Base building in open-world RPGs is typically more of an optional, fun feature you can engage with. That, or a core part of surviving in a harsh environment. Either way, there's something satisfying about leaving your mark on the environment and watching it stand there against the tests of time, whether it's the attacking raiders or the harsh weather conditions. They're a place for you to shape as you like, to store your items, maybe even bring your companions or squad into, or share with friends if there's co-op available. Plus, who doesn't love decorating?
Games With Deep Base-Building Freedom
These games allow players to unleash their full creativity when building bases.
If you, too, love base building as a side hustle in your open-world RPGs, I've got a few good games to try depending on your style. There's sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, and a bit of medieval fantasy mixed in here. The games I've featured here also have immersive open-world settings, which means you'll have a ton of different biomes and sceneries to pick from when it comes to choosing your next spot for housing. We'll rank these loosely based on the depth and variety you have with your base-building tools and options.
Honorable Mention: Valheim
Before any feathers are ruffled, Valheim has some exceptional base-building gameplay. It's an open-world game, but where it runs a bit short compared to some other entries are its RPG elements, which are mostly related to skill progression. You could make that argument for Project Zomboid later down the line, but that game comes with starting "classes," which in my books make it more RPG than Valheim. In any case, Valheim's sandbox and the biomes you progress through are well-worth exploring if you enjoy its Viking aesthetics. It's a step deeper into survival sandbox gameplay from Minecraft, so be sure to give this one a try if you love making medieval-style housing.
Starfield
The Space Base Of Your Dreams
Bethesda's Fallout 4 settlement building system has endured and made it all the way to Starfield, its newest IP. Despite the game's lukewarm reception, given all the procedurally generated planets and the massive amount of space available for you to shape in the game, it's one of the best RPGs to get stuck into if you're into base building. You can pop down multiple little outposts on any plant you like across the system, to act as your vacation home or a spot to extract resources from the planet you've landed on.
If this sounds familiar somehow, it's probably because it's similar in many ways to No Man's Sky, but with an added layer of RPG gameplay, quests, factions, companions, and more. You can leave your companions in these outposts to lead a peaceful life, too, if your ship is getting a bit crowded and your inventory is constantly full. Just keep in mind that the building is a bit limited compared to some other games, forcing you to snap it into an invisible grid.
Kenshi
Home Sweet Home In A Brutal Land
Unlike many of the other games here, Kenshi's base-building feature doesn't really become relevant or even attainable until later on in the game, once players have progressed enough. Also, unlike a lot of the other games I've mentioned, Kenshi doesn't let you build things one wall at a time, but building by building. This essentially means you're focused more on creating an entire settlement, rather than just one big house.
Given Kenshi's brutal world, where enemies will try to get in your way at each turn, you'll have to be quite strategic about picking your spot and going for locations that have plenty of useful resources, from stone to water, which you can then extract for all your needs without wandering far. At the start, your base will be little more than a pathetic little house, but as you unlock better technologies through the research bench, you can expand your outpost into something that can easily house dozens of people and even have its own security system with turrets and walls. This is the go-to base building system for those who prefer strategy over aesthetics and want a well-oiled, functional system over a single, beautiful home.
Project Zomboid
Build A Survival Mansion In The Wilderness
In Project Zomboid, the world is your oyster, and there are already so many ready-made buildings and houses that are fantastic for a base setup that most players might not even care for building something from the ground up. Pair that up with the Carpentry skill requirements, and the choice is usually clear. That said, the freedom with building and decorating with this game is so staggering considering it's a zombie survival game first, which is why I had to talk about it here.
Once you have the required skills (or if you started off with the Carpenter occupation), you can pretty much build a house anywhere you like, though preferably near resources in a spot that isn't too far away if you need to visit a town. You can set up walls and floors from scratch however you want, but keep in mind you'll also need a whole box of tools, a thousand nails easily, and a bunch of planks. The dismantling spree you'll go on around Knox Country is worth it, though, because you can make your very own survival mansion completely from scratch. Why settle for anything pre-made when you can just unleash your creativity? If you're already in a good spot, survival-wise, and can afford such an investment, I highly recommend challenging yourself to it.
Fallout 4
Make Preston Proud With Your Settlements
The game that brought building into Bethesda's RPGs, Fallout 4, came with an additional gameplay mechanic that's completely optional for you to engage with, but can be a fun palette cleanser if the questing in the wasteland fatigues you. You have several settlements scattered around the Commonwealth to unlock, and in these areas, you can build freely and assign jobs and responsibilities for the survivors hanging about. There's a decent variety of locations and sceneries, though some are better equipped with already available resources for you to scrap and turn into habitats.
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And scrap you will. All the time, in fact, as you search for specific items and materials in order to build your next turret and power system to keep your settlements protected and running, even when you're gone. There's a bit of a learning curve involved, but it's all relatively simple, and following the Minuteman quest line will initiate you decently well into the art of building these settlements. Make a storage for all your unique power armor sets, a Nuka-Cola display with all the different variants, or even a little weapon workshop for you to tinker at. Like with Starfield, you can send your companions to these settlements if you get bored with them, which also makes them a bit easier to find.
Enshrouded
Magical Freedom With Great Detail
Enshrouded really nailed its base building. You have a system that is very intuitive for people already familiar with building from other games, like Minecraft, but with much more depth and detail available. You can make some incredibly shaped medieval-style buildings in this game, and the best part is that you don't have to fuss too much about the physics, either. If you want to create a floating platform, you totally can.
You can also choose whether you'd like to build in freeform or have everything snap to a grid, which further opens up possibilities with the terrain you've chosen to make your cozy little cottage or fancy castle in. Keep in mind, though, that if you'd like to build bigger things, you need to upgrade the Flame Altar with Shrouded Cores (or just build multiple of them in the same spot for now). That's where the RPG elements come into play with base building—you need to adventure more if you want to build more.
7 Days To Die
Keep The Horde Away For Just Another Day
7 Days To Die describes itself as the original open-world survival RPG with zombies, and it absolutely nails that on all fronts, including the base-building it features. The main objective here, much like in Project Zomboid, is to build something or find a place that can protect you from the horde of undead enemies.
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The base-building subgenre has grown a lot in recent years, but nothing beats the fun factor in these base builders in particular.
You can make things as aesthetically pleasing as you like, but a lot of the considerations will go into having a home that is secure. That means creating areas that bottleneck zombies and building something that's high above the ground. You could even make a trench and set up a bunch of traps to further secure your survival when the Blood Moon Horde eventually shows up at your doorstep. It's survival-oriented base building at its finest for those who like function over form.
Conan Exiles
Incredible Depth In A Brutal Survival Game
If you're a player who values aesthetics but still wants to play inside a decently tough survival world, Conan Exiles is the way to go. The world is absolutely massive, and there's a lot of variety in terms of biomes and cool locations that will get your creative juices flowing. Although you'll probably start off with a measly little cabin or hut that doesn't look like much, you can eventually expand and create impenetrable fortresses, fancy castles, sprawling mansions, even ship-looking creations on water.
The decoration options are impressive as well, perfect for those who like the medieval-style aesthetic of the game, and the actual build mode is very intuitive. Just start off with foundations, plan your layout, and go from there. As usual, be prepared to gather up resources and spend your time getting sucked into different designs. If PVP is a thing in your game, you might also want to consider the safety and location of your base more carefully.
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