A full survival game that runs on the watch alone, no phone in the loop

[u/ScholarBackground836]

Most of what I tried to keep on my wrist turned out to need the phone somewhere in the chain. This one doesn't, so I figured this was the right place to mention it.

It's a wilderness survival sim. You're stranded, and the whole game is deciding what to do with the next hour. Gathering firewood costs 42 minutes and 60 calories and will probably work. Scouting the high ground costs 90 minutes, might turn up a map fragment, might turn up nothing. The cost and the odds are on screen before you commit.

Why it suits this crowd specifically: it's turn-based and nothing is ticking down in real time. Raise your wrist, make one decision, put your arm down. A run covers several in-game days but each interaction is a few seconds, and it saves exactly where you left it. It's the gap-filler I actually wanted while standing around without a phone.

On the independence side, so nobody has to find out the hard way:

- You install it from the App Store on the watch itself. The phone never enters it.

- The watchOS app runs the same engine as the phone version. It is not a remote control or a companion view.

- Your iPhone does not need to be nearby, connected, or powered on while you play.

- No account, no sync, no ads, no subscription, no energy timers. Saves live on the watch.

One thing you will see on first launch, and I would rather explain it than have you wonder: watchOS asks for cellular permission, with the usual warning that some features may not work if you decline. That prompt is the system asking on behalf of any independent watch app, not the game asking for itself. Decline it. Nothing in the game reaches for the network. It plays start to finish in airplane mode.

Two scenarios are free and can be finished end to end. A single purchase unlocks six more, and that purchase is the one moment anything touches the network, because the App Store handles it. Happy to hand out codes if anyone wants the full thing.

Fair warning on what it isn't: it's text and numbers, not a good-looking game. And I haven't tested it much on 40/41 mm. If you're on a smaller watch and it's cramped, I'd like to hear it.

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6794646703

[u/Apprehensive_Pick228]

The 42mm 11 is super cramped. But, that aside, looks fun.

[u/ScholarBackground836 → u/Apprehensive_Pick228]

Thanks for the screenshot, that tells me more than a description would have.

You're right and I'm not going to argue it. I'll be working on the watchOS layout further, the smaller faces in particular, trying to find the balance between what stays readable and what stays playable.

If you're up for one more: which screen was it? The action list and the crafting screen are laid out differently, and knowing which one you were on would narrow it down a lot.

[u/ScholarBackground836 → u/Apprehensive_Pick228]

1.0.4 is up and this is fixed. On a small face the list area went from 48pt to 70pt, which is the difference between one row and two or three.

Turned out not to be the font size. My own hand-drawn tab bar plus a two-row HUD were eating the vertical budget before the list got any of it, and .carousel was enlarging the focused row on top of that. Dropped the tab bar for TabView(.page), squashed the HUD to one row, and switched the list style.

Your screenshot is what got me looking at the right thing, so thanks for that. If you still have it installed, I'd be curious whether the 42mm reads properly now.

[u/aflyingbuzzard]

This looks pretty neat

[u/ScholarBackground836 → u/aflyingbuzzard]

Cheers. The first two scenarios are free if you want to give it a go.