S&box
Facepunch Studios · Shooter, Action, Sandbox
RELEASE MILESTONES
Dates from IGDB release data
Overview
s&box is a game creation platform. Play, create, and share games, all in one place. Hundreds of games ready to jump into with your friends.
Read moreShow less
S&box is a platform full of games made by the community. Click to play and party up with friends.
Play
Hundreds of games made by the community - shooters, roleplay, racing, platformers, horror, and stuff we don't even have a name for yet. No installing or subscribing, just click to play. Party up with your friends and they can play too, no need to mess around setting up servers.
Create
Anyone can create games using our intuitive modern editor, creating scenes with a standard scene system and a C# API with powerful hotloading.
Share
You can publish your games directly to the platform where everyone can play it at the click of a button.
You can earn through our Play Fund from players playing your games, directly funded from cosmetic purchases.
Or you can take it one step further and publish to Steam as a standalone title, with no engine royalties.
FEATURES
Multiplayer: Party up with your friends and jump into games straight away, no servers needed.
Game Library: Hundreds of community-made games across every genre, always growing.
One Click Play: No installing or subscribing - browse and jump into any game instantly.
Constantly Updated: Like Garry's Mod and Rust - big content updates on a fast cycle.
Customization: Personalize your player with cosmetics that carry across every game.
Game Editor: Create your own games in our intuitive editor with C# scripting and real-time hotloading.
Play Fund: Creators earn money when people play their games.
From the game's Steam store page.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT6,801 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
s&box splits its audience almost down the middle, and the split mostly follows what people came for. Creators and long-time testers praise the editor and engine: C# scripting, fast hot reload, built-in multiplayer and a Unity-like workflow on top of Source 2, with no royalties. Players who bought it as the next Garry's Mod describe a Roblox-style hub of community games instead, where they say many of the games are low-effort AI or idle titles, the official Sandbox mode is thin and servers are often empty. A handful of games (Mow the Lawn, the DXRP and TTT modes, Dark Descent, Sausage Survivors 2) earn real affection, and many positive reviews recommend it on potential ("let it cook") more than on what there is to play now.
Among the complaints, three come up most: performance and crashes, AI-made and clicker games crowding the browser, and the feeling of paying twice, with $20 up front and then a rotating store of paid cosmetics. Reviewers also report a later price cut and a free-to-play announcement, which annoyed some early buyers. The sausage-shaped default player models were a running joke and a frequent complaint until, according to reviews written in October, they were removed; some players celebrated and others mourned. Reviewers don't settle whether s&box is a bad Garry's Mod or a promising platform. The two camps mostly name the same problems and disagree on whether they are worth waiting out.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
The editor and engine win over creatorsHigh
16% of reviews (1,113) talk about the editor, the engine or making games. Reviewers with game-development experience compare it favourably with Unity, Unreal and Godot. They praise C# with near-instant hot reload, multiplayer replication that works out of the box, the Razor UI system, the option to publish standalone games and the zero-royalty terms. "I love the editor. It suits my needs and gives me a fun platform to quickly experiment and build game mechanics in C#," wrote one reviewer who uses the platform side. Some separate the two halves of the product outright: "I have no interest in this as a game. From a developer perspective though this is a highly intuitive all-in-one engine with many useful tools to streamline game production."
Creators have complaints too, and a smaller group spells them out: thin or outdated documentation, editor crashes, a Linux editor that needed manual fixes, and engine updates that break published games. "It's not fun or motivating to develop or invest your time in developing for an engine that has breaking changes every month or so," one wrote. Some veteran testers also miss the older, more Source-like entity system that the scene system replaced.
A few community games carry the platformMedium
6% of reviews (389) name a specific game or mode, and the same names keep coming back: the lawn-mowing game, DXRP and other DarkRP-style roleplay servers, TTT, prop hunt, Murder, Dark Descent, Sausage Survivors 2, Puddle Pond and Ghoul Grounds. "Sausage Survivors 2 is worth the entry price of s&box, I'm addicted and can't stop," wrote one player, and a few short positive reviews simply report hours lost to cutting grass. Critics turn the same games against the platform: "The most populous game on this platform (at the time of review)* is a poorly coded lawn mowing simulator." Between the two sits the view that a few gems exist but take digging to find.
A grown-up Roblox without the worst of RobloxLow
A small group of positive reviewers (64 reviews) embrace the Roblox comparison. What they like is a platform of quick community games aimed at older players, with fewer kids, no monetization inside the games themselves and creators paid through the Play Fund. "It's like Roblox if the games were actually well made and fun," as one put it.
