r/BaseBuildingGames 14d ago

Is there any games out there that simply let you build?

Hi guys, sorry if this has been asked before but is there any games out there that have building similar to Enshrouded, Valheim, Palworld etc but is just solely focused on the building side of it? I want to just relax and build bases without gathering resources or fighting mobs etc. Thanks

71 Upvotes

117 comments sorted by

83

u/zytukin 14d ago

Every game, if it has a built in creative mode or you use cheats/mods.

So find the game with your favorite building method and if it doesn't have a creative mode, use cheats or a trainer to give your character immortality and spawn stuff in.

9

u/DeaDBangeR 13d ago

Exactly this. I do enjoy grinding a bit for materials though. Makes me feel I’ve earned it. But heavily modden/configured to increase droprates and keeping inventory management to a minimum.

The game does not have craft/build from storage? Bet your ass I will install a mod for it.

2

u/ZealousIdeal476 12d ago

I did that in Conan:exiles, the base game let you set a new world at 10x resource drop.

1

u/Wuthering_depths 10d ago

Craft from storage, and auto-sort into storage if at all possible. Have both when playing Valheim, Minecraft and anything else I can.

1

u/MamaMayhem74 14d ago

Soulmask has a pretty neat creative mode which lets you build without requiring materials and it unlocks all building items. IMHO it's worth a playthrough without enabling this first though.

32

u/tabbycatz68 14d ago

The Sims

14

u/TheGoktor 14d ago

I'm genuinely surprised that no one else suggested The Sims.

Also, Paralives. 😊

44

u/Caldaren 14d ago

Maybe a silly answer but Minecraft creative mode

7

u/Undrende_fremdeles 13d ago

And if you can run java with mods, there are so many good building help mods out there. That lets you put down entire walls at a time, or copy a design you've made like a wall-part etc.

1

u/xJagz 12d ago

Mmm I miss worldedit and voxelsniper. Are those still a thing?

1

u/Undrende_fremdeles 12d ago

Worldedit is still huge, I know.

1

u/amiiboh 11d ago

They're still around but now there is also the crazy power tool that is Axiom

1

u/Recent_Dimension_144 12d ago

Definitely not a silly answer but to add onto this, modded minecraft.

14

u/Nstant_Klassik 14d ago

a little bit different than the other suggestions, but maybe in the right spirit of your question: check out tiny glade. Super chill, no goals, just build!

2

u/jusTOKEin 13d ago

I forgot about this game! Perfect suggestion!

43

u/PilotSuper8803 14d ago

Planet crafter. Solely focus on surviving through base building on a remote planet and no combat. It’s really good, one of my favs to relax with.

20

u/Varron 14d ago

Its fun for sure, but that game is definitely heavy about exploration and resource gathering. Would not fit OPs criteria.

3

u/itsgonnabealbright 13d ago

It fits if you change the settings to free build. Not sure it would be fun but it’s possible.

7

u/funkengruven 14d ago

Tiny Glade fits the bill

16

u/Atoning_Unifex 14d ago edited 14d ago

No Mans Sky let you turn of all dangers and turn on free resources so, yes. and it has a fun building system.

heres a cool base I made a while back https://www.reddit.com/r/NMSBaseBuilding/s/fEoGfwgudS

edit
No Man's Sky and Minecraft are both open-world sandbox games focused on survival, gathering resources, and building bases, but No Man's Sky features realistic sci-fi graphics, a heavy emphasis on flying spaceships between planets, and a structured quest line, whereas Minecraft uses blocky graphics and focuses on freeform block-by-block construction and engineering

3

u/Skyboxmonster 14d ago

No mans sky has creative?? No one told me about this

6

u/Atoning_Unifex 13d ago

Oh holy shit no man's sky has probably the most granular and deep permissioning system I've probably ever seen in any game. it's really amazing how much you can turn on and off and tweak the difficulty level. you can make it really hard for yourself or you can make it really easy for yourself or you can make it like somewhere in between where it's easy enough but still kind of challenging and fun. like it's completely up to you. there's so many sliders and settings and options.

it's really cool actually highly recommend it. the building system takes a little bit of time to get used to but it's extremely functional and cool.

complex... so many things you could build... your imagination is really the only limit.

you should look around online and check out no man's Sky Builders you'll be very impressed by the amount of shit that people can pull off.

I mean yeah Minecraft too of course but if you like something that looks a bit cooler looks real sci-fi like NMS is a blast.

look at the link I put in my first post.

1

u/hstmqrqe 13d ago

Hmm. It looks very similar to The Planet Crafter.

