- #1 Screeps: Arena
97% matchVery Positive84% of 127 reviews2025
Dev: Screeps, LLC
Windows · Mac · Linux
Screeps: Arena is an online asynchronous PvP strategy game for programming enthusiasts. You write real JavaScript to control your units, and they fight autonomously against other players in a 1v1 match-based arena environment.
Why similar: Programming 18.3% ★, Automation 11.1%, Artificial Intelligence 11%, RTS 10.1%, Economy 7.8%
Why You'll Like It: A direct spin-off that focuses on competitive, asynchronous programming battles in a dedicated arena environment.
- #2 Adventure Land - The Code MMORPG
96% matchVery Positive84% of 169 reviews2026
Dev: Wizard
Windows · Mac · Linux
An eternal indie MMORPG where your CODE does the grinding. Play manually or automate up to 4 characters with JavaScript. Hunt rare loot, craft equipment, and trade with real players. No coding experience needed! September 2026 brings anniversary rewards and a few surprises.
Why similar: Programming 38.9% ★, Automation 19.8%, Massively Multiplayer 13.3%, Economy 11%, Sandbox 9.8%
Why You'll Like It: An MMO that allows you to control your character entirely through JavaScript, mirroring the core appeal of Screeps.
- #3 Desynced
96% matchMostly Positive80% of 2,067 reviews2026
Dev: Stage Games Inc.Pub: Forklift Interactive
Windows
Median: 4.4 hrsMean: 18.9 hrs≥1hr: 77%
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: Programming 29.9% ★, Automation 17.3%, RTS 14.2%, Base Building 12.6%, Sandbox 9.7%
Why You'll Like It: A strategy game where you use a visual logic system to program autonomous units and manage a complex base.
- #4 Bitburner
95% matchVery Positive95% of 7,431 reviews2021
Dev: Fulcrum Games
Windows · Mac · Linux
Bitburner is a programming-based incremental game. Write scripts in JavaScript to automate gameplay, learn skills, play minigames, solve puzzles, and more in this cyberpunk text-based incremental RPG.
Why similar: Programming 48.7% ★, Hacking 27.1% ★, Automation 16.9%, Sandbox 3.3%, Simulation 2.4%
Why You'll Like It: A terminal-based hacking game that requires writing scripts to automate tasks and progress through a persistent world.
- #5 Factorio
94% matchOverwhelmingly Positive98% of 235,209 reviews2020
Dev: Wube Software LTD.
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 44.9 hrsMean: 193.9 hrs≥1hr: 95%
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 38.3%, Base Building 25.7%, Sandbox 14.2%, Open World 7.8%, Building 7.1%
Why You'll Like It: The definitive automation game that challenges you to design complex, self-sustaining systems through logic and resource management.
- #6 Autonauts
94% matchVery Positive89% of 4,970 reviews2019
Dev: DenkiPub: Curve Games
Windows
Median: 4.6 hrsMean: 14.0 hrs≥1hr: 86%
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: Programming 36.1% ★, Automation 20.9%, Colony Sim 14.5%, Base Building 10.6%, Sandbox 6.1%
Why You'll Like It: Uses a visual programming language to teach robots how to automate tasks, perfect for players who enjoy the logic of Screeps.
- #7 SHENZHEN I/O
93% matchVery Positive95% of 4,533 reviews2016
Dev: Zachtronics
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 2.1 hrsMean: 11.7 hrs≥1hr: 61%
BUILD CIRCUITS. WRITE CODE. RTFM.
Why similar: Programming 59.9% ★, Automation 20.8%, Difficult 7.7%, Hacking 3.5% ★, Simulation 3.1%
Why You'll Like It: A challenging puzzle game that requires writing assembly-like code to build circuits and solve complex engineering problems.
- #8 Grey Hack
92% matchVery Positive90% of 1,885 reviews2017
Dev: Loading Home
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.0 hrsMean: 13.4 hrs≥1hr: 83%
Grey Hack is a massively multiplayer hacking simulator game. You're a hacker with full freedom to act as you wish on a vast network of procedurally generated computers.
Why similar: Hacking 39.7% ★, Programming 31.5% ★, Massively Multiplayer 15.8%, Simulation 4.4%, Sandbox 3.9%
Why You'll Like It: A persistent, multiplayer hacking simulation that requires terminal commands and scripting to succeed.
