13 Games Like Terraria: Sandbox Crafting Picks on Steam

The best games like Terraria give you the same pull: one more tunnel to dig, one more ore to smelt, one more boss to prepare for. Terraria works because every system feeds the next. Better gear lets you dig deeper, digging deeper turns up stronger enemies, and those enemies drop what you need for the next upgrade. The picks below all keep some version of that loop, and the table shows the fastest route to the right one.

What makes Terraria so hard to replace

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Terraria, from Re-Logic, came out on Steam on May 16, 2011, and it still has an Overwhelmingly Positive review summary across more than 1.5 million reviews. Its store page sums it up in four words: dig, fight, explore, build. It’s a sandbox, meaning there’s no fixed path. You get a randomly generated 2D world and you decide what to do in it.

What turns that freedom into a journey is progression. Bosses work as checkpoints. Beating one opens up new materials, new enemies and new crafting options. Building has a purpose too, because the allies you meet need homes, and they sell items and services once they move in. So when people ask for games like Terraria, they usually mean one or more of these:

• Digging and exploring a world that gets stranger the deeper you go
• Crafting progression, where each tier of gear opens up the next area
• Boss fights you have to prepare for
• Building, for looks or for defence
• Co-op with friends in a shared world (Terraria has online co-op and online PvP)

No other game matches all five as closely, so the picks below are grouped by which parts they keep. If your favourite part was the building, our list of games like Minecraft is worth a look as well.

Side-view sandbox games like Terraria

These keep Terraria’s 2D side-on view, where you look at a slice of the world and dig down through it. They’re the closest match if you liked how Terraria looks and moves.

Starbound

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Starbound is the game most often mentioned alongside Terraria, and the store page shows why. It’s a 2D sandbox where you mine, craft, build and fight. The big difference is scale: you start lost in space with a damaged ship, beam down to a planet, and later travel from world to world. You can follow the story to save the universe, or skip it and farm, collect creatures, raid dungeons, or become an “intergalactic landlord”. With hundreds of materials and over two thousand objects to build with, it suits players who spent more time on their bases than on bosses.

Chucklefish built it for multiplayer and modding. Steam lists single-player, online co-op, online PvP, cross-platform multiplayer and Steam Workshop support, and the reviews are Very Positive. It’s out on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Planet Centauri

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Planet Centauri, from Permadeath, adds collecting to the side-view sandbox formula. You explore biomes and dungeons, build and protect a village of NPCs, craft weapons and create your own spells. The headline feature is monster taming. Captured creatures fight beside you and grow stronger, and you can even transform into them to use abilities like flying or digging through the ground. If you liked Terraria’s pets and summons and wanted more of them, start here.

It came out on December 12, 2024, with single-player, online and LAN co-op, and cross-platform multiplayer. Reviews are Mostly Positive, so it’s less polished than the top picks, but no other game here does what it does.

Junk Jack

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Junk Jack calls itself a relaxing sandbox focused on building and improving your home. You still fight monsters and collect loot, but the focus shifts to taming and breeding creatures, cooking, farming exotic plants, fishing and growing flowers. Portals take you across 12 planets, and a deep electronics system lets you wire up machines, all the way up to working CPUs. That will appeal to anyone who loved Terraria’s wiring.

Pixbits released it on November 30, 2016. It supports single-player, co-op and cross-platform multiplayer, and it has a creative mode for free building. Reviews are Mostly Positive, from a much smaller player base than the others here.

Dig or Die

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Dig or Die takes Terraria’s night-time danger and makes it the main event. You crash-land on a hostile planet and have to survive big attacks every night by building walls and placing turrets carefully. The twist is physics: badly built structures collapse, and rain soaks into the ground and fills caves, so a heavy storm can flood your base. Extra modes include starting under an ocean, a world made of flying islands, and a pure base-defence mode.

Gaddy Games released it on July 10, 2018 for Windows. It has single-player, online co-op and online PvP, and reviews are Very Positive. It’s best for players who liked building arenas and defences more than decorating.

Top-down sandboxes with boss-driven progression

These switch to a top-down view but keep Terraria’s structure: gather, craft, beat a boss, move up a tier. Many players find the change of view matters less than they expected.

Core Keeper

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If your favourite Terraria moments happened underground, Core Keeper is the closest match on this list. You wake up in a huge forgotten cavern and mine outwards, crafting better pickaxes, traps and bombs, building a base, and taking on huge bosses called Titans. Farming, fishing, cooking and raising animals give you something calmer to do between fights, and automated machines for mining, smelting and storage are there if you like building production lines.

