- #1 Flotsam
97% matchVery Positive81% of 4,469 reviews2025
Dev: Pajama Llama GamesPub: Stray Fawn Publishing
Windows
Median: 4.5 hrsMean: 10.8 hrs≥1hr: 82%
Sail, scavenge, and rescue survivors in a vibrant floating city-builder. Captain your drifters across the endless garbage sea to uncover soaked ruins, rusting factories, and stories from the old world.
Why similar: Colony Sim 36.8%, City Builder 20.2%, Base Building 12.6%, Post-apocalyptic 7.7%, Survival 6.9%
- #2 Aquatico
96% matchMixed67% of 867 reviews2023
Dev: Digital Reef GamesPub: Overseer Games
Windows
Median: 3.5 hrsMean: 7.5 hrs≥1hr: 85%
Aquatico is a classic city builder set within the depths of the sea. Strategically build an underwater colony atop the ocean floor and face the challenges that accompany oceanic life.
Why similar: Colony Sim 39.7%, City Builder 24.6%, Base Building 10%, Post-apocalyptic 7%, Strategy 6.9%
- #3 Space Haven
95% matchVery Positive86% of 10,886 reviews2026
Dev: Bugbyte Ltd.
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.2 hrsMean: 20.9 hrs≥1hr: 71%
Embark on a space voyage with your ragtag crew of civilians in search of a new home. Build spaceships tile by tile, create optimal gas conditions, manage the needs and moods of their crew, encounter other space-faring groups, and explore the universe in this spaceship colony simulation.
Why similar: Colony Sim 36.9%, City Builder 17.7%, Base Building 12.1%, Survival 7%, Post-apocalyptic 6.7%
- #4 Surviving the Aftermath
96% matchMostly Positive71% of 4,548 reviews2021
Dev: Iceflake StudiosPub: Paradox Interactive
Windows
Median: 4.6 hrsMean: 18.3 hrs≥1hr: 74%
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.
Why similar: Colony Sim 33.1%, City Builder 24.9%, Post-apocalyptic 10.9%, Base Building 9.1%, Strategy 8.7%
- #5 New Cycle
94% matchMostly Positive79% of 2,839 reviews2024
Dev: Core EngagePub: Daedalic Entertainment
Windows
Median: 4.2 hrsMean: 7.7 hrs≥1hr: 87%
New Cycle is a city building game with focus on survival. After an apocalyptic series of solar flares, human society has been thrown into disarray. Establish a settlement and develop it all the way from humble beginnings to industrial metropolis.
Why similar: Colony Sim 35.6%, City Builder 22.2%, Base Building 11.2%, Post-apocalyptic 8.4%, Survival 7.6%
- #6 Foundation
93% matchVery Positive87% of 23,903 reviews2025
Dev: Polymorph Games
Windows
Median: 11.1 hrsMean: 26.9 hrs≥1hr: 89%
Foundation is a grid-less, laidback medieval city-building game with a focus on organic development, monument construction and resource management.
Why similar: City Builder 42.2%, Colony Sim 21.6%, Strategy 7.9%, Base Building 7.2%, Resource Management 5.8%
- #7 Floodland
94% matchMixed56% of 1,075 reviews2022
Dev: Vile MonarchPub: Ravenscourt
Windows
Median: 3.6 hrsMean: 21.7 hrs≥1hr: 79%
A society survival game set in a world destroyed by climate change. Explore, scavenge and build a city to unite the clans. Conflicting cultures and limited resources mean you need to make tough choices; have you got what it takes to lead your people into a new era of humanity?
Why similar: Colony Sim 42.4%, City Builder 21.5%, Post-apocalyptic 10.8%, Strategy 9%, Survival 8.3%
- #8 The Wandering Village
91% matchVery Positive92% of 8,303 reviews2025
Dev: Stray Fawn StudioPub: Stray Fawn Publishing
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 3.9 hrsMean: 10.7 hrs≥1hr: 81%
The Wandering Village is a city-building simulation game on the back of a giant, wandering creature. Build your settlement and form a symbiotic relationship with the colossus. Will you survive together in this hostile, yet beautiful post-apocalyptic world, contaminated by poisonous plants?
