There are roughly two camps in the world of gaming: those who want to be told what to do and guided down a fairly linear path towards a conclusion, and those who abhor the idea of being given goals and prefer total freedom to define their fates. Both camps are totally valid in my opinion, and I think depending on the genre, there’s a proper time and place for either approach. Sometimes, a tighter, linear story can have the greatest payoff. Other times, it’s far nicer to be able to customize your gameplay experience from top to bottom, and go whichever way you want.
The Best Games With Deep Base-Building Mechanics, Ranked
There are a lot of great base-building games out there, but some have much better mechanics than others. Here’s a look at some of the best, ranked.
If you fall into the latter category and like to formulate your own plans in open-world games, then I have a few recommendations for you. These games all feature nice, explorable worlds, but they also don’t impose any major responsibilities in the long run. Sure, they might have tasks and quests here and there, but you can somewhat safely ignore them or just quickly complete them before getting to the actual meat of the game, which is freedom to do whatever you like.
Palworld
Missions Are Plentiful, But Your Goals Are More Important
If you’ve ever wanted to experience the joy of creature collection a la Pokemon mixed in with some open-world crafting and base building, Palworld is the way to go. The game is still in early access, but it drops you into a huge open world that’s filled with unique creatures. A lot of them are biome-specific, so it’s really recommended to explore as much as possible and capture ones with specific skills that can help you automate processes in your base.
There’s a bit of everything, from mining to farming crops and even cooking food, which are all essential for you to progress in the game and unlock better items. There are also a ton of missions to complete, but beyond that, the game doesn’t end. After you’re done, the game expects you to figure out the best way to thrive and survive—or do whatever else you’d like in a world of Pals. The order in which you do all this is up to you, though, and the kind of Pals you capture and when you choose to challenge the next boss is entirely your call.
Project Zomboid
The Only Certainty Is That You’ll Die One Day
Project Zomboid’s tutorial teaches you the basics, but once you actually drop into the massive open world, you’re on your own, and you’ll have to figure out everything blindly. That’s if you’re playing the game as it’s intended in its default mode, because you can also tweak the experience to be more or less forgiving if you’re looking for a chill building and farming post-apocalyptic game, or an intense zombie survival run.
As the game tells you, it’s a story about how you died and how long you managed to survive. How you set yourself up or what you focus on is entirely up to you. In fact, you could even have electricity and water stay on forever and just happily farm animals in a zombie-free world until the end of time. Alternatively, you could seek to build the most secure safehouse in the world, arm yourself with guns, and start shooting to attract a horde for an epic final stand. You choose what path sounds the most appealing, because there are no quests to point you anywhere.
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
After The Main Story, There’s No Set Path
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is probably the one game here that will have the most direction in terms of goals, at least in the beginning. And that’s saying a lot, considering this game is essentially a medieval combat sandbox. Yes, you can, and you should follow along the main campaign and resolve it the way you best see fit, but beyond that, there’s really no ultimate goal that’s imposed on you.
Games With Deep Base-Building Freedom
These games allow players to unleash their full creativity when building bases.
Do you want to make your own empire? Do you just want to have a few settlements and live well off? Or maybe you’d like to constantly stay on the move with your own band of recruits, exploring and dishing out justice when and the way you see fit? All of that is possible and completely valid. It all depends on you.
RimWorld
Go For One Of The Endings, Or Don’t
RimWorld is one game that doesn’t exactly inspire you to reach its end. The simulation part of it is simply too fun and addictive. You start off with a small colony on a randomized planet, and from there on, it’s entirely up to you what the playthrough looks like.
You could genuinely try to help the colony to strive for success and attain one of the game’s endings, or you can go full mayhem and create the most unhinged group of survivors that engage in all sorts of questionable activities (cannibalism and slavery, to name a few classic ones). It’s all very sandboxy, so there’s plenty of room for you to determine what way to go, and the game definitely doesn’t hold your hand or impose anything on you.
Factorio
Build What You Like
Fans of automation games might already be familiar with Factorio. It’s a charming indie sim game all about building factories on alien planets, and perhaps even one day launching a rocket into the sky and discovering other frontiers. I say “perhaps” because that’s really your choice, and the game doesn’t explicitly tell you or push you towards this at any point.
You spawn in, and from there on, it’s up to you what you want to do in a hostile, alien environment. The general consensus among players seems to be that “the factory must grow,” but aside from that, build what you wish, however you wish.
Kenshi
It’s Your Story, Not Kenshi’s
Kenshi is well-known for having one of the most brutal new-player experiences, but once you get the hang of the game and how the world works, it’s one of the most complete and rewarding sandbox experiences out there. There’s survival, RPG, and an open-world environment all mixed in with total freedom to define your path.
And that’s what you’ll have to do: Kenshi isn’t going to hold your hand and tell you where to go so you can fulfill your duty as the chosen one. Because guess what? You’re not special, and the game loves to remind you of that by assaulting you with enemies.
No Man’s Sky
The Universe Prefers You To Do What You Wish
It’s true that No Man’s Sky does offer some guidance and direction when you first get spawned in, but the ultimate long-term goal in this sci-fi survival game is completely up to the player.
5 Open-World Games You’ll Play for Hours Without Realizing
These five open-world games can be so absorbing that a quick session can turn into hours.
No one is going to hold your hand or block your progression—except maybe the lack of certain resources or technologies, but if there’s something you want to do, you can chase it and eventually do it. Settle down and build a base on the first planet you spawn in, or maybe scour the universe for something better and more interesting. The game isn’t going to stand in your way or particularly sway you one way or the other.
Minecraft
A Game That Just Drops You In
There’s something special about the way Minecraft just drops you into a world on survival and leaves it at that. You have no quests, no tasks, no goals. Only an endless, procedurally generated world with resources, mobs, and structures waiting to be explored and interacted with. It’s why this game looks so very different depending on who gets their hands on it.
Some will sink hours into modded Minecraft, others will get really into redstone constructions, and others still will only engage with creative mode, building elaborate houses and castles for hours on end. That’s just scratching the surface. You also have adventure maps, PvP minigames, servers… It’s an entire ecosystem that’s completely dictated by players.
The Sims 3
There’s No Right Or Wrong Simmer
The Sims 3 is showing its age now, true, but it’s a timeless classic in its franchise. For one, it’s the only game to include an open-world environment in each neighborhood, and the game truly felt alive, despite the performance problems it faced later down the line. The essence of any The Sims game is captured well here, where you create whoever you want, and make them do pretty much whatever you want in a world that can be built and edited to your liking.
The possibilities are very vast, especially when you throw mods into the mix. Of course, the world will occasionally throw in some curveballs and events your way, but overall, the player will have to carve out their own path and set their own goals.
Longest Open-World Games
Even the most sophisticated gamer will be bewildered by the sheer scale of these games. These are the open-world games that take the longest to beat.
