Games Like DFHack - Dwarf Fortress Modding Engine

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.

Why similar: Dwarf 53.1% ★, Colony Sim 18.7% ★, Building 7.5%, Simulation 5.5%, Management 5%

Why You'll Like It: This is the foundational simulation experience that DFHack was designed to enhance and support.

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.

Why similar: Colony Sim 36.1% ★, Moddable 27.5% ★, Building 7.4%, Procedural Generation 7.3%, Simulation 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: A premier colony management game that features deep, emergent storytelling and complex system interactions.

Songs of Syx is a fantasy city-builder with vast battles simulating thousands of citizens and soldiers. Start off as a small village and build, scheme, and fight your way towards a mighty empire. The mechanics are deep and true to life, where tiny events can spiral into the collapse of kingdoms.

Why similar: Colony Sim 34.2% ★, Moddable 32.6% ★, Building 12.2%, Simulation 8.6%, Survival 3.8%

Why You'll Like It: It offers a massive-scale colony simulation that rivals the complexity and depth found in Dwarf Fortress.

Factorio is a game about building and creating automated factories to produce items of increasing complexity, within an infinite 2D world. Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious structures, and finally protect it from the creatures who don't really like you.

Why similar: Moddable 30.2% ★, Resource Management 24.2%, Building 13.2%, Management 10%, Simulation 7.4%

Why You'll Like It: It provides the ultimate experience in automation, logic, and large-scale system engineering.

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.

Why similar: Colony Sim 53.1% ★, Resource Management 12.3%, Building 12.1%, Management 6.4%, Simulation 6.4%

Why You'll Like It: This game focuses on complex automation, physics, and resource management within a challenging underground environment.

Manage a Dwarven mining colony in the unexplored mountains of Mara. As conflict rages in the Overworld, you will need to craft, explore and fight as you provide the allies of your choice with the finest weapons and gear to assist them in the battle for glory.

Why similar: Colony Sim 37.2% ★, Building 13.8%, Resource Management 10.7%, Simulation 10.5%, Procedural Generation 10.4%

Why You'll Like It: This title focuses on underground colony management and mining, mirroring the core setting of the seed game.

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: Moddable 32% ★, Colony Sim 29.8% ★, Procedural Generation 10.6%, Simulation 8.1%, Management 7.9%

Why You'll Like It: A 3D colony management game that emphasizes complex building and survival mechanics in a historical setting.

KeeperRL is a retro dungeon simulator with roguelike and RPG elements. Take the role of an evil keeper and build a formidable dungeon. Recruit sinister minions, equip and train them to explore the world and fight the forces of good.

Why similar: Dwarf 49% ★, Moddable 21.6% ★, Procedural Generation 7.6%, Building 7.1%, Simulation 5.8%

Why You'll Like It: A dungeon management game that combines deep simulation with roguelike elements and villainous progression.

Craft The World is a unique sandbox strategy game, the mix of Dungeon Keeper, Terraria and Dwarf Fortress. Explore a random generated world populated by dangerous creatures, build a dwarf fortress, gather resources, and craft all the items, weapons, and armor you need.

Why similar: Dwarf 60.9% ★, Colony Sim 21.2% ★, Building 8.5%, Simulation 2.5%, Resource Management 2.1%

Why You'll Like It: A 2D sandbox game that blends dwarf-themed colony management with crafting and base building.

Rise up in a search for immortality in this strategy sim and management game based on Chinese mythology. Rebuild your sect and train new disciples through the path of cultivation. Research magic and gather mystical artifacts, face ancient dangers and other sects in your path to spiritual ascension.

Why similar: Colony Sim 43.8% ★, Simulation 26%, RPG 7.2%, Management 6.3%, Strategy 5.9%

Why You'll Like It: A deeply complex simulation game inspired by Chinese mythology that offers unparalleled depth in its mechanics.

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 49% ★, Building 17.9%, Management 12%, Simulation 11.1%, Survival 5.6%

Why You'll Like It: It features unique water physics and engineering-focused colony management that appeals to those who enjoy complex systems.