Why similar: Colony Sim 37.4%, City Builder 23%, Post-apocalyptic 9.9%, Base Building 8.8%, Resource Management 6.5%
- #9 IXION
91% matchMostly Positive79% of 17,436 reviews2022
Dev: Bulwark StudiosPub: Kasedo Games
Windows
Median: 9.8 hrsMean: 30.8 hrs≥1hr: 90%
IXION is an unrelenting, city-building odyssey across the stars. As Administrator of the Tiqqun, DOLOS’ prototype space station, you are tasked with balancing preservation and exploration as you manage infrastructure, resources and crew. Can you keep the flame of humanity alight in the cold dark?
Why similar: Colony Sim 34.5%, City Builder 26.2%, Base Building 10.2%, Survival 8.1%, Strategy 7.1%
- #10 Planetbase
92% matchMostly Positive80% of 10,370 reviews2015
Dev: Madruga Works
Windows · Mac
Median: 8.1 hrsMean: 26.2 hrs≥1hr: 90%
Guide a group of space settlers trying to establish a base on a remote planet. Grow food, collect energy, mine resources, survive disasters and build a self-sufficient colony in a harsh and unforgiving environment.
Why similar: Colony Sim 43.4%, City Builder 23.4%, Base Building 12.8%, Survival 6.5%, Strategy 5.7%
- #11 Settlement Survival
90% matchVery Positive85% of 7,980 reviews2022
Dev: Gleamer StudioPub: Team17
Windows · Mac
Median: 4.0 hrsMean: 11.1 hrs≥1hr: 80%
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.
Why similar: Colony Sim 42.3%, City Builder 28.6%, Survival 8.1%, Base Building 8.1%, Strategy 4.4%
- #12 Endzone - A World Apart
88% matchMostly Positive77% of 9,918 reviews2021
Dev: Gentlymad StudiosPub: Assemble Entertainment
Windows
Median: 3.9 hrsMean: 9.1 hrs≥1hr: 84%
Endzone is a post-apocalyptic survival city builder, where you start a new civilization with a group of people after an ecological disaster. Build them a new home and ensure their survival in a shattered world, threatened by constant radiation, toxic rain, sandstorms and droughts.
Why similar: City Builder 32.2%, Colony Sim 21.4%, Post-apocalyptic 11.2%, Base Building 11%, Survival 9.6%
- #13 Life is Feudal: Forest Village
89% matchMixed66% of 6,003 reviews2017
Dev: MindillusionPub: Bitbox Ltd.
Windows
Median: 2.5 hrsMean: 30.9 hrs≥1hr: 63%
LiF:Forest Village is a city builder with survival aspects in a realistic harsh medieval world. Shape, build and expand your settlement, grow various food to prevent your villagers from avitaminosis and starvation. Possess them for additional micromanagement or simply to wander around.
Why similar: Colony Sim 49.3%, City Builder 29.5%, Strategy 5.7%, Resource Management 5.5%, Survival 5%
- #14 Patron
87% matchMostly Positive72% of 3,181 reviews2021
Dev: Overseer Games
Windows
Median: 3.5 hrsMean: 6.6 hrs≥1hr: 81%
Patron is a survival city builder with a unique social dynamics system. Gather and produce resources, build your fledgling village into a prosperous city and navigate the intricate social tensions before they reach boiling point.
Why similar: Colony Sim 42.4%, City Builder 24.6%, Survival 8.1%, Base Building 7.8%, Strategy 7.1%
- #15 Republic of Pirates
86% matchMostly Positive72% of 509 reviews2024
Dev: Crazy Goat GamesPub: PQube
Windows
Median: 2.6 hrsMean: 5.1 hrs≥1hr: 72%
Establish and grow a pirate utopia during the Golden Age of Piracy. Create a resource-based economy, engage in real-time naval combat, and conduct diplomacy with rival powers. Explore the far reaches of the Caribbean in search of the ultimate fortune and glory.
