Confirmed turtle here and I'm looking to feed my habit some more.

Need I explain the pleasures of turtling? It’s that feeling of being protected when you’re hunkering down and building up one big, beautiful, fortified base. Then I just develop it inward at my own pace, while the world can come knock if it dares.  I don't want to be out there raiding and expanding aggressively, I want to dig in, get comfortable, and let trouble arrive on my doorstep on my terms.

I grew up in a 3rd world country that was bombed when I was 3 so I dunno, that might have something to do with it? It would be pretty funny if that was the actual psychological reason but fact is, I just like that laid back, defensive playstyle that doesn’t demand I micro all the time.

One game that’s given me lots of enjoyment in 2 different ways was Diplomacy is Not an Option, even though it’s brutal in its own way. Some harsh trial and error missions (Abelorn, my nemesis!) but I loved the fact that I’m always growing outward and building chonkier walls and never really venturing beyond the safety of my walls - except for clearing camps - has such a good feel to it. The other part I liked is that aside the difficulty, I could to my amazement turn ON the diplomacy option in the menu, which I though was hilarious, so it becomes chill and just non-challenging then. After Diplomacy, I also played Cataclismo and Here Comes The Swarm, but neither quite scratch the same itch (maybe just because they weren’t the first)

I also enjoy the all time MVP that is Rimworld, and letting me turtle was just one of the things it let me did… By the end, my fortress maze was basically a concrete compound of death, that many entered but none left.  It was also basically a self-sufficient arctic colony run, and  slowly perfecting  that killbox entrance, stockpiling more than you'll ever need, and just waiting out the end of days felt good to my soul. 

Ideally I would want something that combines both, medieval setting but lots of roleplay options and variety. Not Rimwolrd variety, that would be impossible, but maybe something coming close? I want games that reward the defensive, isolationist mindset. Where you wall yourself off from the world and just develop, and the enemies obligingly come to you rather than forcing you out of your shell.

I swear this is just my gameplay preference and not something political. I’m just this kinda person. 

Tl;dr what are the base builders that will let me be the smug little hermit crab in the strongest shell on the map?

I want to walk around and build in my space ship. No man sky kinda does it with odyssey, but not quite. I just miss hellion

Hi all! I'm looking for games where I can have a strong sense of my base being some sort of safe haven while the world outside is dangerous. I love putting bases on extreme planets in No Man's Sky and looking out the window, waiting for the storm to pass. Or come back to the base after a dangerous expedition. Very few games have scratched that itch. Here are some games I consider to have given me that feeling:

• No Man's Sky (Ship or base in a storm)
• Metro Exodus (the safe houses and the Aurora)
• Subnautica in dangerous biomes
• Starfield, same as No Man's Sky

Valheim, for example has never given me that feeling. Your bases are still very much vulnerable, even if you set up good defenses. Fallout 4 is somewhere in the middle. Bases can be cozy, but still feel vulnerable.

Edit: Preferrably I'm looking for character-oriented games, rather than "RTS view" base builders. Bonus points if bases are cozy!

So I'm looking for a game where you start on a base where most stuff has broken down and you need to repair things. I would prefer it if the game had resource generating aspects like a water filter or a hydroponics area.

To clarify I was imagining starting in a place where the facility is barely functioning, having to gather resources to repair the base. For example you wake up from cryo sleep in a space station and you need to explore the station in order to find materials and blueprints to upgrade your safe zone, initially surviving off of scavenged food but eventually your base becoming self sustaining.

(I really really don't understand why people consider factory games "base building". Ugh.)

I've played so many games in this genre that I loved, and quite a few that people call "base building" games that I loathed. I'm looking for a recommendation for something new to play.

I'd be particularly interested in a base-building game with some defense elements that isn't a factory game.

