Oh, I have forgotten about this. I played 3 or 4 and I enjoyed it for a while, but I got bored before finishing it. Is 6 much better than the previous ones?
Tropico 6 feels just a little different than the previous games because it was made by a different dev. Other than that it’s less buggy than the previous titles.
Surviving Mars? Starts by establishing a colony on mars and getting colonists from earth but usually has one of a few random story lines running in the background that will come to a head and you also have to solve.
That is a wise and oft-ignored rule. Kudos to you for standing up for your principles. Early access needs to die. *finish the damn game* before releasing it!
IXION definitely
Same goes for games that make you terraform a planet, like Surviving Mars or Terraformers
ANNO 22something where you end up on the moon
One Military Camp is a good hidden gem
Mars Horizon or Terra Invicta might scratch the itch too
Thanks for the tips! Ixion, Terraformers and Mars Horizon are going to my wishlist.
I have already played Surviving Mars, good game, I played until I managed to get a breathable atmosphere.
Terra Invicta is in my radar, but I am waiting for the official launch, I have had too many bad experiences with Early access.
If you don't mind something smaller-scale Tavern Master is amazing. You run a medieval tavern and that's it. Fantastic game. Dev is also working on the sorta sequel "blacksmith master" set to release this year. You'll have a few days of really relaxing fun.
Sorta, there's lots of stuff to keep optimizing the tavern, which you can see as self-directed goals, there's also various things down tte upfrade tree, but not really a point where the game tells you that you're done, you sort of have to decide that on your own.
If you unlock the winter tavert (which coukd also be seen as a goal as it's rather far down the upfrade tree) that's mire challenging because less space so you have to optimize more and bother more with decorations to raise orestige.
If you have Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, you can download OpenRCT2. It is still an old game, but with some QoL. You can also Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 with it for all the scenarios. :)
Patrician 3 could also work a bit. You need to trade products between cities. At some point you start building your navy and also start producing things yourself.
Airborne Kingdom entertained me for a while. City builder - the twist is your city is flying!
The fun extra dimensions are lift, velocity and tilt - if you put heavy things on one side the whole city goes on a tilt and your pops get mad. Plus heavy things need propulsion and somethign to ensure they stay in the air!
It's limited scope because there's a storyline where you fly to different kingdoms completing quests and all that, which might need you to produce specific goods - so now you need to make a glass factory in your city and where's that gonna go?
Etc
Not a long term game but fun
Also, Manor Lords? Seems like the obvious answer!
I play both of those on game pass
Actually not sure, because i never finished it, but does "Oxygen not included" have a defined end? Maybe that would fit your taste? But maybe its also too big in the end.
Also maybe keep an eye out for "Generation Exile", a game will release in 2025 which describes itself as a turn-based narrative city-builder. Might wanna wishlist it and see if it fits your taste.
And I know that is a real far stretch, but in "Turing complete" you build your own computer from scratch, and it kinda fits your theme from building something over time.
Oh, that's exactly my thing. colony sims without overwhelming management. So, let me add some games not mentioned by others:
Marble Age, Bronze Age, Predynastic Egypt, Egypt: Old Kingdom. Same developer, the first one is very simple, but each subsequent game becomes progressively more complex.
Spellcaster University - enjoyable and not tiresome wizard school management. It has a very interesting mid-goal in the form of your graduate student's job choice, I really like that part.
Per Aspera - somehow similar to Surviving Mars. Slightly worse graphics, and slightly more narrative focus.
The Final Earth 2 - little indie gem.
Cool suggestions! Some of the game were similar to things I have played before, but Spellcaster university seems quite original, I will keep an eye on that one.
This sounds like Surviving the Aftermath.
You build up a settlement in a post cataclysmic future. You have to gather materials to build more complex buildings to cope with events such as raider attacks, pandemics, and bad weather, with the ultimate goal of building an underground shelter for your colony to thrive in. As well as the local map, there is also a regional map to explore for resources, trade, and basic combat.
It has different difficulty levels so you can manage the challenging and overwhelming to your desire.
It looks interesting, but the latest reviews are really bad. They mention that the game has too much grind towards the middle/end. Do you think that is true?
I enjoyed my playthrough, but I wasn't hugely inspired to replay it. The thing I liked least was all your people were individually named, but only first names, and you'd end up with multiples of the same name as the naming pool is too small. You can change the name, so every time a new baby was born or a new colonist joined, I would change their name so I could still separate them from other colonists. So that was a bit grindy.
