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THE 20 BEST SANDBOX GAMES

By Harry Alston
Updated Jul 21, 2022


The sandbox genre covers dozens of different games. Here's our list of the best
titles you can enjoy in 2021, on console and PC.



Determining the greatest sandbox games is no easy feat as it's an enormous genre
that covers dozens, if not more, of the most popular games available right now.

RELATED: The Best Open-World Games Of All Time, Ranked

From the blocky creative goodness of Minecraft to the ever-expanding ways to
play Grand Theft Auto Online, a sandbox game is any game that puts most of the
control in the player's hands. Play how you want. Find your own path. Here are
the best ones that are available to play right now, on both PC and console.

Updated July 19, 2022 By Ben Jessey: As sandbox games have no clear goal and
typically no end, you can play them for years upon years. This is why titles
like Minecraft and GTA Online, for instance, still have large player bases that
don't seem to be dwindling.

However, it has to be a really great game to keep your attention long after
release. The entries on this list certainly have the potential to keep you
hooked. But just in case the original 17 weren't to your liking, we've added a
few more that may pique your interest.

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20/20 ASTRONEER



In Astroneer, you're dumped on a planet with a spacesuit and a deform tool. The
rest is pretty much up to you. But you're encouraged to dig and explore the
mysterious planet to gather resources.

With the materials you find, you can build different things to improve your new
life in space. You can even craft a rocket and travel to other planets to check
them out. And you don't have to do it all alone as you can bring some buddies
along for the ride.





19/20 GARRY’S MOD



Garry's Mod (aka GMod) has been around for a long time. In fact, it's one of the
most iconic sandbox experiences in gaming history. The game gives you access to
all sorts of assets, and you can do what you want with them. The most creative
players have managed to make some extremely cool things, such as popular games
like Trouble In Terrorist Town and Prop Hunt.

What you can make from it depends on your level of creativity and the amount of
free time you have. But the game gives you all the tools you require to do great
things.





18/20 THE SIMS 4



The Sims is one of the most famous video game series of all time. And they're a
perfect example of enjoyable sandbox titles. In Sims 4, you are allowed to live
the life you want. You get to fully customize your family and house - as long as
you have enough in-game money in the latter's case.

RELATED: The Best Game Packs For The Sims 4, Ranked

Then you get to decide how your Sims live the lives you've given them. To add to
the fun, there is a litany of wonderful DLC and mods for you to install.





17/20 CORE KEEPER



Core Keeper is one of 2022's breakout indie hits. The aim of the game is to dig,
dig, and dig some more. A cooperative exploration, survival, and mining game for
up to eight players, Core Keeper is inspired by games like Stardew Valley,
Terraria, and Minecraft.

There are unique monsters to battle, farms to build, and bits of gear to
upgrade. It's a title that has continuously improved since its early access
release. So, it's a great time to jump in and see what all the hype is about.





16/20 DYSON SPHERE PROGRAM



One of the sleeper indie hits from the start of 2021, Dyson Sphere Program is a
wonderfully complex factory-builder in the likes of Factorio.

The planet is your sandbox. There are conveyor belts, item-feeders, aerial
transportation...this a game you can easily sink hundreds of hours into if it
gets your hooks in you. If you love games like Factorio or building item-sorters
in Minecraft, you should check out Dyson Sphere Program.





15/20 MINECRAFT



Minecraft is undoubtedly one of the greatest sandbox games of this generation.
Its development has spanned a decade, seen its ups and downs, to be sure, and
provided a platform for thousands of creators to experiment, play, and
entertain.

It has changed a lot over the years, as the developers have made many additions
to the game, like the amazing Caves and Cliffs update. Throughout it all, the
title has never strived away from its core concept: to give you almost unlimited
freedom to create whatever you want in its blocky world.





14/20 TERRARIA



Much like Minecraft, Terraria is a classic. One of the best-value deals in
gaming. Ever. It could cost you just a couple of dollars and for that, you'd get
easily over a thousand hours of content, painstakingly added by a dedicated
development team over the course of a decade. For free.

Terraria is the ultimate sandbox. There are thousands of items, monsters,
bosses, and a complex modding scene that will keep the game alive for many years
to come.





13/20 GRAND THEFT AUTO ONLINE



While the constant re-releases of GTA 5 and GTA Online have received plenty of
criticism, it's hard to deny the quality of either. GTA Online, in particular,
is an outstanding sandbox experience.

RELATED: Best PC Games Of The Early 2000s

Being able to freely roam around Los Santos remains a delight. Not to mention,
the almost endless amount of content Rockstar has provided for the multiplayer
game means it's easy to keep playing this title for years. There's still no
other multiplayer game quite like this, which is likely why it continues to
maintain its immense popularity.





12/20 ELITE DANGEROUS



Pick your poison: space simulators are still massively popular, and Elite
Dangerous provides one of the more intoxicating sandbox experiences if you can
look past the endless grind. Any game that allows players to kidnap new players
and blast them off to the other side of space, then force them to mine resources
until they're allowed back to the tutorial section, grabs attention.

Those kidnappers were deservedly banned, but the story proves what sort of
experience Elite Dangerous is. It's a fantastic space sandbox where you can do
just about whatever you want.