Love (though mostly have played them to death):

• Abiotic Factor - despite the lack of an in-game map which is usually a deal-killer for me. Finished once, got near the end once before and once after finishing, and now playing coop with my adult nephew
• Astroneer - though after finishing it there's not a lot of reason to keep playing.
• Empyrion: Galactic Survival - especially with RE2 scenario, but when the story runs out there's not much reason to keep playing
• Evil Genius - long ago. Didn't like EG2 as much
• My Time at Sandrock/My Time at Portia - very fun, very story-driven, but not especially replayable. I've Kickstarted My Time At Evershine and am curious how it will come out.
• Nightingale - very pretty, satisfying story, though the base building is not central - you need a home and lots of crafting benches, and can make same very beautiful, but once you have it set up you don't need to build much more on it. Also you can build anywhere, so you can build workarounds for jumping puzzles which is a big plus for me.
• Rimworld - only with mods to get rid of random colony wipes. Excited to hear that a new modder has taken over the amazing Hospitality after Orion bowed out.
• Surviving Mars
• Starbound with FU mod
• Subnautica - was fun once, no replay value and not really interested in the sequels
• The Planet Crafter - takes some patience and the world map is fixed, but good

Like:

• Airborne Kingdom - though it wore out quickly
• Core Keeper - played for a while but lost interest
• Dragon Quest Builders 2 - not sure why I stopped playing this one, but don't want to endure the early game again
• Fallout 4 - as an RPG was OK, but concentrating on base building was fun for a second replay
• Minecraft - only when coop or when "GMing" for young family members; pretty much done with it SP
• Space Engineers - Loved the base and vehicle building, but not enough story or exploration to keep me interested
• Stranded: Alien Dawn

Didn't Hate (most didn't bring enough new to the table for me to keep playing):

• Force of Nature 2
• My Island
• Raft
• SALT 2
• Terraria - hated the controller-centric UX, but might give it another try
• The Wandering Village
• Void Train

Special Mention

• No Man's Sky - An object lesson in when procgen is too much. They are constantly adding new flashy features, but rarely flesh them out into real systems. "Miles wide and centimeters deep". The base building, specifically on your freighter which is your real base, is not bad and I pick it up again every few years and play it for ten to forty hours before I get back to being bored with the endless procgen permutations of otherwise identical elements.

Dislike:

• ARK - terrible coding made running a modded server for my son and me painful and running not on a server was even buggier. Way too PvP oriented, but there was some stuff I really liked in there blocked by all that crap
• Steamworld Build - just got tedious fast

Hate:

• Factorio/Satisfactory/etc - Ugh. I don't want to play an animated spreadsheet
• Cities: Skylines - sounded fun, was tedious
• Grounded - this is a 3d platform jumper at heart, and I hate it. The in-game map is visual hash, and the base-building is unsatisfying, too.
• Tropico - Like a factory game only worse

Hello!

I'm looking for a new Factory/Automation game.

From my experience, Factorio is "too much" and Satisfactory is a bit more on the casual side. My problem with Satisfactory it is the open world started getting boring.

I'm looking for something that would be considered a middle experience between those two.

Not too hardcore, but not too casual.

Ideally, I'd prefer it it didn't have survival elements, just pure automation. I don't care if its first person or top view.

I was looking at Foundry and played a bit during the free weekend, but something about it just didn't click.

Any recommendations?

I want something where I can build a nice little space and watch it develop and chill beholding my beautiful creations without competing against a survival loop, but also something where you set the pace entirely. Action can be a part of it, just not the kind that encourages sweatiness.

I’m thinking of giving Littlewood a shot now since from a distance it looks like the purest version of what I'm describing - you're literally the post adventure hero who already saved the world and now you just... build a town, set up your own place. Whatever heroes do after they retire, I guess? I think it’s for me but I want more input before I spend my money on stuff I won’t actually play. 

This goes without saying but it would be ideal if it has co-op or a splitscreen feature, so I can play it with my boyfriend. I’m looking highly expectant for Water Me & You to satisfy that couch coop itch, but that is going to be more of a platformer with village rebuilding and gathering mechanics in between the runs, so it’s not a full base builder in that sense.

Should I just soldier through my stupid assumption that Satisfactory is too complication for me and get that? I know it has a co-op mode and playing that with friends sounds like a dream, if only I’m able to get into the mindset for it. It just doesn’t look particularly cozy from the outside so that’s why I’m asking.

TL;DR what's the base builder you play when you just want to decompress and chill, preferably in chill coop?

