Games Like Surviving the Abyss

IXION is an unrelenting, city-building odyssey across the stars. As Administrator of the Tiqqun, DOLOS’ prototype space station, you are tasked with balancing preservation and exploration as you manage infrastructure, resources and crew. Can you keep the flame of humanity alight in the cold dark?

Why similar: City Builder 21.9%, Colony Sim 19.6%, Base Building 9.5%, Survival 8.6%, Building 7.9%

Why You'll Like It: Features the same high-stakes, hardcore resource management and atmospheric pressure of keeping a fragile colony alive in a hostile environment.

Frostpunk is the first society survival game. As the ruler of the last city on Earth, it is your duty to manage both its citizens and infrastructure. What decisions will you make to ensure your society's survival? What will you do when pushed to breaking point? Who will you become in the process?

Why similar: City Builder 24%, Colony Sim 20.1%, Post-apocalyptic 10.2%, Survival 10.1%, Building 6.8%

Why You'll Like It: The gold standard for hardcore survival city-builders, forcing you to make brutal decisions to keep your colony alive against an unforgiving environment.

Barotrauma is a 2D co-op submarine simulator – in space, with survival horror and RPG elements. Steer your submarine, complete missions, fight monsters, fix leaks, operate machinery, man the guns and craft items, and stay alert: danger in Barotrauma doesn’t announce itself!

Why similar: Underwater 47% ★, Survival 20%, Management 12.3%, Difficult 11%, Simulation 5%

Why You'll Like It: A tense, claustrophobic deep-sea survival game that perfectly captures the horror and management challenges of living under extreme pressure.

Aquatico is a classic city builder set within the depths of the sea. Strategically build an underwater colony atop the ocean floor and face the challenges that accompany oceanic life.

Why similar: Underwater 20.4% ★, Colony Sim 18.7%, City Builder 17.3%, Economy 8%, Base Building 7.8%

Why You'll Like It: A direct thematic match that focuses on building and managing a functional city on the ocean floor.

Descend into the depths of an alien underwater world filled with wonder and peril. Craft equipment, pilot submarines and out-smart wildlife to explore lush coral reefs, volcanoes, cave systems, and more - all while trying to survive.

Why similar: Underwater 49.9% ★, Survival 18.9%, Base Building 18.8%, Exploration 9.4%, Atmospheric 3%

Why You'll Like It: While more focused on exploration, it captures the terrifying beauty and isolation of the deep ocean better than any other title.

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 32.8%, Base Building 17.2%, City Builder 13.5%, Survival 10.4%, Management 9.3%

Why You'll Like It: Offers the most deep and emergent colony management experience, where every disaster feels personal and high-stakes.

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 23%, City Builder 16.2%, Base Building 12.4%, Building 9.9%, Management 9%

Why You'll Like It: Focuses on the claustrophobic management of a crew in space, mirroring the isolation and resource scarcity found in deep-sea facilities.

Develop, expand, and advance your city in a society survival game set 30 years after an apocalyptic blizzard ravaged Earth. In Frostpunk 2, you face not only the perils of never-ending winter, but also the powerful factions that watch your every step inside the Council Hall.

Why similar: City Builder 36.9%, Survival 14.5%, Post-apocalyptic 13.2%, Colony Sim 8.7%, Strategy 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: Expands on the brutal survival mechanics and societal management of its predecessor in a harsh, dying world.

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 35.5%, Base Building 20.1%, Building 16.9%, Management 14%, Survival 13.5%

Why You'll Like It: A complex, hardcore base-building simulation that requires precise management of atmospheric pressure and life support systems.

UBOAT is a simulator of a submarine from WWII era. It is a survival sandbox with crew management mechanics while its primary theme is life of German sailors. The boat is their home, but it can become their grave at any time.

Why similar: RTS 30.9%, Management 23.5%, Realistic 17.4%, Survival 16.7%, Simulation 11.5%

Why You'll Like It: Provides a deeply immersive and claustrophobic management experience set within the confines of a submarine during wartime.