Clanfolk is a colony sim set in the Scottish Highlands. Harness your environment to survive - fish, gather, hunt, and farm as you prepare for the winter. Build an inn, trade with other clans, have children and marry them off - live life and prosper across the generations.

Why similar: Colony Sim 49.1% ★, Building 19.9%, Simulation 15.5%, Pixel Graphics 7%, RPG 6.2%

Why You'll Like It: A survival colony sim that focuses on deep character management and adapting to harsh environmental conditions.

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 53.6% ★, Moddable 13.4% ★, Building 10.2%, Simulation 9.8%, Management 4.8%

Why You'll Like It: A colony management game that focuses on building, logistics, and managing complex interactions between settlers.

Build a colony of ruthless capitalist Dwarves in a strange fantasy land.

Why similar: Dwarf 86% ★, Colony Sim 9.3% ★, Simulation 3.4%, Strategy 1.3%

Why You'll Like It: A strategy and colony management game that includes exploration and tactical combat elements.

Dungeon Alchemist is mapmaking software for tabletop RPG's that enables you to make amazing, high-quality maps in seconds!

Why similar: Software 39.2% ★, Moddable 24.8% ★, Utilities 20.3% ★, Procedural Generation 8.7%, Isometric 3.9%

Why You'll Like It: An AI-powered tool for creating detailed fantasy maps, appealing to the utility-focused nature of the seed game.

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 55.1% ★, Building 12.7%, Simulation 9.7%, Resource Management 6.1%, Management 5.9%

Why You'll Like It: It combines colony management with a focus on social dynamics and economic systems.

Project Zomboid is the ultimate in zombie survival. Alone or in MP: you loot, build, craft, fight, farm and fish in a struggle to survive. A hardcore RPG skillset, a vast map, massively customisable sandbox and a cute tutorial raccoon await the unwary. So how will you die? All it takes is a bite..

Why similar: Survival 28.1%, Building 27.6%, Simulation 18.7%, Isometric 16.1%, RPG 7.3%

Why You'll Like It: It offers an incredibly deep and realistic survival simulation with complex mechanics for every aspect of life.

Stationeers puts you in control of the construction and management of a space station to run by yourself or online with your friends. Complex atmospheric, electrical, manufacturing, agriculture, and gravitational systems require your thought and management at all times!

Why similar: Moddable 33.7% ★, Colony Sim 31.5% ★, Building 12.5%, Resource Management 9.9%, Management 8%

Why You'll Like It: A hardcore engineering simulation that requires players to manage complex atmospheric and electrical systems.

Gather resources, craft weapons, and build a castle. Then defend your castle against monsters who will try to siege, sap, and smash their way in. All in a procedurally generated 3D block world that allows for extensive crafting and total construction and destruction of the terrain.

Why similar: Dwarf 78.4% ★, Colony Sim 6.2% ★, Simulation 4.3%, Building 2.7%, Procedural Generation 2.4%

Why You'll Like It: A dwarf-themed colony management game that focuses on building and strategic defense.

Dynamic Dungeons Editor is an easy-to-use local tabletop tool for game masters to display video maps or images on a digital gaming table, TV, or projector. Import Dynamic Dungeons maps or your own images or videos, use tokens and props. Make a playlist, apply fog of war, or a custom grid overlay.

Why similar: Software 53.6% ★, Utilities 39.3% ★, RPG 4.7%, Choose Your Own Adventure 2.4%

Why You'll Like It: A utility software designed for creating interactive tabletop maps, perfect for users who enjoy modding and design tools.

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 59% ★, Building 17.8%, Simulation 8%, Survival 5.2%, Strategy 4.3%

Why You'll Like It: A voxel-based colony management game that emphasizes building and town development.

Harness your Demigod powers to lead a group from rags to riches in this 3D Fantasy Kingdom Management Sim with RPG elements. Command from the sky or take control in 3rd Person to BUILD, BATTLE, and RULE. Navigate a world of interesting Nobles, earn their respect, and decide their Fates.