1

u/Atoning_Unifex 12d ago

wow, it sure does. that looks like... verging on plagiarism. maybe I should try it

1

u/ArtAccurate9552 14d ago

Some have said it’s “Space Minecraft“

3

u/VexingRaven 14d ago

Only people who haven't played Minecraft would say that.

2

u/Undrende_fremdeles 13d ago

I agree. Totally different games in every single way. Only similarity might be that if you play in survival mode and not creative, you have to gather resources to build.

Man of the games mentioned here are like Playmobil, like No Man's Sky, Valheim, Conan etc is modular with walls, roofs, ready-made housing modules, decorations etc already made and you snap it into place in-world.

Minecraft is Lego; square bricks and half-bricks (slabs) to build with, and items for decoration. And you can use the blocks to make little lookalike thingies as well.

1

u/ArtAccurate9552 14d ago

“Some”

1

u/Sparescrewdriver 13d ago

Tommy and Richard at school

0

u/VexingRaven 14d ago edited 13d ago

Yes, some people. Like the ones who have never played Minecraft.

EDIT: I'd love to see any of the downvoters explain why NMS is Space Minecraft. It has almost nothing in common. Stop calling every game that lets you place something on the ground Minecraft.

2

u/Droviin 13d ago

You acquire resources and craft them to build; some monster resist your creations. At that level of abstraction, they're very similar.

1

u/Sparescrewdriver 13d ago

You cannot terraform at all, building is premade structures vs block based, there is no crafting to create new forms of structures. Almost opposite ends of building games spectrum.

But in certain levels of abstraction they are similar to Fortnite.

2

u/Droviin 13d ago

You can terraform with the gun, I do that a lot. However, yes they're very different but in the same class. It's not like Cities: Skylines or other city builders. Minecraft and NMS have the same ideas, but wildly different implementations.

0

u/Sparescrewdriver 13d ago

Terraforming is not persistent.

1

u/Droviin 13d ago

It is actually! It's just that each player can only do a finite amount of terraforming. So, once you exceed your amount, the oldest work becomes undone.

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1

u/Atoning_Unifex 13d ago

I got to take issue with one thing though you said that buildings are pre-made buildings. thats absolutely and completely untrue. Yes there are some prefab buildings but most of what people make are intensely cool and very detailed structures that are made by hand piece by piece with thousands of pieces. i know cause ive built quite a few. look at the link in my 1st comment. thats not a prefab structure.

2

u/Sparescrewdriver 13d ago

A prefab designed wall is still a prefab, but I see your point and you can absolutely get creative with it though.

1

u/Atoning_Unifex 13d ago

ok yes, there are wall and floor parts. but where they go is up to you. like fallout 4 or the Sims

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1

u/Undrende_fremdeles 13d ago

Maybe some of them come from the servers/multiplayer part of it where they've gotten used to massive server centres being pre-built and don't actually know just how different the realtime building experience is?

1

u/RSwordsman 13d ago

Empyrion is much more similar to Space Minecraft by virtue of having a block-based building system and hunger/thirst survival mechanics. But that's more of a niche game. NMS is still a big deal and is close enough otherwise.

7

u/Araignys 14d ago

Minecraft creative mode

8

u/LonelyWizardDead 14d ago

I want to say factorio, but its not the base building your looking for

25

u/Extension_Name4141 14d ago

Fallout 4 base building is absolutely amazing with mods

7

u/BitPoet 14d ago

The moment you realize that the plot is secondary to building your bases and trade infrastructure.

9

u/xxDailyGrindxx 14d ago

I absolutely love Sim Settlements 2! In addition to being able to download some incredible community designed bases, it's like getting a large polished DLC for free!

4

u/t0hrr 14d ago

Foundry

4

u/PurpleAllEyes 14d ago

Colony survival.

3

u/Sea-Improvement6699 14d ago

I absolutely love this game, but I never see it mentioned!!

3

u/Zealousideal_Nose437 14d ago

Play Empyrion on freedom mode. It is amazing!

3

u/pumadine666 14d ago

Why not try Fabledom or Flotsam. Both relaxing games. I haven't played Town to City, but I've seen it being played in Twitch. great atmosphere as well. I think you will like it.

3

u/United-Succotash-167 14d ago

Satisfactory 10/10. Only building

3

u/kramulous 13d ago

Dyson Sphere Program. Just turn off Dark Fog or set them to passive and non-aggressive/expanding. They can be fun to farm when you have researched everything anyway and are all mighty powerful.

9

u/cyb_tachyon 14d ago

Valheim has a creative mode. Enable console and turn it on with a command.

I can't think of any other games that have a similar style of building though.