Pugstorm’s game supports 1 to 8 players with online co-op, plus single-player and full controller support. It came out on August 27, 2024, has Very Positive reviews, and runs on Windows and Linux. Note that macOS isn’t listed.

Necesse

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Necesse combines Terraria’s dungeon-and-boss adventure with a colony builder. You explore an infinite procedurally generated world (built by the game’s rules instead of by hand, so every world is different), mine rare ores and fight pirate kings, dragons and fallen wizards. Meanwhile you recruit settlers with their own skills, who farm, tend animals and gather resources while you’re away. Terraria’s NPC town grows into a working village.

Fair Games ApS released it on October 16, 2025. It has the widest multiplayer support on this list: single-player, online and LAN co-op, online and LAN PvP, plus dedicated servers that the store says can host hundreds of players. It also supports Steam Workshop and full controller support, and reviews are Very Positive.

Crashlands

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Crashlands is for players who want a story to guide their crafting. You play Flux Dabes, a galactic trucker stranded on an alien planet after a villain wrecks your delivery. You learn recipes from the locals, tame creatures, take on bosses and build a base while chasing your lost packages. The store page leans hard into comedy, so expect a goofier tone than Terraria’s.

Butterscotch Shenanigans released it on January 21, 2016 for Windows. Besides single-player, a second player can join as the robot Juicebox in shared or split-screen co-op, and Remote Play Together (a Steam feature that lets a friend join local co-op over the internet) is supported. Reviews are Very Positive.

Survival crafting games like Terraria for co-op groups

These give up the 2D sandbox for bigger worlds and survival pressure, but the step-by-step progression stays. They’re the usual next game for Terraria groups who want to play something new together.

Valheim

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Valheim is probably the best-known example of Terraria’s structure in 3D. You arrive in a procedurally generated afterlife inspired by Norse mythology, and you only move forward by defeating the Forsaken, regional bosses guarding each stage. Each biome has its own resources and enemies, so beating one boss gives you what you need for the next biome. That’s the Terraria loop. On top of that you sail to new lands and build longhouses as safe bases.

Iron Gate AB develops it, Coffee Stain Publishing publishes it, and Steam lists its release date as September 9, 2026. It supports 1 to 10 players in online co-op, plus single-player and full controller support, with Very Positive reviews.

Enshrouded

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Enshrouded leans more toward action RPG than any other pick here. You play a Flameborn fighting back the Shroud, a corrupting fog spreading across the kingdom of Embervale. A deep skill tree lets you build a tank, a ranger, a battlemage or a mix, and you get around with a grappling hook and glider. The fully terraformable land (you can reshape the terrain itself) gives Terraria fans the freedom to dig and build anywhere, and rescued survivors grow your hut into a settlement.

Keen Games GmbH lists its release as October 15, 2026, on Windows only. It has single-player, online co-op and full controller support, and reviews are Very Positive.

Don’t Starve Together

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Don’t Starve Together is the toughest game in this group. It’s the standalone multiplayer version of Klei’s wilderness survival game, set in a strange world called the Constant. You gather, craft, farm and build while dealing with hunger, odd creatures and hidden dangers. It suits Terraria players who liked hardcore difficulty and want survival that never lets up.

It came out on April 21, 2016, with single-player, online and LAN co-op, online and LAN PvP, Steam Workshop and full controller support. Steam also lists in-app purchases. Reviews are Very Positive across more than half a million reviews.

Games that take one part of Terraria further

These aren’t full sandboxes. Each takes one thing Terraria does and builds a whole game around it, which makes them great palate cleansers between big playthroughs.

Noita

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Noita is a roguelite: death is permanent and each run starts over, but what you learn carries forward. In its world every pixel is physically simulated, so you can burn, melt, freeze or blow up nearly anything as you go deeper into the caverns. You also combine spells to build your own magic, which scratches the same itch as hunting for the perfect Terraria weapon. If you enjoy runs like this, our best roguelike games on Steam list has more.

Nolla Games released it on October 15, 2020 for Windows. It’s single-player only, supports Steam Workshop, and has an Overwhelmingly Positive review summary.

SteamWorld Dig 2

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SteamWorld Dig 2 is pure digging, shaped into a tight adventure. It’s a platform mining game inspired by metroidvanias, games where new tools like a hookshot or jet engine open paths you couldn’t reach before. You dig under an old trading town hit by earthquakes, collect treasure, fight creatures and upgrade your gear to go deeper. It’s shorter and more focused than Terraria, and good for anyone who loved that first descent with a new pickaxe.