Why similar: Colony Sim 33.1%, City Builder 22.8%, Pirates 14.3% ★, RTS 8.3%, Strategy 7%
- #16 The Crust
84% matchMostly Positive77% of 3,637 reviews2024
Dev: VEOM StudioPub: Crytivo
Windows
Median: 6.9 hrsMean: 23.8 hrs≥1hr: 82%
Automate a lunar base as you become the savior of humanity exploring the future on the moon. Mine, craft, research, and trade resources with Earth in this gripping narrative basebuilder.
Why similar: Colony Sim 38.3%, City Builder 17.4%, Base Building 13.8%, Resource Management 6.6%, Strategy 5.4%
- #17 Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation
86% matchVery Positive81% of 2,258 reviews2018
Dev: Suncrash
Windows
Median: 4.7 hrsMean: 25.0 hrs≥1hr: 87%
Build, scavenge, craft, and perform occult rituals to survive in a demon-infested, post-apocalyptic colony simulation. Will you survive Judgment day?
Why similar: Colony Sim 44.4%, Base Building 13.5%, City Builder 9.9%, Post-apocalyptic 9.2%, Survival 8.6%
- #18 Oxygen
85% matchMostly Positive72% of 892 reviews2023
Dev: Turquoise Revival GamesPub: GrabTheGames
Windows
Median: 3.5 hrsMean: 9.4 hrs≥1hr: 79%
Oxygen is a survival city builder. Build your city around the Oxygen Center and ensure your people's survival in a post-apocalyptic future, threatened by crack explosions, deadly winds, droughts and frosts. Lead your people and more importantly keep the Oxygen Center running!
Why similar: Colony Sim 34.8%, City Builder 21.4%, Base Building 12.7%, Survival 7.3%, Strategy 6.6%
- #19 Ratopia
83% matchVery Positive88% of 4,734 reviews2025
Dev: Cassel Games
Windows · Mac
Median: 8.1 hrsMean: 25.9 hrs≥1hr: 86%
Ratopia is a new game that has combined elements of both strategic survival and city building. With plenty of content available, and more planned, enjoy a vast world to adventure and populate with citizens! Build your own economical system to sustain your ideal city of Ratopia.
Why similar: Colony Sim 40.8%, City Builder 19.7%, Base Building 13.1%, Survival 7.6%, Strategy 6.2%
- #20 Dawn of Man
84% matchVery Positive87% of 17,766 reviews2019
Dev: Madruga Works
Windows · Mac
Median: 10.9 hrsMean: 30.0 hrs≥1hr: 86%
Command a settlement of ancient humans, guide them through the ages in their struggle for survival. Hunt, gather, craft tools, fight, research new techs and face the challenges the environment will throw at you.
Why similar: Colony Sim 46.7%, City Builder 32.5%, Survival 7.4%, Strategy 6.1%, RTS 2%
- #21 Airborne Empire
81% matchVery Positive88% of 891 reviews2026
Dev: The Wandering Band LLCPub: Stray Fawn Publishing
Windows · Mac
Median: 2.1 hrsMean: 6.4 hrs≥1hr: 59%
Build your sky city while exploring a vast landscape in this Open World RPG City Builder. Combining the methodical construction and management of a city builder; the unique lift, balance, and propulsion needed for a flying city; and the compelling characters, dangers, and adventures of an RPG!
Why similar: Colony Sim 40.5%, City Builder 24%, Base Building 9.3%, Resource Management 7.3%, Strategy 6.5%
- #22 Founders' Fortune
82% matchVery Positive80% of 2,187 reviews2020
Dev: Dionic Software
Windows · Mac
Median: 1.5 hrsMean: 10.1 hrs≥1hr: 56%
A fantasy village builder focusing on creative building, colonist psychology and base defense. Handle resources, farming, production, tools, diplomacy, families, trading, defense, and research, as well as the wishes, expectations, thoughts, and equipment of every villager.
