Games where you can do whatever you want have become a new trend in the global gaming industry. Not surprisingly, the gamer is tempted by the opportunity to implement exactly that scenario of passage, which seems to him the most acceptable for the chosen style or role. Every year there are more and more such projects, and the degree of freedom is growing. If earlier “a sandbox” could be called that shooter or arcade game where you can choose the ending yourself, now gamers don’t have to go through the main story at all, which only adds interest. Before the player, a whole world is open for research, many quests and variations of their passage. All this makes the sandbox not only fascinating, but addictive. It is not a pity to spend on such a project several weeks and even months.
Minecraft
Among the games where you can do whatever you want, there is a category of urban development simulators, where the game process is limited solely by the player’s imagination and his willingness to take responsibility for a small village or city. Minecraft stands out even against their background. After all, this project allows the player to literally realize any of his fantasies, regardless of their complexity.
It offers the gamer the construction of his own home, a hunt for resources, rivalry with other participants or computer bots, and much more. There is a script for every taste for both passive and active categories.
The Minecraft game, where you can do everything, has given rise to a number of projects. So, for example, the participants are still arguing who was the progenitor of the segment - Minecraft or Terraria. In fact, such sandboxes are very similar in many respects: the player is limited solely by external factors or is unlimited at all. In this case, the gamer is required to conduct construction and monitor the level of resource consumption. The world is randomly generated, as is the volume of minerals.
Among other sandboxes of this type, Factorio, Dwarven Fortress, Rust, Arc, The Forest stand out. Depending on the degree of threat to the player, limited resources and the chosen background for the adventurer, the age limit for participation in such projects also varies.
Second life
This is a game where you can do anything, literally. Even the name says it. The player is given the opportunity to live a second life. It offers the gamer the construction of their own apartments, even the whole city, the choice of character, down to the smallest detail, and even the degree of freedom of contact with other members of the virtual society. If gamers want to grow their character in isolation or to raise him to the top of the financial pyramid, such an opportunity is provided by the developers.
The gameplay is thought out to the smallest detail, but there are some drawbacks. The project has a rather limited Russian-speaking society, and it will be somewhat difficult for a beginner to adapt.
Just cause
A project that opened up new horizons of destruction for gamers. After the release of the first part, JC predicted the future of the GTA clone, followed by a lack of success due to the resounding success of its competitor, but the project managed to gain a foothold in the segment and win its own audience of fans.
The secret to this success is simple - a complete and completely destructible gaming universe. If in previous games from this list the user was tasked with building, then here the developer made sure that the gamer had an impressive arsenal of weapons.
Absolute freedom is present in Just Cause, a player may not even think about the storyline or motives of an act of this or that character, when you can simply launch the nearest passerby into the air with the help of explosives. That is why many criticize JC for excessive cruelty.
The elder scrolls
The Bethesda project has become a real breath of fantasy for fantasy lovers with a deeply developed world. The Universe The Elder Scrolls has its gods and demons, kings and heroes, among which the protagonist appears over and over again. Under the control of the gamer, he can overthrow or exalt the rulers, even take the place of the head of the clan or avatars of the deity himself. Isn't this complete freedom of action?
Among the games where you can do whatever you want, The Elder Scrolls series stands out by detailing the world around and elaborating even minor quests along with a class system typical of the RPG genre. This gives the player unlimited potential in research and development, which only spurs interest in the project.
Fallout
The first parts of Fallout became for players a kind of standard of quality among sandboxes. Games where you can do whatever you want have appeared in the segment relatively recently and many believe that the development of the genre began precisely with Fallout. The very idea of surviving in a radioactive wasteland at the time the project was released was considered a novelty, and the high complexity of the passage only encouraged gamers to try themselves in the role of a native of the Vault again and again.
However, Fallout is valuable not only for this. The game allows you to literally get used to the selected role and conduct its full wagering. You can complete the story to the end by killing each one you meet or without firing a single shot. Each decision of the gamer, one way or another, affects the subsequent development of events.
The sims
When it comes to games, where you can do anything, literally having lived another life, often the associations arise with The Sims. The game was a resounding success in the world, eventually acquiring several dozens of additions.
The essence of the game is to create an exact copy of the player (or not) - a sim, who will go to work, establish relationships, run in the gym and achieve career growth. The unlimited possibilities for the development of life of the selected character led to a consistently high demand for the simulator among gamers.
Wasteland
Wasteland is called a worthy successor to the Fallout tradition, including full freedom of action. The wasteland has become more beautiful, more complex and thoughtful, and the player will now have to command an entire detachment, whose members can quarrel or die for each other.
Freedom of choice is practically unlimited. You can complete the same task by arranging a shootout or by persuading the leader of the bandits to surrender. A huge variation of opportunities, a well-developed world and an interesting storyline keep Wasteland in the top in popularity, and the project was created by amateurs and fans on the basis of the crowdfunding platform.
Games with complete freedom of action appear more and more often. Let critics talk about the threat of growing dependence on such projects, when a gamer escapes from real problems into the virtual world, but the opportunity to live a life as a hero or a villain, and then try again, it also attracts an audience. Therefore, sandbox games will continue to be released, and the freedom of action in them will increase, however, like realism.