Base-building games are generally known for their relaxing and cozy atmosphere. However, some titles in the genre use stress and anxiety as the driving forces behind the player’s need to build a secure base. The following list highlights six of these intense base-building games, focusing on gameplay that punishes a leisurely playstyle and instead requires players to stay constantly vigilant.
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Before diving into the list, we have two honorary mentions: Minecraft and Project Zomboid. Although these games don’t strictly fall into the base-building genre, they feature base-building as a core gameplay element and are incredibly stressful. Players who don’t mind broadening the genre’s definition will likely enjoy these two games, along with the six stressful base-building games that follow.
6 Infection Free Zone
The Infected Are Coming
Infection Free Zone is a stressful base-building game due to the significant responsibility placed on the player. They must not only create safe havens for all survivors but also ensure the growth of their small colony. In the zombie-infested world of Infection Free Zone, everything is a source of stress, from nightly attacks by the infected to food and resource shortages. There is never a moment to rest, as threats are constantly looming.
As players progress in Infection Free Zone, the base-building elements evolve into management challenges. The increasing number of survivors and their diverse needs transform the gameplay into a more complex experience, reminiscent of SimCity but without any of the relaxation or coziness.
5 Stranded Deep
A Thalassophobic Nightmare
This is one of the best survival games set in open waters surrounded by deadly sea creatures. These are not ordinary sea creatures but prehistoric giants, including a giant eel, a giant squid, and a megalodon. For someone with thalassophobia—the fear of deep or vast seas and underwater monsters—Stranded Deep is an intense experience that will frequently raise their heartbeat to over 100.
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Regardless of how advanced the player’s base becomes, these creatures are unavoidable and must be confronted at some point during the campaign. The scariest part is that all these boss fights take place underwater, where the player's movement is restricted and the monsters have numerous advantages.
4 Sons Of The Forest
Surviving Cannibals and Mutants Is Beyond Stressful
As a survival horror game, Sons Of The Forest excels at imposing the stress of survival, with factors such as hunger, thirst, and temperature impacting the player’s well-being. However, the primary source of stress in this game is dealing with cannibals and mutants that roam the forests and occasionally attack the player’s base.
Sons Of The Forest demands more than just basic base-building skills; it requires a deep understanding of the invaders’ weaknesses and the ability to protect the base with traps. A single flaw in the structure can lead to losing everything the player has gathered and built through hard work, adding to the overall tension.
3 RimWorld
Unpredictable Chaotic Trauma
Base-building is a prominent feature in RimWorld, a game known for its unpredictable and chaotic progression that can stress out any player. In RimWorld, players can steer the story in any direction they desire. The catch is that the game’s AI constructs a campaign around their decisions, introducing randomly generated, highly stressful survival scenarios.
Unlike other base-building games, RimWorld doesn’t guarantee a happy ending for those who follow the rules and build solid bases. Instead, threats constantly loom, haunting the lives of survivors regardless of their efforts. RimwWrld’s true magic begins when the player’s base is advanced and they’ve managed to create a complex survival camp. However, this is also when the primary stressors emerge. A single misstep or an RNG-based event can turn everything upside down, causing the player to lose all their hard-earned progress in a matter of seconds.
2 Rust
A Never-Ending Fear
In a post-apocalyptic world, the biggest threat to anyone’s life is other human survivors. Rust exemplifies this theory with its harsh and merciless gameplay, where players are encouraged to raid each other's bases to survive. While forming alliances is possible, the anxiety of being raided is ever-present.
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Base-building in Rust is challenging, with scarce resources making every minor loss a painstaking experience, not to mention the devastation of losing an entire base to raiders. The anxiety-inducing nature of Rust is evident in numerous rage-quit clips of streamers and its mixed reviews on Steam, where many players complain about the game’s unforgiving environment.
1 Green Hell
So Much Stress That the Player Could Go Insane
Green Hell is one of those games where the player must meticulously consider every decision, as reckless play can drive their character insane. The game features a sanity mechanic influenced by the player’s actions and the unpleasant experiences they endure while surviving the Amazon’s ruthless rainforests. This adds another layer of anxiety, especially when the main character begins to show early signs of insanity.
However, insanity is not the only danger. The endless rainforests of the Amazon are filled with threats, from predators and poisonous creatures to deadly plants. Players must also monitor their diet closely. The game’s detailed diet mechanic requires a balanced intake of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins to stay healthy, making the hunter-gatherer aspect of the game even more stressful.
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