Why similar: Colony Sim 51.9%, City Builder 19.4%, Base Building 12.1%, Survival 5%, Strategy 4.9%
- #23 Rise to Ruins
82% matchVery Positive88% of 7,752 reviews2019
Dev: Raymond DoerrPub: SixtyGig Games
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.7 hrsMean: 17.4 hrs≥1hr: 83%
A brutal godlike village sim that melds the god game, management, and tower defense genres! Fight off hoards of monsters at night, and expand your village in the day time. Inspired by games like Black and White, Rimworld, and Dwarf Fortress but not quite like any of them.
Why similar: Colony Sim 45.8%, City Builder 24%, Base Building 9.8%, Survival 6.7%, Strategy 6.3%
- #24 Frostpunk
81% matchVery Positive93% of 135,886 reviews2018
Dev: 11 bit studios
Windows · Mac
Median: 6.2 hrsMean: 22.2 hrs≥1hr: 86%
Frostpunk is the first society survival game. As the ruler of the last city on Earth, it is your duty to manage both its citizens and infrastructure. What decisions will you make to ensure your society's survival? What will you do when pushed to breaking point? Who will you become in the process?
Why similar: Colony Sim 32.6%, City Builder 26.1%, Survival 8.7%, Post-apocalyptic 8.4%, Resource Management 7%
- #25 Ocean Punk
80% matchMostly Positive80% of 169 reviews2024
Dev: Infinite Studio
Windows
Explore a fantasy ocean-punk world, braving the deep with steam-powered marvels. Discover mysterious underwater treasures, but scarcity and ecological crises test survival. Rise, build, confront foes in this pixel-art ocean survival journey!
Why similar: Colony Sim 35.6%, Pirates 14% ★, Base Building 11.6%, Post-apocalyptic 11.6%, Survival 6.9%
- #26 Kingdoms Reborn
79% matchVery Positive90% of 9,656 reviews2020
Dev: Earthshine
Windows
Median: 10.1 hrsMean: 24.4 hrs≥1hr: 87%
A city builder with simulated citizens, set in a procedurally-generated world map. Grow your kingdom through the eras from a tiny medieval hamlet into a prosperous global empire! Cooperate or compete in real-time with your friends in multiplayer mode.
Why similar: Colony Sim 35.9%, City Builder 31.5%, Base Building 11.7%, Strategy 5.1%, Resource Management 4.3%
- #27 Endzone 2
78% matchMixed68% of 1,037 reviews2025
Dev: Gentlymad StudiosPub: Assemble Entertainment
Windows
Median: 2.1 hrsMean: 8.5 hrs≥1hr: 68%
Endzone 2 is a post-apocalyptic survival colony builder, where you embark to secure humanity's survival after a cataclysmic disaster. Discover and repopulate the last habitable grounds, while the survival of your people hinges on your wits, foresight, and resilience in a harsh and unforgiving world.
Why similar: Colony Sim 39.9%, City Builder 21.6%, Base Building 10.1%, Post-apocalyptic 9.5%, Survival 7.5%
- #28 ALL WILL FALL
77% matchMostly Positive77% of 1,246 reviews2026
Dev: All Parts ConnectedPub: tinyBuild
Windows
Median: 4.4 hrsMean: 11.6 hrs≥1hr: 74%
Build massive ocean cities and lead your people to prosperity in this post-apocalyptic survival colony sim. Featuring a physics-based 3D construction system, complex resource management, exploration, difficult political decisions, supply chains, and a robust sandbox mode.
Why similar: Colony Sim 40.5%, City Builder 20%, Base Building 13.2%, Post-apocalyptic 9.6%, Strategy 5.6%
- #29 Colony Survival
78% matchVery Positive92% of 8,916 reviews2017
Dev: Pipliz
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 9.6 hrsMean: 28.6 hrs≥1hr: 87%
Colony Survival is a unique first-person strategy game developed by a two-man team. Build your own colony in a voxel world. Command guards, farmers, miners and other colonists. Defend your colony against the horde of monsters that attacks every night!
