The Best Survival sandbox Games

Update : Forsaken Isle added at rank #50.
1

Border Town (2024)

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100
Review score
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PC Windows

Restore the former glory of Border Town in an open-world sandbox RPG set in a fantastical realm. Explore the world, craft tools and weapons, cultivate fields, and socialise with your neighbours while dealing with dark forces that threaten to destroy everything you have built.

Buy

  • building
  • farming
  • sandbox
  • rpg
  • open-world
  • action-adventure
  • shooter
  • survival
  • top-down
  • old-school
  • first-person
  • cartoony
  • simulation
  • adventure
  • magic

2

Urge (2021)

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100
Review score
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PC Windows

Fight, build, explore, survive, while the dynamic player-caused hazardous fog is slowly changing the rules of the world around you.

Buy

  • crafting
  • survival
  • open-world
  • base-building
  • survival-horror
  • building
  • post-apocalyptic
  • sandbox
  • loot
  • gore
  • atmospheric
  • horror
  • shooter
  • exploration
  • first-person

3

Noch (2023)

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99
Review score
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Android PC Windows

Go alone (or with a friend) to find the girl who destroyed the world. An ominous surreal first-person adventure full of dangerous monsters and secrets of the deceased world


  • gothic
  • hunting
  • off-road
  • investigation
  • post-apocalyptic
  • survival-horror
  • thriller
  • demons
  • dark
  • sandbox
  • atmospheric
  • 3d
  • survival
  • story
  • exploration

4

Terraria (2011)

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97
Review score
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PC Windows Xbox 360 Windows Phone / Windows 10 Mobile Nintendo Switch Mac OS Linux stadia Xbox One wii u Playstation 4 IOS iPhone Nintendo 3DS Android vita Playstation 3

Terraria is an addictive, systems-heavy, 2D sandbox-survival game that offers exploration, crafting, and combat, where you must defeat enemies and gather resources to build increasingly powerful weapons, armor and housing for NPCs. With pixelated visuals, great controls, and sound, Terraria provides hours of entertainment and is a must-have for Minecraft fans looking for something different in this genre.


What we like:
  • Addictive gameplay
  • Pixelated 2D sprites that are beautifully designed
  • Complex systems-heavy gameplay
  • The game has a purpose to serve with the housing of NPCs
  • Great and responsive controls
What could be improved:
  • The game has too many shortcuts and menus, which may overwhelm new players
  • Not a lot of screen space on small touch-screen devices

  • crafting
  • sandbox
  • survival
  • boss
  • inventory
  • pixel
  • adventure
  • multiplayer
  • 2d
  • exploration
  • platform
  • open-world
  • online

5

Factorio (2020)

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97
Review score
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PC Windows Nintendo Switch Mac OS Linux

Factorio is an absorbing factory management game. You play the role of a handy person who needs to build a rocket and craft almost anything with little more than spit and elbow grease. Automation is the key to success as you establish production chains and assembly lines to make sure all the hard work is done for you.


What we like:
  • Complex puzzle-solving
  • Open-ended gameplay
  • Automation mechanics
  • Creative assembly lines
  • Captivating story
What could be improved:
  • Tedious combat
  • Limited environmental resources
  • Environmental consequences of mass manufacturing

  • automation
  • management
  • base-building
  • construction
  • resource-management
  • crafting
  • robots
  • trains
  • simulation
  • multiplayer
  • sandbox
  • empire
  • cooperative
  • survival
  • resource

6

My Little Universe (2021)

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97
Review score
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Nintendo Switch Playstation 5 IOS iPhone Mac OS Android Xbox Series X Xbox One PC Windows

Stranded on a barren moon with nothing but your tools, fuelless ship, and celestial powers of creation, you are destined to recreate what was once lost and be the hero of your own Little Universe! Don't forget to call in up to three of your friends to join your journey in the Splitscreen Co-op Mode!


  • mining
  • 2.5d
  • relaxing
  • sandbox
  • dungeon-crawler
  • character
  • space
  • crafting
  • minimalist
  • exploration
  • third-person
  • survival
  • customization
  • 3d
  • open-world

7

Oxygen Not Included (2019)

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96
Review score
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PC Windows Mac OS Linux

Oxygen Not Included is an innovative and unique colony-building game in which you control a crew of duplicants who start beneath the surface of a procedurally generated asteroid with nothing more than a ration box and cloning device. With its childlike art style and humour, Oxygen Not Included looks like less of a space simulator and more like The Sims in space, but don't let that fool you - it's brimming with complexity and depth.

Buy

What we like:
  • Child-friendly art style
  • Complexity and depth
  • Humor
  • Procedurally generated asteroid
  • Experimenting with contraptions
  • Retconning decisions
What could be improved:
  • Frame rate drops at the start of each cycle
  • AI occasionally getting confused

  • survival
  • simulation
  • colony
  • resource-management
  • base-building
  • management
  • sandbox
  • space

8

RimWorld (2018)

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96
Review score
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Mac OS Xbox One PC Windows Linux

RimWorld is a life simulator and management game set in a remote planet in the distant future. It features a unique character generation system to create complex personalities with flaws, drives and needs, as well as a story generator that creates unexpected scenarios for players to face.


What we like:
  • Unique character generation system
  • Story generator creates unpredictable scenarios
  • Tons of mods for everything
  • Includes interaction bubbles to show interactions as they happen
What could be improved:
  • Unintuitive UI
  • Busy work tasks can be tedious

  • colony
  • simulation
  • base-building
  • survival
  • management
  • farming
  • sandbox
  • sci-fi
  • moddable
  • pirates
  • building

9

Terminus: Zombie Survivors (2021)

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95
Review score
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Mac OS PC Windows

Terminus: Zombie Survivors is a 2D turn-based survival roguelike set during a zombie apocalypse. Each journey is unique, and every decision can mean the difference between life and death. Can you brave hunger, cold, and the undead in order to reach the Terminus and find salvation?

Buy

  • turn-based
  • survival
  • crafting
  • zombies
  • open-world
  • rogue-like
  • sandbox
  • strategy
  • post-apocalyptic
  • gore
  • pixel
  • horror

10

Astroneer (2019)

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94
Review score
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PC Windows IOS iPhone Nintendo Switch Playstation 4 Xbox One

Embark on a cosmic journey in Astroneer, where you can shape worlds to your heart's content. Dig, build, and survive in a sandbox universe, creating bases and vehicles with friends. Uncover mysteries and enjoy a crafting odyssey across vibrant planets—your space adventure awaits!


What we like:
  • Engaging crafting and building mechanics
  • Vibrant, immersive worlds
  • Relaxing, open-ended gameplay
  • Satisfying cooperative multiplayer
  • Regular updates with new content
What could be improved:
  • Occasional control and camera issues

  • survival
  • crafting
  • sandbox
  • open-world
  • cooperative
  • exploration
  • space
  • drop-in
  • drop-out
  • base-building
  • resource
  • adventure

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