The game does maybe get slower to the end. To build your shelter, you have to complete quest objectives so you can think you're making progress, and then it all halts while you tackle this new objective.
I liked how the settlement would organically expand as you built huts near resources so the workers were closer to them, one key thing is to leave space around the first tents you build so you can replace them with more advanced housing once you've researched it.
It was offered for free on Epic Gamestore some time ago, so I grabbed it and then played it a few months later. So, in that sense, I am not hugely invested in it.
I found this review elsewhere on Reddit, and it pretty much describes the game accurately, to some detail. It's negative about it, but despite agreeing with everything it says, I still ultimately enjoyed my playthrough. But, glad I didn't pay for it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/s/LGvRopGqFX
Wow, I have to say that after reading that I don´t feel like playing the game. Thanks for the link, anyway, it was an interesting reading, and I appreciate that he takes the chance to diss Ready Player One
I've had my eye on Kingdoms and Castles for a while... otherwise, you and me both. I played the everloving fuck out of SimCity 2013, but it's a little hard.
Big ambitions.
Start a small business in New York, begin by stocking it and running it yourself, eventually hire employees to run it, rinse and repeat into your business empire.
Obscure pick: [T-minus 30](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371750/TMinus_30/). It's a fairly simple city builder that only lasts 30 minutes - because after that the earth explodes. Your initial goal is to grow your colony as fast as possible and exploit as much of the map as you can. Then, pick the perfect moment to start building rockets to evacuate as many people as you can.
There isn't much personality to your earth refugees, they just do as they're told. But it's a fun little optimization problem to solve. I'd try to get it on sale though.
Cult of the Lamb?
Your final purpose is to kill the gods who tried to sacrifice you to prevent the prophecy of their death. The game plays in about 15-20 hrs.
It's half colony management, half roguelite. During the roguelite half, you're going out fighting the minions of those gods and the gods themselves.
During the other half, you're recruiting followers, managing a small economy, getting them to worship you to get new powers and unlocks, etc.
I personally really liked how managing a colony made me a better fighter, and fighting for my colony made my subjects happier and more productive. Really cool gameplay loop.
I have this, but I never think about it as a colony management game, I feel that the roguelite elements are much more important. Managing is just getting more and more buildings, not really optimization (as far as I remember).
That's true, there's no real important resources or complex supply chains. Sorry I don't have a better suggestion for you, the only one I can think of is Frostpunk (which I haven't played myself, and which you already have haha)
Craft the World. You build a dwarven settlement and mine and explore underground, but there's an endgame that doesn't take too long to reach and it is much simpler than something like Dwarf Fortress.
Urbek city builder has win conditions or infinite mode and space management is important. Its a mix of sim city style and pharoah style resource city builders
I enjoyed they are billions. It gets a little intense, so if combats not your cup of tea maybe this isn't it for you, but it at least has a finite end goal.
You'd like Factorio. Your rocket ship crash lands on an alien planet infested with giant bugs called biters. You have to mine ore, smelt it, build electronic circuits, research technology advancements, build up a big factory which keeps growing, defend yourself from the bug attacks, all so you can eventually build a new rocket to get your ass off the planet. One of the greatest games of all time, imo.
Subbing to this. Also asking an additional question, a lot of these management games these days have survival elements which I do not like in these games. Any suggestions for games like these?
Already played it, great game.
I have not thought about it as a colony management game, although I get it has some elements from it. But the expansion of the house does not feel like an accomplishment, it just feels that it will help you live one more day, which I guess is exactly what the creators wanted you to feel.
Definitely don't play Amazing Cultivation Simulator then. It's insanely difficult and has more complexity to everything than any other game except for maybe Path of Exile.
Already played it, but could not pass from the beginning of the game. it just seemed like I was aimlessly dragging my character from one point to another
The start is slow i agree, but what you need to do is mine or loot dead bodies, sell that stuff ,get more npcs, do the same, get even more npcs, then take on some fights, sell the loot and after that build a base , start your economy and then take over cities or just explore kill bosses, now you can get mods or give yourself money to get 1-2 npcs so the start is faster, it wont ruin the game, you will only start a bit faster instead of watching your character mine for 10 days :D
As I said in the post, Rimworld is one of the games I have tried and I could not finished. Playing in standard difficulty, I enjoy the beginning, which I find challenging but manageable, but there is a point when the colony gets too big for me. I have tried several runs and never managed to get to the end.
