Best Value Survival Games Under $40
The Survival 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.
- 1Dead by Daylight$0.02/1hr363h78.36%78.25%
- 2Crosshair X$0.03/1hr309h91.89%93.36%
- 3Myth of Empires$0.03/1hr224h73.97%67.60%
- 4SCUM$0.03/1hr526h74.83%74.01%
- 5Fallout 4$0.04/1hr137h81.34%81.19%
- 6Outward Definitive Edition$0.04/1hr52h75.70%72.68%
- 7Fallout: New Vegas$0.04/1hr57h95.68%95.97%
- 8Fallout 76$0.05/1hr155h72.80%71.92%
- 9Deep Rock Galactic$0.07/1hr135h96.87%97.10%
- 10Mad Max$0.07/1hr43h91.64%92.35%
- 11Atomicrops$0.07/1hr41h87.85%92.05%
- 12Subsistence$0.08/1hr104h77.22%72.12%
- 13My Time at Portia$0.08/1hr72h90.31%91.46%
- 14Darkwood$0.09/1hr22h92.11%94.89%
- 15Kingdom Two Crowns$0.09/1hr22h89.18%90.18%
- 16Terraria$0.09/1hr106h97.31%97.37%
- 17RimWorld$0.10/1hr292h97.47%97.85%
- 18Don't Starve Together$0.10/1hr150h94.77%94.89%
- 19Kenshi$0.10/1hr118h94.77%95.59%
- 20Mr. Prepper$0.10/1hr27h83.21%80.01%
- 21Town of Salem$0.10/1hr48h87.28%87.86%
- 22Brotato$0.11/1hr47h95.09%95.92%
- 23Against the Storm$0.11/1hr82h92.49%94.44%
- 24Among Us$0.11/1hr27h91.98%92.03%
- 25Space Haven$0.11/1hr89h85.49%85.76%
- 26Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic$0.12/1hr86h89.58%91.18%
- 27Mortal Online 2$0.13/1hr315h70.42%59.82%
- 28Risk of Rain 2$0.13/1hr65h93.69%93.85%
- 29SKYHILL$0.13/1hr8h82.66%78.30%
- 30God Of Weapons$0.13/1hr46h84.78%84.02%
- 31Picayune Dreams$0.13/1hr19h89.94%98.88%
- 32Oxygen Not Included$0.14/1hr184h95.97%96.72%
- 33Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun$0.14/1hr29h93.79%96.03%
- 34Space Engineers$0.14/1hr145h88.56%88.81%
- 35Rust$0.14/1hr287h86.68%86.67%
- 36Beasts of Bermuda$0.15/1hr137h77.13%68.88%
- 37Eco$0.15/1hr204h82.55%80.69%
- 38Green Hell$0.15/1hr19h84.66%84.61%
- 39Valheim$0.15/1hr200h93.39%93.49%
- 40Project Zomboid$0.16/1hr161h93.63%93.75%
- 41Dungeon Defenders$0.16/1hr96h90.57%93.09%
- 42Mindustry$0.16/1hr62h92.97%95.73%
- 43Breathedge$0.16/1hr15h82.10%80.93%
- 44Alan Wake$0.17/1hr13h89.21%89.88%
- 45Factorio$0.17/1hr203h97.14%97.52%
- 46Stoneshard$0.17/1hr101h76.97%74.67%
- 47ARK: Survival Evolved$0.18/1hr85h83.40%83.34%
- 48Planetbase$0.18/1hr41h82.42%79.78%
- 49Core Keeper$0.18/1hr65h91.93%92.94%
- 50Endzone - A World Apart$0.19/1hr11h80.93%76.70%
- 51Palworld$0.19/1hr111h94.47%94.60%
- 52Kingdom: New Lands$0.19/1hr8h85.26%85.32%
- 53Empyrion - Galactic Survival$0.19/1hr103h79.91%78.37%
- 54The Survivalists$0.20/1hr25h80.20%76.18%
- 55Left 4 Dead 2$0.20/1hr50h97.43%97.52%
- 56Smalland: Survive the Wilds$0.20/1hr35h83.35%81.61%
- 57ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game$0.20/1hr74h84.52%84.77%
- 58Risk of Rain (2013)$0.21/1hr10h91.08%93.05%
- 59Resident Evil 4 (2005)$0.21/1hr24h93.36%94.19%
- 60The Escapists$0.21/1hr13h88.29%90.21%
- 61Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense$0.21/1hr120h85.84%86.28%
- 62Empires of the Undergrowth$0.21/1hr36h91.19%94.36%
- 63Blood and Bacon$0.21/1hr5h93.11%95.28%
- 64Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander$0.21/1hr66h90.29%94.25%
- 65Tribes of Midgard$0.21/1hr23h79.02%76.38%
- 66Bloons TD 6$0.22/1hr65h96.96%97.18%
- 67Tainted Grail: Conquest$0.22/1hr23h87.64%89.86%
- 68Ostranauts$0.22/1hr91h82.51%77.13%
- 69Total War: ATTILA$0.22/1hr89h83.00%82.42%
- 70Scrap Mechanic$0.23/1hr129h91.31%91.80%
- 71ANEURISM IV$0.23/1hr44h80.74%75.15%
- 72Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition$0.23/1hr22h96.94%97.69%
- 73Settlement Survival$0.23/1hr22h85.12%85.04%
- 74Bendy and the Dark Revival$0.23/1hr9h88.98%91.87%
- 75Amazing Cultivation Simulator$0.23/1hr107h85.49%85.62%
- 76Stronghold Crusader 2$0.24/1hr16h76.98%72.45%
- 77Per Aspera$0.24/1hr31h81.79%75.91%
- 78ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN$0.25/1hr163h81.89%81.72%
- 79The Long Dark$0.25/1hr80h88.61%88.89%
- 80Resident Evil 6$0.25/1hr20h78.13%77.15%
- 81Card Survival: Tropical Island$0.25/1hr100h86.78%94.97%
- 82Timberborn$0.25/1hr98h93.89%95.97%
- 83Starbound$0.25/1hr59h89.78%89.92%
- 84From the Depths$0.25/1hr98h87.46%89.23%
- 85Niche - a genetics survival game$0.26/1hr14h84.91%86.14%
- 86Conan Exiles Enhanced$0.26/1hr155h79.53%79.05%
- 87The Binding of Isaac$0.26/1hr19h93.32%94.61%
- 88HUMANKIND$0.27/1hr47h73.27%69.14%
- 89The Planet Crafter$0.27/1hr54h94.74%96.03%
- 90Bad North: Jotunn Edition$0.27/1hr11h89.94%93.26%
- 91HumanitZ$0.27/1hr45h78.37%74.26%
- 92Yet Another Zombie Survivors$0.27/1hr34h89.06%91.55%
- 93Captain of Industry$0.27/1hr92h87.94%90.31%
- 94Medieval Dynasty$0.28/1hr63h89.51%90.33%
- 95Satisfactory$0.28/1hr145h96.94%97.26%
- 96Chernobylite Complete Edition$0.28/1hr22h83.24%81.99%
- 97The Isle$0.28/1hr71h80.56%80.18%
- 98Survivalist: Invisible Strain$0.28/1hr43h85.62%86.59%
- 99Alan Wake's American Nightmare$0.28/1hr5h79.16%74.45%
- 100SULFUR$0.29/1hr35h86.40%87.56%
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.