10 awesome sandbox games where you can build anything

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Those who are overwhelmed with a thirst for creativity, these projects will definitely not leave indifferent.

1. Minecraft

Platforms: Windows, macOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, Windows Phone.

Here, as they say, no comment. Minecraft is an incredibly popular sandbox game that has probably been played by everyone. And if you haven’t tried it yet, it’s not clear what are you waiting for?

In Minecraft, you can do almost anything you want: build, travel, fight monsters, survive in adverse conditions, create cunning traps, and whatever.

However, building in the game is the main entertainment. Here you can build castles, cities, railways, high towers and mechanisms of unlimited complexity. With the right patience and perseverance, you can even create a calculator, a Tomahawk missile or a huge combat robot.

And when you get tired of all this, roll a dozen mods and turn the game into something completely new and unrecognizable.

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2. Terraria

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U.

A kind of analogue of Minecraft in 2D. There is also a randomly generated world here, fighting monsters, exploring dark caves and building anything and everything. Walk across different biomes - both sunny and friendly, and covered in blood and filth - search for hidden artifacts and create your own weapons to fight bosses.

Building is an important part of Terraria, and perhaps the most fun. Of course, you can exist in a house made of mud, but then you will not receive important characters for the game who need proper housing.

Build your own fortress, castle or a whole city to reliably hide behind the walls from the horrors of the night, goblin raids and monsters raging in the "blood moon". And let your building be not only practical, but also beautiful.

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3. Dwarf Fortress

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.

A very peculiar and addictive sandbox. This is a building game, an economic strategy, a survival simulator, a roguelike adventure, and God knows what else.

In Dwarf Fortress, you lead a group of seven dwarves who travel to remote lands in a procedurally generated world to establish a mighty underground (or non-underground) fortress.

Your defenses are constantly threatened by many dangers. Sieges of goblins, humans, elves and kobolds, creepy underground monsters that are randomly created, hunger, landslides and other troubles can easily bring an unprepared fortress to its knees.

Add to this the brain-blowing appearance and very strange controls. But as soon as you get used to it, a huge scope for creativity opens up in front of you.

You can build anything in Dwarf Fortress: from a replica of Winterfell and huge statues of frozen magma to a crystal city in the sky on a kilometer-long soap support. Have you already realized the scale of the fun?

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4. RimWorld

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.

A simulator of the construction of a colony on a distant planet with survival, maintaining the psychological climate of the team, battles with marauders and other buns. Your goal is to create a settlement that can cope with all the dangers of a hostile world.

Build safe shelters, food farms, solar panels for food production, and other vital structures. And be sure to monitor the mental health of your colonists: in especially difficult conditions, even the most persistent can go crazy and start creating all kinds of game.

The world in the game is procedurally generated, so each new game will be unique. In general, RimWorld is a kind of Dwarf Fortress, only a little simpler, but still very fun.

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5. Factorio

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.

A very interesting and at the same time very difficult sandbox game. Factorio is a massive factory building simulator that produces anything from copper wire and pipes to processors, tanks, space rockets and satellites.

You arrive on an unknown planet inhabited by aggressive life forms in order to bury this world dry. Build drills to extract resources, pump oil, lay railways and cut down forests. Of course, your factory will harm the environment, but who cares?

As the plant expands, it gets more complex. We need more and more iron and copper, more and more fuel, more and more electricity. Automate your production - there is nothing more fun than watching it live its own life.

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6. Kerbal Space Program

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One.

A great hybrid of sandbox, construction set and aerospace simulator. In the Kerbal Space Program, you build rockets, satellites and spaceships and then launch them into space.

The game features realistic physics and orbital mechanics. If you had no idea how spaceships move in orbits, Kerbal Space Program will be a revelation for you.

You have the whole solar system at your disposal, and you can fly to any planets in it, build orbital stations and colonies, ride on satellites on moon rovers and even reconstruct the famous Apollo lunar program. It all depends only on your imagination.

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7. Besiege

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.

A gorgeous sandbox in a medieval setting. As the game progresses, you must create a variety of siege weapons in order to storm impregnable castles and fortresses. And you can build absolutely incredible things.

Huge catapult, trebuchet or ballista? Easily! A steam-powered machine gun that fires grenades with such force that they pierce a stone wall two meters thick? Easy. A rocket launcher that launches fireworks to roast your enemies? You can, too.

With the proper skill in Besiege, you can build clockwork, huge combat robots, and even wooden helicopters - the game is insane in the best sense of the word. Solve puzzles to unlock level after level, or simply build incredible structures in free mode.

The local landscapes are very beautiful - Besiege looks like a kind of medieval miniature. But this game is clearly only for adults, because, among other things, here you can tear enemy knights to pieces with circular saws and burn peasants from flamethrowers.

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8. Prison Architect

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Android, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch.

Have you ever wanted to become the tough warden of a prison from which no one can escape? Prison Architect gives you this opportunity.

First, you will have to carefully plan the building of the prison, then build cells, dining rooms, showers, security rooms and other premises, and then place the prisoners there. Surround them with impenetrable walls and sturdy trellises, and make sure that none of these dregs of society gets out.

There are a lot of options for action. You can, for example, build a sanatorium prison with a bunch of entertainment in order to reeducate prisoners and help them return safely to society. Or create a hell on earth, where the slightest disobedience is severely punished, and prison riots are suppressed by heavy fire and blows of police batons.

Electric chairs, sniper towers, cameras and remote door control systems are included.

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9. Eco

Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.

Eco's philosophy is different from other games. In other sandboxes, you can do whatever you want with the world: flood rivers with magma in Dwarf Fortress, pollute the atmosphere in Factorio, or blow everything up with infernal laughter in Besiege.

In Eco, you will have to interact with the world around you wisely, guided by the principle “do no harm”. And if you are careless, you will spoil the ecology and make the environment unsuitable for survival.

The game places you on a small planet threatened by an asteroid collision. You need to create a civilization that can survive. Engage in construction, economics, food cultivation, trade - whatever. Most importantly, try not to harm the planet too much.

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10. Boundless

Platforms: Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4.

A beautiful sandbox with voxel graphics and tons of options. Here you can build mighty fortresses, create cities with developed economies and trade, and become the lord of countless lands. Well, or just drop everything and go on a hike for treasures and artifacts.

Compared to other clones of Minecraft, Boundless wins due to very cute landscapes, a pleasant soundtrack and a very interesting crafting system - not a workbench and a stove, as they say.

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