Games Like Dinky Guardians

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: Automation 30.6%, Colony Sim 20.4% ★, Base Building 12.4%, Crafting 9.2%, Resource Management 7.4%

Why You'll Like It: It shares the same cute, colorful aesthetic while focusing heavily on programming worker units to automate your colony.

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.

Why similar: Colony Sim 23.7% ★, Automation 22.3%, Base Building 10.4%, Building 9.9%, Management 9%

Why You'll Like It: This game mirrors the settlement-building and resource-management loop of Dinky Guardians in a charming, stylized world.

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.

Why similar: Automation 29.1%, Colony Sim 21.1% ★, Crafting 14.5%, Building 10.1%, Management 7.6%

Why You'll Like It: It builds upon the automation mechanics of the original with added combat and defense elements similar to the guardian aspect of the seed game.

Explore endless Universe and create the most efficient constellation of colonies. Build conveyor systems to automate production. Take care of Astronauts and their needs! Establish new colonies as part of intergalactic simulation.

Why similar: Automation 23.5%, Colony Sim 21.9% ★, Base Building 15.8%, Resource Management 10.8%, Building 8.3%

Why You'll Like It: Set in space, this game focuses on building and automating modular bases to support a growing population.

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 22.8% ★, Automation 21.6%, Base Building 11.6%, Crafting 10.4%, Resource Management 10.3%

Why You'll Like It: This colony sim emphasizes procedural generation and automation, making it a strong thematic match for Dinky Guardians.

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: Automation 23.5%, Colony Sim 23.3% ★, Crafting 10.8%, Base Building 10.6%, Building 9.6%

Why You'll Like It: It features a voxel-based aesthetic and focuses on building, crafting, and automating production lines for your colony.

Build, automate, and optimize a giant factory on 3D terrain using conveyor belts, trains, chutes, pipes, and airships. Sell your goods to nearby villages to expand their borders, increase happiness, and unlock even better technology!

Why similar: Automation 23.9%, Colony Sim 19.5% ★, Base Building 13.4%, Crafting 11%, Resource Management 10.9%

Why You'll Like It: This title perfectly blends colony management with complex logistics and automation chains in a vibrant, top-down environment.

Embark on a journey of survival, crafting, and automation in Eden Crafters, a solo and co-op open-world game that challenges you to turn a hostile planet into a habitable haven for humanity. Temper the climate, create a breathable atmosphere, and turn toxic lakes into water: shape a new world!

Why similar: Automation 24.3%, Base Building 13.5%, Colony Sim 13.3% ★, Crafting 12%, Building 8.5%

Why You'll Like It: It combines open-world survival crafting with extensive automation systems for base building.

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 36.9% ★, Base Building 19.4%, Resource Management 12.3%, Survival 9.6%, Building 9%

Why You'll Like It: It is the gold standard for deep colony simulation, offering intricate automation and resource management challenges.

Manage your workers, stations, machines and create awesome stuff as your little big workshop grows into your dream factory!

Why similar: Automation 23.6%, Management 15.4%, Simulation 14.4%, Resource Management 14.3%, Building 13.7%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on managing a production facility with a cute, toy-like aesthetic that feels very similar to Dinky Guardians.

Dawn Apart is a space colony and factory sim with fully destructible environments. Mine, automate, and defend your settlers, or lead a rebellion against the very corporation pulling your strings…

Why similar: Colony Sim 29.7% ★, Automation 27.2%, Base Building 15.9%, Crafting 12.2%, Resource Management 4.3%

Why You'll Like It: A colony-sim that integrates automation and resource management with a focus on building and strategy.

Good Company is an in-depth management sim about building a trail-blazing tech corporation. Assemble complex production lines, manage employee logistics, and sell high-quality products on the market to become the best company in the whole county!

Why similar: Automation 20.8%, Base Building 11.9%, Resource Management 10.3%, Co-op 10%, Building 9.5%

Why You'll Like It: This management game tasks you with building a company and automating production lines to meet market demands.