Why similar: Colony Sim 33% ★, Moddable 26% ★, Building 10.8%, Procedural Generation 9.6%, Management 7.6%

Why You'll Like It: A colony sim that emphasizes deep character interactions and decision-making in a fantasy world.

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.

Why similar: Colony Sim 44.1% ★, Simulation 20.3%, Building 13.6%, Resource Management 11.1%, Management 7.9%

Why You'll Like It: A game centered on automation and programming-based colony building, appealing to those who enjoy scripting and efficiency.

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 39.5% ★, Building 14.4%, Resource Management 10.8%, Simulation 10.6%, Management 10%

Why You'll Like It: A complex spaceship colony management game that requires careful attention to life support and resource systems.

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 63.7% ★, Simulation 11%, Resource Management 6.6%, Survival 6.3%, Strategy 5.7%

Why You'll Like It: A god-game style colony sim that blends resource management with tower defense elements.

A Dwarven Prince on a quest to reclaim his people’s stolen land will take you on a great journey. Explore a continent filled with buried treasures and unearth mysteries that have laid hidden since the Great War.

Why similar: Dwarf 82.1% ★, Building 7.5%, Simulation 4.9%, Strategy 4.9%, Singleplayer 0.5%

Why You'll Like It: A strategy-focused city builder that centers on excavating and managing a dwarven settlement.

The epitome of a modern traditional roguelike: with turn-based play and a RPG-like skill progression system, it hearkens back to some of the major aspects of this genre. This game has an incredible depth, with a deep inventory system, vehicles and boats, NPCs with their own stories, and more.

Why similar: Moddable 63.5% ★, Immersive Sim 11%, Survival 8.4%, RPG 7.3%, Pixel Graphics 7.2%

Why You'll Like It: The pinnacle of complex, turn-based survival simulation with an incredibly deep crafting and world system.

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 59.7% ★, Simulation 12.7%, Resource Management 5.4%, Strategy 5.2%, Survival 5.2%

Why You'll Like It: A classic city-builder that set the standard for survival-focused colony management games.

Settle an untamed wilderness with the might of Dwarven engineering and thoughtful planning! Design and build your colony towards fame and fortune in a deeply-simulated fantasy world. Chill out in peaceful mode with a bustling settlement, or fight for survival against monsters and invasions!

Why similar: Dwarf 47% ★, Moddable 16.9% ★, Colony Sim 16.5% ★, Building 5.6%, Simulation 5%

Build and command your own party of Dwarves in this mix of RPGs, roguelike and auto battlers. Prepare formations, assign equipment, and decide the fate of up to 10 Beardlings, as you lead the raid through reckless runs filled with Glory, Death, and Loot!

Why similar: Dwarf 91.3% ★, Procedural Generation 3.9%, RPG 1.6%, Pixel Graphics 1.4%, Strategy 1.3%

Gnomes is a turn-based tower defense with deep roguelike progression, set in ever-expanding, procedurally generated biomes. Build, farm and defend your village as you push deeper into goblin-infested territory. Unlock powerful upgrades and craft your environment to survive the endless goblin horde

Why similar: Dwarf 61.5% ★, Colony Sim 19.5% ★, Procedural Generation 10.2%, Survival 2.9%, Pixel Graphics 2.8%

Blacksmith: Ignite the Forge is a mix of a simulator, strategy, and auto-battler. Become a master smith, craft various weapons, and enhance them with magical runes. Equip a team of adventurers with your hand-made tools, send them on missions, gather loot to upgrade your forge, and save the land!

Why similar: Dwarf 79.8% ★, Building 8.4%, Simulation 7.7%, Resource Management 3.6%, Singleplayer 0.5%

Dwarf Tower is a turn-based tactics game of tower building and spellcasting. Each turn you develop your tower by placing blocks, constructing rooms, and play various spells. Your tower can have Libraries (store spells), Crystals (generate mana), Dwarf Dwellings (give you dwarves to repair the tower) and some other rooms.

Why similar: Dwarf 93.2% ★, Building 5.3%, Strategy 1.6%

Dig! Dig! Dig! Manage the small underground Dwarf base and make it as rich as possible before they meet their inevitable doom. Purchase before May 11th and save!

