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One of the defining factors of Minecraft is the freedom that the player is given. The open-ended nature gave players total control of their environment, allowing the creative juices to flow. Garry’s Mod is a game that provides players with a playground to go crazy in. Including assets and maps from many of Valve’s franchises like Counter Strike and Half-Life that can be used to whatever the heart desires, this is admittedly more of a sandbox than an actual game.<br><br>
However, for those who don’t want to spend hours creating, the community-hosted servers will give you hours upon hours of playtime with all of the mini-games that players created themselves. Whether it’s Prop Hunt, Hunger Games, or any of the countless others, it’s very easy to spend hours upon hours just on the user created content alone.
This entry in the Dragon Quest franchise holds many resemblances to Minecraft, these include the title being voxel based and resource gathering elements with the act of crafting supplies to survive. While many other survival games rely on multiplayer interaction for the bulk of engaging gameplay, Builders is a single player only RPG adventure that upholds the series’ pedigree with a great variety of content for players to sink their teeth into. With an expansive world to explore, materials to mine, and monsters to kill, this game will keep you busy for hours.
Rust is a multiplayer-only survival game that, like Minecraft, requires the player to harvest resources scattered throughout the world. With these resources, survivors can craft tools and build bases like Minecraft, but that’s where the similarities end. Rust is very focused on PvP combat and raiding, which makes the learning curve insanely steep. You haven’t experienced real pain from playing a game until you’ve had all of your resources that you’ve been gathering for the past three hours stolen after a clan of guys with rocket launchers pays your base a visit. Even with this in mind, Rust is a deep and engaging game that is best played with friends. Friends that know how to shoot guns, that is.
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Garry's Mod
One of the defining factors of Minecraft is the freedom that the player is given. The open-ended nature gave players total control of their environment, allowing the creative juices to flow. Garry's Mod is a game that provides players with a playground to go crazy in. Including assets and maps from many of Valve's franchises like Counter Strike and Half-Life that can be used to whatever the heart desires, this is admittedly more of a sandbox than an actual game.
However, for those who don't want to spend hours creating, the community-hosted servers will give you hours upon hours of playtime with all of the mini-games that players created themselves. Whether it's Prop Hunt, Hunger Games, or any of the countless others, it's very easy to spend hours upon hours just on the user created content alone.
However, for those who don't want to spend hours creating, the community-hosted servers will give you hours upon hours of playtime with all of the mini-games that players created themselves. Whether it's Prop Hunt, Hunger Games, or any of the countless others, it's very easy to spend hours upon hours just on the user created content alone.
Dragon Quest Builders
This entry in the Dragon Quest franchise holds many resemblances to Minecraft, these include the title being voxel based and resource gathering elements with the act of crafting supplies to survive. While many other survival games rely on multiplayer interaction for the bulk of engaging gameplay, Builders is a single player only RPG adventure that upholds the series' pedigree with a great variety of content for players to sink their teeth into. With an expansive world to explore, materials to mine, and monsters to kill, this game will keep you busy for hours.
Rust
Rust is a multiplayer-only survival game that, like Minecraft, requires the player to harvest resources scattered throughout the world. With these resources, survivors can craft tools and build bases like Minecraft, but that's where the similarities end. Rust is very focused on PvP combat and raiding, which makes the learning curve insanely steep. You haven't experienced real pain from playing a game until you've had all of your resources that you've been gathering for the past three hours stolen after a clan of guys with rocket launchers pays your base a visit. Even with this in mind, Rust is a deep and engaging game that is best played with friends. Friends that know how to shoot guns, that is.
Terraria
Even with being a 2D survival game, Terraria provides players with the procedurally generated world and resource gathering of Minecraft while also offering more content than you can imagine. While it does not have the creativity that comes along with 3D survival games like Minecraft, in its place the title boasts not just a large number of things to do, but also depth that has been earned over years of content updates. Filled with bosses to kill, dungeons to conquer, and worlds to explore, Terraria stands on its own as a unique experience that deserves to be played.
