- #1 Dwarf Fortress
97% matchVery Positive95% of 31,162 reviews2022
Dev: Bay 12 GamesPub: Kitfox Games
Windows · Linux
Median: 5.6 hrsMean: 38.8 hrs≥1hr: 78%
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: Colony Sim 29.3%, City Builder 21.6%, Sandbox 13.3%, Building 9.7%, Survival 7.8%
Why You'll Like It: As the primary inspiration for Gnomoria, it offers the deepest simulation of colony life and procedural world-building available.
- #2 Odd Realm
96% matchVery Positive85% of 1,005 reviews2024
Dev: Unknown Origin Games Inc
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 1.6 hrsMean: 6.9 hrs≥1hr: 56%
Build a settlement in a realm recovering from the Fracture, a calamity that nearly destroyed the realm. Choose from several unique races, establish a new kingdom, and survive in a land filled with magic and strange creatures. Farm the land, fish the seas, or raid rival kingdoms for their treasures.
Why similar: Colony Sim 28.6%, City Builder 16.7%, Sandbox 11.5%, Building 7.8%, Crafting 6.8%
Why You'll Like It: It shares a very similar voxel-based aesthetic and gameplay loop, focusing on managing a group of settlers in a procedurally generated fantasy world.
- #3 Stonehearth
96% matchMostly Positive75% of 13,032 reviews2018
Dev: Radiant EntertainmentPub: (none)
Windows · Mac
Median: 14.1 hrsMean: 38.6 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 35.2%, City Builder 25%, Sandbox 11.6%, Building 8.8%, Survival 6.2%
Why You'll Like It: This game features charming voxel graphics and a heavy emphasis on building, crafting, and defending your settlement from threats.
- #4 RimWorld
95% matchOverwhelmingly Positive98% of 241,365 reviews2018
Dev: Ludeon Studios
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 60.2 hrsMean: 264.3 hrs≥1hr: 92%
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 39.3%, City Builder 14.7%, Sandbox 12%, Survival 9.1%, Building 6.6%
Why You'll Like It: This is the gold standard for colony management, focusing on emergent storytelling and individual colonist needs in a hostile environment.
- #5 Going Medieval
94% matchVery Positive89% of 21,027 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 30.8%, City Builder 22.1%, Sandbox 13.5%, Crafting 8.3%, Survival 8.1%
Why You'll Like It: It offers 3D voxel-based building and survival mechanics that feel like a modern evolution of the Gnomoria experience.
- #6 Songs of Syx
94% matchVery Positive95% of 8,550 reviews2020
Dev: Gamatron AB
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 13.7 hrsMean: 41.0 hrs≥1hr: 84%
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 30.9%, City Builder 23.7%, Sandbox 13%, Building 9.2%, Survival 6.9%
Why You'll Like It: This title allows for massive-scale colony management while maintaining the intricate production chains and strategy elements found in Gnomoria.
- #7 Craft The World
93% matchVery Positive88% of 16,931 reviews2014
Dev: Dekovir EntertainmentPub: Dekovir Ltd
Windows · Mac
Median: 7.2 hrsMean: 38.4 hrs≥1hr: 89%
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: Colony Sim 35.1%, Sandbox 15.6%, Building 11.6%, Crafting 10.8%, City Builder 10.5%
Why You'll Like It: This side-scrolling game features similar dwarf-management, crafting, and base-building mechanics in a sandbox environment.
- #8 Rise to Ruins
92% matchVery Positive88% of 7,750 reviews2019
Dev: Raymond DoerrPub: SixtyGig Games
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.7 hrsMean: 17.2 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 39.8%, City Builder 27.9%, Survival 7.9%, Sandbox 7.3%, Strategy 6%
Why You'll Like It: It perfectly blends traditional colony-sim mechanics with intense tower-defense elements, mirroring the defensive needs of Gnomoria.
