As gaming trends and tastes ebb and flow, one genre that’s had a particularly strong 2024 is survival games. The long-running stalwarts still boast impressive player counts, while a flood of excellent newcomers like V Rising and Palworld have also established themselves. There are countless new survival games currently in the works, too, and I’ve just come across one that is being made by a team of devs spearheaded by a prolific group of former Oblivion and Skyrim modders. It’s called Ardem, and you can actually playtest it right now.
Now, let’s get one thing clear right out of the gate – there isn’t a whiff of Elder Scrolls about Ardem, despite the fact the founders of Techtive Games have been modding the series together since 2008. This survival game is set on a future Earth where AI-controller machines wander a world where the human population is vanishing and nature is reclaiming everything. With influences such as big survival hits like DayZ and Rust, as well as post-apocalyptic romps like Fallout, the team at Techtive is certainly looking in some encouraging places for inspiration.
Ardem provides you with a huge, varied, 64 square kilometre world to explore and survive in. There is a dynamic seasons system which creates constantly changing conditions that you’ll have to brace for. When it comes to the features and mechanics I’ve seen so far, there admittedly isn’t anything too revolutionary or boundary-pushing here, but a great survival game can still emerge if those core aspects can be perfected. There’s base building, resource gathering, crafting, farming, hunting, fishing, electricity generation, and a vehicle customization system – all the elements you’d expect.
Ardem is also committed to ensuring all kinds of survival experiences are supported, with dedicated servers for PvE, PvP, or roleplaying. So, no matter your preference and experience levels with games like Ardem, you should be well catered for. Servers can also hold up to 64 players, which is definitely a healthy amount.
If you’re a survival nut and you want to help the folks at Techtive shape Ardem, you’ve currently got the perfect opportunity to do so. An open alpha for Ardem on Steam has gotten underway today, November 8 and runs until Saturday, November 16.
As the name suggests, this is a totally open playtest that anyone can partake in – all you have to do is register over on the game’s Steam page. While the roleplay servers aren’t ready to go for this alpha, there will be PvP, PvE, and solo survival servers for you to try.
If Ardem isn’t quite your bag, maybe our list of the best open world games will inspire you instead. Alternatively, here are some other incredible and ambitious indie games that any PC player should think about playing.
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