Why similar: Dwarf 56.8% ★, Colony Sim 19.9% ★, Procedural Generation 4.8%, Management 4.8%, Simulation 4.1%

Manage your own medieval smithy in Blacksmith Master and supervise the entire process from mining ores and gems to designing and selling finished products. Forge everything from weapons and armor to tools and cooking utensils to fund your craft and become the Blacksmith Master.

Why similar: Moddable 29.3% ★, Colony Sim 27.5% ★, Building 10.9%, Resource Management 8.7%, Simulation 8.4%

Delve Deeper is a turn-based Adventure/Strategy game for Windows that combines HD pixel art, tile placement, and RPG elements in a bright and humorous atmosphere. Up to four players take command of Dwarf mining teams in this fast and furious dungeon adventure meets devious puzzler, building the map as you play for an ever-changing,...

Why similar: Dwarf 93.8% ★, Strategy 4.1%, RPG 2.1%

Dwarf Shop is a Shop Simulator with, you guessed it, Dwarves! Help the Dragon Clan lure their very own dragon by amassing piles and piles of glorious gold. Send one dwarf deep into the caves to find ingredients while the others craft various equipment and sell them to unsuspecting customers!

Why similar: Dwarf 76.8% ★, Simulation 7.8%, Management 6.6%, Pixel Graphics 3%, RPG 2.7%

A dwarfish colony sim set in a fantasy world. Inspired by Rimworld and Banished. Dig deep to uncover riches and challenges, recruit dwarves to produce goods, and trade with other settlements (or raid them) to help your colony succeed.

Why similar: Dwarf 90.5% ★, Simulation 9.5%

Become the hive mind of a robot ant colony in Microtopia! Use pheromone trails to create, automate and optimize supply chains for your ants to follow. Collect resources, produce goods, feed your queen, grow your colony and fly out to expand the species!

Why similar: Colony Sim 29.9% ★, Moddable 25.7% ★, Procedural Generation 11.5%, Resource Management 9.3%, Building 7.9%

Life is Hard is a godsim town simulator game developed by a two-man-team. Your main aim here is to manage your town. Expand your domain, prevent famine, make war, trade with others, attract new people. Make history!

Why similar: Dwarf 68.8% ★, Simulation 18.4%, Strategy 8.5%, Pixel Graphics 4.3%

Dwarf Journey is an action roguelite platformer with randomly generated levels. Defeat enemies, level up, assemble your rune build and collect minerals to forge better equipment on an epic journey in search of immortality.

Why similar: Dwarf 97.5% ★, Procedural Generation 1%, RPG 1%, Pixel Graphics 0.5%, Singleplayer 0.1%

Build an underground network of caves in this fantasy-themed management sim.

Why similar: Colony Sim 57.1% ★, Simulation 19.7%, Building 10.7%, Pixel Graphics 5.4%, Survival 4.9%

Build your way to success! Trade your way to the top! Explore your way to infamy! Do it all your way!

Why similar: Moddable 23.6% ★, Colony Sim 22.1% ★, Building 9.3%, Simulation 8%, Isometric 7.9%

An amazing mix of RPG, strategy, simulation, sandbox and survival game. Aurora Dusk looks like many other games, but instead of being alone, you live in a community. You can play one or more villagers and evolve from the Wood Age to the Steam Age.

Why similar: Dwarf 67.7% ★, Moddable 17% ★, Strategy 7.3%, RPG 7.2%, Singleplayer 0.8%

Inhabit a deeply-simulated science fantasy world and chisel through layers of thousand-year-old civilizations. Build a character from over a hundred mutations and cybernetics. The award-winning sandbox roguelike & RPG full of robots, deep lore, and sentient plants.

Why similar: Moddable 50.2% ★, Procedural Generation 30.5%, Survival 6%, Pixel Graphics 5.8%, RPG 5.3%

A medieval fantasy kingdom builder, management sim and dungeon delver RPG hybrid. Gather resources, manage villagers and build infrastructure. Then dive into the dungeons to face the monsters within. Or just unlock everything in a Creative "God Mode" and build the fantasy kingdom of your dreams.

