The Survivalists

Island survival crafting with monkeys that gather, build, and fight

Team17 · Released Oct 9, 2020

Reviews: Mostly Positive; 76% of 10K
Recent reviews: Mixed; 63% of 36 in 30 days
Playing now: 39; right now
Steam Deck: Playable
Last update: 11 months ago; Oct 3, 2025

What is The Survivalists?

As a castaway in this survival crafting adventure, you explore island wilderness, gather resources, make food and tools, and build a base. You can train monkeys to help with work or combat, visit temples for loot, and travel between islands alone or with up to three other players.

For you if...

+you enjoy a laid-back approach to survival crafting
+you want to train monkeys to help gather and build
+you like exploring islands and building bases with friends

Not for you if...

−you want deep survival systems or complex combat
−you dislike repetitive resource gathering and crafting

What players say

76% of 10,120 reviews are positive · 63% of 36 in the last 30 days

Players praise the monkey training system, relaxed island crafting, and playing with friends. They complain about repetitive work, awkward inventory management, bugs, and islands that can feel sparse. Recent reviews also criticize the arrival of paid DLC after a long gap in updates.

Screenshots and trailer

The Survivalists system requirements

As published by the developer.

Minimum

OS: Windows 7
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 | AMD Phenom II X2 550
Graphics: DirectX 11 Graphics Adapter with 1 GB VRAM
Memory: 2 GB RAM

PC version details

DRM, required accounts, controller support and Steam features.

DRM: None declared on Steam
Controller: Full controller support
Platforms: Windows
Achievements: 42
Steam features: Cloud saves, Family Sharing

Steam Deck: Playable

Some text entry requires manually opening the on-screen keyboard
All functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration
Shows Steam Deck controller icons
In-game text is legible on Steam Deck
Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck

Multiplayer and co-op

Languages

Text only: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic, Dutch.