Why similar: Colony Sim 51.9%, Base Building 14.5%, City Builder 12.4%, Survival 9.1%, Strategy 5.3%
- #30 Infection Free Zone
76% matchVery Positive81% of 18,136 reviews2024
Dev: Jutsu GamesPub: Games Operators
Windows
Median: 7.2 hrsMean: 18.3 hrs≥1hr: 86%
Choose any real region from the world. Choose your base of operations, then rebuild and readapt the buildings around you to create a self-sustaining settlement. Take charge of a group of survivors from your city. And when the night falls - Defend the zone from the infected!
Why similar: Colony Sim 27.4%, City Builder 23.5%, Base Building 16.5%, Post-apocalyptic 11.1%, Strategy 6.9%
- #31 Settlements Rising
76% matchVery Positive81% of 430 reviews2025
Dev: The Catalyst Crew
Windows
Settlements Rising is a medieval city building and colony management game. It offers a lively colony experience with simulated villagers, dozens of professions and resources, natural disasters, and raids, while providing full control over the colony through trade, production chains and datas.
Why similar: Colony Sim 41.3%, City Builder 24.6%, Base Building 9.3%, Strategy 6.8%, Resource Management 6.3%
- #32 Sphere - Flying Cities
79% matchMixed50% of 242 reviews2022
Dev: mañana studiosPub: Assemble Entertainment
Windows
Sphere – Flying Cities is a sci-fi citybuilder which combines strategy, simulation, and survival elements in an extraordinary and immersive scenario. Rebuild and protect a society in a unique and hostile environment. Pay the price for your decisions and be prepared to lose everything.
Why similar: Colony Sim 45.7%, City Builder 26%, Survival 9.5%, Strategy 8.8%, Resource Management 6.9%
- #33 The Last Haven
77% matchMixed61% of 1,529 reviews2023
Dev: Thunder Devs.
Windows
Median: 4.4 hrsMean: 14.1 hrs≥1hr: 75%
The world after a nuclear war. Manage the settlement, learn technology, make decisions, produce weapons, ammunition, organize defense, raid for supplies on other areas, do not let residents die, survive the nuclear winter.
Why similar: Base Building 18.9%, City Builder 16.6%, Colony Sim 13.2%, Strategy 13%, Post-apocalyptic 11.8%
- #34 CLOUD DWELLERS
75% matchVery Positive88% of 80 reviews2026
Dev: XinZhiPub: Xinzhi
Windows
CloudDwellers is a 2D simulation and city-building game set in a world of scattered floating islands. Guide your settlers to harness technology, optimize production, and transform fragmented skies into a thriving, beautifully crafted aerial haven.
Why similar: Colony Sim 54.7%, Base Building 15.6%, City Builder 8.4%, Strategy 7.7%, Resource Management 6.2%
- #35 Surviving the Abyss
75% matchMixed65% of 1,066 reviews2024
Dev: Rocket Flair StudiosPub: Paradox Arc
Windows
Median: 2.6 hrsMean: 7.6 hrs≥1hr: 70%
Earth, 1976. You have been tasked with managing a deep-sea science facility working to perfect cloning. Explore the darkness and keep your crew alive in this hardcore survival colony builder. And beware. The darkness hides untold horrors.
Why similar: Colony Sim 38.8%, City Builder 22%, Base Building 11.4%, Post-apocalyptic 7.1%, RTS 6.9%
- #36 Havendock
74% matchMostly Positive79% of 1,924 reviews2025
Dev: YYZ StudioPub: Pretty Soon
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 2.3 hrsMean: 10.4 hrs≥1hr: 66%
Breathe easy and thrive in this cozy colony sim. Build a haven for castaways, manage resources, live your best life on the ocean. Lead your humble settlement into a high-tech society.
