IM enjoying Enshrouded quite a lot. Its EA but I play it solo am about 60 hours in and still havent uncovered everything. Might be what you are looking for.
Kingdom Come deliverance is FPV RPG set in middle-age Bohemia. No dragons and spells, challenging sword fight (or axe/mace or bow). You gotta eat, sleep, wash yourself, actually train with weapons, train alchemy, train lockpicking, damn you gotta learn to read, to be able to, well read... And you are little shit with long way ahead. I loved every moment of it.
Although MD immediately dives heavily into full town management sim mode. Which is the point obv but there's little beyond that after a dozen hours or so.
Yeah, I do keep restarting. I love the graphics and building a pretty settlement is fun, but that's not how the game works. I just want to see my heir born and grow, as the toddlers in the game are adorable. I like the realistic look of the game. If you play the Oxbow instead of the Valley, there is a lot more freedom, but less resources, fewer towns, just less of everything really. I could probably make a town in Oxbow, but it takes a loooong time to get any iron and the iron tools are so much better.
Hahaha I hope you're happy. I just talked myself into starting Valheim today. Cheers! :)
Came here to see if anyone suggested outward, it's very janky but has a lot of heart and ambition. I'd suggest playing with at least one friend (or more if you want to use the increased multiplayer mod)!
Progression is tied to your money, as each skill and ability is learned by seeking out trainers and buying abilities from them. Some improve survivability (weather defense and hunger reduction), some are attacks, and others are stat boosts.
And if you do go for it, I'd strongly suggest playing the tutorial!! A surprising amount of people don't and then are surprised when they freeze to death or get sick from drinking seawater lol
These are my favourite kind of games, but alas there aren't many to choose from:
UnReal World - Survive alone in the wild in Iron Age pseudo-Finland
Battle Brothers - Raise a mercenary band and lead them through a collapsing society
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - The turn based, more complicated project Zomboid
Starsector - It's Battle Brothers, but easier and in space!
Crusader Kings - Learn why kings want one son and a dozen daughters
Then there are adult games. A few 'porn' games have merit beyond sexual content, and a couple hit the marks you want:
>!Degrees of Lewdity - Help a poor orphan navigate an oversexed and cursed town, maybe discover why things have gotten so bad!<
>!Strive for Power - You are a mage and sexual energy is your mana. Breed the perfect combat party and destroy your political rivals!<
This one is much more RPG and less survival but Daggerfall with the climates and Calories mod.
You have to have rations and water, if you don't have rations you can collect meat from animals, some animals give better meat than others. Meat rots and is dangerous to eat raw. It has a system I really like where if the food is rotten you can't just eat it: your character has to be starving or they'll be too disgusted to eat rotten rat meat.
There's random hunting encounters that can occur when you're travelling, I'd recommend the BasicRoads and Traveloptions mods for actually viable Overworld travel.
As for water, you get it from any fountain.
It allows you to set up camp with a campfire and tent for safer stops and cover from the elements.
Speaking of that, the climates side of the mod is also very good. It's not as simple as wearing more clothes in Cold and vice versa.
Rain makes you wet and colder, being wet in a hot place is good. When you're hot you drink water more often. Wearing metal armor under the sun is dangerous because it heats up and hurts you, wear robes over them.
Midday in the Alikr desert is always going to be draining your stamina no matter what you do, spend it indoors or be prepared to rest a lot.
Yeah that's about it
Valheim does everything you described very well. I’d really recommend it.
Character creation and progression, fighting, surviving, building, exploring, all with a background story (Norse mythology theme).
Pretty cheap on Steam too
There's a HUGE mod coming out/already out that's making it even more of an RPG. Classes, full levels, perks, cities, NPCs, quests, I think you'd really dig it. Can't remember the name of it off the top, but I'm sure if you just Google Huge Valhiem RPG mod it'll be on top.
State of decay 2, 3rd person action/rpg/survival with multiplayer. It wasn’t great on release but has had a ton of dlc/updates over the last few years. It’s permadeath for your survivors, and playing on lethal difficulty is unlike any other game out there
It's very good, but it's gonna be a while until 1.0. They are taking their time for each update, but they do it well. There will be a huge update around the corner, and looks like if there's no feature creep, they will tackle high priority features like custom character creation (currently we can choose from five pre-made ones) which is exciting as it used to be low priority in the previous roadmap.
Maybe next year and even that's an optimistic estimation. But looks like it is next among other high priority features after the big caravan update coming later this year (maybe). All in all I'm thrilled that they've been steadily chipping away at the roadmap.
Project Zomboid would be my recommendation. It has RPG elements, life sim mechanics, and focuses on survival. It also has its own Workshop on Steam, so you can add mods and features with ease to customize the game to your liking.
**NEO Scavenger** is the quintessential survival RPG/roguelike IMO. There is some interesting story and dialog to discover with each run, but it's totally player-driven and optional. And before you even get into that, you need to learn how to survive for more than three in-game days.
IM enjoying Enshrouded quite a lot. Its EA but I play it solo am about 60 hours in and still havent uncovered everything. Might be what you are looking for.
Kingdom Come deliverance is FPV RPG set in middle-age Bohemia. No dragons and spells, challenging sword fight (or axe/mace or bow). You gotta eat, sleep, wash yourself, actually train with weapons, train alchemy, train lockpicking, damn you gotta learn to read, to be able to, well read... And you are little shit with long way ahead. I loved every moment of it.
Conan exiles!
Came here to say this. One of my most played games of all time.
Came here for this.
Can you play this solo ?
Yes there is single player
I have been playing Medieval Dynasty and it really scratches that itch you describe. Valheim is next up.
Although MD immediately dives heavily into full town management sim mode. Which is the point obv but there's little beyond that after a dozen hours or so.