Build the most efficient intergalactic factory in space simulation strategy game Dyson Sphere Program! Harness the power of stars, collect resources, plan and design production lines and develop your interstellar factory from a small space workshop to a galaxy-wide industrial empire.

Why similar: Automation 37.5%, Base Building 20.5%, Resource Management 13%, Building 12.3%, Management 9.6%

Why You'll Like It: While grander in scale, it offers the ultimate automation experience for players who enjoy optimizing production chains.

Command a swarm of intelligent robots in their quest to save the world. Mine resources, manage, and defend multiple bases. Go on expeditions, fight in auto-battles, research new technologies, and create your army of golems to bring back the light.

Why similar: Automation 19.5%, Colony Sim 18% ★, Base Building 14.9%, Resource Management 11.5%, Crafting 10.7%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on base building and resource management with a strong emphasis on strategy and tower defense.

You and allies, avian inhabitants of Sanctree City, build structures and production lines on the tree, crafting weapons to fend off subterranean insects. Defense is just the start—dig deeper, destroy nests, fortify new defenses against escalating threats for an impregnable stronghold.

Why similar: Colony Sim 21.1% ★, Automation 18.4%, Base Building 14.2%, Resource Management 9.7%, Building 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: This game features base-building and online co-op, making it a great choice for those who enjoy the cooperative aspect of Dinky Guardians.

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 27.7% ★, Automation 24.1%, Base Building 13.4%, Building 10.8%, Management 10.4%

Why You'll Like It: This colony sim features unique water-management and building mechanics that require careful planning and automation.

Tower Defense meets Base Management. Strategically place your defenses. Craft wacky ammunition like fiery peppers and boomerang bananas. Discover amazing weapons and automate your economy while defending against waves of enemies. Can you handle the chaos?

Why similar: Automation 27.2%, Base Building 14%, Crafting 12.1%, Co-op 11.8%, Management 11%

Why You'll Like It: It combines automation and tower defense in a co-op setting, mirroring the guardian and management themes.

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 40.7% ★, Base Building 15.9%, Building 10%, Management 6.7%, Resource Management 6.5%

Why You'll Like It: It offers a blend of colony simulation and base building with a focus on managing the needs of your settlers.

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: Automation 32.9%, Base Building 17.5%, Resource Management 12.6%, Crafting 10%, Management 5.6%

Why You'll Like It: The definitive automation game, perfect for players who want to push their logistics and base-building skills to the limit.

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: Colony Sim 19.1% ★, Automation 18.7%, Base Building 11%, Crafting 9.5%, Resource Management 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: This game provides a complex, physics-based approach to base building and automation in a space setting.

Design your dream space station in Space Architect! Master the power of automation or 'hire' an army of crewmates to handle your ever-growing production. Mine asteroids, fabricate goods, and engage in interstellar trade to pay off the menacing Big Evil Corp. Will you thrive in the vastness of space?

Why similar: Colony Sim 23.7% ★, Automation 20.6%, Base Building 13%, Management 9.5%, Building 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: A top-down colony sim that focuses on base building and management in a space environment.

Hydroneer is a mining and base building sandbox. Dig for gold and other resources to turn a profit and enhance your mining operation. Build a base of operations, forge weapons, go fishing, and dig deep!

Why similar: Automation 27.5%, Base Building 17%, Co-op 13.1%, Resource Management 10.8%, Building 10.6%

Why You'll Like It: It features a unique mix of mining, crafting, and automation that rewards players for building efficient systems.

A colony building game with an emphasis on unexpected events, online co-op, and managing a unique community. Build your colony, feed your colonists, research technologies, craft advanced weapons, explore the world, fight enemies and defend your property.

Why similar: Colony Sim 26.4% ★, Base Building 14.2%, Crafting 10.9%, Building 9.7%, Management 8.4%

Why You'll Like It: This early-access title offers a classic colony-sim experience with a focus on survival and base construction.

