Building and managing your own space colony is an unmatched experience. Whether it is creating a settlement among the stars and witnessing the lives of your colonists in Rimworld or managing several bases in Planetbase, space management games can prove to be very relaxing and fun.
These games surely put your resource-hoarding and team-leading skills to the test as you set out on your space adventure in the deep and never-ending universe. There are quite some space colony builders that you can try out, each offering a unique gameplay experience catering to every space enthusiast’s taste buds.
8Surviving Mars
Sustaining Life On The Red Planet
Building an extraterrestrial city in a land as dry and inhabitable as Mars is not easy. In this title, you start from scratch as you build a bio-dome where you provide oxygen along with other necessary resources for your Martian colony to thrive.
The game gives you a very hard time in the beginning, as you start with very limited resources. But there is something extremely satisfying when you successfully set up your very first dome with everything from factories and windmills to keep it running.
PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Geforce now, and Mac OS
Developer(s)
Madruga Works
Planet Base is a great resource management space colony simulator where you use robots and humans to survive on a foreign planet. Unlike other space colony management games, Planetbase is pretty unforgiving, especially if you’re playing in the challenge mode; you have to provide oxygen, water, and food and maintain the supplies to ensure the survival of your hard-working crew.
Things will start to get difficult as you progress and set up bases on other planets, as there are plenty of things to worry about including the shortage of resources and malfunctions. Also, you have to be prepared to tackle natural disasters as well, and you’ll need a very good strategy if you want to manage your bases successfully; otherwise, you will quickly end up wiping your whole colony.
PC, macOS, Linux, and Classic Mac OS
Aspyr and Firaxis Games
If you enjoy titles of the Civilization series, Beyond Earth is another decent title to try out as it sets out beyond the horizons of Earth with whole new challenges. As you settle down on a foreign planet, you will get to deal with aliens and monsters that are much like the Barbarian tribes.
The game gives you a unique and customized experience as you have to formulate strategies to build your alien colony while making tough choices including choosing your affinity, that affect your Victory outcome and overall gameplay as well. You battle against aliens using powerful military units and even launch satellites to establish a connection with Earth.
Chucklefish
Starbound is a spectacular 2Dspace explorationand crafting game with amazing combat, which mostly revolves around mining in the alien territory as you collect resources to set up bases and even craft weapons and armor. There are several planets for you to explore, each with its ownunique biomes and hidden underground areasthat you’re able to discover through a bit of digging.
It’s basically like Minecraft but set in space, with endless possibilities of exploring and discovering. But that is not all as you will get to fight devastating bosses during your quests that you can complete with your friends as well in co-op.
PC, Xbox One, GeForce Now, and PlayStation 4
Mothership entertainment
Aven Colony is great in case you’re looking for a simple and relaxing game that lets you set up your colony on an alien planet with some fun occasional missions that can be pretty taxing at times. The city builder has a slow but engaging pace and easy mechanics.
The first few hours do require some grinding; however, after that, building and maintaining becomes quite manageable. Aven Colony uses splendid otherworldly visuals and the attention to detail in the atmosphere is praiseworthy; do look after the colonists though, as they can turn against you in a second if their needs are not fulfilled.
Living On An Asteroid Budget-Friendly Edition
Platform(s)
PC, Geforce now, Mac operating systems, Linux, and classic Mac OS
Klei Entertainment
A very fun and clever take on space colonization and survival genre, Oxygen Not Included is a must-try solely because of its spectacular art style and satisfying gameplay experience. Your mission is tocolonize an asteroid, which sounds insane, but apparently, it is the only option left.
The resources are very scarce, but you have to manage them in order to sustain life on this asteroid. Also, each of the characters you get to use has their own strengths and weaknesses, and you have to make the right use of them to keep your colony running.
PC and Mac OS
Firefly studios
Space Colony is a wonderfully executed real-time space builder where your ultimate goal is to set up a colony on another planet with the sole purpose of generating more profit. Your colonists are quirky and sarcastic and will always put their needs first, so most of your time will be consumed by them and making them do a certain job can be quite a task in itself.
There are multiple modes, including story mode, where you have to complete certain objectives; sandbox mode, where you’re able to freely play without the limitations of missions, and Galaxy mode, where you will get to explore other planets with different requirements and objectives. You can also create your very own level, which is certainly a great feature to try out if you intend to pick up Space Colony.
A Grim And Morally Challenging Masterpiece
PC, PlayStation 4, Linux, Xbox One, Geforce now, and Mac OS
Ludeon Studios, Double Eleven, and Tynan Sylvester
There is quite nothing like the iconic masterpiece that Rimworld is; even after years of its release, it still managed to remain one of the best real-time space management open-world sims. The art style is sublime, and the gameplay is all about making choices that will actually question your morality.
One feature that sets Rimworld apart from any other space game is definitely its colonists, who seem more real and relatable than ever. Fromgetting married to playing pokerwith their workmates, you will get a chance to witness their lives unfold in front of you.
