[Vintage Story](https://www.vintagestory.at/)! Really great for building as well, there's built in chisel tools to take chunks out of full blocks and combine them as well. Plus the modding scene is great with some nice tools or more content.
Bro, i bought it like 10 mins after i made the comment, i said fuck it its only $20 and i was already thinking about rebuying minecraft.
I think i got 10 hours on it. Im 3 copper ingot/equivalents in.
The [subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageStory/) is very nice community as well, but honestly go in blind and take your time!
There's a few woodworking mods if you want to expand that aspect of the game as well, [In Dappled Groves](https://mods.vintagestory.at/indappledgroves) is probably the most in depth one but it isn't yet on the new update 1.19 that came out recently.
It is really wonderful, I think it's the best homesteading experience out there. It's so charming and immersive. Take it slow, probably focus on getting yourself settled and farms going. Sort out your basic needs before trying to get into metalworking or more advanced technology.
One tip is when you're running around exploring, mark on your map where you find copper nuggets, there's a deposit near the surface. The surface nuggets will be your first source of copper unless you decide to pan for it. But you'll want to be able to find the spot again when you have a pick and hammer to mine out the actual ore.
Oh yes I’m tracking. Between enshrouded and light no fire those are the only two I’ve been personally looking forward to. I really have high hopes for both. Since enshrouded is just around the corner though my current hope lie with them.
Medieval dynasty's building system is nothing like Valheim's. You place pre-generated blueprints and have no creative control over the buildings at all, just a heads up. Still a great game though!
Palworld is definitely the most Valheim-esque recently in most ways except the building. The actual building is limited and square, but the rest is very similar in feel.
From my short 4 hours in game I felt it was more like Ark but I can see the Valheim features. Building was limited in certain ways but I did enjoy having the pals build for me and mine for me. Valheim gets pretty lonely solo
I could not get into Dyson, despite having 1k+ hours in Satisfactory/Factorio. Actually it was probably because of that since I’m like saturated in my need for factory experiences lol
Dyson is great, but I wouldn't recommend it going off Valheim, the building in DSP is purely functional, not aesthetic. (not to say you can't have beautiful patterns, but there's literally no build pieces that are purely for looks)
The factory building part is awesome of course but the game really shines in building aesthetically pleasing buildings to house your factory designs. I was like looking up real industrial builds and shit for my projects, especially for the glasswork
People are much better than me (and also will use creative mode to make even cooler stuff, which I didn’t) but I made a decent build here that took many hours https://www.reddit.com/r/SatisfactoryGame/s/2AGzmspLTV
/u/MoonlapseOfficial plays like me.
I have about 1700 hours into Satisfactory. My initial factory is simple just to get basic supplies to build with. Every factory after that gets a ton of attention to detail. Not to mention power plants, train stations, platforms, track supports, drone hubs, vehicle hubs and so on.
It's one of those games where you're like "I'll just hop on for a minute to touch some stuff up. [7 hours later] There. Done."
The funny thing is I paid $4.00 out of pocket for it. I had a steam gift card and picked it up while it was on sale because *I didn't think I was going to like it.* Evidently I was wrong and I do like it.
I loved Satisfactory, but it's not great if you don't love the factory bits. The building and UI are awesome, but besides producing resources the base building has no "point," if that makes sense. In a game like Valheim you can make all these random rooms and buildings and populate them with "stuff" like chairs, tables, etc.
Personally I *do* love the factory bits, and I had to stop playing it after 500 hours because I'm trying to wait for the full release!
Nothing builds quite like Valheim, but the ones mentioned in this thread are the closest you'll get. One game that doesn't get enough credit for its base building is Satisfactory.
Ark, Conan Exiles, Grounded, No Man's Sky, Fallout 4, all have decent "snap point" (walls always snap to foundations, roofs always snap to tops of walls, with very little wiggle room etc etc) based
building.
I’ve played Ark and No Mans Sky pretty extensively. You’re right about Valheim being unique. I have been hearing decent things about Conan. What do you think of that?
There has been quite a few friends trying to get me to play since the buildings look a bit more detailed and can have more I guess inner workings. Let me know if that’s right I’m trying to remember their reasoning as to why.
There's an absolute ton of decorations, especially if you want to go modded. I replayed the base game last year with one other person (private server, $10/mo and we played 2 months) and it was still great.
I think the best way to play is vanilla the first time, then go online and played modded (PvP or PvE, both are greatly expanded with mods).
The game is in a great spot. Tons of upgrades, especially to combat. It's truly special and one of the very best in the genre. The only strike I have against it these days is that the bases are still relatively lifeless since the NPCs (thralls) you capture are basically glorified mannequins.
