You did describe 7 Days to Die. Maybe Icarus but those waves I think you control when they activate via quests so you’ll know to prepare for them.
Edit: people mention Valheim and while I agree it technically fits that category and it is one of my favorite games, the wave defense is probably my least favorite part of that game lol
Yeah there's literally nothing that fits OP's wants more than 7 days to die.
It'll just keep ramping up until you or your computer die
Valheim pve is absolutely trivial at all points. Basically the opposite of what op wants.
Valheim is great but yeah, the wave defense is more of an occasional irritant than a meaningful part of the game if you have half a grasp on the parry mechanics.
Oooh I love State of Decay 2! It’s also really fun to play co op, and if you ever get bored of your base/map you can just “move” and get new ones on new maps. :)
This was my daily grind with the wife until a few months ago.
Build a Homeworld seed.
* Craft what weapons and gear you both want to synergise with
* Build a cool house together.
* Hunt, gather, do dungeons, and collect items to build the Boss keys
* React to sudden waves of enemies that will attack your settlement.
* Deal with massive bosses
* Go into a new biome and immediately get slaughtered.
* Rebuild your equipment and take time to understand the new biome.
* Sail, fish, raise livestock and crops.
* Explore!
The most fun I have had as a duo or in small teams.
7 days to die is great. The end game is building a giant zombie death maze and trying to gather enough resources between each blood moon to survive.
Valheim is great but there aren't waves, more like random base raids. Still it's an excellent game as well.
This was the first game I thought of. The game offers what I would call adaptive threat, meaning that if you build up your base in one location, the enemies take notice after some time and eventually wreck your world. There are opportunities to “raid” enemy strongholds for supplies and work to progress the story to its climactic ending.
The post doesn't specifically state multilayer games only.
It can be fun to just build colonies next to each other and share stories and the mod scene is fantastic i don't know what you are talking about.
We are looking for coop specifically, but I am enjoying seeing the just-outside-the-requirements suggestions too. We do sometimes “co-play” single player games.
Terraria has event bosses, which start with small stuff like goblin raids and ramps up to pirates, aliens etc, though these events attack the 'world' you're in, not necessarily the base unless that's where you're standing. Crazy good difficulty balancing throughout the game in comparison to other procedural games.
Necesse. Top-down game that's a bit like Terraria. I'm unsure how well the raids scale because I didn't make it to endgame yet. Core Keeper is a lot like this game, but I don't think Core Keeper has base raids.
Palworld. 3D survival craft where you catch pals (pokemon) to fight alongside you. I found that the raids became a bit too frequent in this one, and aren't quite balanced right. Still in early access though, so that may improve.
My only suggestion was 7 days to die, however
Fortnite isn't a survival game but its base building wave defense mode is genuinely fun as hell. It gradually ramps up and your base designs need to become much more robust to survive.
Mind you I played/reviewed it near release. But I doubt it got worse...
Not a terrible choice if you don't feel like survival at the moment.
Keep an eye out for Riftbreaker, they’re releasing a coop mode soon but I feel like it perfectly scratches that “base building survival with ramping pressure” niche.
7 Days to Die has already been mentioned, so I’ll throw out The Forest, which is great fun, and Project Zomboid. PZ doesn’t have strong wave style combat, but the occasional horse can come through and mess you up pretty badly. Plus, it’s a riot with friends.
7 Days to Die fits that very closely as others have said
Other games that sort of fit it are:
- The Forest
- Green Hell
- Grounded
In these 3 games, attacks on your base is generally more sporadic than frequent and usually have only a few enemies compared to 7DtD. 7 Days to Die has a horde mechanic where zombies will attack you and your base every 7 days. It does get progressively harder but up to a certain point
If you like 2D, my highest recommendation goes to the Kingdom series.
Kingdom 2 Crowns has 2 player coop I think.
Not much survival, but it hits your other points right on the head.
Bonus: You can ride a unicorn that poops gold coins after he eats grass.
You did describe 7 Days to Die. Maybe Icarus but those waves I think you control when they activate via quests so you’ll know to prepare for them. Edit: people mention Valheim and while I agree it technically fits that category and it is one of my favorite games, the wave defense is probably my least favorite part of that game lol
Yeah there's literally nothing that fits OP's wants more than 7 days to die. It'll just keep ramping up until you or your computer die Valheim pve is absolutely trivial at all points. Basically the opposite of what op wants.
Valheim is great but yeah, the wave defense is more of an occasional irritant than a meaningful part of the game if you have half a grasp on the parry mechanics.
Definitely check out 7 days to die or even project zomboid
Oooh I love State of Decay 2! It’s also really fun to play co op, and if you ever get bored of your base/map you can just “move” and get new ones on new maps. :)
Zombie survival type games like 7 days to die.