Why similar: Colony Sim 41.4%, City Builder 23%, Base Building 13.2%, Strategy 7.1%, Resource Management 6.8%
- #37 Ostriv
74% matchOverwhelmingly Positive95% of 7,538 reviews2020
Dev: yevhen8
Windows
Median: 9.0 hrsMean: 36.8 hrs≥1hr: 87%
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.
Why similar: Colony Sim 37.7%, City Builder 26.8%, Base Building 11.7%, Strategy 8.1%, Survival 6.7%
- #38 Edge Islands
72% matchMostly Positive75% of 98 reviews2025
Dev: LS Games
Windows
Discover a unique blend of Colony Sim and Tactical RPG. Recruit and train your heroes, build your outpost, explore dungeons and engage in turn-based strategic battles to protect and expand your domain. Shape your stories by managing moods, relationships, ambitions and more!
Why similar: Colony Sim 45.4%, Base Building 15.5%, City Builder 15.2%, Strategy 8.6%, Survival 5.9%
- #39 Stonehearth
73% matchMostly Positive75% of 13,043 reviews2018
Dev: Radiant EntertainmentPub: (none)
Windows · Mac
Median: 14.1 hrsMean: 38.7 hrs≥1hr: 91%
Pioneer a living world full of warmth, heroism, and mystery. Help a small group of settlers build a home for themselves in a forgotten land. Establish a food supply, build shelter, defend your people, monitor their moods, and find a way to grow and expand, facing challenges at every step.
Why similar: Colony Sim 53.6%, City Builder 28.5%, Survival 7%, Strategy 6%, Open World 2.1%
- #40 Banished
73% matchVery Positive90% of 43,196 reviews2014
Dev: Shining Rock Software LLC
Windows
Median: 7.8 hrsMean: 27.0 hrs≥1hr: 78%
In this city-building strategy game, you control a group of exiled travelers who decide to restart their lives in a new land. They have only the clothes on their backs and a cart filled with supplies from their homeland. The townspeople of Banished are your primary resource.
Why similar: Colony Sim 49.1%, City Builder 29.6%, Strategy 6.6%, Survival 6.3%, Resource Management 2.4%
- #41 Timberborn
67% matchOverwhelmingly Positive96% of 40,383 reviews2026
Dev: Mechanistry
Windows · Mac
Median: 10.3 hrsMean: 43.1 hrs≥1hr: 85%
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.
Why similar: Colony Sim 38%, City Builder 26.3%, Base Building 10.9%, Post-apocalyptic 6.8%, Survival 6.3%
- #42 Land of the Vikings
71% matchMostly Positive74% of 2,240 reviews2023
Dev: Laps GamesPub: Iceberg Interactive
Windows
Median: 3.5 hrsMean: 9.6 hrs≥1hr: 76%
Land of the Vikings is a survival colony sim game. Build and lead your village, and expand it into a thriving city. A wise Jarl must manage resources, survive harsh conditions, and guide their fellow Vikings to work together through social conflict. Skál!
Why similar: Colony Sim 44.7%, City Builder 24.5%, Base Building 9.9%, Survival 7.3%, Strategy 6.9%
- #43 Mistward
71% matchMixed62% of 90 reviews2026
Dev: Sokpop Collective
Windows · Mac
Mistward is a survival city-builder set on a mysterious island enshrouded in a poisonous mist! Create light sources to keep the mist at bay, build houses and command humans to gather resources. Explore the island and find a way out!
Why similar: Colony Sim 44.4%, City Builder 25.1%, Strategy 8.6%, Base Building 8.1%, Survival 5.4%
- #44 Aven Colony
73% matchMostly Positive72% of 2,765 reviews2017
Dev: Mothership Entertainment LLCPub: Team17 Digital Ltd
Windows
Median: 4.2 hrsMean: 8.1 hrs≥1hr: 90%
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.
Why similar: Colony Sim 49.8%, City Builder 26.6%, Base Building 8.7%, Strategy 7.2%, Survival 2.5%
- #45 Roman Triumph: Survival City Builder
68% matchVery Positive85% of 752 reviews2025
Dev: Coreffect InteractivePub: Forklift Interactive
Windows
Median: 3.8 hrsMean: 6.9 hrs≥1hr: 73%
At the farthest reaches of the empire, a new Roman city is born! Manage and grow your city, please the gods, and survive against barbarians and mythological threats to achieve Roman Triumph!
