1. Rust (PC, XBOX, PS4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGcECozNXEw&t=9s
Released for early access in 2013 for PC only, it was a mix of some of the most popular games at the time. A survival/crafting MMO based on DayZ, Minecraft, and other iconic titles such as the ARMA collection.
Rust allows players to harvest resources found around the map and turn them into items with four different levels. Items such as workbenches allow more items to be made and increase the speed of crafting. Crafting is essential to a game like rust and skill that experienced players must hone.
Crafting is the difference between a rock and a gun.
2. No Mans Sky (PC, XBOX, PS4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJEJe8HMsY4
Released worldwide in late 2016, No Mans Sky is a survival/crafting game set in a futuristic open-world universe, where players can explore up to 18 quintillion planets. Each planet has different ecosystems, items, and alien species.
Awakening on a random planet, armed only with an exo-suit and the ability to collect resources, players must craft with resources collected to repair and upgrade their space shuttle, unlock new blueprints and eventually explore and leave their solar system.
No Mans Sky is always procedurally generated, allowing players on the same server to bump into each other and still be witnessing the same area.
3. Terraria (PC, XBOX, PS4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7uOhFTrrq0
The first 2D game on the list, Terraria is often compared to Minecraft for its integral and often confusing crafting system, which players will interact with from their first days in Terraria to end-game content.
A game released in 2011, Terraria has had a lot of time to update and upgrade their crafting system, not with more items than you can imagine to craft and help the player explore, build and terraform the world around them as they see fit.
Using a workbench, players use it as a launching pad to upgrade everything about their character, crafting furnaces to smelt ore and create those sweet early game upgrades.
4. Minecraft (PC, XBOX, PS4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmB9b5njVbA
Keeping with the open-world theme, Minecraft is the poster child for crafting games.
Also released in 2011, Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time, and for good reason. Minecraft allows players to explore a procedurally generated blocky world to collect resources, fight mobs and explore caves and natural structures, such as villages.
Crafting assists players upgrade their armor and tools, such as diamond weaponry and armor to help battle aggressive mobs deep underground.
Not only this, crafting in Minecraft serves as the backbone of enchanting, upgrading, and terraforming their tools and the world around them.
It is an understatement to say that Minecraft helped developers realize the opportunity that crafting games provide.
5. Don't starve (PC, XBOX, PS4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXP4_2qRHng
Based in a dark parallel world known as the constant, the player follows a scientist called Wilson, the aim of the game being to survive as long as possible, well, don’t starve.
However, the high level of difficulty comes from the large number of ways you can die in the game, coming from supernatural enemies that are haunting Wilson.
Using one of the game's 29 crafting tables allows the player to craft items and structures. There are two tiers to each ‘set’ of items, such as Magic and science. These items help Wilson on his journey to avoid starvation.
6. 7 Days to die (PC, XBOX, PS4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt9EzY6FBWw
Coming out in 2013, 7 days to die is an open-world survival horror game, where you are tasked with survival as long as possible against constant zombie hoards and the game’s tough elements.
Items and objects have wear and tear, forcing the players to constantly be looting and looking for new items to craft from the resources around them. Zombies operate on a day/night cycle, allowing easier movement throughout the day when they are less hazardous.
Players need to constantly be on the lookout for remains of old civilization to acquire the resources they need to survive and be able to access any one of the five different workstations dotted across the map.
7. Valheim (PC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mHRJ1KFe20
A new game to the genre, Valheim was released in 202. Based in the era of Vikings, players are put on a path to eventually defeat the enemies of Odin, a famous god in greek mythology. Players often receive hints from a raven about activities to complete and areas to search.
Like most crafting games, players are given very little to start from, forcing them to collect resources and craft to survive and conquer. Players travel through different biomes to gather resources required to build shelter and develop new technologies such as farming.
Eventually, players can start producing weapons and armor to help them on their journey to defeating Odin’s enemies.
8. Starbound (PC, XBOX, PS4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O6PUh3reG0
With similar graphics to terraria, Starbound was released in 2016. Continuing the 2D scroller craze, Starbound alto utilizes a procedurally generated, allowing players to explore, craft, and upgrade their character as well as the base they reside in.
Most items in Starbound require a crafting station, but simple items can be made by hand. Crafting really is the backbone of the game, as players craft anything from building blocks to weapons and food to survive.
If you crave building your own interstellar world through crafting and terraforming, Starbound is the choice for you
9. Raft (PC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__w615A5lC4
Taking the survival and crafting genre to the extreme, Raft was released in early 2018 as a single or multiplayer survival game where players started off on a small raft stranded in the middle of the ocean.
Players use the crafting system to increase the raft size and discover new items and weapons to help their journey. Crafting plays a unique role in Raft, as it will ultimately decide how they can progress into their journey. Without crafting, players will find it hard to defend themselves from the shark-infested waters and be hopefully drifting, lacking any source of guidance system
All while this is happening, players also must manage their character’s human needs like hunger, to keep them alive.
10. Astroneer (PC, XBOX, PS4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMLwzt5t9bs
Switching it up with a sandbox game, Astroneer is a game where the player decides the outcome and is ultimately the own hero of their journey.
Released through early access in late 2016, Astroneer is another space-centered crafting and survival game that hosts unlimited planets ready for the player to explore, terraform and gather resources from.
Crafting in Astroneer opens the player up to high-tech items such as rovers and buggies, speeding up their planet exploration speed. However, players must also craft their own ‘tethers’ to keep their oxygen levels high.