- #9 TIS-100
91% matchOverwhelmingly Positive97% of 4,119 reviews2015
Dev: Zachtronics
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 1.2 hrsMean: 6.2 hrs≥1hr: 52%
TIS-100 is an open-ended programming game by Zachtronics, the creators of SpaceChem and Infinifactory, in which you rewrite corrupted code segments to repair the TIS-100 and unlock its secrets. It’s the assembly language programming game you never asked for!
Why similar: Programming 66.5% ★, Hacking 17% ★, Difficult 8.3%, Automation 5.2%, Simulation 3%
Why You'll Like It: A hardcore programming puzzle game that forces you to write low-level assembly code to repair a corrupted computer.
- #10 Mindustry
91% matchOverwhelmingly Positive96% of 28,247 reviews2019
Dev: AnukenDev
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.9 hrsMean: 28.4 hrs≥1hr: 76%
An open-ended factory management game with RTS and tower defense elements.
Why similar: Automation 28.9%, RTS 21.1%, Base Building 21%, Sandbox 9.6%, Building 9%
Why You'll Like It: Combines tower defense with complex automation, requiring you to manage supply chains and logic-based unit behavior.
- #11 EXAPUNKS
90% matchVery Positive95% of 1,900 reviews2018
Dev: Zachtronics
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 2.1 hrsMean: 12.0 hrs≥1hr: 58%
The year is 1997. You used to be a hacker, but now you have the phage. You made a deal: one hack, one dose. There’s nothing left to lose… except your life.
Why similar: Programming 45.5% ★, Hacking 28.5% ★, Automation 15.3%, Difficult 4.6%, Sandbox 3.3%
Why You'll Like It: Features a hacking-themed programming environment where you write scripts to infiltrate systems and manipulate data.
- #12 Turing Complete
89% matchOverwhelmingly Positive96% of 5,808 reviews2021
Dev: LevelHead
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 3.7 hrsMean: 12.4 hrs≥1hr: 77%
Learn CPU architecture with puzzles
Why similar: Programming 28.1% ★, Hacking 17.6% ★, Automation 17.6%, Base Building 12.5%, Building 8.6%
Why You'll Like It: Allows you to build a computer from the ground up using logic gates, providing a deep understanding of how code interacts with hardware.
- #13 Dyson Sphere Program
89% matchOverwhelmingly Positive97% of 91,831 reviews2021
Dev: Youthcat StudioPub: Gamirror Games
Windows
Median: 13.0 hrsMean: 76.0 hrs≥1hr: 84%
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 31.9%, Base Building 21.9%, Building 12.5%, Open World 11.9%, Sandbox 10.8%
Why You'll Like It: A massive-scale automation game that challenges you to optimize production lines across multiple planets.
- #14 The Farmer Was Replaced
88% matchOverwhelmingly Positive96% of 9,633 reviews2025
Dev: Timon HerzogPub: Metaroot
Windows · Mac
Median: 2.8 hrsMean: 12.1 hrs≥1hr: 75%
Program and optimize a drone to automate a farm and watch it do the work for you. Collect resources to unlock better technology and become the most efficient farmer in the world. Improve your problem solving and coding skills.
Why similar: Programming 47% ★, Automation 19.4%, Artificial Intelligence 11.3%, Minimalist 6.5%, Sandbox 5.9%
Why You'll Like It: A unique idler game where you use Python-like code to automate a farm and optimize production efficiency.
- #15 ABI-DOS
87% matchVery Positive92% of 438 reviews2024
Dev: ABI.DOS.SOFTWARE
Windows
Build the most advanced operating system ever created! Can you master the fictional simulation language of this mind-bending machine? Design circuits, automate UBITS (coloured mobile data blocks), and optimize your system. The Admin is always watching, and he’s not what he seems.
Why similar: Programming 34.7% ★, Hacking 21.8% ★, Automation 18.2%, Sandbox 8.8%, Building 7.7%
Why You'll Like It: A programming-based puzzle game that focuses on automation and logic flow in a highly technical environment.
- #16 Craftomation 101: Programming & Craft
86% matchVery Positive84% of 705 reviews2026
Dev: Luden.io
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 2.4 hrsMean: 6.8 hrs≥1hr: 67%
Program a crew of tiny robots to turn a frozen planet into a living world. Connect visual code blocks, automate crafting, and build a workforce that fuels itself. Keep the heat flowing, refine your machines, and watch your ideas come to life.
