
When Herbert Spencer coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” to describe Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory, I’m pretty sure he didn’t envisage the rise of a species of videogame, the survival sim, which would one day itself suffer an unsustainable population explosion during the layoff-ridden years of 2023 and 2024. What does it take to survive as a survival sim, in these days when every other game seems to be a survival sim? What separates the fit from the extinct? If you’re Palworld, the answer is gleefully borrowing and travestying monster concepts from a celebrated Nintendo series. If you’re Enshrouded, it’s all about having a really neat building system. And if you’re Dune: Awakening, the next game from Conan Exiles developer Funcom, the trick may lie with sandworms.