Open-World Games With The Best Base Building Mechanics

Base building has become a commonplace feature in video games. From building defensive platforms in Fortnite to creating elaborate planetary headquarters in Starfield, base building has continued to be a popular element of games, especially open-world titles.

Open-world games are known for their plethora of mechanics that immerse players in their rich open sandboxes; gamers have spent hours building intricate bases of various shapes, sizes, and designs to fit the narrative of vast open game worlds. Whether creating wooden fortresses to keep out dinosaurs in Ark or designing blocky constructions in Minecraft, base building has become a fundamental mechanic in open-world gaming.

8 Grounded

Base-Building in a Backyard Adventure

The survival game Grounded is a unique open-world game built on the premise of surviving alone or with friends in a backyard. The game has players shrunk to minuscule proportions, having them fight for their lives against beasts lurking in the garden. A core part of Grounded is its base-building mechanics that rely on finding craftable material in the yard that can be used to construct objects such as stairs, walls, and other structures.

Players can build a myriad of bases with the materials they gather and even build advanced, more complicated structures to help protect them from the outside. Grounded has a simple yet quirky base-building mechanic that keeps players returning for more.

7 Valheim

Epic Viking Base-Building

The popular open-world survival game Valheim is a stunning, critically acclaimed title and one of the best open-world games with base-building mechanics. Featuring a complex building mechanic that allows gamers to build a range of structures, from the simplest houses to the largest fortresses, Valheim puts players at the heart of the action when surviving in a relentless Viking-inspired world. If players have the right materials, they can craft massive structures quickly, using the game's intuitive and easy-to-use system for construction and material crafting.

6 Ark: Survival Evolved

Dino-Filled Base Crafting

Ark: Survival Evolved is an open-world survival game that forces players to endure a dinosaur-plagued world employing the usual survival tropes, such as crafting, hunting mechanics, and harvesting. In Ark, players can tame dinosaurs, play with friends, and even fight other players who look to survive Ark's ruthless world. One of the key features of Ark's extensive open world is its base-building mechanics, which are essential to ensuring survival.

In Ark, players can build extensive bases anywhere in the game world, using various craftable materials - with an often overwhelming amount of crafting options for base development. Notable bases include underwater fortresses, castles, skyscrapers, and more, with players able to build farms and populate their base interior with items such as beds. Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the best open-world experiences with customizable base-building that enables players to build the base of their dreams in a dinosaur setting.

5 Starfield

Planetary Settlement Creation

In the popular space epic Starfield, players can build bases known as outposts. Players can construct outposts using the game's construction system across various planets and locations to perform multiple functions and tasks. Examples include resource farms, with outposts acting as a funnel to farm valuable resources, defense for protecting against wildlife, or just simply a place to place your crew members while you explore the stars.

Outposts have in-depth mechanics, such as requiring power generation from solar and wind sources, which differ depending on the planet. Players must strategically place their base based on its optimum function, what power it needs, and how it operates. Starfield also allows the creation of multiple outposts, establishing links between each to create value chains. Starfield has visually impressive and in-depth base-building mechanics requiring players to make strategic decisions when constructing bases.

4 Fallout 4

Post-Apocalyptic Settlement Building

Like the outposts players can build in Starfield, Fallout 4 features its own style of outposts known as settlements that players can turn into a post-apocalyptic base. Using the game workshop to create furniture, walls, and objects, players can outfit settlements with features to withstand the harsh wasteland environment of Fallout 4. Players can introduce vendors, build turrets, and even farm in these bases, giving them significant freedom in creating their outposts.

Trading is also available between bases, with vendors critical in attracting new settlers and creating a worthy settlement. These areas are obtained through quest missions as players complete the game. Fallout 4 has the best open-world base-building mechanics - set in a post-apocalyptic game environment.

3 No Man's Sky

Expansive Space Bases with Strategic Resource Use

Like Starfield, No Man's Sky lets players build epic bases in outer space with various functions, such as farming. However, it differs in esthetics and fundamental base-building mechanics. Players must also be strategic about how and where they build their bases - planets with abundant resources are ideal for constructing these fortresses.

No Man's Sky also features a teleportation mechanic, with players able to travel between different bases across the universe. Furthermore, the base designs have better customization in No Man's Sky, with great variety in constructing bases, despite lacking Starfield's complexity in some areas.

2 Subnautica

Best Underwater Base Building Mechanics

The underwater survival game, Subnautica features the best aquatic base building in open-world games. In Subnautica and its successor, Below Zero, players must build seabases that protect against monsters that lurk below in the oceans. In these bases, players can grow crops, store items, and prepare for forthcoming adventures as they investigate the seas. These bases can be constructed using various blueprints that require materials for crafting.

Players can also craft different items for their seabases' interiors and even construct elements such as nuclear reactors. The Subnautica series has the best underwater base-building mechanics in open-world games.

1 Minecraft

The Pioneer of Base Building

When you think of Minecraft, crafting survival and, of course, base building come to mind. Minecraft defined the open-world survival genre of video games and set the tone for what base building could be in gaming. When first released over a decade ago, Minecraft introduced players to base building in an open-world setting. Whether that be a tiny mud hut to evade bothersome Creepers or a massive castle with intricate mines and farming systems, Minecraft captured the hearts of gamers with its in-depth base-building mechanics, extensive crafting and customization options, and blocky appeal.

To this day, Minecraft has an extensive fanbase engrossed in its base-building features - Minecraft is easily one of the best open-world games with base-building mechanics.

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By  Colin Tanner