Subnautica (Switch eShop)

Subnautica really is one of the great indie early access success stories: A game honed to near perfection during a long gestation period on PC, with lots of input from avid fans helping to shape the core experience as it exists today. As a result what we've got here is a confident and constantly thrilling marriage of addictive gameplay loops, with hugely satisfying crafting and base building elements, well-implemented survival mechanics and a world and story that absolutely ooze wonder, mystery and full-on existential dread in equal measure.

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Stardew Valley (Switch eShop)

Although Stardew Valley is full of goals (run a successful farm, appease your dead grandpa, make sure Shane doesn't yeet himself into the sea), how you achieve those goals is left up to you. The game might well be a farming simulator on the surface, but there is actually so much more to it than initially meets the eye. Your activities go far beyond just farming thanks to a great sense of community that finds itself sitting at the heart of the adventure. In fact, there doesn’t appear to be any end to the amount of things available to see and do.

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Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley
The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook
The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook

Jurassic World Evolution: Complete Edition (Switch eShop)

If you want to free yourself from the shackles of Jurassic World Evolution's main campaign or the restrictions it places upon you, you can choose to jump into the sandbox mode and build away at your very own murder.... er... visitor park to your heart's content. This is perhaps our favourite way to play the game as it leaves us to experiment, setting up mega battles between violent strains of alpha dino, throwing a hungry carnivore into a pen full of vegetarians and generally just rejoicing in the violence that results from messing around, prodding and poking at prehistoric death machines trapped in a park full of very silly, chewy and delicious human visitors.

Two Point Hospital (Switch)

This sandbox might smell a lot like a hospital, but that just makes it a sandbox with a goal. Two Point Hospital boils down to building a hospital and trying to keep the lights on, and, as an added bonus, keep the patients alive. In this privatised healthcare system, players earn money and a coveted three-star rating by keeping patients, staff, health inspectors and your bank balance happy. Get it wrong, though, and you’ll find yourself sacking staff, surrounded by litter and having to deal with people relieving themselves in the hallway. Oh, and did we mention the ghosts of dead patients?

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)

Yeah, yeah, BOTW sneaks onto most our lists, but it really deserves a shout out for being the Zelda series' first real sandbox. Sure, Wind Waker let you sail around all willy-nilly, but only to the islands it wanted you to see; Breath of the Wild lets you go anywhere once you've completed the Great Plateau. Want to spend 100 hours collecting Koroks? Taking photos? Finding and murdering every Lynel just to prove you're the biggest dog in Hyrule? Sure, go ahead. Zelda can wait.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)

And, of course, the other one. It’s impossible to talk about everything that makes The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom so incredible, and making many of those discoveries yourselves is part of the magic. It’s also impossible to overstate just how much there is to do in Hyrule this time around. Much like its predecessor, this is your playground for the next however many years to come, with a little sprinkling of that older Zelda fairy dust mixed into Breath of the Wild’s formula. It’s a glorious, triumphant sequel to one of the best video games of all time; absolute unfiltered bliss to lose yourself in for hundreds of hours.

Everything (Switch eShop)

In Everything, every single object and being in the universe is a playable character. Something as small as an atom to something as vast in scope as a galaxy can be played, with their various thoughts and ideas serving as a form of collectible. Every time you interact with a new being, you collect their thoughts into a giant matrix you’ll eventually need to utilise later on. It's the sandiest sandbox, because you can almost literally be anything and do anything.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

New Horizons took the run-your-own-town idea from New Leaf, and ran with it — all the way to a deserted island. With Tom Nook's, uh, "help", you can turn the island into a paradise of your own making. Everything, from the position of the island's rocks to the paths to the land itself, can be tweaked with the right tools, and the Happy Home Paradise DLC only adds to the amount of customisation.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise DLC - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]
Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise DLC - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]

Right, now we're covered in sand, ants, and whatever this mysterious sticky, gritty substance is. Probably long-forgotten ice cream, or whatever it is that the under-fives seem to constantly be covered in. But we've covered (hopefully) most of the best, sandiest-boxiest sandbox games on the Switch, and now we're going to go have a shower.

Tell us your favourite sandboxes (or sandbox modes!) in the comments!

This article is one of our Switch Essentials guides which cover a wide variety of genres, including the Best Switch FPS Games, the Best Switch RPGs, the Best Switch Games For Kids, the Best Switch Couch Co-Op Games and the Best Switch Fitness and Exercise Games. We can also help out hunting down the Best Switch Horror Games, the Best Switch Racing Games, the Best Switch Action-RPGs, the Best Nintendo Switch Roguelikes, Roguelites and Run-Based Games, the Best Free Switch Games, the Best Remakes And Remasters, the Best Switch Music And Rhythm Games, Best Feel-Good Switch Games, Best Switch Open-World Games, Best Switch Soulslike Games, Best LGBTQ+ Switch Games, and even Games to Play After You've Finished Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Whatever your favourite genre, we've got you covered: Strategy Games, Metroidvanias, Puzzle Games, Party Games, Online Multiplayer Games, Local Wireless Multiplayer Games, Shmups, Twin-Stick Shooters, Visual Novels, Kart Racers, Fighting Games, Football Games, Funny Games, Golf Games, 'Walking Sims' And Narrative Games, Switch Games For Lovers And Lonely Hearts, Detective Games, Hidden Gems, 2D Platformers, 3D Platformers, Puzzle Platformers, Tabletop Mode Games, Run and Gun Games, LEGO Games, Sports Games, Survival Games, Beat 'Em Ups, Camera Games, Chill Games, Family Games, Retro-Inspired Games, Short Games, Card Games and Deck-Builders, and Life Sims And Farming Games.

Still hungry for more? Elsewhere we look at Wholesome Games, TATE Mode Games, Flight Sim and Space Combat, Point and Click Adventure Games, and the Best Switch Exclusives, as well as Every Arcade Archives Game, Every ACA Neo Geo Game, Every SEGA AGES Game On Switch, plus the Best Switch Ports, Best Wii U-To-Switch Ports, Best Switch Collections And Compilations, Best Cheap Switch Games, Best Switch Demos, Games That Are Better On Switch OLED, Switch Games Under $10, $20, $50, and Switch games with the Best Soundtracks and the Best Graphics. Phew!

If you're looking for the best Switch games regardless of genre, our reader-voted selection of the Best Nintendo Switch Games should help you out, and you can also find the Best Nintendo Switch Games of 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. And finally, if you're interested in other Nintendo consoles and retro games, check out the Best Game Boy Games, Best GBC Games, Best GBA Games, Best Nintendo DS Games, Best Nintendo 3DS Games, Best NES Games, Best SNES Games, Best N64 Games, Best GameCube Games, and Best Wii Games, and Best Wii U Games, as well as Every Available Nintendo Switch Online Retro Game, and ranked lists of Every Nintendo Switch Online NES, SNES, N64 and Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Game.