Best Sandbox Games
Sandbox games offer maximum freedom: there is no strict plot dictating the order of actions — you decide what to build, explore, or destroy. This selection features the best sandbox games on PC and consoles: from Minecraft and Terraria to complex survival games, building simulators, and open-world RPGs. We selected projects based on the depth of interaction systems, richness of the game world, modding support, and replayability.
Sandbox games are especially great for co-op play — most projects on the list support cooperative and multiplayer modes. The selection includes games of various scales: from cozy building simulators to harsh survival games with procedurally generated worlds.
Action, Third-person view, Fantasy / Medieval, Indie, Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Open world, Crafting, Online
February 2, 2021
VGTimes:
7.8/10
Players:
8.4/10
Steam:
94/100
Metacritic:
89/100
A fantasy sandbox with survival elements. You can play alone or with others, exploring the world and gathering resources, finding and raiding tombs, building bases...
Role-playing game, Action, Adventure, Third-person view, Indie, Fantasy, Open world, Survival, Online
January 19, 2024
VGTimes:
8.0/10
Players:
8.2/10
Steam:
95/100
Metacritic:
79/100
An arcade action-survival game from a third-person perspective in a vast open world with the key mechanic of taming unusual creatures called Pal. They resemble...
Arcade, Action, Adventure, Online, First-person view, Fantasy / Medieval, Sandbox, Indie, Survival, Crafting
August 15, 2011
Players:
7.6/10
Metacritic:
83/100
An exciting sandbox focused on freedom of action and exploring a practically endless open world. Created through procedural generation, it is filled with...
Role-playing game, Action, Online, Third-person view, Sandbox, Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Exploration, Open world, Fantasy, Construction, Crafting
January 24, 2024
Players:
8.4/10
Steam:
87/100
The main character is Born of Flame, the last hope of a dying race. In a bloody struggle for power, the ancestors caused a plague that consumed the world and...
Action, Adventure, First-person view, Futurism (Future), Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Open world, Crafting, Online, Horror
May 14, 2026
Players:
8.3/10
Steam:
93/100
The continuation of the popular survival simulator, the events of which unfold on a new planet. After the failure of a colonization mission, the survivors must...
Action, Shooter, Adventure, Simulation, Online, First-person view, Futurism (Future), Survival, Open world, Space, Exploration
August 9, 2016
Players:
7.9/10
Steam:
82/100
Metacritic:
75/100
No Man's Sky is an adventure simulator with a first-person view set in a futuristic environment. You will embark on a journey to explore space and planets, some of...
Action, Simulation, Business / Management, Top-down view, Indie, Fantasy, Medieval era, Crafting, Role-playing game
August 15, 2018
Players:
8.2/10
Steam:
60/100
Metacritic:
68/100
Graveyard Keeper is a simulator of a true manager of a medieval cemetery. In the game world, heroes await death in coffins and entire tombs of your cemetery. Each...
Adventure, Online, Top-down view, Sandbox, Indie, Cooperative (co-op), Dungeons, Exploration, Crafting, Farm Simulator, Open world, Survival
March 8, 2022
Players:
7.8/10
Steam:
94/100
Metacritic:
86/100
An arcade sandbox that you can play with friends in co-op for up to eight people. The main character is an explorer who wakes up in an ancient dungeon filled with...
Strategy, In real time, Business / Management, Top-down view, Futurism (Future), Tactics, Roguelike, Survival, Sandbox
October 17, 2018
Players:
8.8/10
Steam:
91/100
Metacritic:
87/100
RimWorld is a sci-fi survival simulator on an alien planet with real-time strategy elements and a top-down view. Under your control is a small group of people who...
Action, Adventure, Simulation, First-person view, Futurism (Future), Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Construction
March 24, 2022
Players:
8.6/10
Steam:
95/100
Metacritic:
81/100
An adventure survival simulator set on a hostile planet. The main task is to make the planet suitable for life. To do this, you have to explore it, collect minerals...
Action, Adventure, First-person view, Futurism (Future), Indie, Virtual Reality (VR), Survival, Open world, Horror
December 14, 2014
Players:
8.7/10
Steam:
96/100
Metacritic:
83/100
A single-player adventure in a vast open world, with a first-person view, survival elements, and sandbox features. Playing the game will evoke feelings associated...
Action, Shooter, First-person view, Third-person view, Survival, Cooperative (co-op), Open world, Online, Zombies
December 13, 2018
Players:
7/10
Steam:
74/100
DayZ is a multiplayer survival horror game with an open world. Before us is the post-Soviet country of Chernarus, which was struck by an unknown virus. Most of the...