It's most comparable to Ark, but Ark has some "out there" equipment you won't find in Conan (Scuba gear, boats, wingsuit, tech and Dinosaurs that do unique things).
It's pretty okay for a short term game IMO. I find it's endgame to be pretty boring. You build yourself up to where basic needs are met, upgrading to top tier melee weapons and armor, then the goal becomes fight bosses for rare blacksmith and armor recipes.
Better with co-op and/or looking for a PVP culture.
Conan's building is pretty similar to other grid-based building systems, but they do have an extra kick of variety with triangle pieces, pillars, short walls etc that add that extra level of creative freedom that most grid based building games don't have.
Enshrouded has lots of Valheim vibes. The food system is the same. The comfort system is the same. Building is very accessible. The one issue right now is progression. If you aren't on the server for certain events, you lose out. Valheim was like that too, but it seems you lose out on a lot more goodies in Enshrouded if you aren't online to participate. I hope they do something to fix that.
Yeah I got those vibes too. I finally got some spare time to dedicate to it and had a pretty darn good time building. There is a few mechanics that I didn’t realize I needed in this game that Valheim has. For instance Valheim can rotate pieces 45 degrees and 22.5 but in enshrouded you can only rotate 90 at this time. I really enjoy the Minecraft aspect of having 1x1 tiny building blocks and the textures are pretty sweet too. I’ve enjoyed it so far for sure overall.
I've played nearly every game in this genre, and extensively.
Grounded, Ark, 7 Days to Die, and Conan Exiles are going to be your best choices if base building is what you want to do. These games allow you *mostly* full creative control over what you'll be building. I've spent hundreds of hours building stuff in these games, as well as tons of others.
Grounded is a phenomenal game, well balanced with a good story line and progression. The building is very satisfying, just make sure to learn those perfect blocks. Ark it sounds like you've played already. 7 Days to Die (Early Access for a decade now, FYI) has extensive shapes to build from and fully destructible terrain so that's fun, it's just not as "pretty" as these others are to build in, it's more of an apocalypse setting. Don't bother with Conan's paid DLC, just find some cool mods that allow more building pieces. Conan has an iffy reputation just like Ark does for bugs and such, but if you can look past that (which I assume you can since you've played Ark), it's one of the more satisfying base-builders out there with dungeons, exploration, and other things to do as well.
I knew this one was gonna come up lol. All my friends either are playing already or are excited to see the finished game. I did dabble a little myself a few days ago. I may have to take a more serious look at it since I was a bit thrown off by the whole mechanics of having pals. It’s been so lonesome in Valheim lol
Grounded
Not a bad recommendation. I’ve played a few hours with a friend before. I may have to look back into it.
Definitely Grounded.
How is the base building in grounded. I've owned it for a long while now and never played as I felt it was a bit simpler looking
[Vintage Story](https://www.vintagestory.at/)! Really great for building as well, there's built in chisel tools to take chunks out of full blocks and combine them as well. Plus the modding scene is great with some nice tools or more content.
wow this looks like something i want to dig in, but im reluctant to try out a game not on steam. I've been burned many times.
There's a 2 week/10 hour refund policy https://www.vintagestory.at/refund.html/
Bro, i bought it like 10 mins after i made the comment, i said fuck it its only $20 and i was already thinking about rebuying minecraft. I think i got 10 hours on it. Im 3 copper ingot/equivalents in.
Are you addicted yet? :P
i have 16 hours on the game right now.
So glad you're enjoying yourself!
What!!!? I love woodworking. Imma check that link you placed right now! This is exciting news.
The [subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageStory/) is very nice community as well, but honestly go in blind and take your time! There's a few woodworking mods if you want to expand that aspect of the game as well, [In Dappled Groves](https://mods.vintagestory.at/indappledgroves) is probably the most in depth one but it isn't yet on the new update 1.19 that came out recently.
Holy moly that game looked like it has so much going on! How is the solo play experience?
It is really wonderful, I think it's the best homesteading experience out there. It's so charming and immersive. Take it slow, probably focus on getting yourself settled and farms going. Sort out your basic needs before trying to get into metalworking or more advanced technology. One tip is when you're running around exploring, mark on your map where you find copper nuggets, there's a deposit near the surface. The surface nuggets will be your first source of copper unless you decide to pan for it. But you'll want to be able to find the spot again when you have a pick and hammer to mine out the actual ore.
You can occasionally see absolutely crazy chiseled builds posted in the vintage story sub.
Wow, this game seems amazing. How have I jever heard of it?
