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It’s always a pleasant surprise when Steam announces the top sellers for a month. Even if they do it every month. But it’s an even nicer surprise if the theme of the month is my specific wheelhouse.
The month of May is all about sandboxes. It’s a bit of a smaller theme list this time, but it’s sandbox games. A list of one, if the game gets you hooked, is enough to guarantee tens of hours of play.
And if it is not so? Well, Steam has six other choices on offer, along with the rest of the best sellers.
May’s top 7 sandbox games
- old world
- Keplerth
- V Rise
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Reforger weapon
- Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator 2
- My Time by Sandrock
If you’ve hungry for a Crusader Kings-style sandbox game, you should probably give Old World a look. Maybe, like me, you have thousands of hours in Rimworld and Starbound and need something new and fresh? Keplerth is there for you.
The big streamer game right now is V Rising, and if you have a computer strong enough to run it, you could do a lot worse. Especially if you are looking for a little Diablo fragrance but do not want to get into the weeds with Diablo Immortal.
But maybe you do not want gothic vampire games. Maybe you’re kidding with all that fantasy nonsense. You are a player with judicious, realistic taste. Maybe you want soldiers and armies, not magic. If so, both Arma Reforger and Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator 2 may be the latest thing to spice up your gaming life. Maybe you crave realism, Weapon Reforger is where you should be looking. If this is the other end of the spectrum you crave, Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator 2 can get about as stupid as you need.
Or we can throw it all aside. Because you’re the kind of player who wants to play what the writers like. Those few handfuls of games that take the industry by storm and stick in the minds of writers for big times. Those games that, when asked, immediately come as a recommendation for things worth playing.
This, for this list, is Hardspace: Shipbreaker. This is one of those games that has been around for a while. It drifted long enough in Early Access that it made former GamesBeat staff member Jeff Grubb’s top 10 of 2020 list. Now it’s finally out, and worth every penny.
I’m a big fan of most of these. But My Time at Sandrock is a sequel I’ve been waiting for for years. I actually reviewed the first game in the series a few years ago, and liked it enough to put in something like 200 hours.
Sandrock is still in Early Access, and it shows. Not all the characters are developed. The main questline just kind of stops on a cliffhanger. But despite that, there’s still 40 hours or so of content, and I played the hell out of those 40 hours.
It’s technically not the same kind of game as the rest. It takes place in a sleepy desert village with a clear lack of vegetation and problems that need to be fixed.
A large old sandbox.
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