Why similar: Programming 40.9% ★, Automation 23.2%, Base Building 14.3%, Sandbox 13.5%, Strategy 4.8%
Why You'll Like It: An educational game that teaches the basics of programming through the automation of small robots on a frozen planet.
- #17 GLADIABOTS - AI Combat Arena
86% matchVery Positive88% of 917 reviews2019
Dev: GFX47
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 1.1 hrsMean: 6.6 hrs≥1hr: 55%
Assemble your robot squad, construct their AI and send them in the battle arena to see your strategy play out. Iterate, improve and repeat until you outsmart all your opponents and friends online.
Why similar: Artificial Intelligence 44.7%, Programming 21.8% ★, PvP 14.1%, Strategy 13.4%, Automation 3.1%
Why You'll Like It: Focuses on designing the AI behavior of your units before they enter combat, emphasizing strategic programming over twitch reflexes.
- #18 Oxygen Not Included
84% matchOverwhelmingly Positive97% of 144,026 reviews2019
Dev: Klei Entertainment
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 8.9 hrsMean: 69.6 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 39.8%, Base Building 25.2%, Building 11%, Sandbox 8.7%, Difficult 4.7%
Why You'll Like It: A colony simulation game that requires complex automation and gas/liquid management to keep your base running.
- #19 World Wide Hack
85% matchMixed63% of 83 reviews2021
Dev: Lotus Innovations
Windows · Linux
Reveal company secrets while hacking and exploring their quantum simulation networks. Fights for control with other players, coop with your faction, gather best tools, build most secure servers, write scripts and webs, or choose to be solo hacker who makes the right choices to change the world.
Why similar: Hacking 27.3% ★, Programming 25.6% ★, Massively Multiplayer 17.3%, Sandbox 8.1%, PvP 7.7%
Why You'll Like It: A persistent, browser-based hacking MMO that focuses on social engineering and scripting to dominate the network.
- #20 Infinifactory
84% matchVery Positive95% of 2,485 reviews2015
Dev: Zachtronics
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 5.7 hrsMean: 8.8 hrs≥1hr: 87%
Infinifactory is a sandbox puzzle game by Zachtronics, the creators of SpaceChem and Infiniminer. Build factories that assemble products for your alien overlords, and try not to die in the process.
Why similar: Programming 38.3% ★, Automation 23.5%, Building 12.8%, Sandbox 12.3%, Difficult 7.8%
Why You'll Like It: A 3D puzzle game from Zachtronics that tasks you with building automated assembly lines to manufacture alien products.
- #21 Astro Colony
82% matchVery Positive81% of 2,730 reviews2026
Dev: Terad Games
Windows
Median: 4.4 hrsMean: 16.0 hrs≥1hr: 77%
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: Colony Sim 23.1%, Automation 22.8%, Base Building 19.3%, Building 9.4%, Sandbox 8.7%
Why You'll Like It: A base-building game that relies heavily on automated conveyor systems and resource management in space.
- #22 Stationeers
83% matchVery Positive88% of 9,306 reviews2017
Dev: RocketWerkz
Windows
Median: 9.8 hrsMean: 85.8 hrs≥1hr: 85%
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 27.6%, Automation 25.6%, Base Building 19.1%, Sandbox 14.4%, Building 13.3%
Why You'll Like It: A survival game that emphasizes logic circuits and atmospheric automation to keep your space station functional.
- #23 shapez
82% matchOverwhelmingly Positive96% of 15,968 reviews2020
Dev: Tobias SpringerPub: tobspr Games
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 2.7 hrsMean: 14.6 hrs≥1hr: 65%
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 33.8%, Base Building 21.4%, Sandbox 15.9%, Building 10.1%, Open World 9.4%
Why You'll Like It: A pure automation game that focuses on the logic of processing and combining shapes in an infinite, expanding factory.
- #24 Plasma
81% matchVery Positive90% of 1,160 reviews2023
Dev: Dry CactusPub: Dry Licorice
Windows
Median: 30 minMean: 5.3 hrs≥1hr: 38%
Plasma is a pure engineering sandbox. Use advanced visual programming and robotics tools to create anything you can imagine.
Why similar: Programming 35.7% ★, Automation 19.2%, Sandbox 16%, Building 11.3%, Base Building 7.3%
Why You'll Like It: A physics-based sandbox that allows you to build complex machines using a visual logic and programming interface.
