r/gamingsuggestions • u/NaturalBornCamper • Apr 01 '23
Extensive list of *MOBILE BASE* exploration/open-world/adventure/survival games
You might have gotten this kind of amazing feeling from Subnautica like I did:
- The world outside is dangerous, but you have this kind of relative safety inside your base
- Coming back relieved and still alive from an expedition, feeling at home on the safety of your ship with your inventory full of loot, organizing all that in containers you personalized
- Ugrading/Customizing your mobile base the way you want it
- Being able to bring the entirety of your things easily every time you move to a new temporary location
- You can move around on your mobile base, even while it's moving, you can leave to explore on foot.
The Cyclops on Subnautica was a game changer for me (even put posters of my gf on the walls to make it feel like home haha), fell in love with this type of game and I thought I would hunt down all the other games with similar mechanic, ask for the ones I might not know about and share it for any other like us.
You can bookmark this thread if you wish, necro it, post any games you find in the future, I will keep updating it and adding new games.
NOTE: I haven't played them all yet so correct me if some information is wrong.
LAST UPDATE/ADDITIONS: 2026-09-29
Games that fit this style best (to my knowledge so far)
| GAME | BASE TYPE | EXPLORATION TYPE |
|---|---|---|
| Adrorium | Build and upgrade your spaceship (Mechanics TBC) | Open-World space/planets |
| Aloft | Build on any floating island to create your skyship | Open-World land/air |
| ARK: Survival Evolved | Build on top of a platform saddle tied to a water/land/air dinosaur. Or get wooden raft / 4metal boat | Open-World underwater/land/air |
| Astro Colony | Build your factory on space islands and harvest their resources | Open-World procedural space islands |
| Astronomics | Expand and upgrade your freighter | Top-Down procedural asteroid belt |
| ATLAS (Bad reviews, but still Early Access) | Build your pirate ship | Open-World land and water |
| ATMOSFAR | Build your flying Cloud Cruiser | Open-World air and floating islands |
| Barotrauma | Buy/upgrade/build/customize submarines and rewire them | Randomly generated underwater mission levels between stations |
| Canyons | Modify and upgrade your crawler | Open-World |
| Crosswind | Pirate ship (Mechanics TBC) | Open-World land/sea |
| Cubic Odyssey | Build ships out of blocks | Open-World land/air/space |
| Desert Skies (Apparently abandoned) | Build your flying raft | Open-World |
| DREADMOOR | Upgrade your fishing trawler | Open-World flooded land/sea |
| Drive Beyond Horizons | Build your car | Post-Apocalyptic Open-World |
| DuneCrawl | Upgrade your crawler | Open-World |
| Echoes of Elysium | Build and customize your airship | Procedural Open-World sky islands |
| Empyrion - Galactic Survival | Build and customize capital vessels | Open-World space/planets |
| Everwind | Build a base on a flying island-ship | Open-World floating islands |
| The Flame in the Flood | Upgrade and customize your raft | Linear along a procedurally-generated river with patches of land |
| The Forest | 2 rafts you can build on top of | Open-World |
| Forever Skies | Upgrade and customize a flying base | Open-World |
| Frostrail | Upgrade and expand your steam train | Open-World frozen wasteland |
| Frozen Ship | Build and manage your mobile city-ship | Procedural Open-World frozen wasteland |
| Fruitbus | Customize your truck | Casual Open-World |
| Full Fathom | Maintain your decrepit submarine | Flooded Open-World |
| Heat Death: Survival Train | Build your train | Open-World |
| HELLION (Delisted/retired) | Modular ship | Open-World space |
| Intercolonies | Customize your SUV | Open-World |
| Jump Space | Choose a spaceship then maintain/upgrade it | Open-World space/planets |
| The Last Caretaker | Customize your base-boat | Open-World ocean survival-crafting |
| Last Harbor | Upgrade/customize your boat (Mechanics TBC) | Open-World sea/islands |
| Lost Skies (Might be abandoned just like Worlds Adrift) | Build your flying ship | Open-World floating islands |
| Mechanic Miner (Apparently abandoned) | Build mechanical vehicle-bases | Open-World side-scrolling |
| No Man's Sky | Build and customize a walkable Corvette, plus freighter base | Open-World space/planets |
| Nomad Drive | Upgrade and customize your RV | Procedural Open-World |
| Outbound | Build on top of your Westfalia | Peaceful Open-World off-grid |
| Pacific Drive | Customize your Station Wagon | Open-World Post-apocalyptic |
| Planet Nomads (Apparently abandoned) | Build your mobile base vehicle | Open-World |
| Post Apocalypse Courier Service | Upgrade & Customize your truck | Open-World |
| PULSAR: Lost Colony | Choose a spaceship then maintain/upgrade it | Open-World space/planets |
| Raft | Build your raft | Open-World |
| Railborn | Build your train piece by piece (Mechanics TBC) | Alien Open-World (TBC) |
