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How to Find Games That Combine Platforming and Crafting

Find games where platforming and crafting both matter. Compare Dig or Die’s survival focus with Astronimo’s creative building, and learn how to assess adjacent games.
Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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The best fit is not simply a platform game with a crafting menu: crafting should change what you can do as you move through the world, whether by providing survival gear, defenses, tools, or new building options. Dig or Die is the clearest match in the examples available; Astronimo is a better comparison if creative building and customization matter more than survival pressure.

What makes a platforming-and-crafting game a close fit?

Look for two things working together: platforming is a recurring way to cross or solve the game world, and crafting has a meaningful effect on progression, survival, equipment, construction, or creative possibilities. A game with occasional jumping and a large recipe list may still be primarily a strategy or survival game. Conversely, a platformer with collectible materials may not make crafting consequential.

A useful test is to ask what crafting changes. If it unlocks tools, gear, structures, defenses, or options that affect how you explore and move through the world, it is more than a side activity.

Strongest example: Dig or Die

Dig or Die is the closest match among these examples. GamesRadar describes it as a mix of defense and crafting with side-scrolling and platforming elements. The player digs for resources on an alien planet, crafts items for survival and a spaceship, and can build a home and defenses. That gives crafting practical stakes within a world navigated from a side-on perspective.

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#1 Best Overall
Sale
Yoshi's Crafted World - Nintendo Switch
  • Explore each stage and then find even more secrets by making your way through the stage backwards on the flip side
  • Overcome varied enemies and obstacles, like Zombie Guys, Skelesaurus, Ukiki, and Monty Mole as you seek out hidden collectables; ESRB Content: Mild Cartoon Violence; Genre: Action, Platformer
  • Pass a Joy Con controller to a friend for 2 player cooperative exploration
  • Clad Yoshi in collectable, protective, handicraft costumes as he makes his way through each stage

GamesRadar’s 2026 guide lists Gaddy Games as developer, a July 10, 2018 release date, and PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and Xbox One as platforms. Treat that as a guide’s platform listing, not a guarantee that the game is currently available in every region or edition. Check the relevant storefront before buying: GamesRadar’s crafting games guide.

Compare the balance of building, survival, and action

Astronimo: creative construction and customization

Astronimo is a useful alternative if the appeal is making and customizing things rather than gathering under survival pressure. Its official site describes platforming and customization in a campaign, a community moon with Steam Workshop sharing, and a Garage Mode for creative construction. Those details suggest a more open-ended creative angle than Dig or Die’s survival-and-defense framing. Check the official site for current availability and platform information: Astronimo.

Rank #2
Magical Craft: My Enchanted Dress Shop - Nintendo Switch
  • Explore the village and enjoy shopping, collecting materials for your dresses, and chatting with the villagers!
  • Take on requests from the villagers and make them unique and authentic dresses.
  • Make a dress that is special for you. As you level up as a dressmaker, the types of dresses you can make increase and the places you can explore expand!

Craft the World: a boundary case that leans toward management

Craft the World includes crafting and building, growing a dwarven population, and large-scale battles. GamesRadar notes that it can feel more like real-time strategy than a Terraria-style dungeon crawler. It is useful as a reminder that crafting alone does not make a game a strong platforming match: consider whether platform navigation is central, or whether population management and strategy dominate. GamesRadar’s overview discusses its genre balance.

Adventure Craft: adjacent craft-focused survival

The Steam community description presents Adventure Craft as a procedurally generated open-world PvE survival crafting action RPG, with gathering, weapon and armour crafting, home-building, and companion training. The page marks it Early Access. That description establishes a strong crafting and survival focus, but does not establish that platforming is central, so consider it an adjacent example rather than a confirmed close match: Adventure Craft on Steam Community.

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Rank #3
Minecraft - Nintendo Switch
  • Minecraft is a game about placing blocks and going on adventures
  • Explore randomly generated worlds and build amazing things from the simplest of homes to the grandest of castles
  • Play in creative mode with unlimited resources or mine deep into the world in survival mode, crafting weapons and armor to fend off the dangerous mobs
  • Play on the go in handheld or tabletop modes
  • Includes Super Mario Mash-Up, Natural Texture Pack, Biome Settlers Skin Pack, Battle & Beasts Skin Pack, Campfire Tales Skin Pack; Compatible with Nintendo Switch only

Use these checks to evaluate a candidate

  1. Check movement. Is jumping and navigating platforms a recurring part of traversal or problem-solving, or only an occasional feature?
  2. Identify crafting’s purpose. Does it unlock gear, tools, survival options, structures, defenses, or creative freedom? In Dig or Die, crafting is tied to survival, a home, defenses, and a spaceship.
  3. Notice the pressure and pace. Does the game make you gather while managing survival or defense, or give you a more open-ended space to build? The contrast between Dig or Die and Astronimo helps frame this choice.
  4. Decide which genre should lead. A candidate may emphasize action-platforming, exploration, survival, puzzles, or strategy. If management and battles outweigh platform navigation, as they may in Craft the World, it may be a looser fit.
  5. Verify access before purchase. Check the current listing for your region, platform, and edition. A platform list in a guide is not a live storefront availability check.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

How to choose between close and adjacent matches

Start with Dig or Die if you want the clearest combination of side-scrolling platforming, resource gathering, consequential crafting, and defense. Consider Astronimo if creative construction and customization are the main draw. Treat Craft the World as a genre-border example where management can take over, and Adventure Craft as craft-focused survival whose platforming role is not established by the cited description. These examples illustrate different balances; they are not an exhaustive catalog or a tested ranking.

Quick Recap

SaleBestseller No. 1
Yoshi's Crafted World - Nintendo Switch
Yoshi's Crafted World - Nintendo Switch
Pass a Joy Con controller to a friend for 2 player cooperative exploration
$52.90
Bestseller No. 2
Magical Craft: My Enchanted Dress Shop - Nintendo Switch
Magical Craft: My Enchanted Dress Shop - Nintendo Switch
Take on requests from the villagers and make them unique and authentic dresses.
$39.99
Bestseller No. 3
Minecraft - Nintendo Switch
Minecraft - Nintendo Switch
Minecraft is a game about placing blocks and going on adventures; Play on the go in handheld or tabletop modes
$29.83
Bestseller No. 4
SaleBestseller No. 5
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - US Version
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - US Version
Challenge others anytime, anywhere, whether you're on the couch or on the go; Face off in 2-4 player battles, or play against the computer
$52.99
Best Value
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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - US Version
  • New stages and fighters are joined by the combined rosters of every past Super Smash Bros. Game
  • Challenge others anytime, anywhere, whether you're on the couch or on the go
  • Play any way you want—locally, online, in TV mode, Tabletop mode, Handheld mode, or even with GameCube Controllers
  • Fight faster and smarter with new and returning techniques, like the perfect shield and directional air dodge
  • Face off in 2-4 player battles, or play against the computer
Rank #4
Minecraft - Nintendo Switch 2
  • Build whatever you can imagine in your own infinite world that’s unique in every playthrough.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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