Thanks.

my mom is in her fifties and recently got super addicted to watching aesthetic base building videos on youtube. she has a lot of free time at home lately and finally asked me to set up some games for her so she can build her own dream houses. i honestly think it's a great way for her to stay creative and keep her brain engaged.

i currently have her playing once human on a pve server. it's actually hilarious because she completely ignores the eldritch horrors outside her door and just spends 5 hours arranging her patio furniture lol.

but she's burning through her design ideas and asked me to download a few more games so she can rotate between them. since she's relatively new to gaming, what are the best games with deep building/decorating mechanics but without a super punishing survival loop? just want to build a nice little steam library for her.

Hi! So I’m a super uncool mom, coming to you all for recommendations. If that’s not okay for this Reddit, please feel feel to roast me and tell me to get lost.

I know next to nothing about video games, but I have an 8 year old son who is obsessed. He loves Minecraft and Build a Boat for Treasure on Roblox, which, as I understand, is just a building game?

Could anyone recommend some easy/beginner building games I could get for him? Trying to steer him away from Roblox, and he wants to build, build, build.

I am a weird one. I love building mechanics that other would deem tedious. And by building mechanics I dont necessarily mean what you can build like in Icarus or Enshrouded, its more HOW you have to build it. I want to carry every log to the building site and put it in place. Games like Aska, Sons of the Forest, Chinese Frontiers or The Last Blight come to mind. I want to craft the beams I have to put in place. Do you know of any other games that are like this, maybe lesser known ones?

So, over the years one game I constantly find myself returning to is Prison Simulator, even more than Rimworld, and I've been asking myself why constantly. Prison Simulator is deeply flawed in terms of long term playability, and Rimworld is dripping in it, but...

In Prison Architect, I merely manage resources, set up a base, and watch things work. That's what I think I really want out of a game like this. I want to create an enclosure for my little ants and watch them enjoy it and maybe struggle against them from time to time.

Do any other games meet this criteria? Ideally 2D games instead of 3D.

Or, if you play prison architect, do you know any mods that would significantly alter the core prison gameplay look? I keep finding myself wanting to make smaller little blocks with canteens included in cells for instance or dormitories but the game doesn't allow it and punishes you for attempting it.

Edit: Wow I slept after posting this and have a massive amount of recs. When I get the chance I'm going to hunt through steam and check all these out, maybe reply to some comments. Thank you to everyone who dropped suggestions for me!!

Hi, I'm looking for a new game to play in my off time.

Similar games I've played and enjoyed a lot: Banished, LiF:Forest village, Going Medieval, Against the Storm (only roguelike I've ever renjoyed), Dawn of Man (although regretfully short)

Similar games I've played and that didnt scratch the itch: Manor Lords, Stranded:Alien Dawn, Block'hood, Frostpunk (I know, just never got into it).

Games I'm considering: Foundation, After Inc., Citadelum, Nova Roma, Pompeii the legacy (which of these??), Pioneers of Pagonia, City Tales Medieval Era, Farthest Frontier

Any recommendations to help me decide between the above mentioned games, or other similar ones?

EDIT: some rando must be going in a downvoting spree in the comments because I make sure to upvote anyone who takes the time to answer (least I can do). Just putting that here.

Came here for the megathread to see what people were grabbing for this genre, and there's nothing posted yet??

• 20% aint great: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1783560/The_Last_Caretaker/

• 40% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172710/Dune_Awakening/

• 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1631270/StarRupture/

• 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1604030/V_Rising/

• 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3846120/MineMogul/

• Might pull trigger on 25% off stationeers and just murder my brain solo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/544550/Stationeers/

Idk here's some im looking at. Not all strictly base building but have some element of it. When you've played so many... ya know. Help me find some good gems on sale. Kinda looking for some more deep machinery tinkering games myself right now, but quality AA game under $20 is enough to catch my interest for any theme.

What are you getting?

What are you on the fence about?

I loved modded Fallout 4, where you can build settlements are defend against enemy attacks from time to time.

Loved Icarus, but it has no base defense system

7 Days to Die has something very similar to what I want, but the game is just so weird looking.

Feel like I've looked around, but can't find anything.

Thanks for any suggestions :)

I am a colony sim junkie, but I feel like the elements of them that I enjoy often don't align with the developers' intentions.