Why similar: Colony Sim 46.4% ★, Building 20.2%, Management 12.8%, Simulation 9.6%, RPG 5.7%

Reunite the kingdom of Adventuria and defeat the evil Illusionist Miraj by recruiting Adventurers to send on Adventures for epic loot and rewards in this RPG/Management Sim with tons of depth, randomization, and customization options!

Why similar: Dwarf 61.1% ★, RPG 11.2%, Management 10.6%, Simulation 9%, Pixel Graphics 6.6%

ATC is a base building game set in a post-apocalyptic world featuring urban environments. Build a base across several layers with dozens of survivors. Fight other factions for the control of the remaining production centers and explore the world to find long forgotten resources and technologies.

Why similar: Colony Sim 33.8% ★, Moddable 27.6% ★, Procedural Generation 10.3%, Management 8.1%, Simulation 6%

Demon Castle Building Dungeon Management Simulation

Why similar: Colony Sim 48.3% ★, Simulation 23%, RPG 10.4%, Strategy 8.3%, Building 6.2%

Mob factory is an tower defense and automation game for the lazy adventurer. Smelt down enemy loot into turrets & factories to automate an ever expanding dungeon from the comfort of your tower.

Why similar: Resource Management 27.3%, Simulation 26.2%, Building 20.6%, Management 12.8%, Strategy 7.4%

Build, manage and grow a thriving colony in Kubifaktorium. The game features different biomes to explore, plenty of resources to exploit, complex machinery to build and interesting production chains to master.

Why similar: Colony Sim 35.6% ★, Moddable 22.1% ★, Building 13.8%, Management 8.6%, Simulation 6.8%

Gnomoria is a sandbox village management game where you help lead a small group of gnomes, who have set out on their own, to thrive into a bustling kingdom! Anything you see can be broken down and rebuilt elsewhere.

Why similar: Colony Sim 50% ★, Building 13.3%, Simulation 12.3%, Isometric 6.8%, Strategy 4.9%

Build a heroic hamlet that warriors and merchants can call home!

Why similar: Colony Sim 54% ★, Building 18.5%, Management 11.2%, Simulation 9.1%, Pixel Graphics 6.5%

Stonedeep is an 2.5D underground city builder. Dwarfs gather resources, build and fend off monsters. Colonies can specialize in culture, production, military and trading. At start, dwarfs need drinks and rest. With a higher civilization level, they will increase their needs.

Why similar: Colony Sim 41.5% ★, Building 15.4%, Resource Management 12.9%, Simulation 10.4%, Management 9.1%

Become the hive mind of a robot ant colony in this free version of Microtopia! Use pheromone trails to create, automate and optimize supply chains for your ants to follow. Collect resources, produce goods, feed your queen, grow your colony and fly out to expand the species!

Why similar: Moddable 29.4% ★, Colony Sim 28.3% ★, Building 10.5%, Resource Management 9%, Procedural Generation 8.3%

Dwarfs!? is an addictive, fast paced arcade-like experience, with plenty of difficulty levels and game modes, in the tradition of great games such as “Lemmings” and “Dwarf Fortress”.

Why similar: Dwarf 95.1% ★, Strategy 4.1%, Singleplayer 0.7%

Folklands is a relaxing settlement builder with a retro look and feel set in a fantasy Nordic-inspired world. Harvest, produce and trade resources from multiple production chains as you grow your settlement. Keep your folks happy and safe and tend to their needs in a living and changing world.

Why similar: Colony Sim 34.3% ★, Moddable 17% ★, Building 13.4%, Management 7.9%, Simulation 7.3%

Below the Stone is an extraction roguelike about dwarves on the quest for the deepest depths. A place where each and every descent will lead to new adventures -- and where only the most determined dwarves with many lost lives will be rewarded by the hidden world lying below the stone.

Why similar: Dwarf 84.8% ★, Procedural Generation 7.1%, Resource Management 5.5%, Pixel Graphics 2.6%