"Survive the Nights is a decent zombie survival game in a market full of bigger, and ultimately better, titles."
I must preface this by saying that Survive the Nights is not a bad game. Rather, it is a very decent mid-2010s zombie survival title that spent the better part of a decade in Early Access. As a result, it is now 2026, and we have come a long way since the days when the novelty of survival games was enough to ensure long-term success.
With a daily peak of under 150 players, and fewer than 70 online as I write this review, Survive the Nights is well and truly cooked, especially when compared to its closest rivals.
Survive the Nights
DayZ
7 Days to Die
If Survive the Nights were a brand new game that had not yet entered public awareness, perhaps it could rebound from these terrible numbers. However with an all time high of fewer than 1,800 players and eight years of Early Access under its belt, I am sorry to say the writing is on the wall, and sooner or later (with sooner being more likely) the developers will be forced to end support altogether and move on to other things.
Fortunately for those who still play and enjoy it, Survive the Nights will continue to be playable in single player and on private servers once the developers move on, which will likely be in the not too distant future. Even the most popular private servers rarely have more than a handful of players online, with the current most active server being the official US server with just two players online, followed closely by the official EU server with a single player online.
There is no realistic way such pathetic numbers can fund ongoing development, and it would be cruel to think less of the developers for dropping the game like a hot potato. If I were forced to try and make a living from a title as dead as Survive the Nights, I would want people to show me mercy when I chose to move on to other work in order to afford basic necessities like food and a roof over my head.
Jesus Christ himself spoke of this when he told his followers that they should treat others as they themselves would like to be treated, and show the same kindness and mercy that they would hope to be shown in return.
While Survive the Nights is not the most visually or mechanically impressive title, it does do a lot right, and some of its mechanics work very well together, such as the ability to claim and fortify almost any location or vehicle. While combat is not perfect, being able to modify and clean weapons adds a layer to survival combat that most games lack.
In addition, while stamina is punishing, melee combat is surprisingly good, and I must admit I enjoyed going to town on a group of zombies with an axe more than I enjoyed using a scoped assault rifle, although I admit the latter was impressive in its own right.
Gameplay aside, Survive the Nights allows players to download and install mods, scenarios, and rule packs from within the game itself, and I really enjoyed how creative some of the game types were, such as a mode inspired by The Walking Dead, and even a scenario which essentially turns Survive the Nights into a lighter version of Call of Duty Nazi Zombies.
Survive the Nights is very good looking considering it first released in 2017, and while the world does not feel as interactive as more modern titles, with issues such as drowning in knee deep water and being unable to hurdle breaking immersion, overall I loved exploring the world.
With a few mechanical changes such as better swimming and hurdling, I would honestly have zero issues with how the game looks, especially when you consider just how well it runs. My RX 7700 XT enjoyed frame rates north of 90 FPS on high settings, and into the upper 70s on ultra at 1080p.
Survive the Nights is a survival game developed and published by a2z Interactive, it released on 5 December 2025, and is available exclusively on PC.
Survive the Nights offers the following matchmaking options:
Survive the Nights supports the following peripherals:
Survive the Nights is unrated and contains:
Survive the Nights is in no way a bad game. In fact it is a very solid zombie survival title from the 2010s. Unfortunately we are now well into the 2020s, and like most other gamers, I have come to expect more from games like Survive the Nights, which require vast amounts of time to enjoy at their fullest.
I need to be honest. I like Survive the Nights, but with so few people playing, and development having moved relatively slowly for the better part of a decade, I am not going to choose to invest my time in it when both DayZ and 7 Days to Die have vastly larger communities and more assured ongoing development prospects.
Ultimately Survive the Nights is fun to play alone in single player, and even more fun with friends, but there are much better zombie survival games available with stronger long term prospects and larger communities, and for those reasons I recommend playing them instead.
We found Survive the Nights to be a mediocre game, meaning that while it has some redeeming qualities, it's held back by noticeable flaws that prevent it from being truly enjoyable.
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