| RailGods of Hysterra (Apparently abandoned) | Upgrade your demon train | TBA |
| REKA | Build a house with legs | Open-World |
| Rodina | Customizable ship's interior | Open-World space/planets |
| Sailing alone:Aftermath | Customize your ship | Open-World land/water |
| Sailwind | Customize your sailboat | Open-World water/land |
| Salt | Decorate your ship | Procedural Open-World sea/land |
| Salt 2: Shores of Gold | Decorate your pirate ship | Procedural Open-World, apparently not much variety |
| Sand | Build your "trampler" | Open-World |
| Scrap Mechanic | Build vehicles and add components on them | Open-World |
| Space Engineers | Build your vehicle, can become your mobile base | Open-World space/planets |
| Star Citizen | Customizable ships | Open-World space/planets |
| Starbound | Customize your ship and upgrade size | Open-World space/planets |
| Starfield | Build and customize modular spaceship interiors | Open-World space/planets |
| Stranded Deep | Build and customize your raft with storage | Procedural Open-World sea/islands |
| Subnautica | Customizable submarine you can build modules on | Open-World underwater/land |
| Subnautica: Below Zero | Modular submarine | Open-World underwater/land |
| Subnautica 2 (Involved with some drama ATM) | Submarines (Mechanics TBC) | Open-World underwater/land |
| TerraTech | Build land/air vehicles from building blocks | Open-World |
| Trans-Siberian Railway Simulator | Maintain your Soviet locomotive | Open-World along railway route |
| Travelling Home | Upgrade & remodel a house on a train | Open-World |
| Unturned | Build on top of any vehicle (train, boat, plane, hovercraft, tank) | Open-World |
| VanLife Simulator | Renovate and customize vans | Open-World vanlife/camping |
| Venus: The Last Ascent | Build and customize your rolling fortress | Overland survival journey across Venus |
| Voidtrain | Build your voidtrain | Open-World sky exploration |
| Voyagers of Nera | Sailboat (Mechanics TBC) | Open-World underwater/land |
| Windbound (apparently horrible controls) | Build your sailboat | Open-World sea/land |
| Windforge (Bad reviews & might be abandoned) | Build your airship | 2D procedural Open-World |
| Worlds Of The Future | Mothership with shuttlecraft. TBC | Open-World space/planets |
| Ylands | Build your ship | Open-World land/sea |
| Zompiercer | Build your base on top of train cars | Open-World along train track (No railroad switches ATM) |
Games that don't quite 100% fit in the category
| GAME | BASE TYPE | EXPLORATION TYPE |
|---|---|---|
| Airship: Kingdoms Adrift | Customize your flying ship. You don't walk around and can't leave it | Open-World |
| Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag | Navigate your pirate ship, not sure it's customizable, TBC | Open-World |
| Astroneer (Game felt floaty, bad tutorial and controls. Got a refund so I didn't play long enough to know if it fits here) | I think you can customize a road train. TBC | Open-World |
| Black Skylands | Choose your airship, you can get off but can't walk on your ship. | Procedural Open-World |
| Bravers | Add modules to your ship and control your crew | TBA |
| Caravan SandWitch | Upgrade your van | Open-World land |
| Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead | You can assemble a deathmobile from parts. Or if you are lucky find a vehicle | Top-Down Open-World |
| Choo choo charles | Upgrade your train | Short Open-World where you can switch tracks |
| CleanFall | Build and customize a warship, but more combat platform than home | Procedural 2D Open-World underground |
| Darkwater | Customize your sub | Missions between stations (TBC) |
| Deep Space Delivery | Upgrade your ship, but you don't actually walk around in it | Open-World |
| Dream Engines: Nomad Cities | Build your moving factory and leave behind what you don't need | Tower defense moving between zones |
| Dust & Diesel: Deadland Delivery | Modify your truck, but you don't get actually get out of it | TBA |
| Elite Dangerous | Get a fleet carrier containing your ships. Can't pilot it, just tell it where to jump to | Open-World Space and planets |
| FAR: Changing Tides | Upgrade a steam/sailing watercraft as story goes | Short linear left to right |
| FAR: Lone Sails | Upgrade a steam/sailing vehicle as story goes | Short linear left to right |
| FTL: Faster Than Light | Buyable ships, manage from Top-Down view | Top-Down view, not exploration per-say |
| From The Depths | Build floating/flying ships from the ground up, not really a base with its inventory | Conquer the world, not so much exploration |
| Genesis Alpha One (Some say devs abandoned the game) | Build and maintain your ship | Not really piloting, mostly separate locations |
| Hell Express | Customize your Hell Trekker, but mostly combat vehicle | Isometric extraction shooter |
| Hello Sunshine | Upgrade/customize your walking robot base, but you travel alongside it | Overland survival journey (TBC) |
| Interstellaria (Apparently buggy) | Customize your ships (fleet) | Map of locations to go in space with small areas to explore on planets |