Image & Form Games released it on September 22, 2017. It’s single-player with full controller support on Windows, macOS and Linux, and reviews are Overwhelmingly Positive.

Craft The World

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Craft The World describes itself as a mix of Dungeon Keeper, Terraria and Dwarf Fortress. Instead of controlling one hero, you command a tribe of dwarves, telling them where to dig, what to build and what to attack, while keeping them fed and clothed. Each randomly generated island runs from the sky down to lava, with treasure rooms hidden deep inside. It suits strategy fans who liked planning Terraria builds more than doing the fighting.

Dekovir Entertainment and Sibear Games developed it, and Dekovir Ltd published it on November 24, 2014. It supports single-player, online co-op, Steam Workshop and a level editor on Windows and macOS. Reviews are Very Positive.

How to pick from these games like Terraria

The quickest way to choose is to name the part of Terraria you’d miss most, then match it:

• The whole package in 2D: Starbound, then Planet Centauri.
• Mining and caves: Core Keeper, or SteamWorld Dig 2 for a shorter solo adventure.
• Your NPC town: Necesse, where settlers actually work for you.
• Boss-gated progression with friends: Valheim or Enshrouded.
• Wiring and gadgets: Junk Jack.
• Building defences: Dig or Die.
• Experimenting with weapons and magic: Noita.

A worked example

Say you have a group of four who finished Terraria together and one friend plays on Linux. Core Keeper fits: it supports up to 8 players, runs on Linux, and keeps the mining and bosses you all enjoyed. If that same friend were on macOS, Core Keeper and Enshrouded drop out, and Necesse or Valheim (both listed for Windows, macOS and Linux) become the safer choice.

Mistakes to avoid

• Assuming every pick has online co-op. Noita and SteamWorld Dig 2 are single-player only, and Crashlands’ co-op is shared or split-screen.
• Expecting 2D to mean “Terraria clone”. Dig or Die and Craft The World play very differently despite the similar look.
• Skipping top-down games. Core Keeper and Necesse are closer to Terraria’s progression than several side-view picks.
• Ignoring tone. Don’t Starve Together is punishing and Junk Jack is laid-back. Pick based on how you want your evenings to feel.

If the farming in Terraria was your favourite part, our games like Stardew Valley and cozy games like Animal Crossing lists lean further that way. For more lists like this one, browse games like the ones you love or the best RPG games on Steam.

Questions and answers

Will there be another Terraria game?

Nothing on Terraria's Steam store page points to a sequel. The page highlights free content updates to the existing game, and Re-Logic has kept adding to Terraria for years since its May 16, 2011 release. If you've seen everything it has, Starbound, Core Keeper and Necesse are the closest follow-ups on Steam. Each has the same dig, craft and boss-fight loop with its own twist.

Is Terraria a cozy game?

Partly. Building houses, decorating, and filling a town with NPCs who move in can be very relaxing. But Terraria is an action game first, with night-time enemies, invasions and tough bosses that set the pace of your progress. If you want the building without the pressure, Junk Jack calls itself a relaxing sandbox, and Stardew Valley is the classic pick for a calmer crafting and farming game.

What are some games on Steam similar to Terraria?

The strongest matches on Steam are Starbound, Core Keeper, Necesse, Planet Centauri, Junk Jack and Dig or Die, all crafting sandboxes built around exploring and building. For the same loop in 3D, try Valheim or Enshrouded. Don't Starve Together and Crashlands focus on survival and crafting, and Noita, SteamWorld Dig 2 and Craft The World each take one part of Terraria and build a whole game around it.

What is the closest game to Terraria?

Starbound is the closest overall. It's a 2D side-view sandbox where you mine, craft, build and fight, but you travel between planets instead of staying in one world. Core Keeper comes a close second if you most enjoy the underground part of Terraria. It's top-down instead of side-view, but it has the same mining, crafting and boss-driven progression, for 1 to 8 players.

Which games like Terraria have the best co-op?

Core Keeper (1 to 8 players) and Valheim (1 to 10 players) are built around online co-op, and Necesse supports online and LAN co-op plus dedicated servers for large groups. Don't Starve Together has online and LAN co-op for groups who like a hard survival game. For two players on one PC, Crashlands has shared or split-screen co-op and supports Steam Remote Play Together.