Role-playing game, Strategy, Business / Management, Isometric, Post-apocalyptic, Indie, Open world, Sandbox, Survival
November 21, 2011
Players:
9.3/10
Steam:
95/100
Metacritic:
75/100
Kenshi is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game with elements of management strategy and survival. You have to explore a large open world where you can trade, steal...
Action, Online, First-person view, Third-person view, Futurism (Future), Cooperative (co-op), Survival, Open world, Crafting
December 3, 2021
Players:
7.8/10
Steam:
77/100
Metacritic:
70/100
Cooperative action with survival elements from the creator of DayZ, where a group of prospectors lands on the dangerous planet Icarus in search of rare resources...
Strategy, Simulation, Business / Management, Isometric, Indie, Science fiction, Space, Construction, Open world
January 21, 2021
Players:
9/10
Steam:
96/100
Dyson Sphere Program is a sci-fi space simulator in which you build your galactic empire by exploring uncharted areas of extraterrestrial space. In the distant...
Arcade, Role-playing game, Action, Adventure, Platformer, Indie, Simulation, Survival, Sandbox, Space
July 22, 2016
Players:
8.5/10
Steam:
88/100
Metacritic:
81/100
Starbound is an indie adventure role-playing arcade game with platformer and action elements. You are forced to flee your planet by hijacking a ship. Fleeing from...
Role-playing game, Adventure, Top-down view, Turn-based, Indie, Roguelike, Procedural generation, Open world
July 15, 2015
Steam:
95/100
Metacritic:
91/100
A turn-based RPG from the minds of Sproggiwood. The game world is generated anew each time, offering unique adventures with each visit. The environment can be...
Online, Action, Shooter, Horror, First-person view, Post-apocalyptic, Free game, Sandbox, Survival, Zombies
July 7, 2014
Players:
7.8/10
Steam:
90/100
Unturned is a multiplayer sandbox action game with a first-person view. The main goal here is to survive by defending yourself from zombies and hostile players...
Role-playing game, Simulation, Action, Strategy, In real time, Business / Management, Third-person view, Top-down view, Futurism (Future), Sandbox, God Simulator, Open world
September 4, 2008
Players:
8.8/10
Steam:
92/100
Metacritic:
84/100
This evolution and civilization simulation follows a species from a single cell to spacefaring exploration. Progression spans five stages—Cell, Creature, Tribe...
Simulation, Futurism (Future), Educational game (Education), Sandbox, Science fiction, Online, Exploration, Space
February 24, 2023
Players:
5.4/10
Steam:
25/100
Continuation of a fun sci-fi simulator based on real laws of physics. In the game you need to create a space program, build a powerful spaceship, design colonies to...
Third-person view, Anime / Manga, Fantasy / Medieval, Cooperative (co-op), Role-playing game, Adventure, Action
December 20, 2018
Players:
7.3/10
Steam:
89/100
Metacritic:
85/100
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a continuation of the arcade sandbox with a third-person view in the open world in the Dragon Quest universe. As in the original, you...
Arcade, Action, Third-person view, Fantasy / Medieval, Role-playing game, Japanese role-playing game, Platformer
January 28, 2016
Players:
8.7/10
Steam:
90/100
Metacritic:
82/100
Dragon Quest Builders — arcade sandbox with a third-person view in an open world in the Dragon Quest universe. The plot of the game will tell the sweet story...
Similar game lists
Best Sandbox Games of All Time
We offer you a list of the best sandbox games of all time. In this top list, you will find not only hits with advanced graphics but also undemanding games that are perfect for low-end PCs.
Sandbox is a translation of the English term for the ge...
47 games
Best Sandbox Strategy Games Ever Made
While most traditional strategy games exploit military themes, showcasing wars and various conflicts in different settings, there are also sandbox strategies.
These games generally offer a largely constructive process. For example, city buildin...
53 games
Best Android Open World Games of All Time
Despite the huge number of games released for Android smartphones, only a few of them can offer gamers a fully open world with exploration of available locations, completing dozens of different quests, and partial freedom of action (as much as the...
29 games
Best iOS Open World Games of All Time
Open world games usually offer gamers the opportunity to move freely across a typically large location, complete available quests in any order, and explore the terrain in search of enemies and secrets. It so happens that such games have also been ...
29 games
Best Open World Racing Games of All Time
About ten to fifteen years ago, all races were similar in format: separate heats with loading screens. Later, developers began to add career mode and open locations.
Now, almost all major AAA projects in the racing genre exploit open world mech...
46 games