Games where you destroy things are great. Who doesn’t love smashing things to pieces and dancing in the wreckage? But sometimes you want to build, you want to create for creation’s sake. And at times like those you’re going to want the games on this list.
We’ve tried to select games that offer different types of creativity – from building actual digital structures to thinking outside of the box to solve tricky puzzles. There are games here that let you build your own levels, and games to help you with your mental health.
So yeah, there’s a lot. You can click on the names of the games below to download them from the Play Store, and unless otherwise noted they’re premium. If you’ve got your own creative gaming favorite, then be sure to yell about it as loud as you possibly can in the comments section at the bottom of the article.
Bridge Constructor Portal
All of the Bridge Constructor games are, as you can probably work out, about building things. But we chose this one because we love playing with portals. You’re trying to put together structures that can hold various loads, and you’re going to have to play smart if you want them to be stable.
Vandals
This one’s all about sneaking through the streets at night and leaving your mark on buildings. When you find a spot to paint on, you can let your imagination and creativity run wild. It’s sort of like the Go version of Jet Set Radio. Sort of. It’s a lot of fun, and there’s a decent challenge to it as well.
Townscaper
If you’d like to build something just for the joy of building it, then Townscaper is the game for you. You’re placing different kinds of buildings with a press of your finger. There’s no goal, you’re just making lovely towns from scratch. It’s a calming, engaging experience that you can’t help but fall in love with.
Shadow’s Edge
A game designed for younger people who are dealing with difficult emotional problems. It allows you to express yourself through art and writing, and join up with a community of other people as well. There’s a great game here as well, and it’s wonderful to see video games being used for good in this way.
Terraria
There are countless things to build in this massive action platformer, and you’re going to have a wonderful time while you’re doing it. It requires a decent investment of time, but when there are so many flighty games on mobile, that’s definitely not something to sniff at.
while True: learn()
A game about being creative in the digital sphere. And cats. There’s a lot to love in this puzzler, and the fact it teaches you as you play is only a good thing. It looks great as well. And there’s a cat in it. We mentioned the cat, right? Cats are awesome.
Gorogoa
While you’re not technically creating anything in Gorogoa, it’s a game that pushes you to think in new and creative ways. And it looks like a work of art. That’s two reasons that are good enough for us to include it here. The third would be that it’s amazing. If you haven’t played it yet, you should definitely give it a go.
Levelhead
If Levelhead was just a challenging platformer with some lovely ideas, that’d make it worth checking out. But it also includes a massive level editor that lets you build your own platforming challenges and share them with the world. And that takes the game to a whole new level. Pick it up and make something fiendish to destroy your the morale of your friends and relatives.
Minecraft
We couldn’t really write this list without including Minecraft. In a lot of ways, if it wasn’t for Mojang’s block-building classic, a lot of the other games here probably wouldn’t have been invented. You know what Minecraft’s all about by now, right? And the weird thing is it’s still just as good as it was when it first landed in the dim and distant past.
Human Resource Machine
Another game where the focus is on coding. It’s also got a pretty sharp anti-capitalist vibe to it, which we’re definitely all for. You’re using workers to complete different tasks, chaining them together to create complex strings of instructions. It requires a good deal of thought, but it’s an interesting and creative way to get to grips with how certain computing systems work.
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