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 44.9% ★, Crafting 24%, Building 19.4%, Simulation 10.2%, Singleplayer 1.4%

Why You'll Like It: A colony-sim that emphasizes survival and management, providing a more grounded but equally engaging building experience.

Explore a handcrafted survival game with an emphasis on crafting and base building. Export manufactured goods to earn funding, manage colonists, defend against hostile aliens, and work towards terraforming Ceres from a frozen ball of ice to a tropical paradise.

Why similar: Colony Sim 28.1% ★, Crafting 15%, Base Building 14.3%, Building 12.4%, Management 10.2%

Why You'll Like It: A colony-sim that tasks you with building and crafting on a new planet, focusing on resource management.

shapez is an easy-going, minimalistic factory building game about the automation of shapes through extraction and satisfying production lines. Adapt to increasingly complex shapes and grow your factory across an infinitely expanding map. Your only limitation is your creativity!

Why similar: Automation 33.5%, Base Building 16.7%, Resource Management 13.9%, Crafting 13.5%, Management 8.5%

Why You'll Like It: A pure automation experience that strips away the colony-sim elements to focus entirely on building efficient production factories.

Space for Sale is an interplanetary, top-down Space Realty management game with a focus on problem-solving and exploration. Played either solo or with a friend, it's up to you to transform wild, uninhabited lands into bustling communities!

Why similar: Colony Sim 45% ★, Building 15.6%, Management 10.8%, Simulation 10.3%, Colorful 6.8%

Why You'll Like It: It provides a sandbox colony-sim experience with a focus on building and managing settlements in space.

Common’hood is a community building and economy management game with highly customizable base building tools. Scavenge for materials, grow your own food, research new technology, craft new tools, build a home, make friends. Form your community and take it from surviving to thriving!

Why similar: Colony Sim 19% ★, Automation 12.9%, Base Building 12.2%, Crafting 11.3%, Building 10%

Why You'll Like It: It emphasizes building and crafting within a community-focused simulation, sharing the management feel of the seed game.

Craftopia is the brand new multiplayer survival action game made in Japan. We combined many features we find enjoyable, such as hunting, farming, hack-and-slash, building, automation to develop this game.

Why similar: Crafting 28.9%, Survival 16.1%, Automation 14.3%, Building 13.4%, Co-op 9%

Why You'll Like It: It combines automation with open-world survival and crafting, offering a wide variety of activities for the player.

Build a civilization of real people, working together to advance society and stop a meteor, all without destroying the ecosystem in the process.

Why similar: Base Building 20.2%, Building 18.4%, Crafting 18.2%, Resource Management 16%, Survival 10.1%

Why You'll Like It: A resource-management game that encourages co-op play and long-term planning to build a sustainable civilization.

Build a space station for 15 alien races! 👽 Inspect IDs, catch criminals, and manage a chaotic galactic hub. A vibrant mix of colony sim & document-checking action. Can you build the ultimate hotel?

Why similar: Colony Sim 30.8% ★, Resource Management 16%, Base Building 15%, Management 12.6%, Survival 6.8%

Desynced is a sci-fi strategy game with fully customizable units and behaviors. Gather, build, research, and explore the unknown. Alone or with friends, unveil the mystery of an AI on the edge of self-awareness and uncover the hidden truth in this blend of strategy, automation, and exploration.

Why similar: Automation 25%, Base Building 14.5%, Resource Management 10.1%, Building 10%, Management 9.5%

A condensed incremental experience, where you build a colony to collect and merge bigger and bigger fruits. Combine game-changing technologies and special upgrades to find the best synergies and take your cash flow to another dimension.

Why similar: Automation 31.4%, Colony Sim 25.8% ★, Management 11%, Building 10.5%, Resource Management 8%

Color Factory is a relaxing factory-building game where strategy meets automation. Start with basic colors, refine them into vivid shades, and craft canvases of all sizes. Optimize your machines, scale operations at your own pace, and master automation to build a masterpiece of efficiency.

