Games are always made behind closed doors. Most forms of media are, but games can feel a little different. Giving any hint of a behind-the-scenes game can sometimes result in misinformed opinions by people who don't quite understand how development works. It's somewhat funny then that crafting systems are so beloved.
Crafting systems have been in games for ages, though they found a place in survival games, and have spread into just about everything since. Many games have relatively basic crafting systems - simply gathering the materials and money. Sometimes though, there are some extra layers that make the experience that much more memorable than just mindlessly gathering materials.
8 Skyrim
Oh Skyrim, a game that can hardly ever keep itself out of a list. For over a decade it has ruled as one of the games to beat when it comes to freedom and open-world design. It has plenty of pitfalls, but there's no doubt that it shifted the way games are viewed and designed. It laid the foundations for plenty of gameplay features, and its crafting system is one of them.
Now, that's not to say it's the best, per se. It's a system that's so easily abused, and can allow you to boost your way to incredible gear early on, but there's a simple joy in it. Breaking down useless gear into its base materials to make something new, all while working an actual forge in town feels great, like you're really in the world.
7 Don't Starve
On the topic of survival games, Don't Starve is one of the best. It has a gorgeous, unsettling art style, with an isometric perspective. The aim of the game, quite simply, is to survive. Don't starve, to be precise. So, of course, crafting is essential.
Items need to be prototyped before you can actually build them whenever you want, and the materials are almost never easy to come by. Some will be easier, like gathering clippings of your own beard, while others will require you to teeter on the edge of sanity to gather nightmare fuel. It's a dangerous game to play, but one that feels rewarding, and just a bit exhilarating.
6 No Man's Sky
If ever there was a game with a story behind it, No Man's Sky is it. Released in 2016 to a largely mixed reception, the game has garnered such a massive fanbase since, with years of incredible updates behind it. The crafting system has evolved massively too, with base building added early on and so much more. Yet the system thematically is the same.
The core promise of NMS is that of exploring a massive, endless universe. Many planets will be desolate, with some raining radiation. Others will be fantastic, brimming with life. To craft what you want, you truly need to explore the galaxy. No one planet will ever have everything you need, so you're always encouraged to explore. Maybe you'll even find a new favorite planet.
5 Death Stranding
Hideo Kojima is known for his eccentric games that few others have had the same freedom to explore, and with Death Stranding, he showed he wasn't afraid of taking more chances, even if the game got quite polarizing reviews. It's truly something special though, a game of collaboration where even the crafting comes into play.
At the core of Death Stranding is assisting others. Their deliveries will fall into your world for you to complete, items left behind will stay for you and others, and so on. The crafting itself is simple, using materials to make what you want. When you want to build highways though? Materials are shared across many worlds, and a highway completed in one world will be completed in yours too. Suddenly you're building for more than just yourself.
4 Minecraft
It would be a bit unfair not to include Minecraft in a list all about crafting. The game didn't invent the system by any means, but it sure did help popularize it. In Minecraft, crafting is the game. You craft, you build, you gather, and you craft some more. It's all in the name, really.
Minecraft had a pretty unique system at the beginning, whereby you had to intuit recipes. Two sticks in the center and three stones across the top was a stone pickaxe, for example. It's been massively simplified since, but that core of experimentation still remains, and there are plenty of mods to twist that system into something more your fancy too.
3 Dragon's Dogma
Ah, what a special game Dragon's Dogma is. It's a game that pulls so heavily from Itsuno's own work on Devil May Cry and other western RPGs to create an action-packed universe with an entirely custom party created by other players. Dragon's Dogma really shines in the systems of its world though, even if the world itself is quite simple.
For example, the crafting system in Dragon's Dogma is incredibly practical. Do you have a food item that's going bad? Combine it with an airtight flash to preserve it, and then drench it with spring water to restore it. Combine meat with a knife to make animal fat, then mix that with arrows to create fire arrows. And while you're at it, you can duplicate any item you want for a price, no matter how rare it is.
2 Prey
Prey was saddled with an unfortunate fate from the beginning, taking over the name from a completely unrelated project, a fact the director later admitted the team was uncomfortable with. It's incredibly unfair too because it's one of Arkane's finest games, a true space horror game, focussed on survival. So of course it has a crafting system.
The thing is, the crafting system is pretty simple, though implemented in a fun way. Everything is 3D printed from machines around Talos 1, though the materials themselves are simple base materials you get by recycling. And everything can be recycled. Throw a recycling charge at an enemy, and you can see exactly how much a life is worth.
1 Monster Hunter
In today's culture, people are always going on about the grind. The need to turn every simple task into a money-making grift and sap the joy out of every living thing. In games, the grind can be a pretty bad thing if it feels forced. Then there are games like Monster Hunter, where the grind is the game.
Crafting is easy enough, gather the materials, give the money, and you have a fantastic new weapon and fit. Those items though? That's the grind, baby. That new glaive you want needs a claw from MIzutsune's paws. That long sword needs mud from an Almudron. That helmet? You better like hunting Elder Dragons for their blood. What's more, sometimes you need to strategically attack a certain part of the monster to get the part you need. This makes each fight a little more exciting, rather than just wailing away until they're dead.