One of the top survival games in Steam Next Fest is an open-world adventure through never-ending winter with your dog buddy and up to 3 of your less useful friends

Survival games are hard to demo. Not as hard as MMOs, granted, but these things don't normally reveal their hand in 30 or even 60 minutes. This makes Permafrost, one of the most-played survival games in this month's ongoing Steam Next Fest demo event, tough to evaluate. I gave it a quick play and – this will sound far-fetched – cut down a tree, made a bow, shot a deer, ate the deer, and stoked the fire I used to cook the deer to stave off the unending cold of this game's forever winter. Yep, it's a survival game alright. What I find more fascinating at this stage is the ceaseless popularity of games where you cut down trees and make bows and shoot deer – and, in Permafrost's case, do it all with a dog companion. 

Permafrost has been bouncing around the upper echelons of this Steam Next Fest's most-played demos for a few days now, and it's comfortably settled in the top 20 – an impressive rank amidst some 3,000 demos. The only survival-type game with more daily players is Tinkerlands, which has a bit more of a Terraria action RPG vibe and which our own Anna Koselke quite enjoyed, so it's a frontrunner in the customary survival-craft space. The demo has its own review tally, and at 84% positive it's fairing well so far. 

Developer SpaceRocket Games, working with survival specialist publisher Toplitz Productions, best known for the many Dynasty games, seems to be leaning on the wintry setting to stand out. Frostbite is a constant concern here in the year 2035 thanks to an "apocalyptic cataclysm" that plunged the Earth into eternal winter, seemingly after the shattering of the moon. 

You have to risk extra-cold "Cold Zones" to get the good stuff, and you'll need it to keep your supplies and warmth up. Build a base, scavenge vehicles, and help or fight other survivors. You can explore in 4-player co-op or go it alone with your dog companion, who's so important that they get their own dedicated dog button in the survival game-mandated radial menu. Any game with a dog button is doing something right. 

SpaceRocks says "in the full game, Permafrost lets you explore a frozen apocalypse, navigate vast urban environments, and face or join factions in a delicate fight for survival using diverse resources, weapons, and equipment – all within an exciting, immersive narrative." It's scheduled to launch in 2025.

Here are our picks for the 10 best survival games.