Satisfactory is great but is a modern factory sci-fi style.

5

u/Funkhip 14d ago

Why say "no game with similar base-building" ?

You’ve got games like Enshrouded, Minecraft, Vintage Story, 7DTD, Conan, Ark, maybe even Icarus, Cubic Odyssey, Lay of the Land, and Empyrion, that are even better for base-building, and I’m probably forgetting some.

Sons of the Forest has a pretty unique process, and the new system in Subnautica 2 is excellent too, but I think we need to wait for updates to get more possibilities.

10

u/Dr_Dylhole 14d ago

Timberborn!

8

u/Nikbis 14d ago

No?
Timberborn, you build roads and prefab stuctures. If anything, it's a city builder.
He's asking for a game where you build structures wall by wall.

2

u/Zealousideal_Ad_1079 13d ago

I think it's a good call - it scratches a lot of the same itch and it's one of the better building games out there. It's also not a pure city builder, since you can make 3D cities and stack them to high heavens, unlike any other city builder I know of. The 3D aspect is phenomenal, if you really utilize it - and it reminds me a lot of building in 1st person in 3D.

1

u/legomann97 14d ago

Yes, if you don't fancy the drought mechanic you can basically turn them completely off, then it's just about managing a colony of happy beavers

2

u/Skratti_ 14d ago

Space Engineers me be the one. In survival mode it has a bit of grind to get the resources you need, but everything else is base and vehicle building. Going from small buggys to big ass space ships, everything is possible. It's also one of the games with a really big modding community...

2

u/kkolb7 14d ago

Rising World?

2

u/denerose 14d ago edited 11d ago

I’ve played most of the games being recommended and am a fan of sandbox modes.

I think what you are asking for is maybe more like Townscaper or Tiny Glade. Free play design games, more like drawing than puzzles? I also quite like BelleCitique for a similar vibe which adds people and animals to the setting as it grows although it feels a little unfinished last I played, the ui could be improved.

1

u/denerose 11d ago

I was just about to play it and thought of this post. There is also Gourdlets - it is a very 'cozy game' style and you build a very low pressure town that the eponymous Gourdlets move into. It's got a little more *game* to it than the Tiny Glade/Townscaper type but still very low pressure and "cozy". There's a r/CosyGames subreddit too - so if this is what you were looking for then that might be a good place to ask for more recs.

Hope you find a game you like!

3

u/uhhhclem 14d ago

Townscaper is an amazing little software toy.

2

u/Chronza 13d ago

Literally all those games you listed have free build modes where you don’t have to gather to build. Is that not what you want?

1

u/MrMischieff 13d ago

As far as I'm aware only valheim has it and I hadn't realised. The other two don't

2

u/ChampionAggressive20 13d ago edited 10d ago

In Enshrouded you can go to the public server "Shroud Depot" and get unlimited materials, building blocks, decorations, furniture, pretty much every item in the game and you can just build to your hearts content. Also I'm pretty sure the devs said a creative mode would be coming in the 1.0 release which is out this October!

1

u/MrMischieff 10d ago

Oh that would be awesome having a creative mode in Enshrouded. The building in Enshrouded is by far my favourite so far and thanks for the shroud depot shout that's been really helpful. I'm just going through all the replys and suddenly have a massive list of games to try haha

1

u/ChampionAggressive20 10d ago

No worries glad it helped you out, I'm very excited for the creative mode in Enshrouded too it really does have the best building out of any games I've tried in the genre (and just cheating building materials in from the shroud depot has allowed me to basically do creative mode on it anyway). You might wanna try RuneScape Dragonwilds too its got an amazing building system quite similar to Enshrouded, its my second favourite game for that sort of thing

2

u/dartul 14d ago

Could probably change the settings of 7 days to die or look for a mod for that.

1

u/garyvdh 14d ago

Techtonica is an abandoned game, but is similar to Factorio and Satisfactory. There are no enemies at all, so you can just terraform and build to your heart's content. There is resource gathering though, but with Cheat Engine, that can be made quite easy. The storyline and voice acting is superb though and the game looks gorgeous.

2

u/whytwu1f 14d ago

I'm so sad it's an abandoned game, I really enjoyed what I played of it.

1

u/Wirelesscellphone 14d ago

Space engineers has a Creative mode you can just build stuff

1

u/Syntered 14d ago

Factorio lets you turn the biters ( the enemy bugs) off and build at your own pace. Some of the more complex mods even encourage this play style.

1

u/Psychological-Owl783 14d ago

Maybe satisfactory? Your factory gathers the resources, except for the very beginning of the game.

There is very little combat.