Why similar: Automation 41.8%, Crafting 18.3%, Base Building 17.1%, Simulation 10.3%, Colorful 4.9%

Build. Automate. Defend.

Why similar: Automation 28.5%, Base Building 17.2%, Resource Management 13.3%, Management 10.8%, Online Co-Op 8.8%

Take the helm as a new Station Commander and exploit an alien star system in this stunning space-station factory automation game. Amass resources and construct starships using increasingly advanced manufacturing and expand your station in a hostile universe.

Why similar: Automation 27.9%, Base Building 15.6%, Co-op 12.3%, Crafting 11.4%, Management 9.7%

In a nuclear apocalypse, you have to use your engineering skills to save as many survivors as possible. Defending, mining, crafting, creating production lines, and building an underground city for the survivors is your goal in this 2d side-scrolling automation game.

Why similar: Colony Sim 21.1% ★, Automation 17.1%, Base Building 9.6%, Crafting 9%, Building 7.8%

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: Colony Sim 22.1% ★, Automation 21.3%, Base Building 12.1%, Crafting 10.5%, Resource Management 10.1%

A city-building game where you build a penguin settlement and satisfy the various needs of your penguins while dealing with seals and killer whales. Enjoy the growth of your settlement, become the king, and lead the United Penguin Kingdom.

Why similar: Colony Sim 23.6% ★, Resource Management 16.9%, Management 15.8%, Survival 11.8%, Building 10.3%

Oddsparks is a blend of automation and real-time strategy for both the die-hard fans of the automation genre and the automation-curious. Explore a strange fantasy world, uncover the mysteries of the past, automate your workshops, and go on adventures with your odd & adorable Sparks!

Why similar: Automation 27.9%, Building 19.1%, Base Building 14.5%, Co-op 13.8%, Resource Management 12.2%

Craft your workshop as an alchemist!‌ Harness arcane devices to automate crafting. Sell alchemical goods, fulfill commissions, and rise to become a renowned alchemy magnate. ‌Multiplayer Supported!‌ Invite master designers to (ahem) contribute their expertise—let them optimize your production lines!

Why similar: Automation 32.7%, Base Building 13.3%, Crafting 12.3%, Building 11.9%, Resource Management 7.2%

Builderment is a casual factory builder, where you are sent to far away planets to keep Earth going with fresh resources. Establish your base, then mine, build, transport, and ultimately design an automated operation that will save your home one shipment at a time!

Why similar: Automation 32.3%, Base Building 17.7%, Crafting 15.4%, Resource Management 13.7%, Building 10.8%

Farm, Build, Defend, in the Galaxy's only Arcade-Tower-Defense.

Why similar: Base Building 41.4%, Co-op 15.4%, Survival 10.5%, Cartoony 9.2%, Action 5.8%

Rebots is a first-person automation game with an expansive universe to explore. Using intelligent(ish) rebots, you can gather resources, terraform planets, and scan all of the things. Traverse the galaxy in the name of space capitalism!

Why similar: Automation 25.8%, Colony Sim 21.2% ★, Base Building 13.5%, Crafting 12.7%, Resource Management 12.3%

Grab your hammers and start to craft in this co-op Tavern Defense for one to four players. As a team of Dwarves, you must gather supplies and build towers to protect your beloved brewery. Learn to cooperate to achieve victory in this chaotic multiplayer game!

Why similar: Co-op 38.8%, Online Co-Op 18.8%, Multiplayer 10.7%, Funny 7.1%, Action 6.3%

Build a formidable factory and go dungeoning alone or with friends. Solve logic puzzles and automate resource collection and crafting, or venture into dungeons filled with dangers and rewards. Find your own ideal gameplay balance, as any unique path will advance the story!

Why similar: Automation 24.3%, Base Building 13.3%, Crafting 12%, Co-op 10.8%, Resource Management 10.5%

Cosmo’s Quickstop simulates the fast-paced thrill of managing a gas station… IN SPACE! Upgrade your services, please alien customers, and complete your daily chores through simple minigames that add up to a hilariously frantic experience with solo or couch co-op play.