Where players are split
Garry's Mod successor or Roblox cloneHigh
26% of reviews (1,751) frame s&box against Garry's Mod or Roblox, the largest theme in this report. Many negative reviews feel the "spiritual successor to Garry's Mod" marketing promised a sandbox and delivered a game hub: "It was supposed to be a Garry's mod spiritual successor not Roblox's." What they usually want is Garry's Mod on Source 2, with Valve assets, a full workshop and a simple server browser. Several reviewers noted that the successor wording was later removed from the store page.
The other camp argues the game was never meant to be Garry's Mod 2 and should be judged as a platform. "This is not Garry's Mod 2, and I wish Facepunch had not marketed it as such. It really is its own thing," wrote a reviewer who recommends it anyway. A third group simply calls it Garry's Mod 2 and likes it. Reviewers report that in October the developers announced a turn back toward Garry's Mod-style play: removing the sausage models, adding workshop support and moving to free-to-play. A few reviews written since then name the price drop and workshop support as what got them to buy, and a few reviewers say they changed their vote to positive once the developers promised to bring the game closer to Garry's Mod.
Buying now on potentialHigh
15% of reviews (1,045) talk about potential, "let it cook" or giving it time. For many recommenders the vote is a bet on the future, and some point to Facepunch's history with Garry's Mod and Rust, which they say also started rough. Negative reviews use the same language and reach the opposite conclusion: the foundation is good, but there is too little to do for the price. Even some recommenders hedge on the price: "Good bones, not worth $20. Wait a little bit." What divides the two sides is whether to pay now for where the game might be in a year.
The sausage player modelsMedium
7% of reviews (450) mention the default "sausage" or "hot dog" characters (Terry, the Citizen). Reviewers who disliked them say the models soured their first impression, especially because, as they describe it, the official Sandbox mode forced them and human alternatives were tied to paid clothing. "These stupid sausage avatars are genuinely so repulsive," one review opened. A loyal minority liked them as the game's only distinctive mascot. Reviews written in October report that the developers removed them, and the reaction split again: some players cheered, while others, including reviewers who still recommend the game, wanted the option kept: "please make it come back and give us a selection."
Physics and ragdollsLow
2% of reviews (135) bring up physics or ragdolls. Some enjoy the stretchy ragdolls and the chaos of thruster contraptions; others call the ragdolls broken and the physics weaker than Garry's Mod's.
What frustrates players
Performance and crashesHigh
19% of reviews (1,305) mention poor performance, low frame rates, stutter, lag, freezes or crashes. The complaints are specific: low frame rates in the main menu itself, empty Sandbox maps running badly, heavy VRAM and RAM use, the game picking the integrated GPU or launching SteamVR, and frequent crashes when joining servers. Owners of high-end hardware report the same problems. "Even with my specs, different games, even official ones by Facepunch themselves are struggling to hit 60 fps at 1080p," wrote one; another put the oddity this way: "4 fps in the main menu, works fine in game, how?!?" A quarter of reviews from people with under two hours raise performance or crashes, against 13% of those with 50+ hours, so it weighs most on first sessions. A couple of later reviews say performance has improved.
AI slop and idle games flood the browserHigh
19% of reviews (1,295) complain about AI-generated, "vibe-coded" or low-effort games, or about the volume of idle, clicker, tycoon and casino-style titles. Much of the complaint is about what new players meet first: AI thumbnails and grind games on the front page. "The game browser unfortunately features mostly low tier slop and AI slop, which is immediately off putting." Some ask for a way to avoid them: "remove AI slop, or at least allow us to filter them out from the server lists." Several reviewers tie the grind games to the Play Fund, which they say pays creators by playtime and so rewards time-wasters. A few launch-week reviews say a new algorithm and AI tags push such games down, but the complaints continued through the October free weekend.
Paying twice: the price and the cosmetics storeHigh
18% of reviews (1,231) raise the price, refunds or paid cosmetics. The core objection is a $20 entry fee followed by a rotating, time-limited cosmetics shop and a skin marketplace, in a series whose predecessor let players download any model for free. "After buying this $20 game I opened it and immediately was told to give them money for a $15 item," one reviewer wrote of their first launch. Another put the double charge plainly: "you need to pay for cosmetics after paying for the game." A few saw the workshop turned into a vote on what gets sold in the store. Early buyers gained a new grievance when, as reviewers report, the price dropped and a move to free-to-play was announced: "paid $20 day one, player count died, and now its $7.99 within the same year." On the other side, a few holders of free copies talk about selling skins at a profit.
A thin official Sandbox mode and no real workshopMedium
8% of reviews (567) criticize the official Sandbox mode or the addon system. Players who came for Garry's Mod-style building found few tools, few props and NPCs, no custom player models, and slow spawning because every item streams from the cloud. "For a game called "S&box" the default sandbox game mode is extremely barebones and runs terribly for something so barren." Another noted that "everything is streamed from the cloud so spawning props takes forever in sandbox mode." Reviewers report that proper workshop support arrived in October, and a few later reviews cite it as a reason to buy or come back.