- #25 Upload Labs
79% matchVery Positive92% of 8,641 reviews2025
Dev: EnigmaDev Studios
Windows · Linux
Median: 5.3 hrsMean: 21.6 hrs≥1hr: 79%
A sci-fi management game where you build and optimize your computer's system from the ground up. Connect and configure interconnected nodes to efficiently download, process, and upload files. Manage your setup, solve system challenges, and become the ultimate system architect
Why similar: Programming 32.9% ★, Automation 27.6%, Hacking 18.2% ★, Economy 9.1%, Simulation 6.7%
Why You'll Like It: A programming-focused idler game where you automate data processing to climb the corporate ladder.
- #26 Replicube
79% matchOverwhelmingly Positive97% of 737 reviews2025
Dev: Walaber Entertainment LLC
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 2.5 hrsMean: 6.4 hrs≥1hr: 69%
Replicube is an open-ended programming puzzle game/toy about writing code to replicate 3D voxel-based objects. Solve puzzles, pursue leaderboard glory, or just make art to share with the in-game community.
Why similar: Programming 74.5% ★, Sandbox 17.1%, Simulation 8.4%
Why You'll Like It: A simulation game that integrates programming and puzzle-solving to manipulate objects in a sandbox environment.
- #27 Hacknet
80% matchVery Positive94% of 26,152 reviews2015
Dev: Team Fractal AlligatorPub: Fellow Traveller
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 3.0 hrsMean: 13.4 hrs≥1hr: 79%
Hacknet is an immersive, terminal-based hacking simulator for PC. Dive down a rabbit hoIe as you follow the instructions of a recently deceased hacker, whose death may not have been the accident the media reports.
Why similar: Hacking 82.3% ★, Programming 12.5% ★, Difficult 3.3%, Simulation 1.8%
Why You'll Like It: A terminal-based hacking simulator that captures the feel of writing scripts to bypass security systems.
- #28 The Colonists
81% matchVery Positive86% of 1,242 reviews2018
Dev: CodebyfirePub: Mode 7
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.0 hrsMean: 11.9 hrs≥1hr: 85%
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 21.9%, Automation 19.5%, Economy 14.1%, Base Building 11.5%, Building 10.4%
Why You'll Like It: A city-building game that uses a logic-based system to automate the transport of resources between buildings.
- #29 Code: Terraform
77% matchVery Positive84% of 310 reviews2026
Dev: AppsMafia
Windows · Linux
A deep automation and programming game on a frozen alien planet. Write real code to drive rovers, run power grids, fabricate parts, and fly drone fleets across the world. Your scripts run while you plan your next move. The more you terraform, the more the planet responds.
Why similar: Programming 29.7% ★, Colony Sim 17.6%, Automation 17%, Base Building 10.6%, Sandbox 9.5%
- #30 Quantum Odyssey
78% matchVery Positive93% of 161 reviews2025
Dev: Quarks Interactive
Windows · Mac · Linux
See the logic all of us obey. Design, optimize, and reverse-engineer real quantum algorithms in an open-ended Zachlike puzzle game. Solve 500+ visual puzzles and hack other players’ creations. No coding or physics background required.
Why similar: Programming 29% ★, Hacking 24.3% ★, Automation 16%, Difficult 9.6%, Sandbox 9.3%
Why You'll Like It: An educational puzzle game that uses programming and logic to teach the principles of quantum computing.
- #31 Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal
78% matchOverwhelmingly Positive96% of 4,835 reviews2014
Dev: Knuckle Cracker
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 7.4 hrsMean: 81.0 hrs≥1hr: 78%
Creeper World 3 is what happens when cellular automata takes over a strategy simulation. Instead of discrete units that attack your base, a fluid-like substance spreads over the terraformable terrain. Your base, your weapons, your strategy... you must adapt them all.
Why similar: RTS 45.2%, Strategy 26.7%, Base Building 18.5%, Simulation 6.7%, Sandbox 2.9%
Why You'll Like It: A strategy game that requires building automated defense networks to survive against an encroaching, fluid-like enemy.
- #32 Icaria
77% matchMostly Positive76% of 82 reviews2026
Dev: Blindsight Games LLC
Windows
Icaria is a robot colony builder where everything can be programmed. Build factories, design logistic networks, terraform the landscape, and explore an unknown alien world.
