Rust is essentially “Minecraft meets DayZ” — a multiplayer survival game with grinding and crafting elements and hostile creatures, in which other players will always be one of the biggest threats (or greatest opportunities, depending on your point of view).
The game, just released in 2021, has already become incredibly popular, and that’s because Rust is so versatile. No matter what kind of survival gameplay you’re into, you’ll be able to find something to do in Rust. Ultimately, you’ll do a bit of everything — exploring the massive open world, building and upgrading your base(s), raiding, and fighting other players with an impressive variety of weapons.
Rust is a great game, but after the novelty wears off, you’ll be looking for other exciting titles. Try these games like Rust if you’d like to stick to the survival genre and prefer multiplayer games.
Rust Game Features
 Release Date: | 8 February 2018 |
 Developer: | Facepunch Studios Double Eleven |
 Publisher: | Facepunch Studios |
 Platforms: | macOS Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One |
 Genre: | Survival |
 Setting: | Real World |
 Game Modes: | MultiPlayer |
1. Raft
Raft is another supremely well-designed open-world survival game with grinding, crafting, and base-building elements. Players start the game on a tiny raft in the middle of a vast ocean, with nothing but a basic hook. That tool becomes your best friend as you set out to collect the resources you need to advance in the game, including barrels and crates.
As well as keeping an eye on your health and hunger, you’ll have to be prepared to deal with the bloodthirsty sharks that are always looking to turn you into a tasty snack.
After a while, you’ll be able to begin upgrading your raft. You’ll eventually stumble on islands you can explore and plunder and — if you play in multiplayer mode — you’ll also encounter other games. Multiplayer games are played cooperatively, and even if you’re in singleplayer, there’s a two-way radio and a compelling narrative to unearth.
Raft stands out in a world of land-based survival games, and the ocean’s currents force you to stay on the move. Rust players won’t have any trouble getting stuck in!
- Developer: Redbeet Interactive
- Publisher: Axolot Games
- Release Date: June 2022
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
2. Minecraft
You can’t make a list of survival games like Rust without mentioning one of the main games to have inspired it — Minecraft. This famous open-world game, with its procedurally-generated terrain (and ever-expanding biomes) is a sandbox, so it can be whatever you want it to be.
Rust players might like to start up a new multiplayer world with their friends in Realms, or join a survival server. If the base game isn’t challenging enough for you, try hardcore mode, where dying means losing your world and the difficulty is hard.
Gamers who last played Minecraft years ago might scoff at the idea of revisiting this now classic game, but Mojang offers exciting new updates every single year — including challenging and exciting new bosses, like the Warden that emerges from the deep.
- Developer: Mojang
- Publisher: Mojang
- Release Date: November 2011
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
3. Valheim
Do you enjoy Rust, but do you also like Vikings? Valheim is the perfect choice for you! This open-world survival sandbox game is set in “Viking purgatory” — a place where Vikings have to prove they’re worthy of Valhalla.
Players start with nothing but their wits, and will have to make their way in a world packed with danger as they collect resources, craft weapons and gear, fight foes, and level their skills up to prepare themselves for the big fight against Odin himself.
Valheim has a singleplayer mode, but if you’re after a multiplayer experience, the game’s developers recommend playing with up to five people. Both cooperative and PvP options are available, so whether you’d like to replicate the brutal competition you’re used to from Rust, or you’d like to make your way to the Viking afterlife together with your friends, Valheim makes it possible.
- Developer: Iron Gate Studio
- Publisher: Coffee Stain Publishing
- Release Date: February 2021 (early access)
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox X/S
4. Don’t Starve Together
Don’t Starve Together — which expands on Don’t Starve, the game’s singleplayer-only version — is a really cute survival adventure game with Tim Butonesque artwork.
The premise is really simple. Gather resources, craft items you absolutely need to survive (like torches) as well as items that will increase your odds of staying alive, and most of all, make sure you don’t starve.