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 31.3%, City Builder 25%, Base Building 15.3%, Survival 8.8%, Building 5.7%

Why You'll Like It: A classic sci-fi colony sim where you must manage oxygen, water, and power to keep your base functional in a hostile environment.

Oxygen is a survival city builder. Build your city around the Oxygen Center and ensure your people's survival in a post-apocalyptic future, threatened by crack explosions, deadly winds, droughts and frosts. Lead your people and more importantly keep the Oxygen Center running!

Why similar: Colony Sim 19.7%, City Builder 17.9%, Base Building 11.8%, Building 8.5%, Economy 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: A survival city-builder where managing your oxygen supply is the primary mechanic for keeping your population alive.

Endzone is a post-apocalyptic survival city builder, where you start a new civilization with a group of people after an ecological disaster. Build them a new home and ensure their survival in a shattered world, threatened by constant radiation, toxic rain, sandstorms and droughts.

Why similar: City Builder 28%, Post-apocalyptic 12.9%, Colony Sim 12.5%, Base Building 10.6%, Survival 10.5%

Why You'll Like It: A survival-focused city-builder that emphasizes managing radiation and limited resources in a post-apocalyptic setting.

A dark fantasy city builder where you must rebuild civilization in the face of apocalyptic rains. As the Queen’s Viceroy, lead humans, beavers, lizards, foxes, and harpies to reclaim the wilderness and secure a future for civilization's last survivors.

Why similar: Colony Sim 22.1%, City Builder 19.4%, Base Building 12.4%, Economy 11.1%, Building 10.5%

Why You'll Like It: A high-stakes city-builder that forces you to adapt to constant environmental threats and resource scarcity.

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 41.1%, Base Building 11.9%, Management 11.7%, Survival 11.7%, Strategy 6.3%

Why You'll Like It: A sci-fi colony simulation that emphasizes the dangers of hostile extraterrestrial environments and complex system management.

New Cycle is a city building game with focus on survival. After an apocalyptic series of solar flares, human society has been thrown into disarray. Establish a settlement and develop it all the way from humble beginnings to industrial metropolis.

Why similar: Colony Sim 18.6%, City Builder 17.1%, Base Building 9.6%, Building 9.2%, Post-apocalyptic 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: A survival-focused city-builder that emphasizes the struggle to rebuild society after a global catastrophe.

After a nuclear war life on the surface became impossible. A 300m thick radioactive fog covered the Earth. We are looking for bold active people to manage the process of restoring life on Earth. Join!

Why similar: City Builder 19.9%, Colony Sim 19.5%, Economy 11.2%, Building 8.5%, Base Building 8.5%

Why You'll Like It: A futuristic city-builder that forces you to manage limited space and resources on isolated platforms above a ruined world.

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: City Builder 23.9%, Colony Sim 23.3%, Base Building 11%, Building 10%, Management 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: Features unique survival mechanics centered around water management and adapting to extreme environmental cycles.

Design and build fortresses brick by brick to stand against endless hordes of Horrors in this real-time strategy game with resource management, siege defense, and exploration. Lead from the ramparts, push back the darkness, and hold fast against the creatures of the Mist.

Why similar: Colony Sim 17.4%, City Builder 14.9%, Alternate History 10.9%, RTS 9.9%, Base Building 9.8%

Why You'll Like It: Combines base-building and survival mechanics with a focus on defending your colony against waves of enemies.

Choose any real region from the world. Choose your base of operations, then rebuild and readapt the buildings around you to create a self-sustaining settlement. Take charge of a group of survivors from your city. And when the night falls - Defend the zone from the infected!

Why similar: City Builder 20.4%, Colony Sim 16%, Base Building 16%, Post-apocalyptic 12.7%, RTS 10.8%

Why You'll Like It: A base-building survival game that uses real-world map data to create a tense, high-stakes management experience.

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 24.4%, City Builder 19.9%, Base Building 13.3%, Building 11.6%, Management 10.1%

Why You'll Like It: The ultimate complex colony simulation, offering unparalleled depth in managing the survival and psychological state of your population.

Automate a lunar base as you become the savior of humanity exploring the future on the moon. Mine, craft, research, and trade resources with Earth in this gripping narrative basebuilder.