Why similar: Programming 27.7% ★, Automation 16.1%, Colony Sim 15.7%, Base Building 11.6%, Sandbox 8.9%
- #33 The Crust
75% matchMostly Positive76% of 4,355 reviews2026
Dev: VEOM StudioPub: Crytivo
Windows · Mac
Median: 6.8 hrsMean: 24.1 hrs≥1hr: 83%
Build and automate a lunar colony that Earth depends on. Mine regolith, run conveyor-and-drone factories above and below the surface, manage colonists, trade with rival Earth factions — and play a story campaign with multiple endings.
Why similar: Colony Sim 23.2%, Automation 21.6%, Base Building 16.9%, Sandbox 10.8%, RTS 10.3%
- #34 JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator
76% matchMostly Positive77% of 398 reviews2025
Dev: Prof. SchererPub: PlayWay S.A.
Windows
Median: 54 minMean: 1.9 hrs≥1hr: 41%
Use real Python code to automate machines, robots, drones and more: Program self-driving vehicles; crack passwords; apply machine learning; automate logistics; use image processing to guide missiles. Gain real coding skills and solve exciting bite-sized programming challenges.
Why similar: Programming 37.6% ★, Hacking 25.5% ★, Automation 22.9%, Difficult 7.7%, Simulation 4%
- #35 Dwarf Fortress
74% matchVery Positive95% of 31,541 reviews2022
Dev: Bay 12 GamesPub: Kitfox Games
Windows · Linux
Median: 5.6 hrsMean: 39.6 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 29.6%, Base Building 19.6%, Sandbox 15.6%, Building 14.2%, Strategy 7.1%
- #36 Mechanica
76% matchMixed63% of 640 reviews2020
Dev: Deimos Interactive
Windows
Mechanica is a multiplayer open-world survival game involving building and programming. Create your own bases, defenses, manufacturing systems and more. Explore the map and expand the scope and complexity of your creations.
Why similar: Programming 45.3% ★, Base Building 17.8%, Automation 13.9%, Building 12.7%, Sandbox 10.3%
- #37 Autonauts vs Piratebots
75% matchMostly Positive77% of 526 reviews2022
Dev: DenkiPub: Curve Games
Windows
Median: 4.5 hrsMean: 6.3 hrs≥1hr: 91%
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: Programming 23.6% ★, Automation 22%, Colony Sim 16.9%, Sandbox 11.7%, Building 9.2%
- #38 Empires of the Undergrowth
71% matchVery Positive94% of 18,977 reviews2024
Dev: Slug DiscoPub: Hooded Horse
Windows · Mac
Median: 5.9 hrsMean: 18.3 hrs≥1hr: 81%
Command swarms of warriors at an unprecedented scale of warfare in this blend of RTS and base-building. Lead ant colonies against the many fearsome threats of the insect world, while building intricate nests, developing pheromone-based tactics, and evolving to meet growing dangers.
Why similar: Colony Sim 23.4%, Base Building 16.1%, Economy 15.2%, Sandbox 12.4%, Building 11.4%
- #39 while True: learn()
73% matchVery Positive91% of 8,246 reviews2019
Dev: Luden.io
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 3.0 hrsMean: 6.0 hrs≥1hr: 80%
You're a programmer. Your cat is a better one. Solve visual puzzles built from real machine learning ideas, from decision trees to neural networks, to create a cat-to-human translator. Take freelance jobs, upgrade your rig, gamble on startups, dress up the cat. No coding required, curiosity is.
Why similar: Programming 73.9% ★, Sandbox 9.9%, Building 9.1%, Simulation 7.2%
- #40 Sandustry
70% matchOverwhelmingly Positive97% of 5,238 reviews2026
Dev: Lantto GamesPub: Hooded Horse
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 9.6 hrsMean: 16.2 hrs≥1hr: 89%
Explore and mine fully destructible worlds. Automate increasingly complex production chains. Delve deep to uncover an ancient civilization’s powerful secrets and learn to love the sand in this factory game where every pixel is a valuable resource.
Why similar: Automation 26.7%, Base Building 17.9%, Sandbox 15.9%, Open World 14%, Building 13.8%
- #41 Brave New Wonders
72% matchVery Positive87% of 71 reviews2026
Dev: City From Naught Inc.
Windows
Automate, optimize, and build vast factories in a post-apocalyptic automation game for those who have evolved beyond conveyor belts. Command intelligent robots that obey your plain-text commands in any language, explore the ruins of a lost civilization, and rebuild humanity one machine at a time.