Don’t Starve Together is, however, a genuinely challenging survival game that calls on gamers to strategize heavily. Not only does the night bring new dangers, but so do the changing seasons — and unless you start preparing for winter on your first day, you and your friends really don’t stand a chance.
You’ll maximize your chances of not starving and surviving the bosses and other threats if you and your friends choose complementary characters. You’ll be able to play in parties of up to six, and some of the playable characters are uniquely compatible.
One final word — don’t let the title, or the fact that there’s a singleplayer version, make you think you can’t make it through satisfying solo runs in Don’t Starve Together.
- Developer: Klei Entertainment
- Publisher: Klei Entertainment
- Release Date: April 2013
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
5. Grounded
Grounded is a 2022 survival action game in which players are shrunk to the size of an ant and then left to fend for themselves in a backyard that’s suddenly both huge and terrifying. The game is set in the early 1990s, and follows the story of a group of four teens. Gamers choose from one of four protagonists — Max, Willow, Hoops, and Pete — in a world that grows more expansive and terrifying over time, with common garden spiders (now giant, because you’re tiny) being among the most powerful foes.
There are combat, gathering, crafting, and base-building elements, and you can play alone or with up to three friends. While the multiplayer mode that Grounded offers is coooperative, rather than competitive as in Rust, the game’s exciting PvE more than makes up for the fact that you won’t be fighting your mates.
Who knew that a suburban backyard could be this scary? Grounded has a superb art style and a great narrative, and Rust players are bound to find a lot to like about this exciting new game.
- Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
- Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
- Release Date: September 2022
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox X/S
6. Escape From Tarkov
Some Rust fans might be excited to jump into a cooperative survival game with their friends. Those who crave competition should check out Escape From Tarkov, a brutal first-person shooter set in a massive world.
Yes, you’ll join matches (“raids”) and fight the opposing team to the death, but Escape From Tarkov is different in that it features a slew of survival elements that really place this game beyond the FPS genre. Players can engage in quests, and trade away items they don’t need in flea markets.
Each match lasts less than an hour, and if you die, you’ll lose everything you’d gathered. Escape From Tarkov is a great option for Rust players who want more action but who also appreciate the built-in ending that comes when the match ends.
- Developer: Battlestate Games
- Publisher: Battlestate Games
- Release Date: July 2017
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
7. The Forest
The Forest is a beautifully-designed survival horror game in which players take on the role of Eric LeBlanc, who has just survived a plane crash and now has the challenge of surviving in a terrifying forested world inhabited by cannibals. Surviving is hard enough, but to top it all off, Eric is also desperately trying to find his young son Timmy.
The Forest will appeal to Rust players for a few reasons — The Forest is extremely challenging, offers a wide open world, and while there’s a narrative, players aren’t forced to play in any particular way, instead being able to choose how they’ll interact with the environment.
The Forest also has interesting base-building elements, with the structures you can build including tree houses and cabins.
Rust players who can’t wait to play another massively multiplayer game might be a little disappointed, as The Forest only offers a limited coop option. That is, however, kind of the point of this game — The Forest is about wilderness survival in a harsh world filled with danger, and it focuses on PvE as players ask themselves who the real enemy is.
- Developer: Endnight Games
- Publisher: Endnight Games
- Release Date: April 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4
8. Subnautica
Your space-exploration mission goes horribly wrong. You crash land on an alien planet, which so happens to be completely submerged in water. Your ship and comms are damaged, so you do the only thing you can — you venture out into the gorgeous but undeniably terrifying ocean below you, hoping to collect resources to fix your ship.
Subnautica is an endless open-world survival action game with horror elements, and it’s the first game we’d recommend to Rust players who are looking for a game that feels just as complete even without a multiplayer mode.
Although Subnautica offers quite a few different gamemodes, Rust fans might like to opt for the hardcore mode, where death is permanent and the stakes are much higher.