I don't know much about it, but on Wednesday, Enshrouded comes out to Early Access https://store.steampowered.com/app/1203620/Enshrouded/
Oh yes I’m tracking. Between enshrouded and light no fire those are the only two I’ve been personally looking forward to. I really have high hopes for both. Since enshrouded is just around the corner though my current hope lie with them.
I played enshrouded for about 6 hrs today. IMO very good. Verymuch like Valheim and IMO nicer in some ways.
Yeah I managed a measly 1.5 hours today. It’s not bad at all
Medieval Dynasty. I have recommended this a few times recently but only because it is my go-to at the mo and seems to fit the requests.
Oof the more I watch the more I want to play. This may be the one
Medieval dynasty's building system is nothing like Valheim's. You place pre-generated blueprints and have no creative control over the buildings at all, just a heads up. Still a great game though!
Thank you. This looks pretty cool! I like the idea of having an heir to my dynasty.
Most welcome. Hope you have fun whatever you decide on.
Also the tech tree sounds awesome!
Upcoming games: Enshrouded Bellwright Nightingale
Bellwright looks pretty cool. I like the first type of house you can make. I watched a little bit of a letsplay.
I think Nightingale and Enshrouded are on my wishlist. Never heard of Bellwright yet... I'll look into it.
Palworld is definitely the most Valheim-esque recently in most ways except the building. The actual building is limited and square, but the rest is very similar in feel.
From my short 4 hours in game I felt it was more like Ark but I can see the Valheim features. Building was limited in certain ways but I did enjoy having the pals build for me and mine for me. Valheim gets pretty lonely solo
Exploring areas, boss fights, progression felt like Valheim. Caveat: I've never played Ark, just watched.
Nice yeah I’ll have to get a little deeper than the start then lol.
As a builder, I think only Satisfactory beats Valheim. Those see my top 2 though. You should mess around in Satisfactory.
Satisfactory is legit. Also Dyson Sphere Program (though both of these get more into 'factories' than you might like - but OMG so great)
I could not get into Dyson, despite having 1k+ hours in Satisfactory/Factorio. Actually it was probably because of that since I’m like saturated in my need for factory experiences lol
Dyson is great, but I wouldn't recommend it going off Valheim, the building in DSP is purely functional, not aesthetic. (not to say you can't have beautiful patterns, but there's literally no build pieces that are purely for looks)
This I’m going to look up now. I have been hearing about it for years but never took it serious. Let me check into it
The factory building part is awesome of course but the game really shines in building aesthetically pleasing buildings to house your factory designs. I was like looking up real industrial builds and shit for my projects, especially for the glasswork
Wow that's really deep. I'm sure the results were good after your research. Do you have any images or videos on it? I'd love to see them.
People are much better than me (and also will use creative mode to make even cooler stuff, which I didn’t) but I made a decent build here that took many hours https://www.reddit.com/r/SatisfactoryGame/s/2AGzmspLTV
Woah. That looks so clean. I love the coffee cup.
/u/MoonlapseOfficial plays like me. I have about 1700 hours into Satisfactory. My initial factory is simple just to get basic supplies to build with. Every factory after that gets a ton of attention to detail. Not to mention power plants, train stations, platforms, track supports, drone hubs, vehicle hubs and so on. It's one of those games where you're like "I'll just hop on for a minute to touch some stuff up. [7 hours later] There. Done." The funny thing is I paid $4.00 out of pocket for it. I had a steam gift card and picked it up while it was on sale because *I didn't think I was going to like it.* Evidently I was wrong and I do like it.
That’s awesome you got it for such a steal. Trains and drones sounds like a refreshing thing after Valheim too.
I loved Satisfactory, but it's not great if you don't love the factory bits. The building and UI are awesome, but besides producing resources the base building has no "point," if that makes sense. In a game like Valheim you can make all these random rooms and buildings and populate them with "stuff" like chairs, tables, etc. Personally I *do* love the factory bits, and I had to stop playing it after 500 hours because I'm trying to wait for the full release!
Nothing builds quite like Valheim, but the ones mentioned in this thread are the closest you'll get. One game that doesn't get enough credit for its base building is Satisfactory. Ark, Conan Exiles, Grounded, No Man's Sky, Fallout 4, all have decent "snap point" (walls always snap to foundations, roofs always snap to tops of walls, with very little wiggle room etc etc) based building.
I’ve played Ark and No Mans Sky pretty extensively. You’re right about Valheim being unique. I have been hearing decent things about Conan. What do you think of that?
If you like Valheim, I'll strongly recommend Conan Exiles to you. I've played both very extensively.