Why similar: Colony Sim 23.2%, City Builder 15.6%, Base Building 13.7%, Building 8.9%, RTS 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: An automation and base-building game set on the moon that requires careful management of resources and life support.

Build a soviet republic from an impoverished country into a rich industrial superpower in a city builder with intricate production chains and a fully simulated global economy. Manage the lives of your citizens from education to work and party loyalty to criminal activity.

Why similar: Colony Sim 19.6%, City Builder 19.1%, Base Building 11.3%, Economy 10.7%, Building 9.7%

Why You'll Like It: Offers an incredibly deep and complex management simulation for players who enjoy the hardcore economy aspects of colony builders.

A society survival game set in a world destroyed by climate change. Explore, scavenge and build a city to unite the clans. Conflicting cultures and limited resources mean you need to make tough choices; have you got what it takes to lead your people into a new era of humanity?

Why similar: Colony Sim 29.5%, City Builder 22.2%, Post-apocalyptic 14.7%, Survival 10.9%, Choices Matter 6.8%

Why You'll Like It: A society-survival game that forces you to manage resources and make difficult choices in a world reclaimed by the ocean.

Build and expand your very own settlements in high mountains! Carefully plan production chains and satisfy various needs of your three-caste society while dealing with mountain hazards such as weather breakdowns and avalanches. Are you skilled enough to make your town thrive?

Why similar: Colony Sim 21.8%, City Builder 20.1%, Base Building 11.2%, Building 10.4%, Economy 9.2%

Why You'll Like It: A city-builder that focuses on managing resources and infrastructure in a challenging, high-altitude environment.

Homeseek is a post-apocalyptic survival strategy game set on a resource-strapped Earth at the turn of the next century. In a dried-up wasteland where water has become the new gold, every choice you make becomes life or death.

Why similar: Colony Sim 19%, City Builder 15.7%, Difficult 11.7%, Base Building 10%, Post-apocalyptic 9%

Why You'll Like It: A difficult, resource-focused survival game where every decision impacts the long-term viability of your colony.

Build, scavenge, craft, and perform occult rituals to survive in a demon-infested, post-apocalyptic colony simulation. Will you survive Judgment day?

Why similar: Colony Sim 29.7%, Base Building 14.8%, Post-apocalyptic 12%, Survival 10.8%, City Builder 9.8%

Why You'll Like It: A colony-sim that blends base-building with survival against supernatural threats, echoing the horror elements of the seed game.

Dark Moon is a survival strategy game where in order to survive you must avoid the Sun’s scorching rays and embrace the darkness. Gather resources, upgrade your mobile base, make tough moral decisions, but most importantly - don’t go into the light!

Why similar: Colony Sim 22.5%, Base Building 12.7%, Economy 12.2%, RTS 11.5%, Management 10.1%

Why You'll Like It: A management and base-building game that emphasizes survival against a lethal, ever-present environmental threat.

LEAD the CULT OF CTHULHU. Decide the fate of your followers, perform eldritch rituals, and master the art of city-building in a world where the line between sanity and madness blurs. Can you endure the horrors you unleash?

Why similar: Colony Sim 24.8%, City Builder 16.8%, Alternate History 11.7%, Base Building 10.7%, Economy 9.6%

Build massive ocean cities and lead your people to prosperity in this post-apocalyptic survival colony sim. Featuring a physics-based 3D construction system, complex resource management, exploration, difficult political decisions, supply chains, and a robust sandbox mode.

Why similar: Colony Sim 24.3%, City Builder 17.8%, Base Building 13.2%, Post-apocalyptic 11.4%, Building 7.3%

Endzone 2 is a post-apocalyptic survival colony builder, where you embark to secure humanity's survival after a cataclysmic disaster. Discover and repopulate the last habitable grounds, while the survival of your people hinges on your wits, foresight, and resilience in a harsh and unforgiving world.