- #9 Banished
91% matchVery Positive90% of 43,179 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 38.4%, City Builder 31%, Sandbox 7.2%, Survival 6.7%, Strategy 5.7%
Why You'll Like It: A classic survival city-builder that emphasizes the harsh realities of resource management and population growth.
- #10 Timberborn
89% matchOverwhelmingly Positive96% of 40,121 reviews2026
Dev: Mechanistry
Windows · Mac
Median: 10.3 hrsMean: 42.9 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 29.6%, City Builder 27.3%, Sandbox 12.2%, Building 8.9%, Survival 6.7%
Why You'll Like It: The focus on vertical building and water management provides a unique architectural challenge similar to Gnomoria's construction systems.
- #11 Colony Survival
91% matchVery Positive92% of 8,892 reviews2017
Dev: Pipliz
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 9.6 hrsMean: 28.1 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 40.3%, City Builder 12.9%, Sandbox 11.1%, Building 9.8%, Survival 9.6%
Why You'll Like It: A first-person voxel colony builder that focuses on managing large groups of colonists to defend and expand your base.
- #12 Clanfolk
90% matchVery Positive92% of 3,904 reviews2022
Dev: MinMax Games Ltd.Pub: Hooded Horse
Windows
Median: 3.6 hrsMean: 18.3 hrs≥1hr: 67%
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 40.3%, Sandbox 19%, Building 13.7%, Crafting 13.1%, Simulation 7.2%
Why You'll Like It: A deep simulation of survival and family management that captures the same 'start from nothing' spirit as Gnomoria.
- #13 Foundation
87% matchVery Positive86% of 23,848 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 40.4%, Colony Sim 15.5%, Sandbox 11.2%, Building 7.5%, Strategy 6.2%
Why You'll Like It: Its gridless building system and organic growth mechanics offer a more relaxed but deeply satisfying city-building experience.
- #14 Noble Fates
89% matchVery Positive83% of 1,472 reviews2021
Dev: Xobermon, LLC
Windows
Median: 3.5 hrsMean: 12.4 hrs≥1hr: 73%
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 32.1%, City Builder 23.1%, Sandbox 14%, Building 8.7%, Survival 5.7%
Why You'll Like It: This 3D colony sim allows you to manage your kingdom from a unique perspective while focusing on character relationships and building.
- #15 Lords and Villeins
88% matchMostly Positive71% of 970 reviews2022
Dev: Honestly GamesPub: Fulqrum Publishing
Windows
Median: 1.1 hrsMean: 15.3 hrs≥1hr: 54%
Build a prosperous settlement in a unique simulation of a feudal economy - each family runs their shop, owns their goods, and trades with other villagers in a free market. You will manage the land, build houses, organise events, set taxes, and balance supply and demand while engaging in diplomacy!
Why similar: Colony Sim 32.3%, City Builder 22.4%, Sandbox 10.9%, Building 8.6%, Crafting 6.4%
Why You'll Like It: This game focuses on the social and economic management of a medieval village, providing a deep layer of simulation.
- #16 Settlement Survival
86% matchVery Positive86% of 7,950 reviews2022
Dev: Gleamer StudioPub: Team17
Windows · Mac
Median: 4.0 hrsMean: 10.9 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 29.9%, City Builder 27%, Building 10.4%, Sandbox 9.8%, Survival 7.8%
Why You'll Like It: A survival-focused city builder that forces players to manage resources carefully against changing seasons and environmental threats.
- #17 Oxygen Not Included
86% matchOverwhelmingly Positive97% of 141,608 reviews2019
Dev: Klei Entertainment
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 8.9 hrsMean: 68.3 hrs≥1hr: 86%
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 49.9%, Survival 11.5%, Building 9.5%, Sandbox 9.4%, Base Building 4.9%
Why You'll Like It: While sci-fi themed, it offers incredibly complex production chains and survival management that will appeal to any Gnomoria fan.