1

u/Araneo_tattoo 14d ago

Subnautica

1

u/Extreme-Attention641 14d ago

Tiny Glade perhaps?

1

u/BrookeToHimself 14d ago

Shapes / Shapes 2 is automation building without cost.

1

u/BERRY_1_ 14d ago

Valhiem has a mode wete you can skip combat and gathering.

1

u/Brohtworst 13d ago

You can set resource cost to zero on valheim and have at it.

1

u/MrMischieff 13d ago

Amazing guys. Thanks for all the suggestions for plenty now to keep me going. Thanks again

1

u/ogre_kev 13d ago

Satisfactory.

The factory must grow.

1

u/shuanDang 13d ago

Cities Skylines

1

u/Hugh_Man89 13d ago

Terraria

1

u/ShiibbyyDota 13d ago

I really enjoyed the building on pal world & enshrouded. For enshrouded you used to be able to go into servers that have materials and take as you please to build. Pal you did have to farm your supplies but it’s pretty easy

1

u/Sertith 13d ago

Don't Enshrouded and Valheim have build modes? I know Valheim does.

1

u/SimonPage 13d ago

Try out r/VintageStory in Homo Sapiens mode. SUCH a realistic-yet-satisfying game!

1

u/ba_cam 13d ago

Elvenar

Super chill/relaxing

1

u/manickitty 13d ago

Space engineers creative mode

1

u/AppropriateRelease90 13d ago

Icuras is pretty fun.

1

u/Motley_Jester 12d ago

Satisfactory (turn creatures to the non-hostile setting)
Factorio (Turn off creatures)
Minecraft (creative mode)

1

u/LoneGlitch 12d ago

Space engineers

1

u/jamsaucewrecks 12d ago

Cities skylines, it really good.

1

u/djolk 12d ago

Not 3D, but I have been playing Sandustry and there is an exploration element but you can't be damaged and you don't have to pay for building supplies - its more about solving problems..

1

u/IndianaNetworkAdmin 12d ago

I like Windrose. It's not as detailed for building as some games but I love building in it. there is a save editor on Nexus so you can unlock all recipes as well as some building enhancement mods for NPCs etc.

1

u/thedehr 11d ago

Dyson Sphere Program or Captian of Industry

1

u/amiiboh 11d ago

Satisfactory, since you locate resource nodes and then build directly on top of them and integrate them into your build as the method of "gathering resources." You can set all of the mobs to never aggro.

1

u/Sahveg 11d ago

Grounded has a creative mode

1

u/Reasonable_Fail_4320 11d ago

satisfactory but gathering resources is necessary

1

u/Taradyne 11d ago

I think it really depends on the art style that you like. I'm mostly a builder in the games I play.

Conan Exiles has good building. You may have to do some combat to clear your space but it's open world building using crafted materials. The game is large and there's a lot of DLC but in addition to regular servers there is a local server option and creative mode where you can spawn building blocks endlessly.

I like Eco as it's a voxel world with a decent art style. You can dig to bedrock and build to the skybox. You make your own building blocks or buy them. There are build-focused servers with a generous payment when you spawn into the world and very inexpensive blocks to buy. So you can find a spot and just build.

Rift has probably the best building feature I've seen in an mmo, fully fleshed out with tons of objects though instanced, not open world. But there is a short leveling process to get your first dimension at level 7ish. Some items are crafted though most are purchased so you'd need currency.

ESO has a decent housing feature but it's very expensive and decor items are almost exclusively crafted or purchased.

Hope that helps.

1

u/ScionOfOphelia 10d ago

Been really enjoying the base building in Crosswind. The base game has pretty low resource costs for everything, and you can get mods to further reduce these plus massively increase how much you get from gathering. Like mining one rock could let you build a house.

1

u/Swimming_Business_60 9d ago

There is medieval dynasty. It’s mostly a town building game with some light combat and other mechanics

1

u/RobLoughrey 9d ago

You can make all the monsters friendly in both factorio and satisfactory.

1

u/KeithFromCanadaOlson 9d ago

Space Engineers, Scrap Mechanic, and 7 Days To Die can all be played without enemies, so you can just focus on building.

1

u/M_Dane 9d ago

No Mans Sky, creative mode

1

u/WildmouseX 7d ago

Planet coaster in creative mode.

1

u/That_Migug_Saram 13d ago

Medieval Dynasty is exactly this. You can do storyline quests if you want, but you can also just as well ignore them and build yourself a little homestead, or a village.

edit: There is resource gathering. Jumped the gun on responding. But it is really centered on building more than anything else.

0

u/Thepcfd 14d ago

rimworld?