It is becoming increasingly difficult to fit new games into specific genres. Game developers now often blend multiple genres into a new type of gaming experience. Often, RPG elements make up the core gameplay, but survival mechanics, crafting and base building might be included as well. The result is a game that fuses multiple genres into something special.
Not all RPG games include base building. And not all base-building games can be classified as an RPG. However, a great many games do merge these two gameplay styles. In some games, the player’s base is little more than a home and storage depot. In others, a base is required to progress with the RPG aspects of the game.
The 10 Best RPGs Available on Xbox Game Pass (June 2024)
Xbox Game Pass has a ton of amazing games, but if RPGs are your pleasure, check out the 10 best RPGs available on the service!
7 Necesse
8-Bit Crafting And Base Building
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac
- Released: December 12, 2019
- Developer: Mads Skovgaard, Fair Games ApS
- Genre: Adventure game, Role-playing game
Necesse is a great little 8-bit RPG. Don’t be fooled by the simple, retro-style graphics; this is a fully-fledged RPG with a solid crafting system and some excellent base building mechanics. Necesse has a little bit of everything, including general exploration, resource gathering, and dungeon crawling.
16 Best Indie RPGs Of The Last 5 Years
Indie games are progressively becoming more thoroughly integrated into mainstream gaming culture, as exemplified by these fantastic RPGs.
Base building in Necesse revolves around the player setting up a home base that they will use as a general crafting area, and to store materials. The game doesn't need expensive gaming hardware to play, and is accessible to pretty much anyone with a PC or Mac.
6 Going Medieval
Complex Base And Settlement Building
OpenCritic Reviews
- Released
- June 1, 2021
- ESRB
- t
- Engine
- unity
WHERE TO PLAY
In the world of Going Medieval, dark age society is on its knees. At the end of the 14th century, 95% of the global population has perished due to rampant plague.
Eventually, survivors emerge from society’s ashes, and it’s now up to you to help them settle in a dangerous new land reclaimed by nature. Build your people a home, help shape their lives, and protect them from animals, bandits, and other dangers in a lawless post-calamity age.
Design, build and expand your settlement from a small wooden hut into a colossal stone castle. With simple-to-use 3D terrain tools you can create the perfect stronghold, from winding underground caverns to sprawling multi-story forts.
This harsh new world is rife with external threats, but you can give your colonists the upper hand in battle by building impenetrable defences and traps. Research, craft and equip weapons and gear so that they can fight back against unrelenting waves of attackers.
Your colonists have more than just raids to contend with. They need protection from starvation and the elements, so it’s essential to stock up on supplies and build shelter to keep them fed and warm. Maintain your villagers’ emotional states, as their moods are affected if their needs and wants aren’t met.
Grow the population of your settlement by helping out strangers in dangerous situations, or by taking in like-minded travellers. Your villagers have personal histories and agendas, and you can get to know them by observing their behaviour and relationships with others.
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Developer
- Foxy Voxel
- Genre(s)
- City Builder
Going Medieval is a good example of how modern games often merge multiple genres into a unified whole. It combines role-playing aspects with crafting, base building, colony management, and even some basic tower defense mechanics.
Base building in Going Medieval involves assigning player-controlled NPCs to gather resources and build structures and base facilities. In some game modes, enemy NPCs will attack the player’s base, so they will also need to build defenses and assign their own NPCs to defensive duties. It's a fun game with a surprising level of depth, and well worth a place on this list.
5 RimWorld
Strategy With RPG Aspects
RimWorld
The base building in RimWorld is satisfyingly complex. For example, if the player builds a kitchen area, they will need to sterilize the tiles used before actually cooking anything, to avoid food poisoning. Player-owned NPCs will only walk a limited number of tiles to find the resources they need, so base design and layout are key in this game.
RimWorld: 23 Tips For Base Building
In order to create a top-tier base in RimWorld, players should be sure to utilize these helpful tips and tricks.
Not every gameplay mode in RimWorld plays like an RPG. However, some modes do; for example, the nomadic mode. In this mode, the player takes over managing a roving caravan.
4 Kenshi
Great Indie Base Building
Kenshi
A free-roaming squad based RPG focusing on open-ended sandbox gameplay features rather than a linear story. Be a trader, a thief, a rebel, a warlord, an adventurer, a farmer, a slave, or just food for the cannibals.
Research new equipment and craft new gear. Purchase and upgrade your own buildings to use as safe fortified havens when things go bad, or use them to start up a business. Aid or oppose the various factions in the world while striving for the strength and wealth necessary to simply survive in the harsh desert.
Train your men up from puny victims to master warriors. Carry your wounded squad mates to safety and get them all home alive.
FEATURES
Freeform gameplay in a seamless game world in the largest single-player RPG world since Daggerfall, stretching over 870 square kilometers. The game will never seek to limit you or restrict your personal play style.
Custom design as many characters as you want and build up a whole squad to fight for you. Characters will grow and become stronger with experience, not just in their stats but their appearance too.
Build a base where you can research new technologies, upgrade your defences and craft new gear.