- #18 Kingdoms and Castles
85% matchVery Positive94% of 31,170 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 27.9%, City Builder 24.5%, Sandbox 10%, Building 7.3%, Crafting 6.5%
Why You'll Like It: It balances city-building with the constant threat of external attacks, requiring strategic defense planning similar to Gnomoria.
- #19 Ratopia
83% matchVery Positive88% of 4,710 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 31.3%, City Builder 20.2%, Building 11%, Sandbox 10.1%, Survival 7.9%
Why You'll Like It: A unique side-scrolling management game that requires you to build a complex economy and infrastructure for your rat citizens.
- #20 Life is Feudal: Forest Village
84% matchMixed66% of 6,000 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 39.2%, City Builder 31.4%, Building 6%, Survival 5.4%, Strategy 4.9%
Why You'll Like It: It combines city-building with survival mechanics, requiring you to manage your villagers through harsh winters and resource shortages.
- #21 Hearthlands
84% matchVery Positive82% of 414 reviews2017
Dev: Four White Cats
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 1.4 hrsMean: 7.2 hrs≥1hr: 58%
Hearthlands is a medieval/fantasy city-building real time strategy game in which you take a role of a king in a procedurally generated world. You can not control your subjects directly; instead you focus on city-building, resource management, diplomacy, magic, etc.
Why similar: Colony Sim 31.4%, City Builder 28.2%, Sandbox 9.9%, Strategy 6.6%, Isometric 5.8%
Why You'll Like It: A medieval city-builder that emphasizes management and strategy without the need for micromanaging every citizen.
- #22 Kubifaktorium
82% matchVery Positive81% of 795 reviews2021
Dev: Neomateria Games GmbH
Windows · Linux
Median: 2.3 hrsMean: 6.7 hrs≥1hr: 62%
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 32.1%, City Builder 24.2%, Building 10.3%, Crafting 9%, Sandbox 7.6%
Why You'll Like It: It emphasizes automation and building, allowing you to create complex supply chains in a voxel-based world.
- #23 Founders' Fortune
81% matchVery Positive80% of 2,183 reviews2020
Dev: Dionic Software
Windows · Mac
Median: 1.6 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 40.1%, City Builder 20%, Sandbox 8.7%, Building 7.6%, Survival 5.2%
Why You'll Like It: This colony sim focuses on colonist personality traits and building, making the management of your population feel personal.
- #24 Castle Story
82% matchMixed65% of 10,581 reviews2017
Dev: Sauropod Studio
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.1 hrsMean: 11.9 hrs≥1hr: 80%
Castle Story is a creative voxel-based strategy game in which you can build castles one brick at a time using an army of little creatures called Bricktrons. Design and build your own castles, expand your territory in a vast landscape and defend your Bricktrons against onslaughts of hostile creatures.
Why similar: Colony Sim 45.3%, Sandbox 16.2%, Building 14.1%, Strategy 8%, Survival 6.5%
Why You'll Like It: A voxel-based strategy game where you build castles and defend them, focusing on the architectural and defensive aspects of Gnomoria.
- #25 First Feudal
81% matchMostly Positive76% of 634 reviews2021
Dev: Harpoon Games
Windows
Median: 3.6 hrsMean: 11.7 hrs≥1hr: 81%
Become a real medieval feudal lord: start with a small village and build it up into an enormous impenetrable castle. You will have to repel enemy raids: hide behind thick walls, lure your enemies into strategically placed traps, and even lead your loyal peasants into battle.
Why similar: Colony Sim 30.1%, City Builder 18.4%, Sandbox 9.8%, Building 9.3%, Crafting 7.9%
Why You'll Like It: A medieval colony-sim that focuses on building, resource management, and defending your settlement from raiders.
- #26 Prison Architect
79% matchVery Positive89% of 73,449 reviews2015
Dev: Introversion SoftwarePub: Paradox Interactive
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 6.0 hrsMean: 30.3 hrs≥1hr: 87%
Only the world’s most ruthless Warden can contain the world’s most ruthless inmates. Design and develop your personalized penitentiary in Prison Architect.
