SCUM is an open-world survival game developed by Gamepires and published by Jagex. It spent years in early access from 2018 and left it with the 1.0 release on June 17, 2025, which brought a visual overhaul and a redesigned map to the PC version. The premise sets it apart: you are a convict dropped on an island as a contestant in a televised survival show, and staying alive while giving the audience something to watch is the whole job.

Official servers exist, but much of the game is played on community servers whose owners set the loot, the raid rules, the squad sizes and the economy. In SCUM those settings change the difficulty more than in most survival games.

Survival Down to the Calorie

SCUM simulates your body in unusual detail. Your character tracks calories, nutrients, hydration and digestion, so what you eat and drink shapes your stamina and strength. Attributes and skills grow as you use them, and a character built for stealth plays nothing like one built for brute force. Fame points rise as you survive and fight, and they pay for things like choosing where you respawn.

The island fights back with puppets, the infected-like convicts who swarm towns, and armed mechs that guard military zones and bunkers full of the best gear. Players build bases with locks and traps, drive and repair vehicles, and visit trader outposts to buy and sell. All of it scales with the server's settings, which is why two SCUM servers can feel like different games.

What to Look For in a SCUM Server

PvP, PvE or Raid Windows

Full PvP servers allow fights and base raids at any hour. Others restrict raiding to scheduled raid times, so a base cannot be cleared while its owners sleep, or offer some form of offline raid protection. PvE servers switch player combat off and leave the island as the enemy. Check the raid schedule against your own time zone before you build.

Squad Size

Squad limits decide who you are up against. A small cap gives solo players and small groups room to compete; a large one lets organized squads lock down bunkers and trader routes. Look at how the server handles alliances too, since a squad cap means little if allied squads can stack.

Loot, Metabolism and Danger Settings

Servers raise or lower loot multipliers, slow down metabolism, change puppet numbers and switch mechs on or off. Boosted loot and a slower metabolism make the early hours less punishing; default settings keep the scarcity that SCUM was built around. Read the listed numbers and decide how hard you want your island to be.

Traders and Economy

Owners can rework trader prices and stock, and many add their own shops or Discord-based rewards. That is fine when it supports the game, but check what supporter packages buy. Cosmetics and convenience are fair; weapons, vehicles or extra raid protection for real money are not.

Admins, Wipes and Population

Ask how often the server wipes and whether it follows major game updates. Look for admins who answer on Discord, handle cheaters quickly and publish their rules. Then check the population at your hours and the server location, since close-range fights punish high ping.

Getting Started

Settle on PvP or PvE and on the raid schedule first, then on how much loot and how forgiving a metabolism you want. Join a server near a fresh wipe if you can, read its rules on squads and raids, and learn the island around your spawn before you head for the bunkers. The ranking below lists the SCUM servers players vote for here. Vote for the server you survive on - rankings start fresh every month, so the list shows where prisoners are playing now.