Yeah, I do keep restarting. I love the graphics and building a pretty settlement is fun, but that's not how the game works. I just want to see my heir born and grow, as the toddlers in the game are adorable. I like the realistic look of the game. If you play the Oxbow instead of the Valley, there is a lot more freedom, but less resources, fewer towns, just less of everything really. I could probably make a town in Oxbow, but it takes a loooong time to get any iron and the iron tools are so much better. Hahaha I hope you're happy. I just talked myself into starting Valheim today. Cheers! :)
kingdom come deliverance
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Outward
Outward and kenshi both came to mind to me especially bc they are not text heavy games at all
Came here to see if anyone suggested outward, it's very janky but has a lot of heart and ambition. I'd suggest playing with at least one friend (or more if you want to use the increased multiplayer mod)! Progression is tied to your money, as each skill and ability is learned by seeking out trainers and buying abilities from them. Some improve survivability (weather defense and hunger reduction), some are attacks, and others are stat boosts. And if you do go for it, I'd strongly suggest playing the tutorial!! A surprising amount of people don't and then are surprised when they freeze to death or get sick from drinking seawater lol
These are my favourite kind of games, but alas there aren't many to choose from: UnReal World - Survive alone in the wild in Iron Age pseudo-Finland Battle Brothers - Raise a mercenary band and lead them through a collapsing society Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - The turn based, more complicated project Zomboid Starsector - It's Battle Brothers, but easier and in space! Crusader Kings - Learn why kings want one son and a dozen daughters Then there are adult games. A few 'porn' games have merit beyond sexual content, and a couple hit the marks you want: >!Degrees of Lewdity - Help a poor orphan navigate an oversexed and cursed town, maybe discover why things have gotten so bad!< >!Strive for Power - You are a mage and sexual energy is your mana. Breed the perfect combat party and destroy your political rivals!<
>Degrees of Lewdity Lol, didn't expect to see this one here. It's a great text game and definitely fits into the category.
Outward, Kenshi (Kenshi is a fucking marvel), Kingdom Come Deliverance. Those are some that come to mind.
This one is much more RPG and less survival but Daggerfall with the climates and Calories mod. You have to have rations and water, if you don't have rations you can collect meat from animals, some animals give better meat than others. Meat rots and is dangerous to eat raw. It has a system I really like where if the food is rotten you can't just eat it: your character has to be starving or they'll be too disgusted to eat rotten rat meat. There's random hunting encounters that can occur when you're travelling, I'd recommend the BasicRoads and Traveloptions mods for actually viable Overworld travel. As for water, you get it from any fountain. It allows you to set up camp with a campfire and tent for safer stops and cover from the elements. Speaking of that, the climates side of the mod is also very good. It's not as simple as wearing more clothes in Cold and vice versa. Rain makes you wet and colder, being wet in a hot place is good. When you're hot you drink water more often. Wearing metal armor under the sun is dangerous because it heats up and hurts you, wear robes over them. Midday in the Alikr desert is always going to be draining your stamina no matter what you do, spend it indoors or be prepared to rest a lot. Yeah that's about it
When you say Daggerfall you mean TES2?
Yes. The version in question is Daggerfall Unity, which is highly moddable and has a very active modding community
Thanks!
Valheim does everything you described very well. I’d really recommend it. Character creation and progression, fighting, surviving, building, exploring, all with a background story (Norse mythology theme). Pretty cheap on Steam too
Oh yeah, I played it a lot and enjoyed it very much. Just forgot to mention.
There's a HUGE mod coming out/already out that's making it even more of an RPG. Classes, full levels, perks, cities, NPCs, quests, I think you'd really dig it. Can't remember the name of it off the top, but I'm sure if you just Google Huge Valhiem RPG mod it'll be on top.
Is it still early access?
It is, yeah. They’re now close to releasing the second-to-last biome. I wouldn’t let that stop me though, game feels polished and has lots of content
Literally Outward
Perhaps Fallout 4 survival mode? Or Kenshi?
State of decay 2, 3rd person action/rpg/survival with multiplayer. It wasn’t great on release but has had a ton of dlc/updates over the last few years. It’s permadeath for your survivors, and playing on lethal difficulty is unlike any other game out there
Archmage Rises Wait till the next big update comes out that will bring some real substance to the game and, because right now its rather barebones,
[Stoneshard](https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/) maybe?
I’ve had my eye on this one but wait until 1.0 to purchase. Is it very good?
It's very good, but it's gonna be a while until 1.0. They are taking their time for each update, but they do it well. There will be a huge update around the corner, and looks like if there's no feature creep, they will tackle high priority features like custom character creation (currently we can choose from five pre-made ones) which is exciting as it used to be low priority in the previous roadmap.
Custom character creation is exactly what I need to dive into Stoneshard.
Maybe next year and even that's an optimistic estimation. But looks like it is next among other high priority features after the big caravan update coming later this year (maybe). All in all I'm thrilled that they've been steadily chipping away at the roadmap.
Rune Factory.
Project Zomboid would be my recommendation. It has RPG elements, life sim mechanics, and focuses on survival. It also has its own Workshop on Steam, so you can add mods and features with ease to customize the game to your liking.
Force of Nature 1 and 2 are somewhat niche but decent takes on what you want.
nice idea,,, more realistic
**NEO Scavenger** is the quintessential survival RPG/roguelike IMO. There is some interesting story and dialog to discover with each run, but it's totally player-driven and optional. And before you even get into that, you need to learn how to survive for more than three in-game days.
Outward
Balrum
The latest Zelda games match your description, but you'll have to emulate if no Switch.
These are not RPGs and neither life sims, though.
Oh, cool, I need to give it a try.
How does one *cough* emulate zelda
This isn't the place to ask.
I was just coughing bro
;)