Why similar: Colony Sim 36.5%, City Builder 20.7%, Base Building 11.2%, Survival 7.2%, RTS 7.1%
- #46 Airborne Kingdom
70% matchVery Positive87% of 2,385 reviews2022
Dev: The Wandering Band LLC
Windows
Median: 3.5 hrsMean: 6.8 hrs≥1hr: 81%
The sky city builder awaits. Create your own flying kingdom and lead it on a quest across an expansive world. Explore the varied landscape, build up a floating metropolis, aid struggling people below, uncover lost secrets and, ultimately, bring back the Airborne Kingdom legend.
Why similar: City Builder 46.7%, Base Building 26%, Resource Management 11.5%, Strategy 9.8%, Simulation 2.5%
- #47 Ascent of Ashes
69% matchMostly Positive71% of 302 reviews2025
Dev: Vivid Storm Interactive
Windows
A colony sim set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia. Build and defend your base. Manage your survivors. Engage raiders, aliens, Remnant soldiers and other factions in real-time-with-pause combat. Or use stealth to outwit them. Explore the massive world. Survive at all costs
Why similar: Colony Sim 41.9%, City Builder 21%, Base Building 13.6%, Survival 8.1%, Strategy 7.1%
- #48 Kingdoms and Castles
69% matchVery Positive94% of 31,238 reviews2017
Dev: Lion Shield, LLC
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 6.1 hrsMean: 16.1 hrs≥1hr: 88%
Kingdoms and Castles is a city-building simulation game about growing a kingdom from a tiny hamlet to a sprawling city and imposing castle. Make trade agreements, alliance, and war with neighboring AI controlled kingdoms. Each villager and resource is individually simulated.
Why similar: Colony Sim 37.4%, City Builder 24.6%, Base Building 9.6%, RTS 6.1%, Resource Management 5.7%
- #49 Industries of Titan
70% matchMixed62% of 1,613 reviews2023
Dev: Brace Yourself Games
Windows
Median: 5.4 hrsMean: 14.0 hrs≥1hr: 84%
Create a sprawling industrial city. Compete with other rival corporations on Titan for resources, territory, and power. Seek victory via technology, influence, warfare, or the wealth extracted from your citizens. Stake your claim to the Industries of Titan in this innovative sim/strategy game!
Why similar: Colony Sim 38.3%, City Builder 23.7%, Base Building 11.7%, Post-apocalyptic 9.1%, Resource Management 7.4%
- #50 Going Medieval
65% matchVery Positive89% of 21,102 reviews2026
Dev: Foxy VoxelPub: Mythwright
Windows
Median: 7.9 hrsMean: 32.0 hrs≥1hr: 83%
Build and manage your own castle settlement in a land reclaimed by wilderness. With detailed management, survival strategy, and a moddable sandbox world, Going Medieval challenges you to build the mightiest colony this side of the apocalypse.
Why similar: Colony Sim 43.4%, City Builder 23.4%, Base Building 14.3%, Survival 8.4%, Strategy 7.3%
- #51 Embark
72% matchMixed60% of 389 reviews2019
Dev: Overly Complicated Games
Windows
Inspired by the deep simulation of Dwarf Fortress, the open world survival of Minecraft, and the social interactions of The Sims. Embark is a colony management game with a focus on complex simulation in a huge living 3D world.
Why similar: Colony Sim 62.9%, Base Building 15%, Strategy 7.1%, Survival 6.2%, Open World 3.3%
- #52 Dream Engines: Nomad Cities
69% matchMostly Positive73% of 621 reviews2024
Dev: Suncrash
Windows
Median: 3.6 hrsMean: 9.3 hrs≥1hr: 82%
A survival city-building game with flying cities. Build, automate, and defend a flying city that travels between procedurally generated maps to survive in a wacky, nightmare-infested, post-apocalyptic world full of strange science and dreams.