Why similar: Programming 32.5% ★, Automation 20.1%, Base Building 14.6%, Artificial Intelligence 13.4%, Building 9.9%
- #42 PlanetX
73% matchMixed67% of 54 reviews2025
Dev: Giedrius Talzunas
Windows · Mac
PlanetX is a real-time strategy MMO set on a spherical planet. Players expand territories, construct buildings, and manage resources to develop their empire. The ultimate goal is to conquer the entire planet by claiming all land plots and outpacing rivals in strategic growth and domination.
Why similar: Colony Sim 26.5%, RTS 20.2%, Economy 14%, Building 10.8%, Base Building 7.8%
- #43 hackmud
74% matchMostly Positive77% of 847 reviews2016
Dev: ComCODE
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 5.6 hrsMean: 71.1 hrs≥1hr: 83%
hackmud is a retro cyberpunk RPG where you play a digital persona in a chaotic, unpredictable, and often goofy abandoned internet. Enter a 90s hacker movie filled with scripts, scams, and sabotage. Explore the world of digital secrets and forge your legacy through cunning, creativity, or disruption.
Why similar: Programming 39.6% ★, Hacking 36.6% ★, Massively Multiplayer 19.5%, Simulation 4.3%
- #44 Modulus: Factory Automation
70% matchVery Positive91% of 869 reviews2026
Dev: Happy VolcanoPub: Kwalee
Windows
Median: 3.8 hrsMean: 14.2 hrs≥1hr: 74%
Build, automate, & optimize production lines across sky islands with real spatial constraints. Every production line is an open-ended puzzle: which operators to use, how to route your belts and how to fit your factory into the landscape. Your solutions, like your factories, are uniquely your own.
Why similar: Automation 28.7%, Base Building 18.6%, Building 15%, Sandbox 14.9%, Open World 9.3%
- #45 Per Aspera
73% matchMostly Positive76% of 5,783 reviews2020
Dev: Tlön IndustriesPub: Raw Fury
Windows
Median: 5.0 hrsMean: 12.0 hrs≥1hr: 93%
Make Mars your own! Take control of the world’s most sophisticated AI (AMI) and terraform the surface of the Red Planet for a city-building experience on a planetary scale. Transform this barren world into a lush paradise and explore the surface for any ancient secrets that may be waiting.
Why similar: Colony Sim 24.9%, Automation 23.1%, Base Building 17%, Sandbox 12%, Building 11.9%
- #46 Nimbatus - The Space Drone Constructor
72% matchMostly Positive79% of 2,173 reviews2020
Dev: Stray Fawn StudioPub: Stray Fawn Publishing
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 3.1 hrsMean: 5.1 hrs≥1hr: 84%
Command the Nimbatus and craft drones out of hundreds of different parts. Survive unknown threats in a fully destructible, procedural universe, compete against other players in different arenas or enjoy complete creative freedom in the sandbox.
Why similar: Programming 39.8% ★, Automation 19%, Sandbox 11.3%, Building 10.4%, Open World 10%
- #47 Caves of Qud
69% matchOverwhelmingly Positive95% of 12,678 reviews2024
Dev: Freehold GamesPub: Kitfox Games
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 4.9 hrsMean: 35.5 hrs≥1hr: 73%
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: Turn-Based Combat 41.3%, Open World 35.6%, Difficult 23.2%
- #48 Echoes of the Architects
71% matchVery Positive80% of 50 reviews2025
Dev: GFX47
Windows
Design the perfect units, program their behavior, and unleash them in fully automated battles. Refine your creations throughout the campaign, then outsmart all your opponents online.