Why similar: Colony Sim 31.1%, City Builder 20.8%, Sandbox 14.7%, Building 11.3%, Simulation 6%
Why You'll Like It: While the setting is different, the deep management, layout design, and simulation of individual needs are very similar to Gnomoria.
- #27 The Bonfire 2: Uncharted Shores
80% 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 36.7%, City Builder 17.5%, Survival 9%, Building 7.3%, Crafting 6.8%
Why You'll Like It: This game focuses on survival and base-building in a challenging environment, requiring careful management of your limited resources.
- #28 Blueprint Tycoon
79% matchVery Positive82% of 1,097 reviews2016
Dev: Endless Loop Studios
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.2 hrsMean: 6.0 hrs≥1hr: 85%
Build your settlement, gather goods, ensure maximum efficiency and make a profit!
Why similar: Colony Sim 46.4%, City Builder 19.6%, Sandbox 9.8%, Simulation 8.1%, Strategy 5.1%
Why You'll Like It: It focuses heavily on the logistics and management side of production, which is a core component of Gnomoria's gameplay.
- #29 Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt
78% matchMostly Positive71% of 1,370 reviews2019
Dev: HandyGames
Windows
Median: 6.3 hrsMean: 14.5 hrs≥1hr: 87%
Townsmen – A Kingdom Rebuilt hands the crown to you: Guide your people from their first steps in a small village to a massive medieval metropolis with thousands of inhabitants.
Why similar: Colony Sim 42%, City Builder 23.6%, Strategy 10.2%, Simulation 9%, Sandbox 5.5%
Why You'll Like It: A more casual take on the city-building genre that still provides satisfying management and production chain mechanics.
- #30 Maia
78% 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 49.2%, Survival 10.1%, Strategy 8.3%, Sandbox 7.6%, Simulation 7.5%
Why You'll Like It: A sci-fi colony-sim that features deep simulation and survival mechanics in a hostile alien environment.
- #31 Planetbase
76% matchMostly Positive80% of 10,351 reviews2015
Dev: Madruga Works
Windows · Mac
Median: 8.2 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 37.8%, City Builder 27.2%, Survival 7.7%, Strategy 5.5%, Building 4.8%
- #32 Orrstead
75% matchVery Positive80% of 80 reviews2024
Dev: IndividualKex
Windows
Orrstead is a relaxing city builder that combines resource management and incremental game mechanics. Unlock technologies, complete quests, and adapt to the changing seasons.
Why similar: Colony Sim 29.8%, City Builder 23.7%, Sandbox 13.9%, Building 9.7%, Isometric 6.4%
- #33 Space Haven
71% matchVery Positive86% of 10,816 reviews2026
Dev: Bugbyte Ltd.
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.2 hrsMean: 20.9 hrs≥1hr: 72%
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 30.2%, City Builder 19.3%, Sandbox 12.4%, Building 9%, Survival 7.8%
- #34 Mistward
74% 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 33.6%, City Builder 25.4%, Sandbox 15%, Strategy 7.2%, Simulation 6.3%
- #35 RPG Tycoon
77% matchMixed51% of 487 reviews2016
Dev: Skatanic StudiosPub: Macrocosmic Software
Windows · Mac
Median: 3.1 hrsMean: 11.0 hrs≥1hr: 90%
Hire heroes, send them on quests, get loot and make a profit as you expand from nothing into a bustling fantasy kingdom and attempt to win the coveted title of the greatest kingdom in all of the land!
Why similar: City Builder 23.4%, Colony Sim 20.9%, Building 9.9%, Sandbox 9.9%, Isometric 8.7%
- #36 MicroTown
73% matchVery Positive95% of 475 reviews2019
Dev: Snowy Ash Games
Windows · Mac · Linux
Build and manage your own settlement! A relaxing village construction and management simulator.