Why similar: Management 32%, Co-op 23.2%, Simulation 12.1%, Colorful 10.8%, Funny 6.3%

Curate and manage incredible museums! Explore to discover amazing artifacts. Design and refine the layout, keep staff happy, guests entertained, donations plentiful… and children off the exhibits

Why similar: Building 33.5%, Management 23.4%, Simulation 19.5%, Cartoony 6.7%, Comedy 6.2%

Team up with friends and dive into adventure! Rescue dwellers, let them work for you so they farm resources and protect you from enemies. Upgrade your equipment, explore new lands, complete quests and fight evil with glory!

Why similar: Colony Sim 40.2% ★, Crafting 22.8%, Online Co-Op 13.9%, Survival 10.5%, Colorful 7.9%

Build a sophisticated robot factory optimized to perfection in an infinite voxel world. Mine and harvest resources, automate your production lines and manage complex systems while researching your way to become the galaxy’s leading robotics megacorp.

Why similar: Automation 23.3%, Base Building 13.6%, Crafting 12.1%, Co-op 11.1%, Resource Management 11%

In Manic Mechanics, up to four players pull on their overalls and head to the auto-obsessed Octane Isle, looking to make a name for themselves as travelling mechanics. Whether played solo or with friends, co-op or versus, Manic Mechanics has plenty of comedic chaos to go around!

Why similar: Co-op 34.5%, Multiplayer 13.5%, Simulation 12.9%, Colorful 12%, Comedy 8.2%

Build and manage a massive industrial network of factories, mines, and farms. Employ a fleet of trains, trucks, and robotic drones. In the age of automation, efficiency is survival!

Why similar: Automation 32.6%, Base Building 17.1%, Resource Management 11.1%, Building 10.4%, Management 9%

Control two characters simultaneously! Survive, gather, collect upgrades, fight all sizes of one-eyed Martians, build defensible outposts and conquer Mars, in this glorious mix between roguelite and tower defense.

Why similar: Base Building 21.5%, Resource Management 16.5%, Building 15.3%, Management 14.6%, Survival 11.6%

Gridkeeper is an incremental game about managing "Grids" and using their power to run MineBots, research tech, and grow your mining empire by getting better Grids.

Why similar: Automation 37.4%, Building 26.5%, Resource Management 11.8%, Colorful 9.1%, Strategy 8.2%

Play with friends in a cozy base-building adventure! Take care of adorable creatures — Morps, explore, discover new species, grow crops, fish, build relationships with your crew, decorate your perfect home, and automate production along the way!

Why similar: Colony Sim 24.3% ★, Automation 23.4%, Base Building 13.9%, Crafting 10.5%, Resource Management 10.1%

Step into the role of a hands-on mayor and build your town from the ground up. Plan neighborhoods, automate logistics, and grow your community—all while juggling workers, infrastructure, and day-to-day chaos to create your dream town. Play solo for total control, or bring friends for co-op mayhem.

Why similar: Automation 31%, Building 16.5%, Management 15.6%, Co-op 15.4%, Simulation 9%

Land on a planet, pick up some rocks, leave before the solar system explodes. Oh, and don't die in the nightly robot attacks! Freaking Meatbags is a humorous real-time strategy game that's all about building a base, mixing meatbag DNA, then convincing those dolts to help you gather resources.

Why similar: Colony Sim 31.8% ★, Base Building 16.2%, Resource Management 14.9%, Building 12.5%, Survival 10.5%

Explore an open world, sci-fi sandbox – in PVP, PVE, and co-op. Build and manage colonies on alien planets, and recruit AI survivors with unique personalities and skills. Craft, build, mine, farm, or get your electric death rifle and say hello to your neighbors.

Why similar: Colony Sim 23% ★, Co-op 14.3%, Base Building 12.7%, Crafting 11.6%, Management 9.5%