The Forest
The Forest is a rare breed of a modern survival game, being that it has a definitive story with a beginning and an end. Starting with a cutscene that has you and your son on a plane as it crash lands in a jungle, you awaken to find that he is missing and soon discover that you are not alone as zombie-like beings start hunting you down. Hellbent on finding your son, you must salvage what you can from the crashed plane and set out into the unknown. While this title has resource gathering and crafting like many other survival games, the inclusion of a story sets it apart due to the twists and turns it takes as you unravel the secrets that the titular forest holds.
ARK: Survival Evolved
ARK gives you the open world, resource gathering, and crafting of Minecraft while also including one simple aspect that sets it apart from the pack of other survival games: dinosaurs. These dinos can be tamed and be used as your means of getting around the huge island and exploring all that it has to offer. Being PvP focused, this is another survival game with a steep learning curve for new players, but rewards those who learn the ropes with an engaging game that will keep you coming back to find that perfect dinosaur buddy to call your own.
Subnautica
Subnautica is a beautiful survival game that takes place almost exclusively under the sea. Being stranded on a strange alien planet, you must work to build a base and get off of the planet in one piece. This title sets itself apart from other survival games with the aquatic life you will meet on your journeys along with the alien technology that you will uncover as you explore. Being only a single player experience, you are able to enjoy the beautiful ocean world without having to worry about obnoxious griefers as you attempt to escape back to earth.
Conan Exiles
An open world survival game that made a splash when it was released at the beginning of this year, Conan Exiles is a 3D survival game that has similarities with Minecraft in the resource gathering and crafting but stands apart when it comes to the faction system that it introduces. This system implements four different factions of NPCs for you to fight against along with the other human controlled characters. While this game is still at the beginning of its early access stage, it will be one to watch in the months to come as the developers continue to add in new content for players to enjoy!
Don't Starve
Don't Starve is a game that has similarities to Minecraft when it comes to the resource gathering and exploration, but the art style and difficulty of the game sets it apart. Aesthetically, it wears the inspiration from filmmaker Tim Burton on its sleeve, which goes very well with the overall mood. You play as Wilson as he attempts to survive in a hostile world filled with enemies, one of the most deadly of these happen to be bees, which accounts for the aforementioned difficulty: you will die a lot playing this game. Don't Starve also features cooperative multiplayer, so you and a friend can suffer through this masterpiece together!
LEGO Worlds
For those who just want to build and not have to worry about resource collecting or other players, LEGO Worlds is the game for you. Everything in the LEGO universe is at your disposal, allowing you to build anything you can think up. You can also import other player's creations into your own world to admire their creativity.
Unturned
This open world zombie survival game recently just had its full release on Steam after being in early access for years. Over that period of time the developers have kept the game consistently updated with content, making it a very full package. With it having very simple graphics, it is hard to find a PC that can't handle Unturned, that along with it being completely free to play makes this a game that fans of the zombie genre should look in to.
Astroneer
This early access open world space game gives players the ability to go to a variety of planets to collect resources and explore. Like Minecraft, the huge and varied world is a sandbox that you can customize to your liking. Astroneer also features multiplayer, allowing you to explore the stars with friends.
Ace of Spades: Battle Builder
This voxel based first person shooter encourages players to build up (or destroy) their environment to gain the upper hand on your opponent. Whether you choose to dig a tunnel through the center of the map to be able to flank the enemy team, or build a makeshift sniper tower for you to scope out the area, Ace of Spades offers you the tools to drastically change the battlefield to your liking.
State of Decay
This zombie survival game stands apart from the crowded genre by being a single player only experience. Tasked with leading a group of survivors, your decisions directly impact your party. Everything from what resources you need to collect to which people you let join you, State of Decay is an open-ended masterpiece.
Kerbal Space Program
Have you ever wanted to make your own rocket ship and explore the stars? Then Kerbal Space Program is for you. Even with it being a small sandbox compared to the other games in this list, this is an intricate game with thousands of possibilities of all the different kind of aircraft you can create. Even though getting to space is a challenge and will require a few guides and some luck, it's a goal that will have you engaged for hours on end.
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Published: Jul 12, 2017 11:00 am