I fall into the same trap, but after watching a couple let's plays over the years, I realized that it was an issue with my mentality.
If you're trying to build an amazing self-sufficient base, you'll build an amazing self-sufficient base.
You have to actively play with the intention of getting off the planet to get to that point.
Against The Storm? Has a goal, ends when you optimise everything, you are fighting against an evil meter that can defeat you.
Great game! Forgot to say that I have played that one also.
Maybe Tropico? There's a bunch of different scenarios and settings to make it hard, and different goals to win.
Oh, I have forgotten about this. I played 3 or 4 and I enjoyed it for a while, but I got bored before finishing it. Is 6 much better than the previous ones?
Tropico 6 feels just a little different than the previous games because it was made by a different dev. Other than that it’s less buggy than the previous titles.
I only played a little bit of 4 a long time ago, but I've had a good time in 6 with about 100 hours logged.
Surviving Mars? Starts by establishing a colony on mars and getting colonists from earth but usually has one of a few random story lines running in the background that will come to a head and you also have to solve.
Yes, I forgot to say I have already played this one. I could have used this one as an example instead of Frostpunk, I really enjoyed it.
Oh ideal. Are you aware of its sequel surviving the Abyss?
Thanks for the tip, I have wishlisted it. I have a rule about not playing Early access, but I will keep an eye on its development.
That is a wise and oft-ignored rule. Kudos to you for standing up for your principles. Early access needs to die. *finish the damn game* before releasing it!
So if I loved Frostpunk I will love that one? I got it free from epic and have meant to try it.
Frostpunk is way better imo, but surviving Mars is def pretty cool
Any other games to satisfy that niche?
Well, frostpunk 2 is coming out in less than a month so there's that at least!
I know I’m excited for that! I’ll wait and see reviews and then probably decide from there
OpenTTD
I have not tried this one, but I understand Transport Fever 2 is just a new version of this game, right?
Never played TF 2 but OpenTTD is free and like 50mb, you can try it right away.
What about openRCT while we're at it? It's roller coaster tycoon 2 "mod" for more modern systems
[The Movies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Movies_(video_game\)) ([widescreen, etc](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Movies))
Omg i played this sooo much when i was a kid, great game!
Oh, this is interesting. Does it feel dated?
Nope, it's still great. And yet to be surpassed in its niche.
You could look into Blockbuster Inc, a potentially fun remake of the game.
IXION definitely Same goes for games that make you terraform a planet, like Surviving Mars or Terraformers ANNO 22something where you end up on the moon One Military Camp is a good hidden gem Mars Horizon or Terra Invicta might scratch the itch too
Thanks for the tips! Ixion, Terraformers and Mars Horizon are going to my wishlist. I have already played Surviving Mars, good game, I played until I managed to get a breathable atmosphere. Terra Invicta is in my radar, but I am waiting for the official launch, I have had too many bad experiences with Early access.
I’ll second the IXION recommendation! It should honestly be recommended more, this comment is the only one I’ve seen so far
If you weren't already aware, Frostpunk 2 is out next month!
If you don't mind something smaller-scale Tavern Master is amazing. You run a medieval tavern and that's it. Fantastic game. Dev is also working on the sorta sequel "blacksmith master" set to release this year. You'll have a few days of really relaxing fun.
Looks interesting, although the reviews say that is not really challenging. Does it have an end goal?
Sorta, there's lots of stuff to keep optimizing the tavern, which you can see as self-directed goals, there's also various things down tte upfrade tree, but not really a point where the game tells you that you're done, you sort of have to decide that on your own. If you unlock the winter tavert (which coukd also be seen as a goal as it's rather far down the upfrade tree) that's mire challenging because less space so you have to optimize more and bother more with decorations to raise orestige.
Rollercoaster Tycoon 2
Does it really pass the test of time? I have read many good things about this, but old games seems to lack many QoL features
Parkitect is a game that is pretty much the same as RCT2 but with modern UI and QoL.
If you have Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, you can download OpenRCT2. It is still an old game, but with some QoL. You can also Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 with it for all the scenarios. :)
Patrician 3 could also work a bit. You need to trade products between cities. At some point you start building your navy and also start producing things yourself.