Why similar: Colony Sim 36.8%, City Builder 28.7%, Sandbox 14.6%, Strategy 5.7%, Base Building 3.7%
- #37 Mountaincore
72% matchMixed65% of 262 reviews2025
Dev: Rocket Jump Technology
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 42 minMean: 5.1 hrs≥1hr: 46%
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: Colony Sim 31.3%, City Builder 18.1%, Sandbox 10.7%, Building 8.8%, Crafting 7.9%
- #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 34.1%, City Builder 15.3%, Sandbox 12.6%, Building 11%, Strategy 7.1%
- #39 Towns
77% matchMostly Negative27% of 2,833 reviews2012
Dev: Xavi Canal, Ben PalgiPub: SMP
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 1.3 hrsMean: 17.6 hrs≥1hr: 53%
The game brings a fresh new take on the city building/management genre by introducing many RPG features. In Towns you manage a settlement on top of an active dungeon. Instead of playing the hero who delves deep into the dungeon, how about playing the town that houses and caters to the hero's needs?
Why similar: City Builder 39.1%, Sandbox 20.2%, Crafting 7.8%, Strategy 7.2%, Simulation 6.6%
- #40 Embark
74% matchMixed61% of 388 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 49%, Sandbox 11.1%, Building 7.9%, Survival 6.6%, Crafting 6.4%
- #41 Timber and Stone
75% matchMixed49% of 864 reviews2015
Dev: Games by Robert, LLC
Windows
Median: 2.4 hrsMean: 12.7 hrs≥1hr: 71%
Timber and Stone is a procedural city building game set in a medieval fantasy world. With over one-hundred resources to gather and craft, Timber and Stone has the feel of a real time strategy game, but with much more depth and complexity.
Why similar: City Builder 43.6%, Sandbox 17.7%, Survival 15.8%, Strategy 10.4%, Crafting 8.9%
- #42 Make Your Kingdom
73% matchMixed58% of 195 reviews2022
Dev: yo_serjioPub: BigGame Publishing
Windows
Make Your Kingdom is a city-building game unique to its genre. Play as a founder of the settlement — help build your kingdom, carry the resources, talk to other settlers, motivate them and fight off hordes of orcs with your own sword!
Why similar: Colony Sim 27.5%, City Builder 22.6%, Sandbox 10.5%, Building 9.7%, Survival 7.4%
- #43 Grim Realms
71% matchMostly Positive80% of 425 reviews2024
Dev: Edym Pixels
Windows
A dark fantasy colony sim - will your colony end the Dread Storm and redeem mankind, or will they harness the dark powers for themselves? Guide your villagers as they struggle to stay alive in a world overrun by the undead.
Why similar: Colony Sim 40.3%, Sandbox 13.2%, Crafting 11.8%, Building 10%, Strategy 6.7%
- #44 Blacksmith Master
69% matchVery Positive84% of 2,627 reviews2025
Dev: Untitled StudioPub: Hooded Horse
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 6.0 hrsMean: 12.8 hrs≥1hr: 91%
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: Colony Sim 28.5%, City Builder 21.7%, Sandbox 12.6%, Building 9.5%, Survival 7.4%
- #45 Microtopia: Prologue
70% matchVery Positive95% of 121 reviews2024
Dev: Cordyceps CollectivePub: Goblinz Publishing
Windows
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 28.9%, City Builder 18%, Sandbox 12.5%, Building 8.9%, Crafting 8.4%
- #46 Dawn of Man
70% matchVery Positive87% of 17,748 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 38.1%, City Builder 35.4%, Survival 8.2%, Sandbox 6.5%, Strategy 5.5%
- #47 Dungeon Overseer
73% matchMixed54% of 50 reviews2021
Dev: Ripknot
Windows
Dungeon Overseer is a colony simulator with a focus on base building and resource management. Become the Overseer by building a unique dungeon layout, constructing your lair, upgrading and expanding, questing, crafting, researching, recruiting, defending your base, and raiding.