Subnautica’s sublime world generation means you’ll have a wide variety of biomes to explore, each of which offers new opportunities and dangers. As you advance, you’ll be able to fix your ship and access new adventures.
Never lose sight of your health, hunger, oxygen, and other key stats, though, because while Subnautica is heavily exploration-based, it’s above all a survival game. Even simple oversights can end your life, and the game.
- Developer: Unknown Worlds Entertainment
- Publisher: Unknown Worlds Entertainment
- Release Date: January 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Nintendo Switch
9. DayZ
Rust originally started out as a DayZ clone, and although it evolved to become so much more than that, fans will still undeniably enjoy experiencing the game that inspired Rust. DayZ is, for those who don’t know, a post-apocalyptic survival game set in a depressing ex-Soviet republic. Zombies have ruined society, and the modern comforts you once relied on are now well and truly a thing of the past.
Can you survive? Correction — how long can you survive before you succumb to the zombie outbreak? You’ll have to raid resources from the ruined civilization you roam, and once you’ve secured basics like food, water, and weapons, you’ll be able to set out in search of more advanced survival gear. Watch out, though, because the threats are never-ending and not limited to zombies alone.
This challenging multiplayer game allows you to decide whether you want to team up with the other players you come across, or you’d prefer to rob and kill them to gather more resources.
The grimy ex-Soviet backdrop definitely adds to the doom vibe this game has going on, with beautiful artwork. If you like Rust, the message is simple — you really can’t go wrong with DayZ.
- Developer: Bohemia Interactive
- Publisher: Bohemia Interactive
- Release Date: December 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
10. Project Zomboid
Project Zomboid is another grueling zombie survival game with one goal, and one goal alone — to stay alive for as long as you can. After customizing your character’s desired skills and appearance, you’ll spawn into the area of Louisville, Kentucky, where you’ve been quarantined to prevent the spread of a zombie outbreak.
Project Zomboid, an open-world game that is played from an isometric perspective, progressively becomes more challenging as the remnants of the civilization collapse, the grid goes down, and the infection spreads. You’ll have to adapt to survive, and that includes an advanced skill tree focused on more than just combat — because if you don’t advance your knowledge, you’ll be dead before you know it.
As a bonus, Project Zomboid features a multiplayer mode as well as plenty of mods through the Steam workshop. Because this is an older game, you won’t even need a beefy computer to enjoy Project Zomboid.
- Developer: The Indie Stone
- Publisher: The Indie Stone
- Release Date: November 2013
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux
11. Dead by Daylight
Rust players who love the brutal competition the game offers, but who are up for a brand new adventure, definitely have to try out Dead by Daylight.
This multiplayer horror survival game takes a 4v1 approach — four of you will be playing as survivors. Their goals? To stay alive, fix the generators, and eventually escape. The other player, however, takes on the role of the savage killer, who can win by brutally murdering everyone else.
Both survivors and the killers have multiple ways to increase their odds of success, but the difficulty level of Dead by Daylight is ultimately determined by the players’ skill. If you and your friends have already played Rust together, there’s no question that winning will be a real challenge.
- Developer: Behaviour Interactive
- Publisher: Behaviour Interactive
- Release Date: June 2016
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, Stadia
12. theHunter: Call of the Wild
theHunter is a series of survival simulation games, which can be played solo or with friends, and in which tracking and hunting wild animals in a realistic manner is the primary goal. theHunter: Call of the Wild is set in a beautiful wild forest, with ultra-realistic graphics, where you and your friends will be able to enjoy the ultimate hunting campaign.
- Developer: Expansive Worlds
- Publisher: Expansive Worlds
- Release Date: February 2017
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
13. Terraria
Rust fans who’ve had enough of the brutal competition in the survival game and who are looking for something a little more relaxing should try Terraria. This famous 2D action adventure sandbox game has singleplayer and multiplayer modes, and includes plenty of challenging survival elements. Terraria focuses on exploration and crafting, but is also packed full of bosses and other enemies.
