New Open World Survival Game on Steam Is a Hodgepodge of State of Decay, Valheim, and Project Zomboid

Steam is without a doubt one of the best places to discover new open-world survival-crafting titles, with games like Palworld, RuneScape: Dragonwilds, Enshrouded, Sons of the Forest, and Once Human being some of the platform’s more recent hits. The genre has seen a steady flow of new entries over the last couple of years, and when a genre grows because players keep showing up for it, adding more games to the lineup is rarely cause for an eye roll. On that note, Revelation Games’ As One We Survive is coming to Steam Early Access very soon, and its combination of elements from games like Valheim, State of Decay, and Project Zomboid makes it look like it could be the next best thing for fans of those titles and the open-world survival-crafting genre in general.

As One We Survive is an upcoming top-down survival game on Steam set in a post-apocalyptic America, where players step into the shoes of a father searching for help for his sick daughter. It has everything an open-world survival-crafting game needs, from exploration and scavenging to combat and crafting, and its demanding survival mechanics like limited healing and weapon maintenance make it seem like a harsher approach to the survival loop than the average craft-and-build sandbox. Nevertheless, fans of Valheim‘s exploration and crafting loop, State of Decay‘s community building and management, and Project Zomboid‘s top-down, post-apocalyptic survival gameplay could find something worthwhile in As One We Survive, and its Steam Early Access launch isn’t that far away.

As One We Survive Takes the Best of Three Distinct Worlds

As One We Survive hasn’t claimed to be directly influenced by Valheim or Project Zomboid, but the similarities are nonetheless there. Valheim is known for its open world, freedom of exploration, crafting, and building progression, and As One We Survive adopts a similar design philosophy, though its Steam page does seem to shine less light on its open world than its community-building, resource-gathering, and crafting mechanics. Where it appears to follow Project Zomboid is in its top-down perspective, as well as its emphasis on resource management and careful, long-term planning.

As One We Survive’s Features at a Glance

• TOP-DOWN, POST-APOCALYPTIC SURVIVAL EXPERIENCE set in the United States.
• SURVIVAL CRAFTING AND EXPLORATION, including scavenging for resources across a harsh open world.
• COMBAT WITH LIMITED HEALING MECHANICS, including bandages and other survival-style health systems.
• COMMUNITY AND COLONY MANAGEMENT, recruiting survivors and building a functioning settlement.
• BASE BUILDING AND FACILITY CONSTRUCTION, with renewable resource production and defensive upgrades.
• NPC COMPANIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS, forming bonds with other survivors as part of gameplay.
• SKILL PROGRESSION SYSTEM, enhancing survival capabilities over time.
• TWO DISTINCT PLAY MODES, including a Story mode (narrative-focused) and Survival mode (sandbox focus).
• RESOURCE GATHERING AND FACILITY INTERACTION, such as gardens, workshops, and water catchers.
• RENEWABLE RESOURCE MECHANICS, letting players build infrastructures like rain catchers or gardens.

State of Decay, on the other hand, has been explicitly referenced as an inspiration by As One We Survive‘s devs. In a Reddit post by Revelation_jeff, creator of As One We Survive, several of his comments describe State of Decay as an influence. One comment mentions “State of Decay-style base building,” and another outright says, “we were inspired by State of Decay,” in reference to the game’s community-building mechanics.

While surviving a zombie apocalypse is a core part of the State of Decay experience, what truly sets it apart is its community-building system, which sees players recruiting fellow survivors and building a functional base. While As One We Survive is “not a zombie game,” according to its creator, it does see players joining a survivor community, upgrading their base with facilities, and creating renewable resources to support their people. In essence, it takes a more realistic approach to the mass pandemic of zombie games like State of Decay and instead leans more into something like The Long Dark meets The Division.

At the heart of As One We Survive‘s community-building loop is both survival and relationship. When players aren’t scavenging for supplies to keep their community healthy and safe, they are forming bonds with their fellow survivors and getting to know their community. According to the game’s creator in the aforementioned Reddit post, these NPCs will “feel great and like real companions. They will be able to have day/night routines at base, and you can set them to core tasks at which facility to maintain or task to do, and they will live their life while doing it.” Players will also be able to take companions with them out into As One We Survive‘s post-apocalyptic open world, but the team’s goal is to keep things simple in order to avoid technical issues.

However, the ultimate objective in building this community, for the player, is finding help for the protagonist’s sick daughter. As players recruit various NPCs and welcome them into their safe haven, they will be able to get intel from them and advance the story. It’s unclear whether every recruitable NPC will be tied to the story or only a handful of them will be, but it seems like As One We Survive has a lot of freedom in its gameplay. As such, it’s reasonable to expect that players will be able to find characters who can help out around the base in different ways, simply for the purpose of having a more sustainable community.

What to Expect From As One We Survive Steam Early Access

• EARLY ACCESS PURPOSE: Designed to gather player feedback on core mechanics, balance, and overall experience while meaningful changes can still be made.
• COMMUNITY COLLABORATION: Early Access will be used as a way to work closely with players, better understand the audience, and refine the game through direct feedback.
• EARLY ACCESS LENGTH: Estimated 1–2 years, allowing time to expand features, content, and systems while maintaining stability and polish.
• EARLY ACCESS FOCUS: The initial release centers on Survival Mode, offering a sandbox experience aimed at long-term replayability and testing core systems.
• PLANNED ADDITIONS FOR FULL RELEASE: Additional story mode content, new mechanics, expanded gameplay systems, and further balance and polish across both story and survival modes.
• ONGOING DEVELOPMENT: Major updates during Early Access will continue to expand systems, features, and world content over time.
• PRICING PLANS: The price may increase as the game grows in scope and quality, with any changes reflecting significant content and feature additions.
• VALUE FOR EARLY ADOPTERS: Players who join during Early Access will receive the best value as development progresses.
• COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Developers plan to stay active on forums, Discord, and social channels to collect feedback, ideas, and bug reports throughout Early Access.

Of course, the upcoming open-world survival game will be entering Steam Early Access first for a year or two before its full release. Currently, As One We Survive‘s Early Access period will begin sometime in Q2 2026, giving players immediate access to its Survival Mode, which the game’s Steam page describes as a “robust sandbox experience designed for long-term replayability and community feedback.” Throughout Early Access, the developer’s plan is to expand on that foundation with new systems, features, and world content until the game is in a polished and stable state, ready for the full release.

One benefit of playing As One We Survive during its Steam Early Access period is a cheaper price for early adopters. While the developer doesn’t necessarily guarantee a gradual price increase, it does suggest that the cost of the game could go up over time as more significant content updates are added. In light of that, those who are intrigued by As One We Survive and are willing to invest in a game that is expected to evolve and improve over time will get the best bang for their buck.

In any case, As One We Survive may not be reinventing the open-world survival formula, but it does seem to understand why it continues to prove a popular genre. With its State of Decay-style community management, traditional survival systems, and a personal narrative hook, the game already looks like a great choice for players already invested in this corner of Steam’s survival scene.

As One We Survive launches on Steam Early Access in Q2 2026.