Games Like DayZ
12 multiplayer games like DayZ, starting with Unturned, the closest. The best free one is Unturned. Flip a card to see what it has in common, how many can join and whether it has crossplay.
12 games like DayZ
Start with: Unturned, Rust, The Isle, ARK: Survival Evolved and ARK: Survival Ascended.
Unturned
Free2–24 online
In common: PvP survival · Zombies · Team vs team. Surviving the zombie outbreak means looting towns and military bases for food and weapons, crafting tools and building a base. You can face only zombies on your own server or join PvP servers.
PC
Unturned: View game →Rust
2–8 onlineCrossplay
In common: PvP survival · Team vs team · Post-apocalyptic. With only a rock on an island, you gather resources to build a base and craft weapons, and other groups can raid it and take everything. Servers wipe on a schedule and everyone starts over.
PC · PS5 · Xbox
Rust: View game →The Isle
2–10 online
In common: PvP survival · Team vs team. Each player is a dinosaur that hatches small, has to eat and drink, and grows over hours into an adult. Carnivores hunt other players, and dying means starting over.
PC
The Isle: View game →ARK: Survival Evolved
2–70 online2 on one screenCrossplay
In common: PvP survival · Team vs team. You wake up on an island full of dinosaurs, gather resources, build bases and level up. Nearly every creature can be tamed to ride, fight alongside you or gather resources.
PC · PS4 · Xbox · Switch
ARK: Survival Evolved: View game →ARK: Survival Ascended
2–8 online2 on one screenCrossplay
In common: PvP survival · Team vs team. Your tribe tames dinosaurs and uses them to defend the base you build together from the wild or other players.
PC · PS5 · Xbox
ARK: Survival Ascended: View game →VEIN
2–16 online
In common: Zombies · Post-apocalyptic. After a zombie apocalypse, you survive in an open world by looting buildings, cooking, farming and setting up a base you defend from zombies and bandits. Electricity, water and gas in buildings are simulated.
PC
VEIN: View game →7 Days to Die
2–12 onlineCrossplay
In common: Zombies · Post-apocalyptic. You loot buildings, mine and craft weapons in a fully destructible block world full of zombies, building a base with traps. Every seventh night a horde comes straight for wherever the players are.
PC · PS5 · Xbox
7 Days to Die: View game →Dying Light 2
2–4 online
In common: Zombies · Post-apocalyptic. You cross the city of Villedor by parkour, paraglider and grappling hook, fighting infected and bandits and deciding which faction controls each district. At night the infected fill the streets and leave the buildings emptier.
PC · PS5 · Xbox
Dying Light 2: View game →State of Decay 2
2–4 onlineCrossplay
In common: Zombies · Post-apocalyptic. You run a community of survivors in an open world full of zombies, scavenging food, medicine and materials, upgrading the base and destroying plague hearts. When a survivor dies, they're gone for good.
PC · Xbox
State of Decay 2: View game →Project Zomboid
2–32 online4 on one screen
In common: Zombies. In a zombie apocalypse in Kentucky, you survive by looting houses, fortifying a safehouse and farming while managing hunger, injuries and mood. Zombies are drawn to noise, and a bite is fatal.
PC
Project Zomboid: View game →V Rising
2–40 online
In common: PvP survival · Team vs team. As newly awakened vampires, you gather resources, build a castle and hunt bosses to drink their blood and unlock powers. Sunlight burns you, so daytime travel means staying in the shade.
PC · PS5
V Rising: View game →Dying Light
2–4 online
In common: Zombies. In the city of Harran, you get around by parkour over rooftops and walls and fight zombies with melee weapons you craft and upgrade. At night, much faster infected come out and chase players down.
PC · PS4 · Xbox · Switch
Dying Light: View game →
How we pick games like DayZ
The order depends on how much each game has in common with DayZ. Style of play and genre (Survival) count the most, then whether you play on the same side or against each other, and after that pace, setting and camera, with the most-played game going first when two are tied. Every game here runs on at least one platform that DayZ is on, so nobody in the group needs new hardware to switch.