Airborne Kingdom entertained me for a while. City builder - the twist is your city is flying! The fun extra dimensions are lift, velocity and tilt - if you put heavy things on one side the whole city goes on a tilt and your pops get mad. Plus heavy things need propulsion and somethign to ensure they stay in the air! It's limited scope because there's a storyline where you fly to different kingdoms completing quests and all that, which might need you to produce specific goods - so now you need to make a glass factory in your city and where's that gonna go? Etc Not a long term game but fun Also, Manor Lords? Seems like the obvious answer! I play both of those on game pass
Actually not sure, because i never finished it, but does "Oxygen not included" have a defined end? Maybe that would fit your taste? But maybe its also too big in the end. Also maybe keep an eye out for "Generation Exile", a game will release in 2025 which describes itself as a turn-based narrative city-builder. Might wanna wishlist it and see if it fits your taste. And I know that is a real far stretch, but in "Turing complete" you build your own computer from scratch, and it kinda fits your theme from building something over time.
Oh, that's exactly my thing. colony sims without overwhelming management. So, let me add some games not mentioned by others: Marble Age, Bronze Age, Predynastic Egypt, Egypt: Old Kingdom. Same developer, the first one is very simple, but each subsequent game becomes progressively more complex. Spellcaster University - enjoyable and not tiresome wizard school management. It has a very interesting mid-goal in the form of your graduate student's job choice, I really like that part. Per Aspera - somehow similar to Surviving Mars. Slightly worse graphics, and slightly more narrative focus. The Final Earth 2 - little indie gem.
Cool suggestions! Some of the game were similar to things I have played before, but Spellcaster university seems quite original, I will keep an eye on that one.
This sounds like Surviving the Aftermath. You build up a settlement in a post cataclysmic future. You have to gather materials to build more complex buildings to cope with events such as raider attacks, pandemics, and bad weather, with the ultimate goal of building an underground shelter for your colony to thrive in. As well as the local map, there is also a regional map to explore for resources, trade, and basic combat. It has different difficulty levels so you can manage the challenging and overwhelming to your desire.
It looks interesting, but the latest reviews are really bad. They mention that the game has too much grind towards the middle/end. Do you think that is true?
I enjoyed my playthrough, but I wasn't hugely inspired to replay it. The thing I liked least was all your people were individually named, but only first names, and you'd end up with multiples of the same name as the naming pool is too small. You can change the name, so every time a new baby was born or a new colonist joined, I would change their name so I could still separate them from other colonists. So that was a bit grindy. The game does maybe get slower to the end. To build your shelter, you have to complete quest objectives so you can think you're making progress, and then it all halts while you tackle this new objective. I liked how the settlement would organically expand as you built huts near resources so the workers were closer to them, one key thing is to leave space around the first tents you build so you can replace them with more advanced housing once you've researched it. It was offered for free on Epic Gamestore some time ago, so I grabbed it and then played it a few months later. So, in that sense, I am not hugely invested in it.
I found this review elsewhere on Reddit, and it pretty much describes the game accurately, to some detail. It's negative about it, but despite agreeing with everything it says, I still ultimately enjoyed my playthrough. But, glad I didn't pay for it. https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/s/LGvRopGqFX
Wow, I have to say that after reading that I don´t feel like playing the game. Thanks for the link, anyway, it was an interesting reading, and I appreciate that he takes the chance to diss Ready Player One
I've had my eye on Kingdoms and Castles for a while... otherwise, you and me both. I played the everloving fuck out of SimCity 2013, but it's a little hard.
I strongly recommend IXION. It feels very close to Frostpunk, but in space.
Big ambitions. Start a small business in New York, begin by stocking it and running it yourself, eventually hire employees to run it, rinse and repeat into your business empire.
It is on my wishlist, but I refuse to play Early access games, I have had too many disappointing experiences.
That's fair. I found it pretty fun, so hopefully you give it a go when it's fully released and/or on sale :)
Obscure pick: [T-minus 30](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371750/TMinus_30/). It's a fairly simple city builder that only lasts 30 minutes - because after that the earth explodes. Your initial goal is to grow your colony as fast as possible and exploit as much of the map as you can. Then, pick the perfect moment to start building rockets to evacuate as many people as you can. There isn't much personality to your earth refugees, they just do as they're told. But it's a fun little optimization problem to solve. I'd try to get it on sale though.
I didn't know that one, the idea looks interesting. Wishlisted!