Why similar: Colony Sim 20.8%, City Builder 16.7%, Post-apocalyptic 9.6%, Base Building 8.7%, Economy 8.6%

Build a new home for humanity in Aven Colony. Discover Aven Prime - an alien planet of deserts, tundras, and wetlands light years from earth. Build your colonies into massive, sprawling cities whilst dealing with the challenges faced when settling on a new world.

Why similar: Colony Sim 40.2%, City Builder 31.8%, Base Building 11.6%, Strategy 5.7%, Simulation 4%

Why You'll Like It: A sci-fi colony builder that focuses on managing the challenges of establishing a new home on an alien planet.

Survive and thrive in a post-apocalyptic future — resources are scarce, but opportunity calls! Build the ultimate disaster proof colony, protect your colonists, and restore civilization to a devastated world.

Why similar: City Builder 23.4%, Colony Sim 20.8%, Post-apocalyptic 13.5%, Base Building 9.4%, Survival 9%

Protect and guide your people as you forge a town from untamed wilderness at the edge of the known world. Harvest raw materials, hunt, fish and farm to survive. Produce crafted items to trade, consume, equip and fight with as you battle for your survival against the elements and outside threats.

Why similar: City Builder 16.6%, Colony Sim 16.3%, Building 11.7%, RTS 10.2%, Economy 8.9%

DarkSwitch is a vertical survival city builder. Build a city on a great tree and defend it against the Fog. Face the challenges of limited real estate, scarce resources, and tough moral choices as you seek to uncover the mystery of the Shroud. The Tree Provides! The Tree Protects! The Tree Prevails!

Why similar: Colony Sim 18.7%, City Builder 16.2%, Base Building 9.2%, Building 7.7%, RTS 7.7%

Build and manage mankind’s first mission across the universe! Create a sprawling facility underground, recruit a diverse group of specialists from around the globe and explore mysterious new worlds through the Exogate.

Why similar: Colony Sim 19.4%, City Builder 17.7%, Base Building 12.2%, RTS 12%, Building 10.3%

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 39.1%, Base Building 20.2%, Survival 12.4%, Building 10.6%, Management 7.3%

The world after a nuclear war. Manage the settlement, learn technology, make decisions, produce weapons, ammunition, organize defense, raid for supplies on other areas, do not let residents die, survive the nuclear winter.

Why similar: Base Building 18.2%, City Builder 14.4%, Post-apocalyptic 13.5%, RTS 9%, Survival 8.3%

Life Below is a refreshing twist on the city-building genre, set beneath the waves. Shape thriving coral reefs, revive collapsing ecosystems, and grow a living seascape in a heartfelt narrative by Rhianna Pratchett. You are the ocean's final hope.

Why similar: Underwater 22.9% ★, Colony Sim 18.4%, City Builder 17.5%, Base Building 10.1%, Building 9.3%

Rule Tenochtitlán in this survival city-builder where gods decide your fate. Confront the Moon Goddess and her generals. Delve into the intricate story, survive the nights in the Sandbox mode, or build freely in the Creative mode. The last sun is yours to save, or… lose!

Why similar: Colony Sim 17.5%, City Builder 15.2%, Base Building 9.2%, Economy 9.2%, RTS 9%

Buoyancy is a city-building strategy game where you build, manage, and move a floating city on an oceanic world. Explore and scavenge resources scattered around the endless waters. Keep your villagers nourished and happy while combating fires, sickness, and pirate attacks.

Why similar: Colony Sim 38.6%, City Builder 22.1%, Base Building 11.4%, Post-apocalyptic 7.2%, RTS 6.9%

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 19.7%, City Builder 16.6%, Alternate History 11.5%, Base Building 11.1%, Economy 10.1%

Lead a team of cloned settlers and build a home on a new planet. Start from the Stone Age, construct sturdy shelters, hunt for food, and fight off dangers. Make your team stronger and better equipped to survive.

Why similar: Colony Sim 24.1%, City Builder 20%, Survival 12.9%, Post-apocalyptic 12.7%, Base Building 12.6%

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 25.1%, City Builder 20.4%, Economy 9.2%, Base Building 9.1%, Building 9%

Patron is a survival city builder with a unique social dynamics system. Gather and produce resources, build your fledgling village into a prosperous city and navigate the intricate social tensions before they reach boiling point.

