The Colony Sim Zone

Games about managing settlers, needs, disasters, work, and emergent community stories.

Latest Standouts

Recent releases that landed well, newest first, filtered to games with enough reviews to trust the score.

Astrobuilder - An AI-driven space management RPG in a living galaxy. Explore 150+ planets and interact with 600+ NPCs whose lives and relationships evolve over time. Trade, run shops, build a Commerce Guild, join Military Factions, govern planets, and command fleets in war. Your every choice reshape the galaxy.
Cat Isle - Catch a train to Cat Isle! In this cozy pixel art management game, build restaurants, expand and decorate the town. Figure out your cats needs as they dine, shop, explore and turn the island into their purfect home.
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Jul 20, 2026
99% 👍
of 162
Sinner Maker - Sinner Maker allows you to create characters and simulate a society built around them. Construct homes, manage their needs, and watch as they fall in love, form friendships, and even become enemies. Manage resources and solve emerging problems if you want your soul to be saved.
Life Below - Life Below is a refreshing twist on the city-building genre, set beneath the waves. Shape thriving coral reefs, revive collapsing ecosystems, and grow a living seascape in a heartfelt narrative by Rhianna Pratchett. You are the ocean's final hope.
FEED THE QUEEN - Gather food to grow your colony. Evolve and upgrade specialized worker types. Discover and combine interesting synergies. Optimize your production, customize your strategy and feed the Queen ever-increasing amounts of food!
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May 25, 2026
70% 👍
of 550
Gold Gold Adventure Gold - In this world, it’s all about the gold! Use it to build up a fantasy town, recruit heroes, give quests, raise a Godbeast, cast powerful spells, and expand your influence—all one gold coin at a time.
Steel Artery: Train City Builder - Hardcore city-building sim in a fantasy steampunk world. Manage multi-racial colonies with hundreds of autonomous citizens, balance their needs, grow the economy, build logistics, and travel a vast world carrying out the Emperor’s orders.
Pandora's Toybox - Become a God, build a civilization. In this dynamic Roguelite God Simulator, guide human civilization on a procedurally generated pixel world. Watch your people grow, defend them against heretics, and build an immortal legacy.

On Sale Now

Discounted 25% or more right now, limited to well-reviewed games, steepest cuts first.

Autonauts vs Piratebots - Create, automate and defend an impenetrable base. Assemble and command a Bot army to combat an entire Piratebot invasion. Build, program and battle your way through five different zones.
Tribe: Primitive Builder - Chill out as you explore the beautiful, realistic island of exiles. Gather resources, craft tools, construct buildings and settlements. Manage tribe and automate your gameplay. Discover 4 lands, a storyline and save the inhabitants of the island.
Autonauts - In Autonauts you must build, create, and automate. Start by establishing a colony, crafting bots and teaching them via Scratch-style programming to build an ever evolving autonomous paradise of agriculture, industry and enlightenment.
Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt - Townsmen – A Kingdom Rebuilt hands the crown to you: Guide your people from their first steps in a small village to a massive medieval metropolis with thousands of inhabitants.
Aven Colony - Build a new home for humanity in Aven Colony. Discover Aven Prime - an alien planet of deserts, tundras, and wetlands light years from earth. Build your colonies into massive, sprawling cities whilst dealing with the challenges faced when settling on a new world.
Cattails: Wildwood Story - Become a cat! In this cozy life sim RPG, you'll lead your colony into the mysterious Wildwood. Hunt prey, harvest herbs, collect magical treasures, & defend your new home from intruders. Build a thriving town to recruit new cats. Get to know the residents, fall in love, & raise a litter of kittens!
Settlement Survival - In this city-building game, you will lead a group of survivors in their search for a new home. Manipulate the landscape, manage limited supplies, plant crops, hunt wildlife, gather resources, and develop trade routes to build a bustling and unique town.
Farlanders - Terraform, strategize, and construct a Martian colony in this retro-inspired turn-based city builder. Create a comfortable living for your citizens, research alien artifacts, and uncover the secrets of the Red Planet.
Before We Leave - Before We Leave is a city building game set in a cozy corner of the universe. Nurture your Peeps and their surroundings while rebuilding and rediscovering civilisation. Settle new lands and planets while avoiding hungry Space Whales.
Surviving the Aftermath - Survive and thrive in a post-apocalyptic future — resources are scarce, but opportunity calls! Build the ultimate disaster proof colony, protect your colonists, and restore civilization to a devastated world.
The Colonists - Build a new home for your team of robots as they begin a new life for themselves on a distant planet where they can fulfil their ultimate dream: to be human.
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Oct 24, 2018
86% 👍
of 1.2k
Spellcaster University - Develop a prestigious university of mages. Build rooms, train your students, fight orcs, slay the bureaucrats, manage your budget... a director's life is not a quiet one.

