Open-world survival games you can play free

Survival games ask one simple question: can you stay alive? Find food, find shelter, watch your health, and push a little further each time. Put that in an open world and you get some of the most absorbing games around. The good news is that several of the best-known ones cost nothing to start.

These are our picks, not a ranking. For each we checked the platforms and whether it is free at the time of writing (October 2026); sources are at the bottom. “Free” here means free to download and play, usually with optional paid extras.

What counts as an open-world survival game

The genre is loose, but most of these share a few things:

• Needs that run down. Health, hunger, thirst, sometimes sanity or oxygen.
• Gathering and crafting. You turn what you find into tools, food and shelter.
• A world you can roam. No corridor of levels: you choose where to go and what to risk.
• Threats. Zombies, wildlife, weather, other players, or simply running out of supplies.

Free picks

Once Human

A post-apocalyptic survival game from Starry Studio, a NetEase studio. You build, craft and manage hunger and sanity in a shared open world, alone or with others. It is free to play and multiplayer, with online co-op and player-versus-player. It launched on PC in July 2024, came to iOS and Android in April 2025, and reached PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in August 2026.

Unturned

A blocky zombie-survival sandbox made largely by one developer, Nelson Sexton, at Smartly Dressed Games. Its official maps are loosely based on real places, among them Prince Edward Island, Washington, Russia and Germany. The base game is free, with optional paid cosmetics. You can play alone or online with others. It is on PC (Windows, Mac and Linux), PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

LEGO Fortnite Odyssey

Inside Fortnite, Epic's free game, LEGO Fortnite Odyssey is a survival sandbox: collect materials, build and fight off monsters. Every Fortnite mode is free to play, and Fortnite runs on PC, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and phones.

AJ Cities

Our own game, and a lighter take on survival than the others. AJ Cities is a free open-world game in your browser, on a phone or a computer, with nothing to download. You are AJ, deported from London to the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos, two weeks back and broke.

Survival here is about the hustle more than the wilderness. AJ has health, and food, snacks and medicine bring it back: a plate from Chuks's coal pot, the jollof at Mama Shola's restaurant at No. 1, or snacks and medicine from Sarge's window at the gate. The clinic at No. 5 treats you free. Stay away from the guard dogs at No. 8. And money is its own survival meter: AJ earns ₦1,000 a break as a ball boy at the street football in the bush, bets what he can on the match, and pays the gate police a little at a time until he reaches the ₦2,500,000 that lets him out.

Early in the story, a short workout at the home gym at No. 8 raises AJ’s maximum health a step, so getting stronger is part of staying alive too. Fights are with fists, and a hit costs health, so knowing where the next plate of food is matters.

There is no crafting or base building, so if that is what you want, pick one of the others. If you want a survival story with people in it, this is a different flavour. It is 18+.

Two paid ones worth knowing

Valheim

Fallen Vikings in a Norse-themed open world, trying to reach Valhalla. Up to ten players can play together, with optional player-versus-player. After years in early access it reached its full release in September 2026, on PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2.

Subnautica

Stranded on an alien ocean planet, you dive for resources, build bases and submarines, and manage health, hunger, thirst and oxygen. Its developers set out to make a game without lethal guns, so the danger comes from the planet itself. Single-player, on PC, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and phones.

At a glance

Tips for your first hour in any survival game

1. Learn what heals you before you need it. In most survival games, the first death comes from not knowing where food or medicine is.
2. Do not wander too far on day one. Get a feel for the area around where you start.
3. Money and materials compound. A small, steady income beats one big gamble.
4. Play with someone. Survival games are often better shared, and many of these are free to try together.

In AJ Cities, that first hour looks like this: talk to Chuks, follow the map pin south to the bush, work the football, and keep an eye on your health. The how-to-play guide walks you through it.

Want more free open worlds? See our lists of free open-world browser games and free open-world games on PC with no download.

Are there free open-world survival games?

Yes. Once Human and Unturned are free to play, LEGO Fortnite Odyssey is a free survival sandbox inside Fortnite, and AJ Cities is a free browser game with a lighter, story-led take on survival.

Which free survival game can I play on my phone?

Once Human is on iOS and Android, Fortnite is on phones, and AJ Cities runs in a phone browser with nothing to install.

How do you stay alive in AJ Cities?

Food, snacks and medicine restore your health: Chuks’s pot, Mama Shola’s restaurant at No. 1 and Sarge’s window at the gate. The clinic at No. 5 treats you free.

Can I play these with friends?

Once Human, Unturned, LEGO Fortnite and Valheim all let you play with others. In AJ Cities, party mode lets signed-in adults meet other players live at the estate.