11/20 NO MAN'S SKY



After a truly terrible launch, maybe one of the worst game launches in the
history of game launches, No Man's Sky has been redeemed by a series of free
updates that are usually well thought out and of very high quality.

Hello Games didn't give up on their project. Didn't jet off to some Pleasant
planet and build a base there. Nope. They knuckled down and turned No Man's Sky
into one of the largest and most intricate sandbox games out there. Not bad.





10/20 CITIES: SKYLINES



After the iconic fall of Sim City, Cities: Skylines took up the mantle of best
city builder and delivered. It's the ultimate city-building sandbox, especially
if you splash out on its dozens of DLC packs.

Want to build a city where you create an enormous dam of sewage water and then
flood your city with it? Well, you can, if you want to. Alternatively, you can
mod the game to a state that is almost unrecognizable from the base game.





9/20 CRUSADER KINGS 3



It's not difficult imagining putting several thousand hours into Crusader Kings
3. After the long support of Crusader Kings 2, the predecessor is more
new-player friendly (yes, really, the UI is terrifying but easier to learn than
ever before) and very enjoyable.

RELATED: Open-World Games With The Best Storylines

The game is a complete medieval sandbox, where you can start as the count of a
tiny French province and eventually rule the world, leading your nation on
crusades and establishing your own religion.





8/20 FACTORIO



A game that spent four years in early access, Factorio is probably one of the
most polished and complete construction management games ever released. It is
complicated but in all the best ways.

You can spend hours and hours arranging your conveyor belts, feeding factories
and engines, and manufacturing materials to expand your factory. It's a
never-ending cycle, and wow, does it feel good to be efficient.





7/20 SCRAP MECHANIC



Scrap Mechanic is self-described as a "creative paradise." And it's hard to come
up with a better phrase to describe one of the best sandbox games out there.

The main aim is to design fantastical vehicles and other machines, but there's
more to the title than that. The game also has its fair share of monster
battling, discovery, and exploration. Plus, in 2020, a full-fledged survival
mode was added to the title to make things even more interesting.





6/20 GOING MEDIEVAL



An early-access indie breakout in 2021, Going Medieval is a colony simulator
that has some of the best building mechanics we've seen in a game like this,
sort of becoming a 3D Dwarf Fortress with multiple building layers. Huge towers,
deep cellars, that sort of thing.

It's not just about building, though. You also have to look after your settlers.
So, you must keep them happy and, more importantly, keep them alive. If the
elements or starvation don't get them, then raiders might.





5/20 RIMWORLD



When discussing great sandbox games, RimWorld should always come up. There is no
other game that lets you run an organ-harvesting operation from a base on a
distant planet, surrounded by ice and angry raiders.

The premise alone makes this title stand out in a crowded genre. But the sheer
amount of freedom you're given to tailor the experience you want is another
reason why RimWorld is a classic. It has some fantastic mods and DLC, too.





4/20 RUST



Oh, Rust. Beset with problems pretty much all the time (the performance on
consoles is still pretty awful), it makes very little difference to the
popularity of this game. This sandbox survival game is best played with friends
or a rogue solo mission into the chaos of a busy server.

RELATED: Best Indie Games Made With Unity

Build, survive, and interact with potentially over a hundred different players,
the weekly server resets always make the game feel fresh, even if grinding out
every week becomes, well, a bit of a grind.





3/20 VALHEIM



An indie superstar from early in 2021, Valheim arrived with a bang. As you may
be able to gather from the game's title, this sandbox experience is set in a
Viking world.

The thing that will instantly catch your eye in this game is the unique and
beautiful art style. But there is plenty of substance to go with that style.
From a gameplay standpoint, it fuses the survival elements of Minecraft with the
boss progression of Terraria. And it's a combination that works brilliantly.





2/20 MOUNT AND BLADE 2: BANNERLORD



There is nothing quite as satisfying as transforming your base character into a
lord with several hundred soldiers under their command. Mount and Blade 2:
Bannerlord is the long-awaited successor to Warband, though the game has a long
way to go before it cements its cult status like its predecessor.

The game is currently still in Early Access. However, even in its current state,
there are potentially hundreds of hours of sandbox goodness, as you try to
conquer the world of Calradia.





1/20 RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2



Red Dead Redemption 2, and Red Dead Online, are both visually and mechanically
one of the most complex games Rockstar has ever released. The world is gorgeous.
You can just go fishing if you want and waste away the hours as the seasons
change around you.

Red Dead Online is nowhere near as popular as Grand Theft Auto Online, but
riding around in a posse with a bunch of your friends is still a lot of fun. A
sandbox in every sense of the world, the Wild West is your oyster.

NEXT: The Best RPGs Where You Can Build A Town


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Related Topics
 * Lists
 * Terraria
 * Elite Dangerous
 * No Man's Sky
 * Cities: Skylines
 * Crusader Kings 3
 * Factorio
 * Going Medieval
 * Rimworld
 * Rust
 * valheim
 * Mount And Blade
 * Red Dead Redemption 2
 * Minecraft
 * New World
 * Grand Theft Auto

About The Author
Harry Alston (662 Articles Published)


Harry Alston is a senior specialist writer at TheGamer.

More From Harry Alston
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