Best Sandbox Games on Steam
Unlike generic lists, our strategy game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated sandbox games.
Filters & Lists
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected
Experience the insane antics of Saints Row IV. The Saints have gone from the Penthouse to the White House - but Earth has been invaded and it’s up to you to save it with an arsenal of superpowers and strange weapons, in the wildest open world game ever.
Europa Universalis IV
Rule your land and dominate the world with unparalleled freedom, depth and historical accuracy. Write a new history of the world and build an empire for the ages.
DCS World Steam Edition
Feel the excitement of flying the Su-25T "Frogfoot" attack jet and the TF-51D "Mustang" in the free-to-play Digital Combat Simulator World!
TrackMania² Stadium
TrackMania² Stadium is the return of the popular Stadium environment enjoyed by millions of players with TrackMania Nations Forever. Now part of the ManiaPlanet environment, Stadium allows for improved services around the game, better graphics and a powerful track editor.
Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes
Fallen Enchantress is 4X strategy game from the makers of Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations. Build a civilization in the magical world of Elemental. Recruit heroes, train armies, build cities, forge alliances and save the world in this rich world where it's never the same game twice.
Reus
In Reus, you control powerful giants to shape the planet to your will. You can create mountains, oceans, forests and more. Enrich your planet with plants, minerals and animal life. There is only one thing on the planet that you do not control: mankind, with all their virtues and and all their vices.
Don't Starve
Don’t Starve is an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic. Enter a strange and unexplored world full of strange creatures, dangers, and surprises. Gather resources to craft items and structures that match your survival style.
Kingdom Wars
Kingdom Wars is a free to play 3D MMORTS with real-time siege combat, without the pay to win element so common in the genre. Kingdom Wars offers beautiful 3D online world, where players construct strongholds, direct citizens, complete quests and eventually manage a global empire.
Euro Truck Simulator
The original Euro Truck Simulator - the game which has become the classic of the genre and is still relevant today. The first truck simulation game in a European setting, with European long haul trucks!
Star Conflict
Star Conflict is an action-packed, massively multiplayer space simulation game that puts players in the role of elite pilots engaging in a widespread interplanetary skirmish. The whole world for PVP and PVE!
March of the Eagles
“he Who Fears Being Conquered Is Sure Of Defeat.”The war-game March of the Eagles focuses on the dramatic conflicts of Europe during 1805 to 1820. Explore one of the defining periods in European history with this experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy, Paradox Development Studio.
Scribblenauts Unlimited
The best-selling, award-winning franchise is back – on your home PC in gorgeous HD for the first time.
Omerta - City of Gangsters
Omerta - City of Gangsters is a simulation game with tactical turn-based combat. Taking the role of a fresh-from-the-boat immigrant, with dreams of the big life, the player will work his way up the criminal hierarchy of 1920’s Atlantic City.
Proteus
Proteus is a game about exploration and immersion in a dream-like island world where the soundtrack to your play is created by your surroundings. Played in first-person, the primary means of interaction is simply your presence in the world and how you observe it.
RPG Maker VX Ace
RPG Maker VX Ace improves on every aspect of creating your very own epic adventure. An extremely powerful editor, Ace supports multiple tilesets, offers full control over autoshadow and has a very flexible features system.
Sea Dogs: To Each His Own
1654 AC. The Caribbean. A place of opportunities and mysteries.
Mabinogi
Embark on amazing adventures, build lasting friendships or even find romance in this unique social game, where a welcoming community with thousands of devoted players await! Whoever you are, or whatever your heart’s desire, come express it in Mabinogi and start living your fantasy life!
Little Inferno
Throw your toys into your fire, and play with them as they burn. An adventure that takes place almost entirely in front of a fireplace - about looking up up up out of the chimney, and the cold world just on the other side of the wall. From the creators of World of Goo and Human Resource Machine.
Dwarfs - F2P
Dwarfs!? is an addictive, fast paced arcade-like experience, with plenty of difficulty levels and game modes, in the tradition of great games such as “Lemmings” and “Dwarf Fortress”.
Cortex Command
Choose between different factions, with their own set of expendable soldiers, mechas, and weapons. Protect your brain, mine gold, and destroy the enemy cortex in his bunker complex!
Batman: Arkham City - Game of the Year Edition
Get Batman: Arkham City and all DLC for one low price with the release of the GOTY Edition!
Prototype 2
Become the ultimate shape-shifting weapon!
Source Filmmaker
The Source Filmmaker (SFM) is the movie-making tool built and used by us here at Valve to make movies inside the Source game engine. Because the SFM uses the same assets as the game, anything that exists in the game can be used in the movie, and vice versa.
ENDLESS™ Space - Definitive Edition
ENDLESS™ Space is a turn-based 4X strategy game, covering the space colonization age in the ENDLESS™ Universe, where you can control every aspect of your civilization as you strive for galactic domination.
Dungeons & Dragons Online®
Enter a world of danger and adventure with Dungeons & Dragons Online® based on the beloved RPG that started it all.
Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers
You are Tiny, a nerdy inventor, who tries to reclaim his most beloved possession - Grandpa's underpants!
Sins of a Solar Empire®: Rebellion
Command a space-faring empire in Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, the new stand-alone expansion that combines 4X depth with real-time strategy gameplay.
Risen 2: Dark Waters
Set several years after the end of Risen, raging titans have devastated the world and pushed humanity to the brink of existence. Subsequently, monstrous creatures have risen from the watery depths of the sea and their attacks have brought all seafaring to a grinding halt.
Stronghold Kingdoms
A massively multiplayer grand strategy game, Stronghold Kingdoms is about forging alliances, political mind games, city-building and castle sieges with thousands of other players!
Crusader Kings II
Explore one of the defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy.
Evochron Mercenary
The life of an independent mercenary is rarely without excitement. Your spacecraft awaits and your adventure begins in the Sapphire star system.
EverQuest II
EverQuest® II is a deep fantasy MMORPG with over two decades of content, a thriving world, and ongoing expansions that keep Norrath growing. Create your hero and adventure through a massively rich, ever-evolving universe.