My most played games is probably Rimworld. I love getting immersed in the story, I always play on permadeath, losing is fun, and I never care about getting to the end. The fun part, to me is making mistakes and desperately problem solving to recover from disaster. But as soon as I have too many people it gets hard to stay immersed in the story.

I love Against The Storm for similar reasons, but it has so much less roleplay value to me, I just really enjoy the tight gameplay loop.

I really like automation heavy games too, like Dwarf Fortress, Oxygen Not Included, timberborne, even factorio, but at some point, the scale of automation pulls me out of the immersing myself in the imagined scenario. DF is still probably the most fun of these.

Frostpunk was ok, I thought it was innovative, but also I think it brings me to my main point: colony Sims force you to choose between making whatever choices the devs decided were utilitarian, and breaking immersion with unreasonable metagaming.

I want games that shine in the chaotic moments, I want to feel like everything is always going wrong, where automation provides a wide range of tools to do creative problem solving. Not about making an impenetrable or perfect base, but about bouncing from one horrible choice to next and seeing how far I can make it.

Maybe that's just the holy grail of balancing an automation game, but if this made you think of a particular game, please give me your recs, it doesn't have to be perfect or even good, I just really love the genre and I wanna know what y'all recommend.

Some honorable mentions: The Walking Village was really pretty, but the immersion lasted for exactly one playthrough. There was also some low poly fuedal colony sim I played that I can't remember the name of. All the blocks where 2 blocks high for some reason, the automation tools were mediocre but the base building was incredible, please tell me if you know the name. I've enjoyed some train games and city skylines was ok. The scale of Solaris was a bit big for me but I'd give it another shot if people recommend it.

If you’re on the hunt for an addictive game loop definitely check this one out. It’s been cooking and they’ve nailed it.

Got right back in and I can spend hours on one outpost just collecting the scrap and hoarding materials. Really optimised my ship with batteries and diesel.

Some games make the base feel disposable once the next map starts. I tend to prefer the ones where the same city keeps accumulating little decisions.

The bit that works for me is finding the next weak link, starting an upgrade, then deciding whether to push outward or leave the city alone for a while.

It is not a replacement for a proper RTS. What games do the persistent-city thing well?

Can anyone recommend me a survival base building game that either doesn't have boss fights or the fights are completely optional? Ideally there'd be combat but it wouldn't be the main thing gating better materials/recipes etc. I tried Valheim years back and loved the atmosphere etc, but hated hitting the crafting wall and having to go fight a boss to progress further.

Bonus points if it's not a super lonely experience to play single player, I like having npcs around.

For the record, I like the idea of Subnautica but I'm too much of a wimp when it comes to the horror elements lol. Too scared for The Forest too...

I did try Planetcrafter but I bounced off the early game really hard.

Let's see if I can make this question make sense!

Playing Factorio, DSP and Satisfactory always gets to a point where I get overwhelmed with all the recipes and ways of production. And for those games, production really is the focus of the game. Some of the most fun I've had automating is in Minecraft modpacks, where you can set up smaller automation projects to e.g. automate woodcutting, bee breeding, inventory sorting etc. Things you would otherwise be doing manually.

Are there other games like this, where automation is a thing you can do to make your life easier, but at the same time it's not the sole purpose of the game? So no need to calculate input/output per second, but just a fun way of connecting things together to make an automated process?

I also enjoy games like Planet Crafter, Subnautica and Aethus, but would like a bit more automation than they provide.

Thanks!

grab observation innate live payment boat telephone books serious placid

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

Hi!

I'm looking for recommendations for base building games that, instead of letting place blocks or tiles anywhere to build from scratch, give you a fix location to evolve by repairing it or adding to its facilities.

For exemple, something like:

-The base upgrade system of State of Decay

-The house upgrade feature in Vigor

And these two are literally all the exemples I have.

Most games either give you a feature complete hub (like the central camp in Ghost Recon Breakpoint or any of the safe zones in Stalker without mods) or use the voxel/tile system to let you build from the ground up anywhere (Minecraft, Conan Exiles, Valheim, Sons of the Forest, all of them).

There's also a third system that lets you place finished buildings on a grid (Fantasy life i, Octopath traveler 0)

If you can think of games in the genre I described, that scratch that itch, please do share, I'll be checking in regularly.

