Best Value Post-apocalyptic Games Under $40
The Post-apocalyptic games on Steam games under $40 that deliver the most playtime per dollar: median reviewer hours divided by current price.
All Indie Action Adventure Simulation RPG Strategy Co-op Open World Story Rich Casual Funny Survival Difficult Pixel Graphics PvP Horror Anime Puzzle Rogue-like Relaxing Turn-Based Strategy Local Co-Op Psychological Horror Hack and Slash Platformer MMO RTS Immersive Sim Post-apocalyptic Action Roguelike City Builder Life Sim Zombies Sports Racing Survival Horror Stealth Bullet Hell Dungeon Crawler Visual Novel JRPG Deckbuilding Grand Strategy Cyberpunk Tower Defense Clicker Fighting Open World Survival Craft Boomer Shooter Colony Sim Farming Sim Cozy Auto Battler Cooking Twin Stick Shooter Metroidvania 4X Souls-like Dating Sim MMORPG
By price
Price divided by median reviewer playtime — how much you pay per hour of gameplay. Lower is better. Reviewers tend to sink more hours in than the average owner, so treat this as an optimistic estimate. Free games are excluded because there's no price to divide by.
- 1Rust$0.05/1hr392h86.72%86.73%
- 2Fallout 4$0.09/1hr211h81.27%81.17%
- 3Rusty's Retirement$0.10/1hr72h92.12%96.69%
- 4My Time at Sandrock$0.11/1hr110h87.43%88.15%
- 5UnderRail$0.11/1hr130h85.33%86.10%
- 6Left 4 Dead 2$0.12/1hr82h97.41%97.52%
- 7R.E.P.O.$0.12/1hr53h95.76%96.00%
- 8Dying Light$0.12/1hr40h95.03%95.23%
- 9Project Zomboid$0.14/1hr182h93.60%93.77%
- 10Fallout: New Vegas$0.15/1hr67h95.59%95.98%
- 11Generation Zero$0.15/1hr33h74.58%72.03%
- 12DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT$0.18/1hr56h91.34%92.22%
- 13Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition$0.20/1hr25h96.95%97.70%
- 14Frostpunk$0.21/1hr29h92.24%92.74%
- 15ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game$0.23/1hr64h84.77%84.76%
- 16Timberborn$0.25/1hr99h93.91%95.97%
- 17Wasteland 3$0.25/1hr48h84.83%84.60%
- 18Deadside$0.26/1hr96h77.46%75.52%
- 19Survivalist: Invisible Strain$0.27/1hr45h85.73%86.61%
- 20Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game$0.27/1hr37h90.57%93.88%
- 21This War of Mine$0.27/1hr19h93.04%93.83%
- 22Rain World$0.27/1hr32h92.46%93.70%
- 23XCOM 2$0.28/1hr71h84.73%84.68%
- 24Welcome to ParadiZe$0.28/1hr11h82.72%67.24%
- 25Kenshi$0.29/1hr104h94.78%95.59%
- 26Doloc Town$0.29/1hr69h87.94%94.54%
- 27The Long Dark$0.29/1hr69h88.63%88.90%
- 28Phoenix Point$0.30/1hr84h79.92%73.15%
- 29GOD EATER 3$0.30/1hr20h82.38%79.33%
- 30They Are Billions$0.30/1hr98h85.16%85.13%
- 31Tom Clancy’s The Division 2$0.31/1hr98h80.16%78.71%
- 32The Last Stand: Aftermath$0.31/1hr23h83.44%80.52%
- 33Fallout 76$0.31/1hr128h72.80%71.91%
- 34I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival$0.31/1hr26h85.05%84.45%
- 35Rusted Moss$0.34/1hr24h86.02%89.27%
- 36Grim Dawn$0.35/1hr72h92.79%93.47%
- 37SurrounDead$0.36/1hr33h89.48%91.02%
- 38Sunkenland$0.37/1hr54h81.86%80.40%
- 39Nuclear Throne$0.40/1hr30h92.45%96.02%
- 40IXION$0.42/1hr25h81.18%78.79%
- 41Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game$0.42/1hr24h91.56%94.25%
- 42My Time at Portia$0.43/1hr69h90.34%91.47%
- 43Forever Skies$0.45/1hr30h81.97%78.23%
