I have to say, aside from BioShock Infinite, the survival games have been the most interesting game genre I've seen emerge in the past 10-15 years.
Opening up DayZ for the first time and thinking "what the hell this? where are the controls? what do I do?" then running around for a bit and slowly figuring out how to survive was just ....
ARK: Survival Evolved also gave me that similar feeling. Building a log hut and hoping I didn't get eaten by a huge dinosaur after I logged off was just too much fun.
I predict in 2016, the VR headsets are going to change everything once again but I tip my fedora to the survival games.
7 days to die was okay because it had a structural integrity system for building and even walking on certain things can cause it to collapse if it isn't braced.
Then the update 12 ruined the entire game. Rust/etc are ok to watch videos of but I don't recommend playing them. You've seen probably the most interesting thing that will ever happen in this game right in front of you when you clicked this video.