Category: Buy-to-Play

Gloria Victis

Gloria Victis is a low-fantasy medieval MMORPG built around player conflict, territory control, and a grounded approach to combat. Rather than leaning on flashy magic and theme park questing, it focuses on a harsher sandbox world where equipment, positioning, and coordination matter, and where the economy and settlements depend heavily on what players choose to build and defend.

Publisher: Black Eye Games
Playerbase: Low
Type: Medieval Fantasy MMO
PvP: Open world/Realm vs. Realm
Release Date: June 09, 2016
Pros: +Weighty, skill-based medieval fighting. +Persistent, non-instanced housing. +Player-focused crafting economy.
Cons: -Visuals feel behind the times. -Balance can be uneven. -PvE is not the main draw and can feel thin.

Wanderlust Adventures

Wanderlust Adventures is a procedurally generated online co-op action RPG with four distinct classes. Team up with friends, push through shifting zones and events, and ultimately bring down the lich threatening the realm.

Publisher: Chucklefish
Playerbase: Low
Type: Action RPG
Release Date: August 10th, 2015
Pros: +Procedural sessions keep routes and tiles changing. +The four classes play in noticeably different ways. +A huge variety of enemies can be recruited as companions.
Cons: -Fighting can feel repetitive and drawn out. -Crusader kit can edge into “too strong” territory. -Blocking is overly forgiving. -Companion leveling is pricey and grindy. -Environments lack personality. -Occasional lag and hiccups.

Project Gorgon

Project Gorgon is an MMORPG that mixes modern conveniences with the kind of old-school, community-driven design many long-time MMO players miss. It is primarily a PvE sandbox where experimentation is the point, you develop your character by using and discovering skills, and the world’s social fabric matters more than racing to an endgame checklist.

Publisher: Elder Game, LLC
Playerbase: Low
Type: MMORPG
Release Date: March 13, 2018 (Early Access)
Pros: +Huge skill selection with constant discovery. +NPC favor makes progression and quests feel personal. +Boss fights have memorable curse consequences.
Cons: -Very limited character creation options. -Interface can be awkward to manage. -Movement often feels stiff.

The Imperial Realm: Miranda

The Imperial Realm: Miranda is a classic-style MMORTS built around large-scale territory warfare on the shattered world of Miranda. Instead of focusing on long-term base babysitting, it leans into quick sessions on a seamless battlefield, with story fragments uncovered through exploration and discovered artifacts.

Publisher: Secret Lair Games
Playerbase: Low
Type: MMORTS
Release Date: 2016
Pros: +Jump in and play without a big time commitment. +Captures the feel of classic Command and Conquer era RTS. +Nemesis matchmaking adds structured, objective-based encounters.
Cons: -Players who want permanent base-building may feel underserved. -Visuals look noticeably dated.

Arma 3

Arma 3 is a 3D MMO tactical shooter built around large-scale, military-style operations across land, sea, and air. It leans heavily into simulation, offering expansive maps, a deep roster of vehicles and equipment, and the kind of pacing where planning and coordination matter as much as aim.

Publisher: Bohemia Interactive
Playerbase: High
Type: Tactical Shooter
Release Date: March 05, 2013
PvP: Team / Squad Wargames
Pros: +Authentic military-sim style gunfights. +Huge, open-ended sandboxes. +Extensive selection of weapons, gear, and vehicles. +Substantial single-player campaign. +Strong visuals.
Cons: -Frequent long travel times on foot. -Demanding learning curve. -AI can feel punishing. -Weapon audio lacks impact.

Savage Lands

Savage Lands is a fantasy-themed sandbox survival game that drops you onto an icebound island with nothing but your wits. Starting with no gear, you are expected to scavenge, craft, and adapt to freezing nights, dangerous wildlife, mythical monsters, and the unpredictable threat of other players.

Publisher: Signal Studios
Playerbase: Low
Type: B2P Survival Game
Release Date: March 05, 2015
PvP: Open World
Pros: +Fantasy survival premise. +Deep crafting and harvesting loops. +Villages and loot appear in randomized locations.
Cons: -Rough, unintuitive interface. -Melee combat lacks polish. -Performance issues, may not run well on some PCs.

Starbound

Spacefaring sandbox games rarely give you this much freedom so early on. Starbound drops you into a 2D universe where your ship is both home base and gateway, and the real loop is simple: land on a planet, strip it for materials, craft better gear, then launch toward stranger worlds. Whether you want to build a quiet colony, chase quests, or just roam with friends collecting oddities, Starbound’s appeal is the promise that the next jump can always lead somewhere new.

Publisher: Chucklefish Games
Playerbase: High
Type: B2P Survival Sandbox
Release Date: December 4, 2013
PvP: PvP can be enabled by server
Pros: +Massive universe to roam. +Flexible building and crafting. +Strong mod scene.
Cons: -Updates can feel infrequent. -Long stretches can lack direction. -Story is not naturally surfaced through play.

Terraria

Terraria is a 2D side-scrolling sandbox adventure built around the simple loop of digging for resources, turning those resources into gear, and using that gear to push farther into a dangerous, ever-expanding world. You can spend an evening carving out underground highways and automated farms, or you can treat the map like a boss-rush playground where every new biome is another chance at better loot and tougher fights. With procedurally generated worlds and a huge crafting pool, it is the kind of game that encourages experimentation, then rewards it with something surprising just a few blocks deeper.

Publisher: Re-Logic
Playerbase: High
Type: B2P Survival Sandbox
Release Date: May 16, 2011 (Global)
PvP: PvP can be enabled by server
Pros: +Enormous procedural maps with varied biomes. +Ongoing free updates add meaningful content. +Deep crafting and loot variety. +Strong blend of building, exploration, and boss combat.
Cons: -The mid-game can hit sharp difficulty jumps.

Don’t Starve Together

Fight, forage, and improvise your way through Klei Entertainment’s darkly playful survival sandbox, presented with 2D characters set against a stylized 3D world. Staying alive means juggling three constant pressures, your hunger, your health, and your sanity, while the wilderness throws everything from the elements to hostile creatures at you.

Publisher: Klei Entertainment
Playerbase: Medium
Type: B2P Survival
Release Date: December 15, 2014
PvP: PvP can be enabled by server
Pros: +Distinctive visual identity. +Procedurally generated worlds keep runs fresh. +Huge crafting catalog with loads of useful gear.
Cons: -Punishing onboarding (no built-in tutorial).

DayZ

DayZ is a sandbox survival experience built around tense scavenging and unpredictable encounters in the wake of a zombie outbreak. You wake up in Chernarus with nothing but basic needs and bad odds, then comb towns, forests, and coastlines for food, medicine, and gear while weighing every decision against the threat of infected and, more importantly, other survivors.

Publisher: Bohemia Interactive
Playerbase: High
Type: Sandbox Survival
Release Date: April 12, 2012
Pros: +Enormous 225km² landscape to roam. +Weather and lighting that meaningfully change visibility. +Deep gun and attachment customization.
Cons: -Performance and stability can be rough. -Infected can behave strangely, including clipping issues. -Movement and interactions can feel stiff.