- 44Terminus: Zombie Survivors$0.46/1hr26h87.70%94.19%
- 45Mad Max$0.47/1hr43h91.65%92.35%
- 46The Last Spell$0.50/1hr50h88.61%91.40%
- 47HumanitZ$0.51/1hr39h78.59%74.25%
- 48Roboquest$0.56/1hr27h92.40%95.27%
- 49OUTRIDERS$0.58/1hr34h69.56%66.99%
- 50ZERO Sievert$0.59/1hr34h84.71%84.67%
- 51RAGE$0.59/1hr17h80.29%77.84%
- 52ELEX$0.61/1hr50h77.86%74.33%
- 53The Forever Winter$0.61/1hr49h72.95%68.20%
- 54BlazBlue Entropy Effect$0.62/1hr32h92.26%94.31%
- 55The Final Station$0.63/1hr6h86.08%87.45%
- 56The End Is Nigh$0.64/1hr24h87.54%93.62%
- 57Ghostrunner$0.66/1hr11h90.44%91.21%
- 58Ghostrunner 2$0.67/1hr12h82.53%79.98%
- 59Contagion$0.69/1hr14h77.63%72.73%
- 60Infection Free Zone$0.69/1hr35h82.32%80.66%
- 61Kill The Crows$0.69/1hr7h87.78%95.07%
- 62HAAK$0.70/1hr26h86.52%89.68%
- 63Dread Delusion$0.70/1hr28h87.06%90.19%
- 64Tom Clancy’s The Division$0.73/1hr41h72.26%70.91%
- 65Urban Strife$0.75/1hr46h83.87%70.60%
- 66Days Gone$0.75/1hr53h92.15%92.73%
- 67Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days$0.77/1hr33h86.98%89.25%
- 68DUCKSIDE$0.78/1hr19h81.80%72.20%
- 69Chained Together$0.79/1hr6h89.10%89.68%
- 70The Long Drive$0.79/1hr20h87.88%88.33%
- 71The Talos Principle 2$0.83/1hr36h90.58%94.92%
- 72Surviving the Aftermath$0.84/1hr36h80.78%70.84%
- 73AI LIMIT$0.84/1hr27h90.45%91.82%
- 74Borderlands Game of the Year$0.86/1hr35h88.68%89.73%
- 75Dome Keeper$0.86/1hr21h90.01%92.35%
- 76Left 4 Dead$0.88/1hr11h94.98%96.39%
- 77S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat$0.88/1hr23h93.19%95.69%
- 78State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition$0.88/1hr34h83.05%82.72%
- 79State of Decay: YOSE$0.88/1hr23h83.44%82.42%
- 80Miscreated$0.89/1hr34h70.61%65.95%
- 81Darksiders Warmastered Edition$0.89/1hr22h87.14%88.05%
- 82Pacific Drive$0.92/1hr33h83.73%83.14%
- 83Frostpunk 2$0.92/1hr24h77.64%74.80%
- 84The Crust$0.93/1hr22h82.87%76.71%
- 85Fallout 3$0.93/1hr11h82.51%81.49%
- 86Sunset Overdrive$0.94/1hr21h87.89%90.04%
- 87DAEMON X MACHINA$0.95/1hr11h84.54%84.18%
- 88Insect Swarm$0.96/1hr7h85.19%84.15%
- 89HighFleet$0.97/1hr31h86.68%88.25%
- 90Metro Exodus$1.00/1hr30h89.63%89.94%
- 91Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition$1.00/1hr20h82.21%81.65%
- 92LISA: The Painful$1.03/1hr19h91.20%95.43%
- 93The Walking Dead$1.03/1hr15h96.00%97.33%
- 94ZEPHON$1.05/1hr38h84.52%83.18%
- 95S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl$1.07/1hr19h93.07%94.67%
- 96NieR:Automata$1.08/1hr37h87.30%87.43%
- 97Drive Beyond Horizons$1.09/1hr23h80.37%77.92%
- 98Deadzone: Rogue$1.10/1hr23h83.55%82.42%
- 99Eastward$1.11/1hr22h84.44%83.90%
- 100The Talos Principle$1.16/1hr26h92.98%95.29%
How the math works: we sample each game’s Steam reviewers, take the median of their total recorded playtime (lifetime hours, not hours at the time of review), and divide it by the game’s current price in your selected currency. Reviewers usually sink more hours in than the average owner, so the numbers run generous. Free games aren’t listed because there’s no price to divide by, and a game needs playtime data from at least 20 reviewers before it qualifies. All prices are Steam’s own regional prices, never exchange-rate conversions.