Original take on the RTS-RPG hybrid genre. No "hero" characters with artificially stroner stats than everybody else- Every character and NPC you meet is potentially an equal, and has a name, a life.
You are not the chosen one. You're not great and powerful. You don't have more 'hitpoints' than everyone else. You are not the center of the universe, and you are not special. Unless you work for it.
Purchase and upgrade your own buildings to use as safe fortified havens when things go bad, or use them to start up a business.
Variation and possibilities of gameplay. Be good, be evil, be a businessman, be a thief, live in a town, live in the desert, travel alone, travel in hordes, build a fortress, raze a city. Devote yourself to freeing slaves, or maybe end up a slave yourself. Dynamic, ever changing world. Support or hinder whoever you wish, or keep to yourself, the world won't stop moving. This is not just a "game", you are living and surviving in a simulated world.
Get captured by cannibals and eaten alive, or sold off by slavers and forced to work in the mines. These are not scripted events, just a regular part of this chaotic world that ruins your life by chance. Anything can happen, yet anything can be overcome if you have the strength. Absolutely no Level-scaling. The world does not level up along with you, and the shops don't change their inventory to only items matching your level. At the start of the game almost everyone will be stronger than you, and survival will always be a struggle. The game won't hold your hand or help you when you're down. Realistic medical system that affects gameplay. A character with a wounded leg will limp or crawl and slow the party down, wounded arms means you must use your sword one-handed or not at all. Severe injuries will result in amputees needing robotic limb replacements. Blood loss means you can pass out, and the blood will attract predators. A character’s stats are affected by equipment, encumbrance, blood loss, injuries and starvation. Intelligent AI that allows for characters to reason and work towards long-term goals and desires. Squads work together and carry their wounded to safety. Characters can be setup to take care of micromanagement for you and run production in your base.
Aid or oppose the various factions in the world while striving for the strength and wealth necessary to simply survive in the harsh environment. Independently developed with no design influences, or alterations dictated by men in gray suits who have never played a game before in their lives. Original game world. There are no fantasy-knock-off cliches. No magic.
- Released
- December 6, 2018
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Developer
- Lo-Fi Games
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Open-World, Survival
Since its release in 2016, Kenshi has become something of an indie cult classic. It's an impressive game, developed by a single person. Base building in Kenshi is a requirement for setting up decent storage volumes, and also for training and crafting.
In the early game, the player will only have access to a limited number of structures that can be turned into a functioning base. However, once the player unlocks Tech 2 structures, they will open up more options for building a functional base. Kenshi is a fun game, and building a base opens up more gameplay options.
3 Fallout 4
An Oldie But A Goodie
Fallout 4
- Released
- November 10, 2015
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Fallout 4 is arguably the pinnacle of Bethesda's world-building prowess. Few games have had such an impact as Fallout 4, and this is evident in its popularity almost a decade after the initial launch. Base building in Fallout 4 revolves around setting up settlements to attract wasteland survivors as inhabitants.
Rather than build actual structures to form a base in Fallout 4, the player can renovate existing buildings and add features such as beds, generators, crafting benches, and defenses. Once the settlement has been improved to a certain level, wasteland survivors will begin to wander in and take up residence. Settlement building is optional in Fallout 4, but it can be a lot of fun.
2 Medieval Dynasty
Fun Quests And Great Base Building
Medieval Dynasty
- Released
- December 17, 2020
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Developer
- Render Cube
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Strategy
Medieval Dynasty is another game that merges multiple genres. At heart, it is an RPG, replete with quests, skills, levels, and all the usual RPG tropes. However, it also bolts on a robust crafting system, some excellent base building mechanics, and general colony management gameplay.
Medieval Dynasty: Best Starting Locations
In Render Cube's Medieval Dynasty, most of the world is viable for base building, but a few locations are better than others.
The player will need to complete a series of tasks, split into seasons, to unlock some of the more advanced base-building aspects of the game. However, right from the start, the player can begin building housing and storage, as well as food production and crafting stations. Once this is done, the player can begin recruiting NPCs from nearby settlements to come and live in their base, and perform day-to-day activities to keep the base running, such as hunting game. Medieval Dynasty combines all the core mechanics into a unique gaming experience.
1 Enshrouded
Classic Combat RPG With Advanced Base Building
Enshrouded
- Released
- January 24, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Keen Games
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Genre(s)
- Survival, Open-World, Action RPG
Players who prefer an RPG with base building, but with more focus on combat rather than crafting, might like to give Enshrouded a try. The role-playing aspects are both engaging and fun. Combat is fast-paced yet rewarding, and quests are often quite challenging.
Base building is a requirement in Enshrouded, and every player will need to build at least a basic base. Crafting NPCs need to be placed inside structures to work, and need certain items placed close to them to upgrade them. Where the base building in Enshrouded really shines, is in the number of excellent building parts that are available. Some very attractive yet functional bases are possible. Enshrouded takes the top place on this list because it is an up-to-date implementation of meaningful base building.
Best Zombie Games With Base Building, Ranked
Most zombie survival games have some form of base building, but several stand out above the rest.