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.

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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.

Price -90% 2.01€
Rating 8.7
Release 22 Aug 2013
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.

Price -95% 2.77€
Rating 8.6
Release 13 Aug 2013
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!

Price Free to play
Rating 8.4
Release 02 Aug 2013
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.

Price -28% 7.24€
Rating 8.6
Release 20 Jun 2013
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.

Price -98% 0.55€
Rating 7.2
Release 22 May 2013
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.

Price -90% 1.00€
Rating 7.6
Release 16 May 2013
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.

Price 8.19€
Rating 9.5
Release 23 Apr 2013
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.

Price Free to play
Rating 6.6
Release 01 Apr 2013
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!

Price -76% 1.20€
Rating 8.1
Release 08 Mar 2013
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!

Price Free to play
Rating 7.2
Release 27 Feb 2013
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.

Price -77% 4.70€
Rating 6.5
Release 18 Feb 2013
Scribblenauts Unlimited The best-selling, award-winning franchise is back – on your home PC in gorgeous HD for the first time.

Price -98% 0.54€
Rating 9.1
Release 15 Feb 2013
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.

Price -89% 1.68€
Rating 6.5
Release 31 Jan 2013
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.

Price -60% 4.00€
Rating 7.3
Release 30 Jan 2013
EverQuest Welcome to EverQuest® - the original fantasy MMORPG. Explore huge worlds, fight challenging foes, and grow your character with friends. Discover why players have quested, grouped, and raided in Norrath for more than two decades.

Price Free to play
Rating 7.8
Release 13 Dec 2012
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.

Price -88% 8.36€
Rating 9.0
Release 10 Dec 2012
Sea Dogs: To Each His Own 1654 AC. The Caribbean. A place of opportunities and mysteries.

Price -94% 0.98€
Rating 7.1
Release 06 Dec 2012
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!

Price Free to play
Rating 7.2
Release 06 Dec 2012
Far Cry 3 Discover the dark secrets of a lawless island ruled by violence and take the fight to the enemy as you try to escape. You’ll need more than luck to escape alive!

Price 19.99€
Rating 8.8
Release 28 Nov 2012
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.

Price -68% 4.80€
Rating 9.2
Release 19 Nov 2012
POSTAL 2 Live a week in the life of "The POSTAL Dude"; a hapless everyman just trying to check off some chores. Buying milk, returning an overdue library book, getting Gary Coleman's autograph, what could possibly go wrong?

Price -94% 0.66€
Rating 9.6
Release 02 Nov 2012
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”.

Price Free to play
Rating 8.2
Release 18 Oct 2012
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!

Price -94% 1.21€
Rating 7.0
Release 28 Sep 2012
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!

Price 19.99€
Rating 9.5
Release 07 Sep 2012
Prototype 2 Become the ultimate shape-shifting weapon!

Price 29.99€
Rating 7.5
Release 26 Jul 2012
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.

Price Free to play
Rating 9.1
Release 10 Jul 2012
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.

Price -95% 0.59€
Rating 7.9
Release 04 Jul 2012
Dungeons & Dragons Online® Enter a world of danger and adventure with Dungeons & Dragons Online® based on the beloved RPG that started it all.

Price Free to play
Rating 7.0
Release 25 Jun 2012
Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers You are Tiny, a nerdy inventor, who tries to reclaim his most beloved possession - Grandpa's underpants!

Price -96% 0.56€
Rating 8.8
Release 19 Jun 2012
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.

Price -87% 2.52€
Rating 9.1
Release 12 Jun 2012
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.

Price -88% 1.23€
Rating 7.8
Release 26 Apr 2012
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!

Price Free to play
Rating 6.3
Release 27 Feb 2012
Crusader Kings II Explore one of the defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy.

Price Free to play
Rating 8.9
Release 14 Feb 2012
Evochron Mercenary The life of an independent mercenary is rarely without excitement. Your spacecraft awaits and your adventure begins in the Sapphire star system.

Price 14.79€
Rating 7.3
Release 16 Jan 2012
Demigod Set in a magical world where gods walk among mortals, Demigod blends action, strategy and role-playing elements into a thrilling new experience.

Price -71% 2.77€
Rating 7.2
Release 14 Dec 2011
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.

Price Free to play
Rating 7.7
Release 07 Dec 2011

Most played sandbox games


108,999 players

1,373,979
35,494
Rating 9.7

21,164 players

206,216
4,301
Rating 9.7

17,664 players

1,122,546
37,161
Rating 9.6

15,027 players

208,770
6,439
Rating 9.6

7,606 players

66,735
3,925
Rating 9.3

7,058 players

65,583
17,491
Rating 7.8

4,490 players

93,712
4,423
Rating 9.4

3,003 players

117,204
15,143
Rating 8.8

2,785 players

30,266
1,412
Rating 9.4

2,784 players

51,042
3,937
Rating 9.1