Thirst
A depleting hydration meter that, like hunger, demands regular water intake, with worsening penalties as it empties. Thirst adds a second survival need distinct from hunger — water is often scarcer, riskier to source (contaminated water causes disease), and depletes faster, as in The Long Dark, Rust, and Green Hell. Designers use thirst to deepen the survival resource loop, to make water sources strategically valuable locations, to add another expedition-planning constraint, and to create disease/purification subsystems (drinking dirty water as a desperate gamble). Key decisions: depletion rate relative to hunger, water sourcing and purification (raw water risks illness, forcing a boiling/filtering step), how thirst interacts with heat and exertion, and penalty curve. Pitfall: thirst layered on top of hunger risks becoming redundant busywork — two meters that do the same thing, both just interrupting play to eat and drink; the interesting version differentiates them meaningfully (water as a purification puzzle, a scarcity that drives movement) so thirst adds a distinct decision rather than doubling the chore.
- Dev effort: Small
- Timing: Real-time or turn-based
- Common in: survival
Seen in
- The Long Dark
- Rust
- Green Hell