Hidden Gems

Well-liked but under-played: strong scores, small review counts.

The Final Earth 2 - The Final Earth 2 is a vertical sci-fi city builder. Earth is unlivable, so you decide to create a space colony. Gather resources, then build and research your way to a better future! Grow your city from an exploration ship to a huge metropolis, full of advanced technology. What will you build?
Dream Town Island - A town sim where you raise generations of residents. Unlock new stores and facilities, help your residents find love, or cash in on the stock market!
Cafe Master Story - Serve up food, drinks, and smiles in this retro cafe management sim!
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Oct 15, 2023
96% 👍
of 335
MicroTown - Build and manage your own settlement! A relaxing village construction and management simulator.
STARIO: Haven Tower - A vertical kingdom in the sky! Plan your ascent from the harsh Sand Zone, rising layer by layer as you and your Towertizens stand together against looming disasters. Build trade ports and vertical supply networks. Perform Rituals to shape miracles, and witness the prosperity of this rising nation.
Mega Mall Story - Design a towering mega mall in this mall management simulation game.
Outlive 25 - Build your base, prepare your troops, and face your most epic battle yet in this old-school real-time strategy game. Choose between two factions, test your skills in three epic campaigns and engage in online battles with up to 16 players simultaneously.
Mega Mall Story 2 - A brand new business sim! Build cafés, movie theaters, aquariums, and more!
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Mar 5, 2023
95% 👍
of 157
Planetary Life - Manipulate climate, add plants and evolve creatures in this planet and life sandbox simulation game. From cells to civilizations, spread life throughout the whole planet. Or just enjoy watching your creation burn!
Ninja Village - Lead a ninja clan in the war to unify feudal Japan!
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May 22, 2022
94% 👍
of 567
Banana Drama - Banana Drama is an indie RTS game. It offers a singleplayer and online multiplayer experience. Your monkey king is held captive by evil dinos - he needs help! Be part of the banana crew and join us on Discord!
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Mar 29, 2026
94% 👍
of 308

Top Rated

Defining examples of the genre, all rated 85%+ across 1,000+ reviews.

RimWorld - A sci-fi colony sim driven by an intelligent AI storyteller. Generates stories by simulating psychology, ecology, gunplay, melee combat, climate, biomes, diplomacy, interpersonal relationships, art, medicine, trade, and more.
Stronghold Crusader HD (2012) - The highly anticipated sequel to the best-selling Stronghold, Stronghold Crusader HD throws you into historic battles and castle sieges from the Crusades with fiendish AI opponents, new units, 4 historical campaigns and over 100 unique skirmish missions.
Oxygen Not Included - Oxygen Not Included is a space-colony simulation game. Deep inside an alien space rock your industrious crew will need to master science, overcome strange new lifeforms, and harness incredible space tech to survive, and possibly, thrive.
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Jul 30, 2019
97% 👍
of 142k
From Glory To Goo - From Glory To Goo is a Sci-Fi survival RTS set on an alien world. Serve as humanity's bulwark by establishing a colony and supporting your colonists still in orbit. But beware, for The Goo, a relentless and shape-shifting force approaches from all sides, even above and below.
Cult of the Lamb - Start your own cult in a land of false prophets, venturing out into diverse and mysterious regions to build a loyal community of woodland Followers and spread your Word to become the one true cult.
Timberborn - Humans are long gone. In a world struck by droughts and toxic waste, will your lumberpunk beavers do any better? A sandbox city-building game featuring ingenious animals, vertical architecture, water physics, and terraforming. Contains high amounts of wood.
Stronghold HD (2012) - The original castle sim, Stronghold HD allows you to design, build and destroy historical castles. Engage in medieval warfare against the AI in one of two single player campaigns or online with up to 8 players.
ISLANDERS: New Shores - Welcome to ISLANDERS: New Shores. Build your island retreat in a calm, minimalist world with exciting new features that keep the classic charm while inspiring fresh creativity.
WorldBox - God Simulator - WorldBox is the ULTIMATE god simulator and sandbox game. A petri dish for your fantasy civilizations. Create your own world or destroy it using many powers. Watch civilizations grow, form kingdoms, colonize new lands, sail to far continents, wars to ignite, empires to fall and towns to burn!
Dwarf Fortress - Build a fortress and try to help your dwarves survive against a deeply generated world. Keep your dwarves happy, grow their community and beware of digging too deeply. The deepest, most intricate simulation of a world that's ever been created.
ISLANDERS - ISLANDERS is a minimalist strategy game about building cities on colorful islands.
Ostriv - Ostriv is a city-building game that puts you in a role of a governor of an 18th century Ukrainian town to challenge your creative skills and management abilities.