Why similar: Programming 34.8% ★, RTS 19.8%, Automation 18.5%, PvP 9.6%, Building 7.9%
- #49 Colony Survival
71% matchVery Positive92% of 9,016 reviews2017
Dev: Pipliz
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 9.6 hrsMean: 28.6 hrs≥1hr: 86%
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 35.9%, Base Building 20.1%, Building 12.7%, Sandbox 11.5%, Open World 9.8%
- #50 Microtopia
69% matchVery Positive87% of 977 reviews2025
Dev: Cordyceps CollectivePub: Goblinz Publishing
Windows
Median: 3.8 hrsMean: 10.6 hrs≥1hr: 80%
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 27.8%, Automation 24.8%, Base Building 16.9%, Sandbox 14%, Building 8.9%
- #51 RimWorld
68% matchOverwhelmingly Positive98% of 247,065 reviews2018
Dev: Ludeon Studios
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 59.4 hrsMean: 267.8 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 35.9%, Base Building 23%, Sandbox 12.8%, Open World 9%, Building 8.7%
- #52 Mob Factory
70% matchMostly Positive73% of 478 reviews2023
Dev: LiterallyEveryone Games
Windows
Median: 1.8 hrsMean: 7.6 hrs≥1hr: 63%
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: Automation 29.3%, Base Building 17.3%, Open World 12.1%, RTS 11.5%, Sandbox 10.7%
- #53 Outworld Station
67% matchVery Positive85% of 859 reviews2026
Dev: Trickjump Games Ltd
Windows
Median: 3.5 hrsMean: 10.5 hrs≥1hr: 69%
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 31.3%, Base Building 22.2%, RTS 19.7%, Sandbox 14.5%, Simulation 6.2%
- #54 Automation Empire
68% matchMixed66% of 2,646 reviews2019
Dev: DOG HOGGLER
Windows
Median: 7.2 hrsMean: 19.2 hrs≥1hr: 84%
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 28.8%, Base Building 19.2%, Economy 13.6%, Sandbox 12.8%, Building 11.1%
- #55 Oasis Mission: Colony Sim
67% matchMixed61% of 119 reviews2025
Dev: Lunar pug studio
Windows · Mac
A Sci-Fi colony and strategy sim with a complex economy, immersive logistics, and a war against the rise of the machines! Build your colony and ensure supplies for your people. Automate industrial ships and create combat groups to defend against waves of enemies.
Why similar: Colony Sim 22.7%, Automation 20.1%, RTS 15.9%, Base Building 13.6%, Economy 12.8%
- #56 Sim Companies
66% matchMostly Positive80% of 1,110 reviews2023
Dev: Sim Companies s.r.o.
Windows · Mac · Linux
Median: 1.0 hrsMean: 86.7 hrs≥1hr: 49%
Build a business empire in a player-driven online economy. Manage supply chains, trade with thousands of players, dominate markets, research new products, and grow from a small startup into a global corporation.
Why similar: Economy 24.9%, Massively Multiplayer 17%, Sandbox 16.1%, Building 14.6%, Difficult 14.4%
- #57 Onset
67% matchMixed67% of 776 reviews2019
Dev: Blue Mountains
Windows
Median: 1.7 hrsMean: 21.5 hrs≥1hr: 57%
Onset is an open world Lua scripting sandbox without predefined goals. Choose from hundreds of Lua functions from our Developer Wiki to create your own scripts and gamemodes. Onset is a perfect starting point for beginners interested in learning how to program.
Why similar: Massively Multiplayer 57%, Sandbox 15.8%, Open World 15.4%, Simulation 11.8%
- #58 Perpetuum
68% matchMostly Positive73% of 814 reviews2014
Dev: Avatar CreationsPub: Gamestorm Ltd
Windows
Median: 3.2 hrsMean: 27.1 hrs≥1hr: 81%
Perpetuum is a persistent, sandbox, single server, massively multiplayer sci-fi rpg (MMORPG). Control huge robots and mechs to gain access to an alien planet's resources and knowledge, amass huge wealth, or even claim part of the world for yourself using terraforming and complex infrastructure.
Why similar: Massively Multiplayer 53%, Sandbox 21.2%, Open World 14.8%, PvP 11%
- #59 Virtual Circuit Board
65% matchVery Positive92% of 323 reviews2023
Dev: Reverie Foundry
Windows · Linux
Median: 1.5 hrsMean: 20.1 hrs≥1hr: 53%
Virtual Circuit Board is the sandbox drawing-based logic simulator where you can build, program, decorate, and simulate anything from simple monochrome circuits to complex and colorful computers. Play with digital logic in this sandbox-only experience.
Why similar: Programming 31.7% ★, Hacking 23.3% ★, Automation 16.4%, Sandbox 8.8%, Minimalist 8.3%
- #60 CodeSpells
69% matchMostly Negative39% of 265 reviews2015
Dev: ThoughtSTEM, LLC
Windows · Mac
Craft any magical spell you can imagine using the most powerful tool there is: code. CodeSpells is currently an unguided, sandbox experience for the bravest wizards who want to help the developers steer the game's development.
Why similar: Programming 76.1% ★, Sandbox 15.7%, Simulation 8.2%