Terraria’s (in)famous sprite-tile artwork may give you the impression that it’s a silly game that lacks depth, but nothing could be further from the truth. Terraria has sold over 44 million copies to date, and the game’s success lies in its open-ended nature, as well as the fact that it’s got a genuinely challenging combat system that will keep you on your toes no matter how much experience you have.
- Developer: Re-Logic
- Publisher: 505 Games
- Release Date: May 2011
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
14. Ark: Survival Evolved
Ark: Survival Evolved is an action adventure survival game set in a prehistoric world. To survive, you’ll have to work hard to collect resources, create a base (because the amount of items you can carry is severely limited), craft new items, and keep yourself fed.
As you’d expect from a prehistoric world, terrifying dinosaurs are joined by mythical creatures. Ark: Survival Evolved isn’t full-on Jurassic Park, though, because the creatures you encounter don’t always have to be your enemies. Taming and riding dinosaurs plays a key role in Ark: Survival Evolved, and your prehistoric friends will allow you to scout the map much more quickly.
Not all Rust players will like Ark: Survival Evolved — its feel is more “Minecraft” than “DayZ”, and although there’s a multiplayer mode, hardcore Rust fans might find the lack of competition a little unsatisfying. Others will enjoy the more relaxed play style, and Ark: Survival Evolved still has plenty of threats (not least your own stamina and hunger).
- Developer: Studio Wildcard
- Publisher: Studio Wildcard
- Release Date: August 2017
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Stadia, Android, iOS
15. Metro Exodus
Rust players who are looking for an equally challenging and rewarding game to play on their own might enjoy Metro Exodus, a singleplayer first-person shooter with survival and stealth elements. Based on the novel Metro 2033, Metro Exodus is set in a post-apocalyptic version of the Russian Federation. Metro Exodus leaves the Moscow Metro behind and follows Artyom as he makes the arduous, and icy, journey to Kazakhstan.
Anyone who’s read Metro 2033, or played the game’s sequel Metro: Last Night will already know that this isn’t an ordinary world. Prepare to encounter mutated monsters with advanced AI as you scavenge to survive and upgrade your weapons to survive the trek.
- Developer: 4A Games
- Publisher: Deep Silver
- Release Date: February 2019
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Nintendo Switch, Stadia, Luna
16. The Long Dark
The Long Dark is a survival game that follows Will Mackenzie, a pilot who has just crashed in the frigid Canadian wilderness and now has to find a way to stay alive. Designed to be as realistic as possible, The Long Dark forces players to keep a constant eye on factors like their health, hunger, thirst, body temperature, and even wind chill.
This makes The Long Dark the perfect game for Rust players who aren’t into zombies or mutant monsters, and who believe that the best settings are the most realistic ones. The artwork in The Long Dark is understated by beautiful, and the world this game offers is perfect to dive into on long weekend afternoons.
- Developer: Hinterland Studio
- Publisher: Hinterland Studio
- Release Date: August 2017
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Games Like Rust: The Verdict
Rust is a hard game to beat, for the simple reason that it’s the best in its genre. If you’re after a realistic survival experience where death is never far off, and you crave a competitive multiplayer experience that allows you to push your skills to the limit, there’s really nothing else that can quite fill the hole.
You’re not here because you want a Rust clone, though — if you weren’t ready to branch out yet, you’d just play Rust.
So, what game should you pick next? That depends on the parts of Rust you liked best and aren’t willing to leave behind quite yet.
Go for Valheim or Minecraft if you want an open-world multiplayer experience that can be as challenging as you’d like it to be. Pick Raft if you’d like to try a brand new game that focuses on survival and exploration in an exciting multiplayer setting.
Try The Forest for a hardcore horror survival experience, and Metro Exodus if you’re looking for a Rust alternative to play on your own. Dead by Daylight is another must-try for competitive players who would love to test their skills against those of their friends.
