Base building games

What are Base Building games?

It may seem very logical, but it’s not that all base building games PC feature only happy Bob the Builder time – this might be just one of a title’s mechanics. It’s also a matter of whether the developers wanted it to be a bit realistic or not. In the second case, you won’t spend much time before you see a new place or fortification – which is good if you don’t want to focus on this aspect too much.

There are enthusiasts of an accurate building experience, too. These players will appreciate that you need time to complete your ideal house or any other facility. Sometimes, the process may be straightforward, but if your task is to build a town from scratch – it will still take many hours before visible effects.

In the end, that’s the appeal of some of the best base building titles: you understand the gratification that a real-life architect would feel when your masterpiece is finished, rather than just waiting a few seconds before it’s in its place. In some titles, finding the right materials for what you want to create can be a big chunk of the gameplay. Provided you’d like your home to be something more than a bed and a window, decorating it is yet another thing that takes time. When it’s said and done, though, there’s no better feeling in the world.

Best Base Building games

Normally, we think about a place to live that we want to erect, but what happens when we need an actual fort, somewhere we can defend ourselves from the enemy? That’s a different story. If we were to name some of the greatest base-building games Steam has in store, we would start with Minecraft. It’s a very safe choice, but it’s one of the best titles to start the building journey with; it’s intuitive and so massive that you won’t ever feel that there’s nothing to do. 

Some people have re-created famous locations from pop culture in this game, but it’s not like you can’t stick with building a solid base. It should probably be spacious and have a well-thought structure: even if it’s really simple, you will love it instantly. The way you can just go around your new home and add the finishing touches encourages you to experiment – if something doesn’t look good after all, shattering it will be no problem.

Now, are there any RTS base building games that we can recommend? There are plenty of great ones, but we would probably go with Age of Empires IV. If you’re familiar with the series, you know that taking care of your lands is equally as important (if not more) as military conflicts. All four campaigns focus on different things, although if you have a cautious approach, the developers make sure that you can apply it in your playthrough.

The game offers a pretty deep history lesson, as we will be a part of some key moments in history – including key figures that were some of the best leaders the world has seen. A good base equals an excellent start to a battle. As you will be fighting quite often here, you won’t achieve much without preparation. The title helps the newcomers with a tutorial, so don’t worry if not everything is apparent at first. Remember that Age of Empires IV can be grabbed for free via PC Game Pass – give it a shot!

Have you thought about space base building titles? Hey, colonizing other planets is quite a common dream we share, so it had to appear in the world of video games somehow. One of the most outstanding examples has to be Astroneer. 

This colorful title deals with a rather severe topic – setting up a base on a planet that’s not known to humankind requires a brave person to try – and that’s you. Visit numerous planets and reshape them however you like with a special tool. It means that whatever you stumble upon can be changed in a way how you see it. There’s a big hill that’s blocking you from advancing further? Shape it into a neat road for your vehicle. Is the cave too small? Make it bigger yourself! The possibilities are endless.

 It's not that difficult to implement base building mechanics in your game, but the real challenge is to make them feel like they really belong to the gameplay. When a developer achieves this goal, then the title becomes so much more enjoyable than a game that didn’t have a better idea and put the building feature in it just cause. If you’d like to find some more examples of good titles like that, be sure to browse what we’ve gathered on GG.deals. Happy building!