Why similar: Colony Sim 34.5%, City Builder 24.1%, Building 9.8%, Sandbox 8.6%, Simulation 5%
- #48 CLOUD DWELLERS
68% matchVery Positive91% of 77 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 44.6%, Building 13.9%, City Builder 9.1%, Strategy 6.9%, Simulation 5.5%
- #49 Crowded Blue Dot
71% matchMixed58% of 52 reviews2020
Dev: cys20 studio
Windows · Linux
Crowded Blue Dot is a game about producing various items to make people happy and growing a city from a small village to a metropolis.
Why similar: City Builder 29.7%, Colony Sim 22.7%, Building 8.6%, Sandbox 7%, Simulation 6.3%
- #50 Microtopia
67% matchVery Positive87% of 943 reviews2025
Dev: Cordyceps CollectivePub: Goblinz Publishing
Windows
Median: 3.6 hrsMean: 8.7 hrs≥1hr: 77%
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 32%, City Builder 21.7%, Sandbox 13.9%, Crafting 8.8%, Building 7.1%
- #51 Roman Triumph: Survival City Builder
66% matchVery Positive85% of 749 reviews2025
Dev: Coreffect InteractivePub: Forklift Interactive
Windows
Median: 3.8 hrsMean: 6.9 hrs≥1hr: 71%
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 26.4%, City Builder 20%, Sandbox 11%, Building 8.3%, Crafting 8%
- #52 Factory Town
67% matchVery Positive91% of 4,445 reviews2021
Dev: Erik Asmussen
Windows · Mac
Median: 3.5 hrsMean: 14.1 hrs≥1hr: 76%
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: Colony Sim 27.5%, City Builder 21.7%, Sandbox 14.6%, Crafting 9.4%, Building 6.9%
- #53 TFM: The First Men
70% matchMixed61% of 410 reviews2022
Dev: Gathering Tree
Windows
An open-world colony sim based on stories of the first men. Infinite possibilities await your very own Adam and Eve as they embark on a generation-spanning adventure. How will you shape their future?
Why similar: Colony Sim 42.8%, Sandbox 10.9%, City Builder 9.4%, Building 7.9%, Survival 6%
- #54 Cavern Adventurers
68% matchMixed65% of 130 reviews2025
Dev: Kairosoft Co.,Ltd
Windows
Build an underground network of caves in this fantasy-themed management sim.
Why similar: Colony Sim 42%, City Builder 30.5%, Simulation 8.3%, Survival 7.2%, Building 6.6%
- #55 A Game of Humans
69% matchMixed66% of 73 reviews2020
Dev: Scion Studios
Windows
A sandbox village simulation fundamentally about people, their thoughts and their needs. Luckily they are not alone in their burden, for you possess divine powers. And you would surely never add to the plight of the common man... Right?
Why similar: Colony Sim 33.7%, City Builder 27%, Sandbox 12.3%, Building 7.6%, Strategy 6.4%
- #56 Land of the Vikings
66% matchMostly Positive74% of 2,231 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 33.1%, City Builder 24.3%, Sandbox 11.3%, Building 8.2%, Survival 7.3%
- #57 Territory: Farming and Warfare
64% matchVery Positive85% of 727 reviews2026
Dev: Wit Studio
Windows
Median: 3.5 hrsMean: 22.3 hrs≥1hr: 68%
From a small village of a dozen people to a small kingdom of thousands of people. Arrange for residents to work, gathering, fishing and hunting, farming and mining, processing and manufacturing. Trade, accumulate supplies, increase your strength, and fight evil forces and monsters.
Why similar: City Builder 24.8%, Colony Sim 23.9%, Sandbox 14.1%, Building 9%, Simulation 6.2%
- #58 AColony
66% matchVery Positive89% of 136 reviews2023
Dev: ZeroTris
Windows
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 35.1%, City Builder 23.1%, Building 10%, Survival 8.9%, Crafting 8.8%