Games are always made behind closed doors. Most forms of media are, but games can feel a little different. Giving a hint of a behind-the-scenes game can sometimes lead to misinformed opinions by people who don’t quite understand how development works. It’s kind of funny, then, that crafting systems are so popular.
Crafting systems have been in games for ages, although they found a place in survival games and have since spread into just about everything. Many games have relatively simple crafting systems – simply collecting the materials and money. Sometimes, though, there are some extra layers that make the experience much more memorable than just mindlessly collecting material.
8 Skyrim
Oh Skyrim, a game that can hardly ever keep itself off a list. For over a decade it has been one of the games to beat when it comes to freedom and open-world design. It has plenty of pitfalls, but there is no doubt that it has changed the way games are viewed and designed. It laid the foundation for numerous gameplay features, and the crafting system is one of them.
That’s not to say it’s the best, necessarily. It’s a system that can be so easily abused, and can get you on your way to incredible gear early on, but there’s a simple joy in it. Breaking down useless gear to the basics to make something new, while working in a real forge in the city feels great, like you are really in the world.
7 don’t starve
When it comes to survival games, Don’t Starve is one of the best. It has a beautiful, disturbing art style, with an isometric perspective. The aim of the game is simply to survive. Don’t starve, to be exact. Needlework is therefore essential.
Items need to be prototyped before you can actually build them whenever you want, and the materials are almost never easy to find. Some will be easier, like collecting clippings from your own beard, while others will require you to teeter on the brink of sanity to gather nightmare fuel. It’s a dangerous game to play, but it feels rewarding and also a bit exciting.
6 No Man’s Sky
If ever there was a game with a story behind it, it’s No Man’s Sky. Released in 2016 to a largely mixed reception, the game has since amassed such a huge fanbase, with years of incredible updates behind it. The crafting system has also evolved a lot, with early base building and much more. But the system thematic it’s the same.
The core promise of NMS is to explore a vast, endless universe. Many planets will be desolate, with some rain radiation. Others will be fantastic, brimming with life. To make what you want, you really have to explore the galaxy. No planet will ever have everything you need, so you are always encouraged to explore. You might even find a new favorite planet.
5 Death Stranding
Hideo Kojima is known for his eccentric games that few others have had the same freedom to explore, and with Death Stranding, he showed he wasn’t afraid to take more risks, even if the game got some pretty polarizing reviews. However, it is really something special, a collaborative game where even the crafting plays a part.
The core of Death Stranding is helping others. Their deliveries fall into your world for you to complete, items left behind remain for you and others, and so on. The crafting itself is simple, with materials to make what you want. But when you want to build highways? Materials are shared in many worlds, and a highway completed in one world will be completed in yours too. Suddenly you’re building for more than just yourself.
4 Minecraft
It would be a little unfair not to include Minecraft in a list of all things tinkering. The game didn’t invent the system in any way, but it certainly made it popular. In Minecraft, crafting is the game. You make, you build, you collect and you make more. It’s really all in the name.
Minecraft had a pretty unique system in the beginning, where you had to feel recipes. For example, two sticks in the middle and three stones at the top was a stone pickaxe. It’s been greatly simplified since then, but that core of experimentation remains, and there are plenty of mods out there to turn that system into something more of your fantasy as well.
3 The Dogma of the Dragons
Ah, what a special game Dragon’s Dogma is. It’s a game that draws so heavily on Itsuno’s own work on Devil May Cry and other Western RPGs to create an action-packed universe with an entirely custom party created by other players. However, Dragon’s Dogma really shines in the systems of its world, even if the world itself is quite simple.
For example, the crafting system in Dragon’s Dogma is incredibly practical. Do you have a food item that goes bad? Combine it with an airtight flash to preserve it, then soak it with spring water to restore it. Combine meat with a knife to make animal fat and mix it with arrows to make fire arrows. And while you’re at it, you can duplicate any item you want for a price, no matter how rare it is.
2 Prey
Saddled with an unfortunate fate from the start, Prey took the name of a completely unrelated project, a fact the director later admitted made the team uncomfortable. It’s also incredibly unfair because it’s one of Arkane’s best games, a true space horror game, focused on survival. So of course it has a crafting system.
The thing is, the crafting system is quite simple, although it’s implemented in a nice way. Everything is 3D printed from machines around Talos 1, although the materials themselves are simple raw materials that you get by recycling. And everything can be recycled. Throw a recycling charge at an enemy and you can see exactly how much a life is worth.
1 Monster Hunter
In today’s culture, people are always talking about the grind. The need to turn every simple task into a money grab and take the joy out of every living thing. In games, the grind can be pretty bad if it feels forced. Then there are games like Monster Hunter, where the grind is the game.
Crafting is easy enough, collect the materials, give the money and you have a fantastic new weapon and a new fit. Those articles, right? That’s the grind, honey. Those new glasses you want need a claw of Mizutsune’s paws. That long sword needs mud from an Almudron. That helmet? You’d better hunt older dragons for their blood. In addition, sometimes you have to strategically attack a certain part of the monster to get the part you need. This makes every fight a little more exciting, rather than just whining until they’re dead.
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