Regardless of whether it is being developed by an indie or "AAA" studio, everyone knows that there is a good chance that modern video games will come packaged with some sort of crafting system. While the indie scene has given rise to an explosion of gameplay creativity, and big-money studios have just about hit the limit of graphical fidelity and realism, crafting systems have remained stagnant since they first started to become an industry staple (with the inception of a little-known sandbox game called "Minecraft").

Related

Steam: 5 Demos Of Survival Games You Should Try Before You Buy

These unique survival games on Steam offer players a free demo to try out the experience before making a full purchase.

The procedure usually goes as follows: the player picks up two or more items, opens a menu at a crafting bench, and then, after waiting for a little loading bar to fill up (some games skip this step), a synthesized item is dropped into their inventory list. While it is true that manufacturing can be a somewhat repetitive task, developers have made fun games out of mowing the lawn and power-washing playground equipment, so why shouldn't crafting also be gamified for fun and immersion? Thankfully, a few developers are forging ahead and showing the world that video game crafting can be both realistic and enjoyable.

5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance

An Immersive And (Somewhat) Historically Accurate Portrayal

• Crafting is all done in first-person while interacting with real ingredients
• Recipes must be followed at the right time, and order

Few games, even those that sell themselves on their immersive world-building, historical accuracy, or attention to detail, come quite as close as Kingdom Come: Deliverance does with its crafting realism. While Henry isn't able to pick up the family tradition of smithing, he can learn alchemy, which is all done in first person over a cauldron and in real-time. Players will first need to teach him to read to be able to follow the recipe correctly for a potent batch.

The concoction will fail if Henry fails to add ingredients at the right time (or fails to add the right ingredients at all). A sandglass is conveniently placed near the cooking pot, as are all the ingredients needed for any particular potion. Herbs and other materials must be hand-picked out in the lands of Bohemia. Kingdom Come concedes that having to cook up a potion manually every time could get a little dull, so it offers players the chance to brew them automatically with sufficient skill.

4 Neo Scavenger

A Realistic Take On Improvised, Post-Apocalyptic Handicraft

• Objects can have multiple properties, and craftable items can be made out of a plethora of different materials
• Neo Scavenger remembers the makeup of an object and can later be broken back down into its constituent parts

While it might not have the most detailed graphics in the world with its sprite items and grid-based crafting menu, NEO Scavenger pushes the boundaries of realism. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and true to this (horrifying) idiom, recipes for objects (spears, hot water, clothes) are open-ended, meaning that things can be recycled or materials substituted. For example, to create a spear, a stick can be combined with an object with a sharp edge (scissors, a knife, or a shard of glass).

Related

8 Open-World Games With The Most Realistic Geological Systems

These games manage to feature wide-open worlds with a lot of realism behind the way that their map's geology is put together.

Players drag items from their inventory or from the nearby environment and combine them in the crafting menu. Some tools lose their durability with use but are retained after an object has been crafted. Time is considered a resource when fashioning items (described as fractions of a move) and is used up in varying amounts depending on the output. Certain player skills are required to make more advanced objects. Although two items made of different resources will function the same, NEO Scavenger still stores the physical properties of their ingredients and can be broken down back into the original materials if needed.

3 The Forest / Sons Of The Forest

Laying It All Out In A Spread

• Rather than entering a menu, crafting is done by physically looking over and manipulating items
• Structure building works the same way as players have the ability to carry and refine materials by hand

Players are never taken out of the game when crafting objects, weapons, and clothing in The Forest and its sequel, Sons of the Forest. Instead, materials and tools are all displayed to the player organically over a plastic tarp on the ground, and crafting is done by putting objects together into the center and combining them. While this could be seen as a visual upgrade to hitting the "craft" button, it offers a far tactile experience that feels completely different than scrolling through an abstract list.

As well as portraying item crafting with gritty, earthy realism, the game also gives players the same treatment when putting up structures. Logs need to be split with an axe to create wooden panels (refinement via menus has no place in The Forest). Walls and roofs have to be physically slid into place and connected together by hand before they start protecting the player from the elements (or cannibals), and everything must be carried by hand (or for heavier objects, over the shoulder).

2 Vintage Story

Shaping Tools And The World Bit By Bit

• Vintage Story inverts Minecraft's "connecting grid" crafting system with carvable bits
• Although menus are still ubiquitous, this game's various systems (smelting, cooking, weaving) go deeper than most

While readers might be forgiven for mistaking this game for Minecraft (although, frankly, the blocky design is remarkably derivative), Vintage Story's approach to item creation is quite different from the game that kick-started the ubiquity of the crafting system. Players find materials for tools in the open world. Rather than combining materials on a grid, they chisel out the shape of the device they want in bits (or miniature blocks).

Related

10 Best Indie Survival Games, Ranked

These tough-as-nails indie survival games will push players to their limits.

Shovels, axes, and spearheads are all carved out tiny chunk by tiny chunk from a slab of stone or metal, although (probably to preserve the player's sanity) the recipes are selected from a menu beforehand. Likewise, containers and chests are sawn up and molded on the ground by hand, just as a Minecraft player would shape their house. Although well-designed menus permeate the game from start to end, more novel approaches to casting and shaping objects can be found in Vintage Story than in many other beautifully detailed survival games.

1 Green Hell

A Diabolical, Step-By-Step Crafting Masterwork

• All crafting is done in real-time with slick animations, and crafting components are physically pieced together
• Crafting takes place through measured stages and in light minigames, such as lighting a campfire

Similar to another game that deals with having to deal with the unpleasantries of fending off all the horrors associated with a verdant expanse, Green Hell depicts all its inventory management without turning the player's eyes away from the tangled nightmare, namely by displaying every item in or on the player's backpack in real-time. The really neat thing about crafting is that it isn't a one-and-done mechanic, but it is spread organically over steps, which all play out with interactive gameplay and animations.

For example, to cook food on a campfire in Green Hell, the player must assemble the fire pit with sticks before lighting the tinder in a little stick-spinning minigame. With a fire before them, players lay various meats around the fire until they cook into tender, juicy steaks. Green Hell keeps the player involved and makes survival crafting more than just a background task that happens in the abstract or off-screen.

7:32

MORE

14 Open-World Games With The Best Crafting, Ranked

Games that feature crafting in an open-world setting have all manner of variety, but which of them has the best crafting mechanics?