Similar games
Games like Scrap Mechanic
Axolot Games · 2026 · Windows
Steam: 91 % positive of 123,354 reviews, as of Oct 29
Enter the creative paradise of Scrap Mechanic! Build fantastic machines, go on adventures with your friends and defend against waves of evil Farmbots in this imaginative multiplayer survival sandbox. With Scrap Mechanic’s powerful creation tools you can engineer your own adventures!
24 games that play like Scrap Mechanic and 24 that look like it. Closest by gameplay: TerraTech, Satisfactory and Space Engineers.
Player tags
Steam reviews
What players say
Players who love physics-based building and sandbox freedom recommend it strongly, but many are frustrated by years of silence and slow updates.
Most reviewers recommend Scrap Mechanic, and many praise the building and physics systems: vehicles, machines and buildings can be built from scrap parts almost without limits, and the game rewards experimentation and learning by failing. Many players also enjoy the multiplayer sessions with friends and the community maps. The criticism centres on the development side: many players say the developers have posted almost no news for years, that Chapter 2 keeps being delayed, and that the game feels abandoned. Some players report physics that behave unpredictably, lag and freezes, and a harsh early survival game with the first bots. Recent reviews are more mixed on technical issues and mention the new survival update and its bugs, while the older helpful reviews focus more on the long wait for new content.
Praised
- Physics-based building freedom
Players build vehicles, machines and structures almost without limits, and the physics reward clever engineering and experimentation.
Many players - Multiplayer with friends
Players say the game is best with friends, building together and exploring large community-made maps.
Some players - Survival mode progression
Players like how survival teaches systems step by step, letting newcomers learn and then apply that knowledge in their builds.
Some players
Criticised
- Long silence and slow updates
Players say the developers have posted almost no news for years, Chapter 2 keeps being delayed, and the game feels abandoned.
Many players - Physics and parts that behave oddly
Players find the physics unpredictable, with vehicles flying apart, sticky or failing wheels and unstable bearings under load.
Some players - Lag, freezes and performance
Players report freezes, lag in multiplayer and high demands on their hardware, especially with large maps and many updates.
Some players
- Who it suits
- Players who enjoy open-ended physics building, engineering challenges and sandbox creativity, especially with friends.
- Who should skip it
- Players who expect steady updates, polished survival or stable multiplayer should skip it or wait for Chapter 2.
Short vs. long playtime: Players with hundreds of hours mostly focus on the update drought and physics quirks, while newcomers mainly praise the building fun and survival learning curve.
Summarised by AI from 80 Steam reviews (English, helpful and recent), as of Oct 17, 2026.
Best matches
Plays and looks like Scrap Mechanic
These games are close to it by gameplay and by look, so they appear in both lists below.
By gameplay
Plays like Scrap Mechanic
Matched from Steam descriptions and player tags. The tags under each game are the ones both games share.
TerraTech
91 % positive of 20,658
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
Satisfactory
97 % positive of 236,870
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
Space Engineers
88 % positive of 100,715
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
The Planet Crafter
96 % positive of 69,754
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
ASTRONEER
90 % positive of 119,274
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
Factorio
97 % positive of 193,208
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
Palworld
94 % positive of 417,025
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
Survival Machine
69 % positive of 695
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
Scrapnaut
69 % positive of 736
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
Trailmakers
91 % positive of 34,384
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
Lightyear Frontier
83 % positive of 4,336
Shared: Sandbox · Crafting · Base-Building
Outpath
92 % positive of 2,953
Shared: Building · Sandbox · Open World
More matches
- Mechanica62 % positive of 606Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
- Starbound89 % positive of 87,438Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
- Abiotic Factor94 % positive of 42,834Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
- Main Assembly82 % positive of 1,005Shared: Building · Sandbox · Physics
- JUNKPUNK59 % positive of 647Shared: Building · Crafting · Base-Building
- Craftopia76 % positive of 17,731Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
- FOUNDRY82 % positive of 3,324Shared: Building · Sandbox · Open World
- Eden Crafters84 % positive of 2,589Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
- Tinkerlands85 % positive of 3,656Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
- Robocraft72 % positive of 117,299Shared: Building · Sandbox · Open World
- TerraTech Worlds61 % positive of 2,034Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
- Volcanoids82 % positive of 7,693Shared: Building · Sandbox · Survival
By look
Looks like Scrap Mechanic
Matched from screenshots. Each card shows the screenshot closest to the look of this game.
My Time at Portia
90 % positive of 34,884
Lightyear Frontier
83 % positive of 4,336
Raft
92 % positive of 324,997
Grounded
90 % positive of 76,185
Roboquest
94 % positive of 19,277
No Place Like Home
77 % positive of 3,799
Craftopia
76 % positive of 17,731
Lynked: Banner of the Spark
77 % positive of 379
Survival Machine
69 % positive of 695
My Time at Sandrock
87 % positive of 24,249
Scrapnaut: Prologue
86 % positive of 702
Coral Island
89 % positive of 22,030
More matches
- Farm Together 293 % positive of 4,521
- Critter Cove94 % positive of 1,750
- I Am Future: Cozy Apocalypse Survival82 % positive of 4,045
- Farm Together93 % positive of 17,658
- Revenge of the Savage Planet85 % positive of 2,885
- Embr87 % positive of 1,395
- Tribes of Midgard76 % positive of 17,513
- Luma Island84 % positive of 11,321
- Keep Her Safe88 % positive of 605
- Onirism81 % positive of 1,370
- Gear Up74 % positive of 8,335
- XEL48 % positive of 145
At a glance
What games like Scrap Mechanic have in common
- The tags they share most often with Scrap Mechanic: Building (23 of 24), Sandbox (23) and Survival (18).
- They came out between 2016 and 2026, none of them after Scrap Mechanic (2026).
- Best rated by Steam players: Factorio (97 % positive of 193,208).
On bestof.games
More about Scrap Mechanic
Our review
Scrap Mechanic Review – Sandbox Engineering, Wild Physics, and 1.0 at Last
Scrap Mechanic is a love letter to anyone who enjoys building, tinkering and laughing at glorious failures. It isn’t perfect — physics quirks and long development stretches can be frustrating — but the creative payoff and community make it easy to forgive the…
Published July 24, 2026
Read the review →How these matches work
Matches come from embeddings of Steam descriptions, player tags and screenshots, computed offline. “Plays like” compares what the games are about and how players tag them; “Looks like” compares their screenshots. The share of positive reviews is based on Steam user reviews.