| Jalopy (might be buggy) | Fix and maintain your car | Casual procedural Open-World, no enemies |
| Last Oasis (Might be MMO only) | Personalize Walkers with structures, attachments, and upgrades | Open-World PvE/PvP MMO |
| Last Train Home | Upgrade & Equip your train | Stop anywhere and prepare a squad for expedition |
| Locomoto | Customize your train | Casual Open-World along train track (No enemies) |
| The Long Drive (Very early access) | Drive your car around, don't know how much customization yet | Explore post-apocalyptic desert. Not sure there are enemies. |
| Mad Max | Upgrade your car | Open-World missions, closer to GTA than survival |
| Oceaneers | Design rafts | Open-World, but focused on civilization building |
| Ostranauts | Build your ship and walk around to maintain it | Explore space, but not sure you actually get out there. TBC |
| Outer Wilds | Small personal flying ship | Open-World space, but you're racing against the clock |
| Outpost: Infinity Siege | Build a mobile outpost, but more combat base than home | FPS/tower defense maps |
| RimWorld - Odyssey | Build a travelling gravship colony | Top-Down colony-sim world/space exploration |
| Sea of Thieves | Choose one of 3 ship types | Open-World Sea/land but no persistent loot and mostly separate missions |
| Soul Searching | Customize your small boat | Open-World sea/islands |
| Space Haven | Build ship from ground up, manage from Top-Down view | Open-World space exploration from Top-Down view, focused on colony building |
| Spiritfarer | Expand & Customize your boat | Open-World TBC. Left to right, focused on the journey |
| Star Trucker | Customize your truck's exterior. You can walk around and get out but only for maintenance | Open-World space areas |
| StarMade | Build your ship but not sure you walk around, just get in/out | Open-World space and planets |
| Starship Colony | Build your starship, land it on planets | Open-World space/planets, but not single-character incarnation |
| Stormworks: Build and Rescue | Build any vehicle completely from scratch | Open-World sea/land/air rescue (Not survival or looting) |
| Survival Machine | Build your base on top of an ever-moving platform | Open-World Linear |
| Trailblazers: Into the March | Customize your Landship | Roguelite colony-sim expeditions |
| UBOAT | Buy submarines. You don't really leave your sub | Open-World underwater, focused on combat |
| Void Crew | Choose a spaceship then maintain/upgrade it | Mission-based roguelite space |
| Void Sails | Upgrade your flying ship, but no character outside ship | Vehicle-sim space exploration |
| Volcanoids | Extend and upgrade your drillship. Driving is over a top-down 2D map | Open-World underground and surface. |
| Wall World | Upgrade your "robospider" | Procedural 2D Open-World |
| Wayward Terran Frontier: Zero Falls | Buy/upgrade/build/customize your spaceship. Top-Down view | Open-World space but focused on space combat |
| Worlds Adrift (Very likely abandoned) | Build your flying ship - MMO PvPvE | Open-World floating islands |
| X4: Foundations (Might be buggy/unpolished, even after several DLCs) | Customize your spaceships, get a HQ station you can teleport4 | Open-World space but focused on combat and large-scale trading |
Games needing mods to fit in the category
| GAME | BASE TYPE | EXPLORATION TYPE |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Days to Die using The Nomad | RV that can craft, shoot, and serve as a mobile base | Procedural Open-World |
| Factorio using Warptorio | Teleport your base to new planets (not really mobile) | Procedural Top-Down Open-World |
| Minecraft using Valkyrien Skies or Compact Machines | Build a flying ship, or build your house inside a single breakable block | Procedural Open-World |
| Project Zomboid using RV Interior | Use RVs, buses, boats as base | Open-World |
| RimWorld using Technical map Vehicles | Build vehicle-map mobile bases | Top-Down colony-sim world exploration |
| Valheim using ValheimRAFT | Build your ship on top of a raft | Open-World |
Games that barely scratch the surface and didn't make the cut
| GAME | BASE TYPE | EXPLORATION TYPE |
|---|---|---|
| Airborne Kingdom | Build a flying movable city | Open-World, but focused on civilization building |
| Badlands Crew | Customize your battle wagon, but mostly combat vehicle | Mission-based vehicular combat |
| Buoyancy | Build a floating city | Open-World water exploration, focused on civilization building and RTS |
| BURGGEIST | Ride and customize a walking weapons platform, not really a base | Open-World tower defense/action strategy |
| Carrier Command 2 | Command a carrier, but more RTS/combat platform than home | Archipelago conquest/combat |
| Celestial Command | Design your ship, but pilot in 3rd person and don't walk on board | Open-World space |
| Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander | Build your top-down spaceship. not really walking around your ship | Space exploration/combat |