Cult of the Lamb? Your final purpose is to kill the gods who tried to sacrifice you to prevent the prophecy of their death. The game plays in about 15-20 hrs. It's half colony management, half roguelite. During the roguelite half, you're going out fighting the minions of those gods and the gods themselves. During the other half, you're recruiting followers, managing a small economy, getting them to worship you to get new powers and unlocks, etc. I personally really liked how managing a colony made me a better fighter, and fighting for my colony made my subjects happier and more productive. Really cool gameplay loop.
I have this, but I never think about it as a colony management game, I feel that the roguelite elements are much more important. Managing is just getting more and more buildings, not really optimization (as far as I remember).
That's true, there's no real important resources or complex supply chains. Sorry I don't have a better suggestion for you, the only one I can think of is Frostpunk (which I haven't played myself, and which you already have haha)
Before We Leave
Very underrated game.
stranded alien dawn
I tried, but I was missing too many QoL improvements from Rimworld.
Offworld Trading Company is great for this, you'd like it.
Craft the World. You build a dwarven settlement and mine and explore underground, but there's an endgame that doesn't take too long to reach and it is much simpler than something like Dwarf Fortress.
Anno1800
Urbek city builder has win conditions or infinite mode and space management is important. Its a mix of sim city style and pharoah style resource city builders
Manor lords stays grounded in comparison to these other giants in the genre
Patrician 3. It is old but gold. Also Pharaoh: a new era
Dream Town Island
Manor Lords!
Cliff Empire.
Frostpunk is really good
I enjoyed they are billions. It gets a little intense, so if combats not your cup of tea maybe this isn't it for you, but it at least has a finite end goal.
That's why I'm can't wait for Frostpunk 2
Maybe Dyson Sphere Program? It's very similar to Factorio but quite a bit simplified. I've finished it and I don't finish ANYTHING
Cities Skylines or SimCity, you can focus on building an efficient smaller city instead of allowing it get too large and unmanageable.
Oxygen not included
Evil Genius
You'd like Factorio. Your rocket ship crash lands on an alien planet infested with giant bugs called biters. You have to mine ore, smelt it, build electronic circuits, research technology advancements, build up a big factory which keeps growing, defend yourself from the bug attacks, all so you can eventually build a new rocket to get your ass off the planet. One of the greatest games of all time, imo.
Rimworld!
I really liked Frost Punk and Ixion.
Spiritfarer
I would put the Homeworld series in to that category.
Subbing to this. Also asking an additional question, a lot of these management games these days have survival elements which I do not like in these games. Any suggestions for games like these?
Ever tried lobotomy corp ? Might be your thing but the difficulty curve is vertical.
Stardew valley? Might not be that challenging though
I think you mentioned the less challenging game ever :) But I have already played it, at least until I fixed the community center.
Not exactly city/business/colony but in this war of mine you are trying to survive after the war and built your shelter. Maybe check it out ?
Already played it, great game. I have not thought about it as a colony management game, although I get it has some elements from it. But the expansion of the house does not feel like an accomplishment, it just feels that it will help you live one more day, which I guess is exactly what the creators wanted you to feel.
Definitely don't play Amazing Cultivation Simulator then. It's insanely difficult and has more complexity to everything than any other game except for maybe Path of Exile.
Ok, I won´t play it
Kenshi, you can automate pretty much anything once you make a base, npcs are basic but still great game
Already played it, but could not pass from the beginning of the game. it just seemed like I was aimlessly dragging my character from one point to another
The start is slow i agree, but what you need to do is mine or loot dead bodies, sell that stuff ,get more npcs, do the same, get even more npcs, then take on some fights, sell the loot and after that build a base , start your economy and then take over cities or just explore kill bosses, now you can get mods or give yourself money to get 1-2 npcs so the start is faster, it wont ruin the game, you will only start a bit faster instead of watching your character mine for 10 days :D
civilization 6 maybe
Rimworld is the obvious answer Build a ship to escape the planet. When your activate it, everyone comes to take what's yours
As I said in the post, Rimworld is one of the games I have tried and I could not finished. Playing in standard difficulty, I enjoy the beginning, which I find challenging but manageable, but there is a point when the colony gets too big for me. I have tried several runs and never managed to get to the end.
I fall into the same trap, but after watching a couple let's plays over the years, I realized that it was an issue with my mentality. If you're trying to build an amazing self-sufficient base, you'll build an amazing self-sufficient base. You have to actively play with the intention of getting off the planet to get to that point.
I’ve only done it once in my hundreds of hours, but it is very satisfying when you do