Clunky menus, parties and server findingMedium
6% of reviews (423) describe confusing menus or broken social features. Party invites fail, only the party leader can pick a game, private lobbies glitch, there is no easy way to mute a spammer, and players who want to choose servers themselves criticize the removal of the server browser. "trying to invite friends to play is so confusing," one wrote, a real problem on a platform whose games depend on groups. A couple of reviewers also dislike menu music that can only be muted along with all other music, and some note that settings do not carry between games.
It feels like an early-access releaseMedium
5% of reviews (359) say s&box should have launched as early access, or call it unfinished or rushed. Some former testers say launch felt little changed from the playtest, and at least one says the beta was better than the release. "Sadly this is a case of a 1.0 version that still feels like it's in early access."
Empty serversMedium
4% of all reviews (258) complain about empty lobbies or a dead player base, and the complaint grew over time: it appears in 3% of launch-week reviews and 8% of reviews written from June through September. Players say multiplayer modes like TTT and Murder often had no one to play with, which left roleplay servers and single-player games. "I cant find a single server with more than 1 person online so its totally empty aside from the single player experinces," wrote one player, and even fans add caveats like "Lots of fun on the right few games with a friend. def need more people."
Linux and Steam Deck supportLow
2% of reviews (137) mention Linux, Proton or the Steam Deck. Early complaints were that the editor did not work on Linux. Reviewers say native support arrived later, but reports of crashes and poor performance on Linux continued, and Steam Deck players describe low settings and awkward controller defaults. "linux support is buns but the game is peak."
Long downloads and a heavy installLow
2% of reviews (135) complain about a 20 GB-plus install, multi-gigabyte downloads for individual games and maps, and no easy way to see or clear cached content. "I do not want to spend 20 minutes to download a single game."
3. The player conversation
Memes run through the conversation: "Roblox 2", "gmod 2", "let it cook" and sausage jokes turn up again and again as whole reviews. Some negative reviewers praise the technology while objecting to how it was packaged and sold. Positive reviewers often concede the problems and either recommend it for the editor or bet on its future.
Who raises what differs by experience. People who wrote after a short first session raise performance, the Roblox comparison, cosmetics and price more often: 16% of reviews from people with under two hours mention price, against 9% of those with 50+ hours. Reviewers with 50+ hours talk about the editor and engine twice as often (25% against 12% under two hours) and are the ones who discuss the Play Fund, breaking engine changes and documentation. The former beta testers who kept free copies form their own bloc. They are more forgiving overall, though some long, detailed negative reviews also come from them.
The timeline has three clear phases. Launch week produced 4,226 reviews at 60.5% positive, and the rest of May ranged from 53% to 62%. Weekly volume then fell to a few dozen reviews, several summer weeks dropped below 40%, and complaints about empty servers and the removed server browser grew in that stretch. The free weekend in the week of September 28 brought 286 reviews at 23% positive, many of them first impressions repeating the Roblox, AI-slop and performance complaints. Reviewers report that the developers announced a change of direction in October (removing the sausage models, adding workshop support, moving toward free-to-play). The week of October 12 recovered to 58% positive on 93 reviews, and some reviews from that stretch sound more hopeful about the latest update while saying the work is not done.
4. What the developers could do
- Let players filter out AI-made and idle games. Nearly a fifth of reviews complain about low-effort AI and clicker games in the browser, and some ask for a filter or hide option so the good games are easier to find.
- Fix performance in the menu, the official Sandbox mode and on mid-range PCs. Performance and crash complaints are about as common as the AI-game complaints and weigh most on first sessions, with players on strong hardware reporting low menu frame rates, VRAM exhaustion and crashes when joining servers.
- Follow through on free-to-play and ease the cosmetics push. Paying $20 and then meeting a time-limited cosmetics store on first launch is the core of the "paying twice" complaint, and some early buyers who watched the price drop feel shortchanged.
- Finish the official Sandbox mode and open it to the workshop and custom player models. Players who came for Garry's Mod-style building describe missing tools, props and NPCs, forced default models and slow cloud spawning, and a few later reviews credit the October workshop support with bringing them back.
- Fix parties, invites and server finding. Failed invites, leader-only game selection, no mute button and the removed server browser make it hard to play with friends on a platform whose games need groups.
- Cut download times and show what is cached. Multi-gigabyte downloads per game and an opaque cache turn trying a new game into a long wait.
- Stabilize the engine API and improve documentation for creators. Some of the developers who praise the editor also warn that breaking changes and thin documentation make it hard to keep published games working.
