caves for more resources, generators to supply the base with power, fridge, stove, difference types of workbenches depending on what you're building.

I honestly think this game should be in every survival game players library.

If you love survival games ,you cant hate this one, especially considering it was made largely by one developer. The atmosphere, survival mechanics, and sense of progression are well thought out and genuinely challenging.
You can clearly see the passion and dedication behind the project, with steady updates and a strong core gameplay loop. While there is still room for improvement in areas like polish, performance, and quality-of-life features, the foundation is solid and very enjoyable.
A great achievement for a solo dev and definitely worth playing if you enjoy hardcore survival games.