Summary
- Grounded offers creative freedom in survival with ant-sized gameplay and flexible building.
- Nightingale combines Victorian steampunk with dimension hopping for creative and survival elements.
- Enshrouded merges RPG mechanics with base-building in a misty world for imaginative creations.
Most survival games are defined by the desperation they impose upon the player, forcing them to scrape together food, fight off monsters, and fend off death by hypothermia. However, some special games that pit players against the elements grant the tools not just to survive, but to thrive creatively. Whether it's designing elaborate fortresses, shaping the landscape, or collaborating on grand architectural visions, these games blur the line between survival horror and inventive expression.
These survival sandbox games aren't just about base building and staying alive. They're about exploring the world, discovering its secrets, and shaping the world however the player sees fit, one voxel brick, felled log, or blueprint at a time, and ultimately leaving an artistic mark and a little flair on an otherwise uncaring world.
6 Grounded
Tiny Survival, Big Creative Energy
Grounded
- Released
- September 27, 2022
- ESRB
- Teen // Blood, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Obsidian Entertainment
- Genre(s)
- Survival
As if it came flying right out of some '90s kid's childhood, Grounded (which incidentally takes place in that decade) shrinks players down to insect size and drops them into a sprawling backyard where ants, spiders, and itty-bitty crafting dominate the food chain. It's a classic survival loop of gathering, building, and fighting, but filtered through a fresh, playful perspective that turns every blade of grass in the yard into a towering tree and every fallen juice box into an architectural opportunity.
Creative players can construct multi-level treehouses, elaborate ziplines across the lawn, or fortified bases with trap corridors to repel beetle invasions. Its modular building system is flexible without being overwhelming, giving players the freedom to express creativity within an ever-hostile world, one ant raid at a time. Although there's an emphasis on functionality, creative types can turn pieces of grass, twigs, and mushroom blocks into elaborate builds.
5 Nightingale (Early Access)
Portal-Hopping Survival With Whimsical Gothic Elegance
Nightingale
- Released
- February 20, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- r
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Crafting
Anyone who has ever wanted to build their own gothic tower in the sky while floating around like Mary Poppins should check out Nightingale (or at least keep their eye on it during its early access development), a dimension-hopping sandbox game that combines survival gameplay with procedurally generated realms filled with monsters, magic, and Nikola Tesla-esque technology.
27 Games That Take Place In The Victorian Era
The Victorian Era can make for a great setting for a game, but not many titles utilize its setting. These are some games that do.
The survival elements are of the typical survival breed of crafting gear, managing resources, and building shelter. However, the Victorian steampunk flair and dimension-hopping creativity that sets Nightingale apart. Using Players can build ornate mansions, mystical towers, or sprawling camps with precision. As the game continues its development through early access, more building options are likely to make an appearance.
4 Minecraft
Still A Solid Blueprint For Creative Survival
Minecraft
- Released
- November 18, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
- Genre(s)
- Sandbox, Survival
Although Minecraft may well have kicked off an appetite for survival games with its Survival Mode, eating, fighting zombies, and sleeping to save the spawn point is a little limited with all the developments in the genre. That said, light isn't necessarily a bad thing, and Minecraft still offers an unparalleled building system for creative players, even if the blocky builds require a little imagination to fill the gaps.
Thanks to ultra-powerful mechanics like farming, redstone circuitry, alchemy, and pistons, most players will find themselves far outpacing whatever the near-infinite open world throws at them. However, beyond playing with permadeath in Hardcore Mode, players can find clever ways to up Minecraft's survival challenge if they see fit.
3 7 Days To Die
Fortress Building Under Fire
7 Days to Die
- Released
- June 28, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
7 Days To Die is a brutal blend of tower defense, survival horror, and sandbox construction. With zombies growing stronger with each passing night, players are forced to build smarter, sturdier, and more strategic defenses. Unlike many other survival games, players don't just extract resources from the ground but can use existing modern structures (buildings, entire city blocks) from the contemporary open world as raw materials for their creations.
10 Best Open-World Games If You Want To Feel The Threat Of A Zombie Outbreak
Experiencing a zombie outbreak is a dream of many and open-world video games can help people experience the reality of such a grim event.
Between scavenging supply runs and upgrading armor, players need to engineer reinforced bunkers, sniper towers, and trap-laden gauntlets to keep themselves safe. The building system is versatile but well-integrated with the rest of the game, encouraging free-form creativity even as the game’s clock ticks down to the next blood moon.
2 Conan Exiles
Crush Enemies, Hear The Lamentations Of Their Women, Build Ostentatious Towers Over Their Bones
Conan Exiles
- Released
- May 8, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Nudity, Use of Alcohol
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Action-Adventure
For those who only know Conan from the '80s sword-and-sorcery films, the Conan series might sound like it would make for another gritty survival game set in a brutal world of sand, steel, and sorcery. However, besides offering visceral combat and deep survival mechanics, Conan Exiles offers a building tool that is, like the titular hero's physique, flexible and powerful, capable of brutal functionality and intricate expression alike.
To help players get into the creative spirit worthy of the Conan universe, the small details (such as stonework, decor, or the way smaller pieces snap together) are taken care of, allowing players to get on with mapping out sprawling streets, soaring towers, cursed fortresses, or whatever else they are inspired to build from the rugged, unforgiving landscape.
1 Enshrouded
Lifting The Shroud On Creative Possibility
Enshrouded
- Released
- January 24, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Open-World, Action RPG
Enshrouded takes a fresh approach to survival-building, merging classic RPG mechanics with base-building in a mist-covered fantasy world. Set in a crumbling kingdom overrun by an otherworldly fog called the Shroud, the game tasks players with reclaiming the land, one structure at a time. With voxel-based terrain manipulation (digging underground and through rock) and a robust crafting system, players can sculpt the world itself, digging tunnels, shaping cliffsides, or crafting sprawling towns that echo lost civilizations.
While combat and exploration are key parts of the experience, the game rewards the imaginative, those who want to raise halls of light in a world drowning in darkness. There are already so many examples of impressive player builds by Enshrouded community, including a one-to-one recreation of Lord of the Rings' Minas Tirith. While building as a group is as fun as it is inspiring, solo builds are entirely possible in Enshrouded for those more interested in shaping the world exactly as they see fit.