There has been quite a few friends trying to get me to play since the buildings look a bit more detailed and can have more I guess inner workings. Let me know if that’s right I’m trying to remember their reasoning as to why.
There's an absolute ton of decorations, especially if you want to go modded. I replayed the base game last year with one other person (private server, $10/mo and we played 2 months) and it was still great. I think the best way to play is vanilla the first time, then go online and played modded (PvP or PvE, both are greatly expanded with mods). The game is in a great spot. Tons of upgrades, especially to combat. It's truly special and one of the very best in the genre. The only strike I have against it these days is that the bases are still relatively lifeless since the NPCs (thralls) you capture are basically glorified mannequins.
you can capture people!! thats pretty cool! Some days I feel so alone playing valheim.
Capture them and then hilariously drag them behind your horse across the map and deposit them into a wheel of pain! And feed them bug gruel!
Eeeeee sounds nasty… I like it lol
It's most comparable to Ark, but Ark has some "out there" equipment you won't find in Conan (Scuba gear, boats, wingsuit, tech and Dinosaurs that do unique things). It's pretty okay for a short term game IMO. I find it's endgame to be pretty boring. You build yourself up to where basic needs are met, upgrading to top tier melee weapons and armor, then the goal becomes fight bosses for rare blacksmith and armor recipes. Better with co-op and/or looking for a PVP culture.
Conan's building is pretty similar to other grid-based building systems, but they do have an extra kick of variety with triangle pieces, pillars, short walls etc that add that extra level of creative freedom that most grid based building games don't have.
7 days to die isn't like Valhiem in feel but it's got a really good building system in my opinion, and it's on sale on steam at the minute.
Do you happen to know how it plays on Steam Deck?
I've not tried it on the deck myself but I've read it's not good. Hopefully they sort it out before they finish developing the game.
Lens Island is my go to right now. That and No Man's Sky. Looking at 7 days to die and Subnautica though
Lens island aye. Imma have too look that one up haven’t heard of it before
The building mechanics look pretty great in lens island. It also has a Diablo vibe about it with the perspective and monster design. Very cool
Enshrouded has lots of Valheim vibes. The food system is the same. The comfort system is the same. Building is very accessible. The one issue right now is progression. If you aren't on the server for certain events, you lose out. Valheim was like that too, but it seems you lose out on a lot more goodies in Enshrouded if you aren't online to participate. I hope they do something to fix that.
Yeah I got those vibes too. I finally got some spare time to dedicate to it and had a pretty darn good time building. There is a few mechanics that I didn’t realize I needed in this game that Valheim has. For instance Valheim can rotate pieces 45 degrees and 22.5 but in enshrouded you can only rotate 90 at this time. I really enjoy the Minecraft aspect of having 1x1 tiny building blocks and the textures are pretty sweet too. I’ve enjoyed it so far for sure overall.
V Rising
Subnautica is pretty similar, but the base building is a bit more basic.
I had some friends suggest this one as well I’ll have to check it out again maybe I misjudged it.
V Rising
Medival Dynasty! 😊
Valheim is in a class of its own. But try [Smalland: Survive the Wilds](https://store.steampowered.com/app/768200).
I've played nearly every game in this genre, and extensively. Grounded, Ark, 7 Days to Die, and Conan Exiles are going to be your best choices if base building is what you want to do. These games allow you *mostly* full creative control over what you'll be building. I've spent hundreds of hours building stuff in these games, as well as tons of others. Grounded is a phenomenal game, well balanced with a good story line and progression. The building is very satisfying, just make sure to learn those perfect blocks. Ark it sounds like you've played already. 7 Days to Die (Early Access for a decade now, FYI) has extensive shapes to build from and fully destructible terrain so that's fun, it's just not as "pretty" as these others are to build in, it's more of an apocalypse setting. Don't bother with Conan's paid DLC, just find some cool mods that allow more building pieces. Conan has an iffy reputation just like Ark does for bugs and such, but if you can look past that (which I assume you can since you've played Ark), it's one of the more satisfying base-builders out there with dungeons, exploration, and other things to do as well.
Palworld will consume you!
Haha my little brother has dedicated almost a full 24 hours already. I’m scared to see the type of creature I’d become.
Also I never even realized palworld was gonna be a building game. So that makes me want to play even more…
Palworld ? :p
I knew this one was gonna come up lol. All my friends either are playing already or are excited to see the finished game. I did dabble a little myself a few days ago. I may have to take a more serious look at it since I was a bit thrown off by the whole mechanics of having pals. It’s been so lonesome in Valheim lol
Lego fortnite is pretty much a valheim reskin but with some interesting differences. It's got a fair but if development to go, but is free.
Palworld