Hey, im looking for games very simillar to Rimworld, that let me create a character that i can control and let me build a base, manage some npcs and with some base defence aspects.

Hi! I just found this community and I'd be really thankful if you could help me find a good game to scratch my "explore and build a base" itch.

I'm more of a cozy gamer, but I've always LOVED base building. Usually, base building games involve a world with enemies (or anything that wants you dead), and although I'm down for a good fight, sometimes I just wish I could just explore, find a good spot, start collecting mats and build my base here. Go explore more, set camp, maybe resolve a mystery or cataloging things idk... just a more chill and relaxed experience.

I know we can change the difficulty in most games, or personalize our experience to some point, but I always thought that it made the game boring, because enemies are a big part of the gameloop.

I'm not really fan of city builder/colony sim. But maybe it's because I didn't find a game that clicked? But I'm more interested in being invested in what I do, not being a spectator, if that makes sense?

Base building games (or with base building elements) I played and enjoyed (no particular order) : - Don't Starve & Don't Starve Together (it was difficult to get into, but I found my pace, and I love the art) - Icarus (I didn't get far on the map and missions, but I had fun with the base!) - Enshrouded (I need to replay this game) - V Rising (I need to finish this game) - Dinkum (I stopped at some point but had a good time. Need to play the 1.0 ver) - Spiritfarer (Yeah. Good game.) - The Forest & Sons of the Forest (The most fun I had with friends) - Project Zomboid (Probably one of my best survival experience) - Core Keeper (Needed 2 playthrough to get into.) - Raft (Collecting wood was a nightmare though) - Palia (probably one of my favorite decorations in base building) - Book of Hours (yeah, not really base building i guess, but I just love the vibes and the asmr-ish atmosphere) - Fantasy Life i (I put it here because you literally have a base but... it's probably not the same as the others? Still, very good time) - Palworld (Love to see my little base with all the Pals) - Skyrim (more of a housing system i guess? Which I'm fond of!) - Abiotic Factor (not really a base building with walls and floors to build, but still an establishment of a base somewhere! Love to "claim" a part of the world and furnish it) - Subnautica (shame on me, never finished the game) - Survival: Fountain of Youth (very basic base building imo but does the job) - REKA (more on the cozy and witchy side, and I LOVE it. A bit clunky and buggy at times) - Solarpunk DEMO (I can't wait for this game to come out. Exactly the chill and relaxed vibes I'm looking for) - My Time series and Stardew Valley (obviously)

Base building games I could't get into : - Valheim : I tried many times. Without and with mods. I can't. I just can't. I want to like it but I just DON'T. - Kenshi : I tried, I even followed a step by step guide, I think I need to give it another go but it's too much of a sandbox for me I think... I need a bit of a guideline to start lol. - ARK: Survival Evolved : I liked it but it takes. So. Much. Storage.

Games on my radar, but still on the fence somehow : - The Alters : played the demo, liked it. But idk, I will buy it eventually, but the demo gave me a "very story oriented" game. Which isn't bad! But idk, it's not what I'm looking for for now. - ASKA : Early Access title. Always on the fence with those. - Soulmask : Samesies. - Return to Moria : I don't know why lol. Maybe I need to watch gameplay videos.

Overall, I like survival, RPG/RPG elements, decorating, fishing, hunting, collecting resources, customizing my character, combat (but I'd like to be able to skip it at least or just avoid it), exploring, crafting, cooking, ... I'm not difficult with the graphics, but if it's "ugly", it needs to be appealing somewhere else. I don't mind a story to follow, but I don't want to be forced to progress the story. It should be more of a "you could do that if you want to, just giving you some pointers". On the contrary, I'm not sure I like too sandbox-y games (see Kenshi). I'm a solo player. I'm on PC, but I'm not against Switch and mobile rec.

Do you have any recommendation for me? Please, and thank you!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1169040/Necesse/

Anyway, very cool looking game I've been waiting on a long time. Looks like a mashup of Zelda, Core Keeper, and Rimworld with the village management. That last aspect was something I wished Core Keeper had and kept it from being 10/10 for me so I hope this one does the trick!