Why similar: City Builder 38%, Base Building 16%, Survival 12.9%, Post-apocalyptic 10.9%, Strategy 9.1%
- #53 Whiskerwood
66% matchVery Positive93% of 3,148 reviews2025
Dev: Minakata DynamicsPub: Hooded Horse
Windows
Median: 9.3 hrsMean: 16.3 hrs≥1hr: 88%
Establish a home for your industrious mice under the oppressive paw of your cat overlords in this city builder featuring complex simulations, intricate production chains, and the age-old rivalry between cat and mouse.
Why similar: Colony Sim 38.3%, City Builder 21.5%, Base Building 12.7%, Survival 6.8%, Strategy 6.7%
- #54 Oceaneers
67% matchVery Positive90% of 93 reviews2026
Dev: Barrel Smash Studios
Windows
A sci-fi survival-crafting colony sim set in a flooded world of floating islands. Build a colony, craft gear, design rafts, fend off sharks, manage your survivors, and explore island bunkers to uncover lost Float-Tech from an old-world corporation.
Why similar: Colony Sim 54.8%, Base Building 15.2%, Survival 11.5%, Strategy 6.5%, Resource Management 4.8%
- #55 The Bonfire 2: Uncharted Shores
70% matchMixed69% of 365 reviews2020
Dev: Xigma Games
Windows · Mac
Median: 5.9 hrsMean: 8.4 hrs≥1hr: 94%
Build, survive, explore. Design your city, manage resource chains and workers, Send ships on expedition, trade with cities, discover mysterious dungeons and uncover secrets of ancients.
Why similar: Colony Sim 47.2%, City Builder 16.8%, Base Building 11%, Survival 8.5%, Strategy 6.2%
- #56 Frostpunk 2
66% matchMostly Positive75% of 26,488 reviews2024
Dev: 11 bit studios
Windows · Mac
Median: 8.0 hrsMean: 19.7 hrs≥1hr: 87%
Develop, expand, and advance your city in a society survival game set 30 years after an apocalyptic blizzard ravaged Earth. In Frostpunk 2, you face not only the perils of never-ending winter, but also the powerful factions that watch your every step inside the Council Hall.
Why similar: City Builder 36.4%, Colony Sim 12.9%, Survival 11.4%, Strategy 10.6%, Post-apocalyptic 9.9%
- #57 Oxygen: First Breath
67% matchVery Positive89% of 1,658 reviews2022
Dev: Turquoise Revival GamesPub: GrabTheGames
Windows
Median: 48 minMean: 8.1 hrs≥1hr: 40%
This is a free version of Oxygen, featuring the first 50 game-days. Build your city around the Oxygen Center and ensure your people's survival in a post-apocalyptic future, threatened by crack explosions, deadly winds, droughts and frosts. Lead your people and keep the Oxygen Center running!
Why similar: Colony Sim 34.7%, City Builder 22.3%, Base Building 13.6%, Survival 7.4%, Strategy 7.2%
- #58 Maia
71% matchMixed44% of 1,064 reviews2018
Dev: Simon RothPub: Machine Studios
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 30 minMean: 4.4 hrs≥1hr: 41%
Maia is a colony building game set in the not-so-distant future. Your colonists make planetfall on a hostile world and you must ensure their survival and their safety, constructing their off-world habitat from almost nothing and sheltering them from a dangerous, often deadly environment.
Why similar: Colony Sim 59.9%, Base Building 10.5%, Strategy 9.2%, Survival 9.1%, Simulation 3.3%
- #59 Humanica
64% matchVery Positive94% of 164 reviews2026
Dev: PanfachDev
Windows
Humanica is a city-builder game about an ancient settlement, featuring vast technological development. Experience the journey from sticks and stones to iron tools and windmills!
Why similar: Colony Sim 35.5%, City Builder 25%, Base Building 12.1%, Survival 8.4%, Strategy 6.6%