Games Like Oxygen Not Included – 7 Best Similar Games to Play

Survival games have always been a top-rated genre, but Klei Entertainment raised the bar with Oxygen Not Included, leaving players demanding similar games. This single-player survival/simulation game is rated 10/10 on Steam and has an astonishing 95% positive review rate on SteamDB. If Oxygen Not Included caught your interest, then here is our list of the top 7 games like Oxygen Not Included that you should try out. 

Top 7 Games Like Oxygen Not Included

7. The Planet Crafter

The Planet Crafter is a game that shares a lot of similarities with Oxygen Not Included. However, it is not very well known. The game is about your character arriving on a planet that seems to be a hostile and uninhabitable planet at first.

Your only goal is simple, and that’s to make it habitable for other humans. You have some basic statistics like oxygen, heat, pressure, and biomass later on. To fulfil your mission, you must use different machines and techniques to terraform the planet and increase these statistics to livable levels. 

As you slowly develop your habitat on the planet, you will unlock new features like animals and plants. The main way to develop is by increasing your Terraformation Index. You must also look to balance your power usage against your power production for smooth progress.

6. State of Decay 2

State of Decay 2 is a popular zombie survival game with all-in-one type gameplay. The game is a third-person survival game, where you work with 3 other players to scavenge for items in an open-world environment. Like most survival games, you must gather resources and build defenses against the oncoming waves of zombies to survive.

Balancing your use of resources, i.e., food, medicine, ammo, and construction materials is essential in order to survive. The game allows both multiplayer and single-player modes, where AI-controlled survivors accompany the player through their survival. You’ll need to work with the other survivors by helping or recruiting them and surviving the onslaught of various types of zombies like Juggernauts or Ferals.

As the game progresses, you’ll discover new layers of complexities and obstacles like character traits, morale parameters, and different transportation methods.

5. Frostpunk

Set in the late 19th century, Frostpunk takes players back to an alternate history where they must assume the role of ‘The Captain’ and establish a working society. The game takes place in a setting where the world is devastated by a volcanic winter, where you are left with only a small group of survivors working together to harvest and manage resources such as wood, coal, steel, and food.

Each city has a central generator producing heat, around which you must build important buildings to survive. As the game progresses, you’ll find that keeping order isn’t as easy as you think. There are some that are discontent with your policies, while others are falling to the harsh winter temperatures. It is up to you to maintain order by setting some hard laws.

You must balance the political landscape as well as oversee the technological development to make it through these times.

4. Don’t Starve & Don’t Starve Together

Don’t Starve is another masterpiece developed by Klei Entertainment. Following many of the same aspects as Oxygen Not Included, this survival game is about a scientist who finds himself in a dark parallel world known as the Constant. Not only do players need to keep the scientist alive and sane, but they must also steer clear of supernatural enemies out to devour him.

With time, players will unlock different playable characters as well. There is also a multiplayer version of the game, Don’t Starve Together, in which groups of players can select from a vast roster of characters in an attempt to survive the Constant.

The game really focuses on keeping reality in check by following a day/night system, having food spoil over time, and tools breaking after usage. Characters have a Sanity and Hunger meter you must take care of. The game has both a Sandbox and Adventure mode that players can engage with.

3. Project Zomboid

Zombie-themed games are a staple in the survival genre, and Project Zomboid is definitely an experience that stands out among other zombie games. This open-world survival game is set in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested zone where players must survive as long as they can. The inciting incident of this zombie apocalypse is the ‘Knox Infection’, the origins of which are unknown.

Before spawning, you can choose your character’s traits, appearance, and occupation, all of which come into play later on. You have four starter towns you can choose from, after which you must manage your personal needs as well as your need to stay alive. Meanwhile, you have to scavenge for food and read skill books to enhance your character’s skills.

The game has both a sandbox mode as well as multiplayer and different challenges you can opt for. On top of this, there are various mods you can download for this game as well.

2. Subnautica

Anyone who’s into the survival genre has surely heard about Subnautica. At one point, every other YouTuber was playing it, increasing its popularity tenfold. This single-player survival game places players on an alien ocean planet where they are the sole survivor of a spaceship crash.

Much like Oxygen Not Included, you must gather resources, survive against the local inhabitants, and find ways to escape. The game is an open-world first-person survival game set underwater. You’ll have a storyline and objectives you must complete in order to progress, like building bases and submersibles, as well as collecting tools.

There are many threats you’ll have to face since the game is mostly set underwater. The fun part is this game has four distinct modes to choose from: Hardcore, Survival, Freedom, and Creative. Play to your heart’s content to see how you fare.

1. The Forest

The Forest is our final item on the list and its rating definitely speaks for itself. This survival horror game is unlike any other, placing you inside an isolated forest full of cannibalistic monsters. The story is about your character, Eric LeBlanc, searching for his son. Timmy was lost after they were in a plane crash after which they ended up on a mysterious unknown island.

The problem is that a tribe of cannibalistic mutants inhabits this forest, and you must create shelter and gather resources while doing your best to avoid them. While they aren’t always hostile, you don’t want to get too close to find out.

Players must venture further into the forest as well as the caves beneath the peninsula, discovering weirder secrets. Forage for items to build tools and weapons that help you survive and follow the survival guidebook given to you. Finally, you have to understand the local inhabitants and how they work for a shot at victory.

Now that you know some of the games that are similar to Oxygen Not Included, here are some other articles and guides you may be interested in, such as Sons Of The Forest – How To Build and Sons Of The Forest Review: Dark Woods, Wild Adventures.