Survival craft
Also said as Survival game, Crafting survival
You arrive with nothing. Hunger and the dark keep draining you, so you gather, craft better tools, and build a shelter. It promises the slow satisfaction of turning a hostile place into your home.
Pressure gives every log a purpose, and every crafted thing visibly solves a problem you felt. Once you are safe, though, the tension often runs out, and the game needs a new threat.
Say it
“Survival loop: food falls to zero in about four minutes, night comes every ten, and the first campfire takes three wood, so a new player is safe, just barely, on their first night.”
Where you’ve seen it
Minecraft's survival mode has you racing to build a shelter before your first night. In Don't Starve (2013), complete darkness itself kills you, so a fire is not a comfort but a need. Valheim (2021) turned the same loop into a Viking co-op.
Not to be confused with sandbox
A sandbox gives you the tools and no reason to use them. Survival craft takes the tools away and gives you a reason.