Summary
If the early to mid-2000s was the era of the linear military shooter, the 2010s and 20s have undoubtedly been the era of the open-world game. From the massive hit that isMinecraft, to games likeGod of War, players can’t seem to get enough of wide open landscapes that they can explore to their heart’s content.
One of the ways open-world games have evolved over the past decade, however, is to ingrain more creatively focused mechanics into the gameplay loop.This includes base building, resource collecting, weapon modding, character customization, and more. Some of this is undoubtedly due to the sheer popularity ofMinecraft,with many games taking its ideas and trying to integrate them into their format.
8No Man’s Sky
Though it was in a rough state on launch, with many deriding it as broken and unfinished,No Man’s Skyhas seen a massive rebound in the years since. The core gameplay loop focuses on space exploration, where players will explore procedurally generated planets to gather resources.
Using these resources is where the creativity comes in, as these are what players use to build and customize their bases. These bases can be built practically any way the player wants, anywhere they want, making the creative potential nearly endless.
7The Fallout Series
TheFalloutseries is one of the best 3D RPGs around depending on the game and is actually very rewarding when it comes to creativity.The classicsandNew Vegasare known for rewarding smart and creative character builds while games likeFallout 4and76have robust weapon customization and settlement systems. Each allows the player to build virtually whatever they want within reason.
One thing the latter games starting withFallout 3excel in, however, is letting the player mod the game in all sorts of interesting ways. Mods allow the player to configure theirFalloutgame any way they see fit, whether it involves changing the visuals, music, story and so much more via mixing and matching just some of the many thousands of mods that exist between all the games.
67 Days To Die
ThinkMinecraftbut in a more realistic-lookingzombie apocalypsesetting. That is7 Days To Die.Not only does the player scavenge for materials in much the same way, but they will also mine and collect those materials to use when building fortifications, weapons, and much more.
The player truly can build whatever they want in7 Days To Die.In fact, there are whole strategies for building countless different styles of fort and defense layouts that can be seen on YouTube. Building a base from scratch isn’t even mandatory since there are plenty of pre-generated structures for the player to explore and modify as they see fit.
5Subnautica
Subnauticais one of the original success stories for early-access games. Its mechanics and narrative wereslowly developed over timethrough consistent updates until it was ready to be released as a complete product in 2018. One area in particular that was refined over time was the base-building portion of the game, which is a rather large one at that.
Players explore the ocean to gather raw materials with which to build a base, which can be built any way they’d like in any location. Both the interior and exterior can be customized to an impressive degree as can the size and scope of each base.
4The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
WhileSkyrimis technically anopen-world action/adventure gamewith RPG elements, it also allows for a staggering amount of player creativity in the form of the character creator, house-building system, and of course the leveling. One thingSkyrimalso has that other open-world games might not, however, is a nearly endless pool of mods for players to download on a whim.
These mods can either drastically or minimally change even the tiniest element of the gameplay experience, and thanks to mod managers, players can rather easily customize their list of mods at a moment’s notice. This adds a whole other dimension of creativity to the experience.
3ARK: Survival Evolved
As far as open-world base-building games go,ARK: Survival Evolvedis certainly one of the best. The potential to build any kind of base there is, whether it’s a high-tech utopia underwater, or a high rise in the middle of the desert exists for every player. WhatARKbrings to the open-world survival genre is a sense of scale that few of its peers can match.
Players can make utterly gigantic, landscape-changing builds that rivalMinecraft,except it looks far better due to the game’s use ofthe Unreal 4 engine. Having the ability to build up a potentially massive tribe from scratch while taming wild dinosaurs just isn’t something one finds very often in gaming.
2Starfield
Compared to prior Bethesda games,Starfieldis very similar in how it allows the player to customize their character in a multitude of different ways, and it already has a thriving modding community pumping out new mods every day for players to experiment with. Aside from this,Starfieldbrings something entirely new to the tablein the form of shipbuilding.
Much like howFallout 4introduced settlements,Starfieldexpanded the concept to the player’s personal starship, allowing them to customize various parts in exchange for resources. Alongside the basic character creation, this customization has tangible effects on the gameplay experience, making it one of the more rewarding aspects of the core gameplay loop.
1Minecraft
Minecraftis flat-out the most creatively rewarding open-world game out there right now. The kinds of things that players have made, frompersonal houses to whole cities and even working computers,Minecraftgives the player the tools to literally do anything they want.
This isn’t even touching on the massive modding community that, likeSkyrim, allows the user to change the game exactly how they want extremely easily. It’s no wonder whyMinecrafthas become the juggernaut that it has because it truly is whatever the player makes of it.
