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I Built a Retro Survival RPG in Vanilla JavaScript

I Built a Retro Survival RPG in Vanilla JavaScript

by jasonkester·May 9, 2026·5 points·3 comments
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AI Analysis

●●SolidCozyNiche Gem

Valheim survival mechanics successfully crammed into an Ultima-style tile engine.

Strengths
  • •Procedural generation creates a vast open world entirely within the browser.
  • •Vanilla JavaScript implementation ensures zero dependencies and instant loading.
  • •Sanctuary cities provide a clever non-combat zone for roleplaying interactions.
Weaknesses
  • •Browser-based survival games often struggle with performance as worlds expand.
  • •Lacks the multiplayer persistence typically expected in modern survival titles.
Category
Gaming
Target Audience

Retro gaming fans, browser game players, JavaScript developers

Similar To

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Post Description

I'm working on the Survival Crafting RPG that you would have played on your Apple II back in the '80s. You can think of it as Valheim's gameplay crammed into the tile-based UI of the old Ultima games. It has a procedurally-generated open world with towns and NPCs to talk to, all the resource gathering, mining, crafting stuff you'd expect in a modern survival game, and some good old fashioned dungeon crawling to boot.

I've been working on it off and on for the last several months. It's complete up through the Bronze Age (in Valheim terms). Let me know what you think!

https://stravaeger.com/

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