Best Open-World Indie Sandbox Games

The best sandbox games encourage creativity on the part of the player and offer them an experience that allows them to set their own goals. While not all of these games are open-world titles, an open world can help to facilitate sandbox gameplay by granting the player more freedom. As a result, many sandbox games do feature open environments in some capacity.

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By  Harry Ted Sprinks

There are also a variety of games that don't fit the strict definition of a sandbox game, but still feature sandbox elements. For instance, a game may feature predetermined goals, but allow players to approach them in a non-linear fashion.

6 Stellar Tactics

A Sci-Fi RPG In An Open Universe

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2016
• Developer(s): Maverick Games
• Genre: RPG

Taking place in a unique science-fiction setting and offering players an open universe to explore, Stellar Tactics is an old-school sandbox RPG that plays similarly to classics such as Freelancer. Unlike classic space-sims, however, Stellar Tactics features a combination of tactical turn-based ground combat and fantastic real-time space combat. This adds a great deal of variety to the gameplay, but the setting and sandbox elements of Stellar Tactics are arguably its greatest strengths.

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In Stellar Tactics, players are able to mine asteroids, trade valuables, hunt bounties, or progress through the game's story. The variety of options, along with deep character customization, allow Stellar Tactics to offer an engaging sandbox despite its Early Access state.

5 Wobbly Life

Charming, Family-Friendly Urban Exploration With Plenty To Do

With simulated physics and a vibrant open world packed with activities, Wobbly Life provides a charming, lightweight sandbox for players and their friends to explore. Wobbly Life lets players loose in its world, offering them a variety of mini-games to partake in, jobs to take on, and items to purchase.

There are all kinds of things to find and do in Wobbly Life's world, offering players an experience that rewards play and exploration. There's also a great deal of replay value, not only in the base game, but in its arcade mode and Steam Workshop support. For fans of games like The Simpsons: Hit And Run, or players looking for a family-friendly version of urban exploration games like Grand Theft Auto, Wobbly Life is worth their attention.

4 Shadows Of Doubt

A Detective Simulator In A Procedural City

This condensed open-world game takes place in a single, procedurally generated neon city. Shadows Of Doubt is a detective simulator at heart, with its mean city streets packed with crimes to solve and characters to analyze. Players choose which cases to take on and can go about solving them in whatever way they see fit, allowing players to get creative in its neon-noir environments.

Best of all, Shadows Of Doubt's open city is fully simulated, with each of its denizens having their own job, home, and daily routine. This, along with the fact that players are able to explore each and every part of the city, makes the procedural cities of Shadows Of Doubt remarkably immersive.

3 Battle Brothers

A Low-Fantasy Strategy Sandbox

Battle Brothers is a sandbox RPG with strategic combat, tasking players with leading and managing a mercenary company in a low-fantasy open-world. The game's open world is fairly simplistic but features procedural generation, factions, and random encounters that make it feel more alive.

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Battle Brothers gives players free rein over what to do and how to do it, taking on whichever contracts they please and choosing from a variety of career goals along the way. The game also features an array of end-game crises to endure, though players are unlikely to reach this part of the game until they've become more experienced. Much of the creativity in Battle Brothers' gameplay is in its deep character customization, allowing players to heavily customize their characters with powerful perks, equipment, and stat upgrades.

2 Project Zomboid

Sandbox Gameplay In A Simulated Apocalypse

This combination of survival, simulation, and horror offers sandbox gameplay through its lack of set goals (outside of simply surviving) and its open world. Project Zomboid is an expansive and deeply simulated experience that allows players to approach survival from a variety of angles, rewarding players that get creative with their strategies.

Project Zomboid also features mechanics for base-building, though building a base can take an abundance of time and resources. This can be a real strain on the player's survival, and players that choose to stay in one place will have to ensure they have the resources to defend it.

1 Kenshi

A Strange And Hostile Open World Full Of Opportunity

Kenshi is an open-world sandbox RPG that gives players control of entire squads of characters, though they begin the game with only one. This indie title may appear low-budget with its relatively low fidelity, but its strange, hostile open world is expansive and full of opportunity. This deep open world gives Kenshi the ability to provide players with a broad sandbox.

In true sandbox fashion, Kenshi features no set goals, leaving players to decide what they want to achieve and how they want to achieve it. The game's strategic real-time-with-pause combat, massive (and seamless) world to explore, base-building mechanics, and RPG systems all come together to provide a consistently engaging sandbox. Kenshi's only downside is its slower pace, especially at the beginning of the game, and it can also be unforgiving, but the freedom it offers players is almost unparalleled.

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