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.
- 1Crosshair X$0.02/1hr309h91.89%93.36%
- 2Left 4 Dead 2$0.02/1hr81h97.43%97.52%
- 3Dead by Daylight$0.03/1hr289h78.39%78.28%
- 4Dungeon Defenders$0.03/1hr96h90.57%93.09%
- 5Myth of Empires$0.03/1hr224h73.97%67.60%
- 6SCUM$0.03/1hr526h74.83%74.01%
- 7Terraria$0.04/1hr130h97.31%97.37%
- 8Outward Definitive Edition$0.04/1hr52h75.70%72.68%
- 9Oxygen Not Included$0.04/1hr184h95.97%96.72%
- 10The Outlast Trials$0.05/1hr88h91.77%92.36%
- 11Bloons TD 6$0.05/1hr105h96.96%97.18%
- 12Don't Starve Together$0.05/1hr102h94.78%94.90%
- 13Mortal Online 2$0.05/1hr315h70.42%59.82%
- 14Town of Salem$0.05/1hr48h87.28%87.86%
- 15theHunter: Call of the Wild$0.06/1hr35h89.03%89.07%
- 16Empyrion - Galactic Survival$0.06/1hr103h79.91%78.37%
- 17God Of Weapons$0.06/1hr46h84.78%84.02%
- 18Tom Clancy’s The Division 2$0.06/1hr50h80.06%78.65%
- 19Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense$0.06/1hr120h85.84%86.28%
- 20Brotato$0.06/1hr47h95.09%95.92%
- 21Mindustry$0.06/1hr62h92.97%95.73%
- 22Fallout 76$0.06/1hr155h72.80%71.92%
- 23Rust$0.06/1hr311h86.70%86.69%
- 24Space Engineers$0.07/1hr145h88.56%88.81%
- 25Mad Max$0.07/1hr43h91.64%92.35%
- 26Dying Light$0.07/1hr36h95.09%95.23%
- 27Atomicrops$0.07/1hr41h87.85%92.05%
- 28Fallout: New Vegas$0.07/1hr69h95.69%95.98%
- 29Fallout 4$0.07/1hr108h81.34%81.19%
- 30Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc$0.07/1hr27h93.88%95.96%
- 31Death Road to Canada$0.08/1hr30h89.06%92.74%
- 32ARK: Survival Evolved$0.08/1hr123h83.40%83.34%
- 33ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game$0.08/1hr74h84.52%84.77%
- 34My Time at Portia$0.08/1hr72h90.31%91.46%
- 35Counter-Strike: Source$0.08/1hr24h95.89%96.29%
- 36Starbound$0.08/1hr71h89.79%89.93%
- 37The Binding of Isaac$0.09/1hr19h93.32%94.61%
- 38Darkwood$0.09/1hr22h92.11%94.89%
- 39Kingdom Two Crowns$0.09/1hr22h89.18%90.18%
- 40RimWorld$0.09/1hr298h97.47%97.85%
- 41Subsistence$0.09/1hr104h77.22%72.12%
- 427 Days to Die$0.10/1hr257h87.01%86.98%
- 43FTL: Faster Than Light$0.10/1hr31h93.97%95.08%
- 44Deep Rock Galactic$0.10/1hr93h96.88%97.10%
- 45The Walking Dead$0.10/1hr15h95.99%97.33%
- 46Frostpunk$0.10/1hr30h92.23%92.74%
- 47Metro Exodus$0.10/1hr30h89.62%89.95%
- 48Total War: ATTILA$0.10/1hr89h83.00%82.42%
- 49This War of Mine$0.10/1hr20h93.03%93.83%
- 50Kenshi$0.10/1hr118h94.77%95.59%
- 51Tom Clancy’s The Division$0.10/1hr29h72.26%70.92%
- 52Project Zomboid$0.10/1hr162h93.64%93.75%
- 53Killing Floor$0.10/1hr19h93.89%95.16%
- 54Eco$0.11/1hr204h82.55%80.69%
- 55Against the Storm$0.11/1hr82h92.49%94.44%
- 56Mr. Prepper$0.11/1hr27h83.21%80.01%
- 57Killing Floor 2$0.11/1hr27h88.04%88.26%
- 58Don't Starve$0.11/1hr22h95.62%96.54%
- 59Space Haven$0.11/1hr89h85.49%85.76%
- 60ANEURISM IV$0.11/1hr44h80.74%75.15%
- 61Generation Zero$0.12/1hr32h74.55%72.04%
- 62Dead Island Definitive Edition$0.12/1hr17h82.49%81.86%
- 63Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic$0.12/1hr86h89.58%91.18%
- 64Counter-Strike$0.12/1hr17h97.06%97.40%
- 65Among Us$0.12/1hr25h91.98%92.03%
- 66Craft The World$0.12/1hr38h87.43%88.40%
- 67Metro: Last Light Redux$0.12/1hr16h90.64%91.31%
- 68Card Survival: Tropical Island$0.13/1hr100h86.78%94.97%
- 69Conan Exiles Enhanced$0.13/1hr155h79.53%79.05%
- 70SKYHILL$0.13/1hr8h82.66%78.30%
- 71Wartales$0.13/1hr75h85.42%85.49%
- 72Green Hell$0.13/1hr19h84.66%84.61%
- 73Trailmakers$0.13/1hr56h90.67%92.06%
- 74Picayune Dreams$0.13/1hr19h89.94%98.88%
- 75Valheim$0.14/1hr200h93.51%93.61%
- 76Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun$0.14/1hr29h93.79%96.03%
- 77Survivalist: Invisible Strain$0.14/1hr43h85.62%86.59%
- 78Deadside$0.14/1hr69h77.44%75.53%
- 79Amazing Cultivation Simulator$0.14/1hr107h85.49%85.62%
- 80DayZ$0.14/1hr173h78.10%77.89%
- 81Beasts of Bermuda$0.15/1hr137h77.13%68.88%
- 82Blood and Bacon$0.15/1hr5h93.11%95.28%
- 83Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition$0.15/1hr13h76.79%71.07%
- 84Banished$0.15/1hr46h89.45%90.43%
- 85Scrap Mechanic$0.15/1hr129h91.31%91.80%
- 86Metro 2033 Redux$0.15/1hr13h91.83%92.29%
- 87The Forest$0.15/1hr28h95.42%95.52%
- 88MORDHAU$0.15/1hr20h80.32%79.89%
- 89TerraTech$0.15/1hr40h89.33%91.35%
- 90The Riftbreaker$0.16/1hr57h88.87%90.34%
- 91Risk of Rain 2$0.16/1hr52h93.68%93.84%
- 92SurrounDead$0.16/1hr37h89.19%91.01%
- 93ASTRONEER$0.16/1hr46h91.45%91.90%
- 94Breathedge$0.16/1hr15h82.10%80.93%
- 95Stormworks: Build and Rescue$0.16/1hr77h89.75%90.51%
- 96Cluckmech Oasis$0.16/1hr30h86.01%88.28%
- 97Occupy Mars: The Game$0.17/1hr91h81.24%69.78%
- 98The Long Drive$0.17/1hr24h87.83%88.29%
- 99Homefront: The Revolution$0.17/1hr12h69.90%60.99%
- 100Bomber Crew$0.17/1hr14h86.64%87.58%
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.