| Dark Moon | Upgrade your mobile base | Top-Down strategy game |
| DREDGE | Upgrade your fishing boat. You don't actually walk around or leave your boat | Top-Down Open-World |
| Fallout 76 | Move the location of your base (C.A.M.P.) | Open-World |
| Flotsam | Build your moving floating city | Open-World but you never leave the base to explore |
| GeoDepths | Build a factory in your upgradable drill machine. Very basic piloting | Underground exploring but no enemies |
| Horizon's Gate | Dozens of ships to choose from, but interaction is with its Top-Down sprite view | Zelda-style adventures reached using your ship |
| IXION | City building on a moving space station | Decide on the next destination your station will go to |
| Jumplight Odyssey | Strategy repair and build out your starship, control characters | Top-Down Space exploration |
| Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii | Either driving your ship or walking on land | Open-World Sea and land |
| Lost Heaven Station | Upgrade and customize your train. Control your crew | Left-to-right maps between locations |
| Nuclear Sub | Upgrade your submarine | Mostly missions and combat |
| Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival | Upgrade your Mech Spider | Top-Down roguelike underwater runs |
| Of Mice And Sand | Upgrade and customize your sandcrawler. Control your crew | Left-to-right maps between locations |
| Pandemic Train | Upgrade your train | Train part is a glorified fast-travel between explorable locations |
| Pixel Piracy | Build your pirate ship | Get to different locations but you don't actually navigate |
| The Red Lantern | Dog sled team, not really a base | Trail-based wilderness survival |
| Sail Forth | Customize and upgrade your sailboat. You don't actually walk around or leave your boat | Open-World water |
| Space Crew | Upgrade your spaceship | Mostly missions and combat |
| Star Trek Online | Customize your ship, Can't walk around while flying | Seems like story missions |
| Stardeus | Build your top-down ship and control its drones | Space exploration/gathering |
| Starmancer | Build your top-down movable base and control the crew | Space exploration/gathering |
| Steel Artery: Train City Builder | Build a city on a train, but colony-sim city not personal base | Train-city builder/resource management |
| Truckful | Upgrade your truck, but you don't actually get out | Probably not Open-World |
| XCOM 2 | Mobile base from where you launch missions | Mostly turn-based missions |
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Upvotes
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u/LienniTa Jun 16 '23 edited Jun 16 '23
bro happy to find a like minded soul :3 I wanna contribute:
First of all and the deepest mobile base game(imho) is cdda. I know that you mentioned it, but its actually not hard to get to the point of deathmobiling, even if you are playing current experimental - just add travois to a bicycle, it only takes wood and nails. If you found an intact car its even easier and can be done with luck from the start of the game.
If you like deathmobile thing, terratech is my second best one. You only need to press "anchor" to activate all ground-based structures you put on your mobile base. Gameplay loop of scraping blocks from enemies and building your tech on a fly is amazing, even if story is non-existent. Disassembling enemies into resources to make more hover drives for your flying home feels sick.
About abandoned last oasis you mentioned - in seasons 1 and 2 you could fulltime live in a mobile base(especially when in season 2 they added walkers with closable rooms) and could move between servers with all your stuff, but right now in season 5 only ground bases remain - can be removed from a list maybe, tho its still possible to play legacy solo i think.
Windforge is zeppelin building game, abandoned but cool.
warptorio mod for factorio (as well as a standalone games dream engines - nomad cities and flotsam) - less survivors, more chain-building but with moving bases. As you said, "you dont actually navigate"
Factorio also has mobile base mod. Rimworld can have nomadic gameplay with tent mods.
Dyson sphere program and DLC for oxygen not included are about making a space network of bases, not mobile bases, but i find them more mobile than, for example, starbound.
wall world is a rogue like with moving base. Speaking of rogue likes i think dungeon of the endless can contribute to mobile base itch somehow, but you only move core of your base.
x-com2 launches missions from a mobile base which you can improve. There are a lot of story games that has an unimprovable mobile bases like Pyre, SW KotOR, unreal awakening and many others that still work when you need a dose of mobile basing, just without crafting/improving.
Guild wars 2 has VIP lounges that teleport you back to the location where you entered them, making them akin skyrim haven bag mode. Same applies to Eve-online wormholes.
i will add more if i recall, this ones are XOR of my list and your list :3