Why similar: Colony Sim 26.9%, City Builder 23.1%, Survival 9.7%, Economy 8.6%, Base Building 8.2%

Brave a new world in Stranded: Alien Dawn, a planet survival sim placing the fate of a small marooned group in your hands. Forge your story through compelling and immersive strategic gameplay as you make vital decisions to protect your survivors.

Why similar: Colony Sim 26.8%, Base Building 24.6%, Survival 16.7%, Management 9.3%, Strategy 5.9%

This is a free version of Oxygen, featuring the first 50 game-days. Build your city around the Oxygen Center and ensure your people's survival in a post-apocalyptic future, threatened by crack explosions, deadly winds, droughts and frosts. Lead your people and keep the Oxygen Center running!

Why similar: Colony Sim 20%, City Builder 19.1%, Base Building 12.9%, Economy 9%, Building 8.6%

Build a sprawling pirate haven, raise a fleet to explore the high seas, and take on the Crown to keep the Age of Piracy alive! From ale to flintlock pistols, and from scallywags to swashbucklers, you’ll need to manage complex production chains and govern a rowdy crew to reign supreme over the seas!

Why similar: Colony Sim 21.1%, City Builder 19.9%, Base Building 12.9%, Economy 11.5%, Building 10.6%

Sail, scavenge, and rescue survivors in a vibrant floating city-builder. Captain your drifters across the endless garbage sea to uncover soaked ruins, rusting factories, and stories from the old world.

Why similar: Colony Sim 23.3%, City Builder 18.9%, Base Building 13.1%, Economy 9.9%, Post-apocalyptic 9.5%

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 28.3%, City Builder 18.8%, Base Building 14.8%, Management 10.4%, Survival 9.8%

Project Aura is a micro management game where you lead a Colony of Climate Disaster Survivors. You have been assigned the mission to build an habitat capable of survival in this new unknown world.

Why similar: City Builder 28.9%, Management 12.3%, Economy 12.3%, Building 11.2%, Base Building 8.1%

The Wandering Village is a city-building simulation game on the back of a giant, wandering creature. Build your settlement and form a symbiotic relationship with the colossus. Will you survive together in this hostile, yet beautiful post-apocalyptic world, contaminated by poisonous plants?

Why similar: Colony Sim 22.8%, City Builder 20.7%, Post-apocalyptic 11.8%, RTS 10.6%, Management 10.5%

A sci-fi survival-crafting colony sim set in a flooded world of floating islands. Build a colony, craft gear, design rafts, fend off sharks, manage your survivors, and explore island bunkers to uncover lost Float-Tech from an old-world corporation.

Why similar: Underwater 27.3% ★, Colony Sim 25.7%, Base Building 11.8%, Building 11.3%, Survival 10.1%

Every descent is a deadly gamble. DIVE or DIE in the cursed abyss, face Eldritch horrors to uncover the mystery of the black rain. Scavenge and upgrade, recruit and sacrifice. Save your camp... The Flood is coming.

Why similar: Underwater 35.6% ★, Colony Sim 16.4%, Post-apocalyptic 12.1%, Management 10.3%, Survival 9.8%

Ancient Cities is a realistic, survival city builder in an immersive procedural environment. Lead the fate of your tribe through ancient times!

Why similar: City Builder 22.2%, Colony Sim 16.1%, Economy 10.1%, Survival 9.9%, Management 8.9%

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: City Builder 24.4%, Colony Sim 24.2%, Building 12.2%, Management 9.5%, Survival 8.7%

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: City Builder 35.5%, Colony Sim 34.7%, Survival 10.3%, Economy 4.8%, Strategy 4.5%

Memoriapolis is a historical city builder where your city grows organically across 5 ages, from Antiquity to the Industrial Revolution. Manage resources, interact with factions, and shape your dynasty toward building a final Wonder with easy, normal, or hard difficulty levels.

Why similar: City Builder 24.7%, Colony Sim 24.3%, Base Building 11.2%, Building 11.1%, Management 9.4%