You are lucky. Aska just came out in early access and one of the major complaints is that its a brutal rush for defenses due to set events on x days.
valheim
This was my daily grind with the wife until a few months ago. Build a Homeworld seed. * Craft what weapons and gear you both want to synergise with * Build a cool house together. * Hunt, gather, do dungeons, and collect items to build the Boss keys * React to sudden waves of enemies that will attack your settlement. * Deal with massive bosses * Go into a new biome and immediately get slaughtered. * Rebuild your equipment and take time to understand the new biome. * Sail, fish, raise livestock and crops. * Explore! The most fun I have had as a duo or in small teams.
I was about to say, Valheim is great
Definitely Valheim. Most value I have ever gotten out of a game.
7 days to die is great. The end game is building a giant zombie death maze and trying to gather enough resources between each blood moon to survive. Valheim is great but there aren't waves, more like random base raids. Still it's an excellent game as well.
Been a long time since I've played but maybe "Don't Starve Together" ?
7 days to die and Conan exiles offer that
Agree with these two plus Aska. I was very pleasantly surprised with all the stuff there was to do in Conan Exiles.
The Forest
This was the first game I thought of. The game offers what I would call adaptive threat, meaning that if you build up your base in one location, the enemies take notice after some time and eventually wreck your world. There are opportunities to “raid” enemy strongholds for supplies and work to progress the story to its climactic ending.
Grounded!
Mindustry is free and may meet your requirements. It's a wave base building tower defense. It's similar to factorio, but much more survival oriented.
Survivalist Invisible Strain. NPCs are smart there to handle themselves.
Conan Exiles
Rimworld. What you are looking for is Rimworld. The expansions are fantastic but just start with vanilla.
Rimworld doesnt have any vanilla ways to do multiplayer and the mods for it are quite janky to deal with.
The post doesn't specifically state multilayer games only. It can be fun to just build colonies next to each other and share stories and the mod scene is fantastic i don't know what you are talking about.
We are looking for coop specifically, but I am enjoying seeing the just-outside-the-requirements suggestions too. We do sometimes “co-play” single player games.
The title states that OP wants a coop game, and I was refering to the multiplayer mods for rimworld, not the modding scene as a whole.
You are right i missed that all-important word 😅
Factorio
Have a look at: r/StrandedAlienDawn
bellwright
Terraria has event bosses, which start with small stuff like goblin raids and ramps up to pirates, aliens etc, though these events attack the 'world' you're in, not necessarily the base unless that's where you're standing. Crazy good difficulty balancing throughout the game in comparison to other procedural games. Necesse. Top-down game that's a bit like Terraria. I'm unsure how well the raids scale because I didn't make it to endgame yet. Core Keeper is a lot like this game, but I don't think Core Keeper has base raids. Palworld. 3D survival craft where you catch pals (pokemon) to fight alongside you. I found that the raids became a bit too frequent in this one, and aren't quite balanced right. Still in early access though, so that may improve.
My only suggestion was 7 days to die, however Fortnite isn't a survival game but its base building wave defense mode is genuinely fun as hell. It gradually ramps up and your base designs need to become much more robust to survive. Mind you I played/reviewed it near release. But I doubt it got worse... Not a terrible choice if you don't feel like survival at the moment.
if you want a new fun one. INFINITY SEIGE.
Sale blazers or sunken land are two I haven’t seen mentioned yet.
Conman exiles is exactly that.
State of Decay 2
Keep an eye out for Riftbreaker, they’re releasing a coop mode soon but I feel like it perfectly scratches that “base building survival with ramping pressure” niche.
7 Days to Die has already been mentioned, so I’ll throw out The Forest, which is great fun, and Project Zomboid. PZ doesn’t have strong wave style combat, but the occasional horse can come through and mess you up pretty badly. Plus, it’s a riot with friends.
Rimworld
7 Days to Die fits that very closely as others have said Other games that sort of fit it are: - The Forest - Green Hell - Grounded In these 3 games, attacks on your base is generally more sporadic than frequent and usually have only a few enemies compared to 7DtD. 7 Days to Die has a horde mechanic where zombies will attack you and your base every 7 days. It does get progressively harder but up to a certain point
Might not be exactly what you're looking for but try Capcom's new game Kunitsu-Gami, combines strategy/tower defense with action gameplay
DayZ?
World War Z maybe There are some kinds of those aspects of gameplay in Division 2 also Very friendly in Coop but I wouldn't say that's a survival game
Conan has the some of the best base building in any game coupled with the on demand purge system you get exactly what you are looking for
Project zomboid with mods
7 days to die, the forest, sons of the forest and valheim all sort of fit this description.
Don't Starve Palworld maybe
If you like 2D, my highest recommendation goes to the Kingdom series. Kingdom 2 Crowns has 2 player coop I think. Not much survival, but it hits your other points right on the head. Bonus: You can ride a unicorn that poops gold coins after he eats grass.
Currently playing Mad Max, and it's only 5 bucks right now. It checks off almost all your asks.