The Best Sandbox Strategy Games

Key Takeaways

• Traditional strategy games feature single-player campaigns & multiplayer components.
• Sandbox gameplay is increasingly popular in strategy games like RimWorld & Kenshi.
• Unique strategy games like Stellar Tactics & Besiege offer creative decision-making.

Traditional strategy games, typically those played in real-time, usually feature structures built around single-player campaigns and multiplayer components. Tactical games may be played on a level-by-level basis, whereas a 4X strategy game is typically played in tight matches.

However, the strategy game genre is broad and varied. Strategy games have begun to embrace sandbox gameplay more than ever, and these are arguably some of the most popular in the genre. Titles such as RimWorld, Kenshi, and Battle Brothers all offer strategic gameplay combined with a focus on player agency and creative decision-making.

8 Stellar Tactics

A Sci-Fi Sandbox With Tactical Combat

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2016
• Developer(s): Maverick Games
• Genre: RPG

Stellar Tactics is a sci-fi sandbox RPG with an emphasis on tactical ground combat. Although its visuals are somewhat rough around the edges, Stellar Tactics features a great deal of customization and a focus on exploration.

Stellar Tactics combines a main story to follow with a variety of sandbox activities that include hunting bounties, space mining, and trading. Despite being in Early Access since 2016, Stellar Tactics is still being updated, with its latest progress update being posted back in August 2024.

7 Besiege

A Puzzle-Box Sandbox Strategy Game

• Platform(s): PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch
• Released: 2020
• Developer(s): Spiderling Studios
• Genre: Building

Besiege isn’t a strategy game in the traditional sense, but many of its puzzles require strategic thinking to complete. This intuitive but deep title is a construction game that tasks players with building mechanical siege weapons/vehicles, either to complete missions or simply for the joy of it.

Thanks to simulated physics and a variety of modular building blocks, players are able to construct all manner of machines in Besiege, allowing for a variety of strategies. There’s less strategy to be found in Besiege’s sandbox mode, but there’s no doubt that fans of both strategic gameplay and sandbox games are likely to enjoy Besiege.

6 ISLANDERS

A Calming, Strategic Puzzle

ISLANDERS is a minimalist city-builder with an emphasis on strategic choices and puzzle elements. The game plays similarly to a tabletop game with its focus on strategic score-attack, elevated further by accessible gameplay.

The colorful minimalist visuals and ease of use make ISLANDERS an experience with a low barrier to entry. The gameplay itself is extremely free-form, allowing plenty of opportunities for creative thinking, and the game even features a sandbox mode.

5 RimWorld

Managing A Burgeoning Colony In The Harsh Wilds

Sporting a more accessible approach to management-focused gameplay than its clear inspiration, Dwarf Fortress, RimWorld is an intuitive colony-simulator that features elements of real-time strategy. Giving players total control over how to manage their colony, especially when including the game’s variety of DLCs, RimWorld takes a sandbox approach to its design that balances survival-focused gameplay with creativity.

RimWorld isn’t the most combat-focused experience, but the defense of a player’s colony can be tremendously strategic in the later stages of the game. Building defensive structures and planning ahead is integral to success, especially against larger numbers.

4 Mount & Blade: Warband

Managing And Leading Armies In Large-Scale Battles

Players that enjoy large-scale battles should look no further than Mount & Blade: Warband, or perhaps its sequel, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord. In the game, players recruit and command large armies of soldiers from the ground, running/riding about the battlefield and barking out orders in the midst of battle.

Mount & Blade: Warband tasks players with the efficient management of armies, giving them control over when and where to do battle, which quests to complete, and which factions to align with. There’s plenty to do, and a variety of angles to approach each obstacle, making Mount & Blade: Warband a unique, large-scale sandbox.

3 Battle Brothers

Leading A Mercenary Company To Profit In A Medieval-Fantasy World

Battle Brothers is a turn-based strategy game that tasks players with managing a mercenary company in a dark, medieval-fantasy open-world. This grim-dark game lives and dies with its strategic combat, but players can also expect to spend plenty of time managing their resources and the members of their company.

Battle Brothers is a relatively challenging experience, especially when playing on harder difficulties, and it can be especially painful to lose a long-running campaign. However, there are a variety of ways to play the game, and Battle Brothers thrives on player agency.

2 Star Traders: Frontiers

Captaining A Spaceship In A Sci-Fi Sandbox

Offering two unique turn-based combat systems and a sandbox gameplay loop, Star Traders: Frontiers puts players in the role of a ship’s Captain, striking a path through the galaxy. The game features plenty of combat, dialogue, and exploration, with a focus on simulation.

Star Traders: Frontiers isn’t the most complex experience, but it overcomes its low-budget constraints with ambitious ideas and solid writing. Furthermore, the high level of customization, both with the ship and its crew, increases the game’s replay value and allows for a variety of strategies.

1 Kenshi

A Sandbox RPG That Values Player Agency Above All

Kenshi takes place in an open-world wasteland fraught with danger in many forms. From the variety of monstrous creatures and the bands of cannibalistic bandits, to the simple threat of starvation, there are many threats at play in Kenshi, all working to make the player’s life as hard as possible.

The level of agency that Kenshi affords its players is one of its greatest strengths, sending them into its harsh and unforgiving world with little to no guidance and allowing them to set their own goals. Combat encounters play out in real time, but with an option for tactical pausing, allowing players to strategize. These encounters become more strategic as players acquire more squad members, should they want to.