Games that let you create wild weirdness that the developers never planned for

Gamers always like to push the boundaries of what is possible. The more outrageous a game's trophy list, for example, the more determined many are to get that platinum (unless they're literally and officially impossible to get, let's try). The more ways there are to create a build in a given title, the more determined we can be to explore every single option and overwhelm ourselves as much as possible.

Sandbox titles, more than any other game, are taken to extremes. The core concept “do exactly what you can imagine” is taken as a challenge. That's why, when titles give players the ability to freely do things, the result is often something more elaborate, or more ridiculous, than the developers ever imagined.

7

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

What did these koroks ever do to us?

As the predecessor The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom is a wonderful, liberating and deeply atmospheric open world. However, it was crucial to give the game its own identity, and not just retread everything that the 2017 hit did so well. One of the primary ways to do this was to add the Ultrahand mechanic, through which Link can fuse materials together. It seems simple enough at first glance, with the ability to assemble a makeshift raft to cross a body of water, perhaps adding a motor to make the journey super-fast. Some players quickly saw the system's true potential, which was that, with enough dedication, they could do almost anything.

Soon after the game's release, social media was flooded with images of hapless Koroks blasting across chasms in makeshift rockets, working mechanics, and all sorts of fun creative stuff besides. Open-world games are well-known for letting players venture out for hours and do side content, but that content doesn't tend to take this form.

6

No Man's Sky

Design your own spaceship

Of the many updates No Man's Sky has received since its launch in 2016, some would say Voyagers has been one of the most impactful. In addition to more low-key tweaks to player costumes, this update significantly strengthened the multiplayer aspect of the game. The arrival of the Corvette ships was a revelation, and not just because it kept groups together and allowed them to travel across the universe in a glorious new ship. The real draw is that the ship is designed and customized by the players themselves.

Needless to say, this quickly meant fleets and fleets of Millennium Falcons, the Nostromo from ForeignTARDISes and a host of other classic sci-fi ships made it into space. It's really fun to recreate them, but what's even more fun is investing in a completely unique design. Depending on what parts you've been able to acquire, there are almost endless options for ridiculous vessels of all sizes and shapes. Make sure you pick out the best Corvette upgrades to prioritize as well.

5

Minecraft

If you can imagine it, you can build it

From the very beginning, Minecraft has been an experience built around the concept of dig, build, repeat. Just like No Man's Skyit has seen years and years of updates that have added creative ways to continue to do just that. For those engineers and tinkerers in the fanbase, however, perhaps the most important of them was the introduction of redstone. Redstone, an early introduction to the game while it was still in development, allows the player to power things they've built, such as machines.

Mojang probably wasn't ready for the kind of silly redstone machines players have evolved into Minecraft. In a game like this that can constantly demand resources, it's nice to have a machine that can automate the process of creating some. However, this is far too logical and sensible, and so players have repeatedly focused on creating fun distractions that give hope instead. It's just another way Minecraft ensures that you are always working your creative muscles.

4

Trailmakers

A ridiculous vehicle building simulator

Trailmakers is ultimately what would happen if No Man's Sky expanded its Corvette customization feature and redid the entire game. In Sandbox mode, which is the core for many, you simply select a map and start assembling your vehicle, from the entire game pack. You can then drive, fly or sail it to explore the map and find collectibles. There's also a racing mode (which can get very competitive) and a campaign for your little space explorer to play through.

One thing that sets Trailmakers Besides, and which tinkerers must keep in mind at all times, is that the physics system is quite sophisticated and will ensure that vehicles act in a “realistic” manner. They will tip if the weight is not evenly distributed in their design, for example, and water or flying through the air will affect them as you would expect. There's a huge amount of pieces to choose from and everything comes together effortlessly, but this is something extra to keep in mind when creating.

3

Besiege

Make the deadliest works of art imaginable

Besiege doesn't take the conventional route of vehicle building that many similar titles do. Instead, the premise is somewhat more sinister: Building siege engines with which to overwhelm defenses and breach strongholds. The game gives a tremendous amount of freedom to do that with, meaning that the fairly conventional catapults and siege towers quickly become large, flaming, flying battering rams, multi-barreled machine guns and other such horrors.

There's something immensely satisfying about the act of creating, whether it's something physical or a project in a video game. However, there is something incredibly wasteful about destruction, and Besiege offers both. Crashing one of your lovingly built machines into a tower full of knights and watching it slowly crumple to the ground never gets old.

2

Kerbal Space Program

Take your imagination to infinity and beyond

Humans have long been fascinated by the concept of space travel, and it seems we're not the only ones. Kerbal Space Program is a kind of mixture of Trailmakers and No Man's Skyas it involves building a spacecraft and battling with the game's highly involved physics engine to ensure the journey's success. Your creations are controlled by the Kerbals, a green alien race that wants to expand its horizons by seeing more and more of the solar system around it. Luckily for them, you're here to help.

The system of “snapping” spaceship parts together is endlessly satisfying, and you can tweak basically every aspect of a craft to your liking. It's extremely intuitive, and many players will surely stick to the sandbox mode and simply see how outlandish their designs can be while getting out into space. For a more structured experience, the career mode sees the player build an actual space program, balance their available funds to develop new technology, and develop relationships with various companies in the industry. There are surprising layers of depth to the game, and you're free to explore them—or not—as you please.

1

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts

A new direction for a beloved series

As we've established, a game that invites the player to build their own vehicles from a variety of parts usually calls for pure mayhem. That's exactly the concept behind the franchise murder Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts for. It was a controversial decision to completely change the genre of the series and radically redo the characters, but you can't say that Rare didn't try something new and original here.

Banjo and Kazooie must compete with Gruntilda and her cronies in an elaborate series of racing events, with the fate of Spiral Mountain at stake. Thus begins a rather elaborate fundraising contest, acquiring new bits and boosts for the bird and bears' own abilities and their vehicles. Experimentation is the name of the game, and no matter how ridiculous your finished creation looks, it should be practical to control.