Great Games That Let You Run A Colony In Space

Management and simulation games usually present players with the most demanding problems within their specific genre. For example, a restaurant simulation might have you scrambling to serve everyone during a busy lunch, making sure every order is perfect and delivered quickly. That’s challenging on its own, but it’s simpler than dealing with things like alien attacks or customers floating into space! Managing a space colony is definitely not easy. While survival colony sims are already tough, a space setting adds a whole new level of difficulty.

That’s why many space games focus heavily on building and managing colonies. Some games center entirely around colony life, while others include it as a feature within a larger space exploration experience. Regardless, these games all challenge you to handle various tasks to keep your space settlements thriving.

6. Oxygen Not Included

A Deceptively Deep Challenge

I absolutely love Oxygen Not Included! It’s got such a funny vibe, the animations are fantastic, and everything just looks so cute and cartoony. Honestly, it’s easy to get swept up in how charming it is, but don’t let that fool you – this game is challenging. You’re in charge of little guys called duplicants, and they’re constantly facing all sorts of problems you’d expect on a hostile asteroid – sickness, hunger, and, you know, needing oxygen! Trying to keep them alive and happy while also making sure they do all the work to keep the colony going – like expanding, generating power, and collecting resources – gets really intense, really fast.

Balancing all your tasks – checking everyone’s needs and how they’re doing – might give you a rare chance to read documents that explain the game’s story and what happened to Earth, similar to the challenging lore in Dark Souls. The realistic physics also mean you’ll need to carefully consider every action and how it impacts your team.

5. Surviving Mars

The Myriad Challenges Of The Red Planet

One of humanity’s biggest goals is to travel to Mars and eventually build settlements there. It’s incredibly challenging to live on such a harsh planet, and while we wait for scientists and engineers to figure out how to overcome these obstacles, the game Surviving Mars offers a good idea of what that might be like. It’s a fantastic city-building game that highlights the difficulties of establishing a colony on the Red Planet.

Okay, so in Surviving Mars, just staying alive is a huge job. I’m talking about building everything from habitats and food production to oxygen systems and, yeah, even a sewage system! Before I even land anyone, I have to create a whole company and carefully manage my budget to decide what I can realistically send with my landers. It’s smart to send robots and rovers first to scout and prep the area before committing to a human colony. But even after I get a colony going, the real fun – and challenge – is how unpredictable things are. Mars throws curveballs constantly with its crazy weather, and where you choose to build impacts what kind of disasters you’ll face – dust storms are a big one! I’m always balancing risks, because I can’t protect against everything. Plus, my colonists aren’t always reliable – they have moods and needs that change over time. It’s a really thrilling game about juggling what I can control with all the stuff that’s completely out of my hands, all while trying to get enough funding and keep everyone on Mars as happy and comfortable as possible.

4. Stellaris

One Of The Biggest Space Games Of All

Some space games focus solely on building and growing a colony, making sure it thrives. However, Stellaris is a much larger and more complex game where colony management is just one piece of the puzzle. It’s a strategy game that lets you do a bit of everything, and it improves the more you play. You can build a powerful trade network, or even wage war across the galaxy – the choice is yours.

Like games in the Civilization series, success hinges on utilizing the unique strengths of the species you choose. Colonies are always beneficial, no matter how you play, because they give you a new planet to develop and grow your empire. To establish a colony, you’ll need Colony Ships and a nearby planet with a Habitability rating suitable for your chosen species. Different species and planets have different requirements, and you’ll also need diplomatic access. Once established, the key is to prioritize production effectively so your new colony strengthens your empire instead of draining resources – a delicate balance of construction and keeping your colonists happy and productive.

3. RimWorld

The Spacefaring Life Is A Dangerous One

RimWorld is famous for being challenging, especially for new players, but that’s expected when starting a space colony. You’ll manage colonists, called pawns, and keep them busy throughout the game. While you have a lot of freedom in how you design and build your base, certain essential rooms, like bedrooms and barracks, are always necessary. A key part of RimWorld is managing your pawns’ growing needs; for example, you’ll upgrade their recreation room with better entertainment as your colony develops.

As your colony expands, you’ll be able to build things like a fully-equipped hospital, which is crucial because sickness is a constant danger, much like in Oxygen Not Included. You’ll also need to defend against raids, and a well-designed base layout can be a lifesaver when fighting off attackers. Keeping your colonists focused on important tasks, like mining, often requires careful management. This game can be quite frightening at times, and it definitely delivers some scary moments.

2. No Man’s Sky

Colonies Are Yet Another Facet Of The Game

When No Man’s Sky first launched, it didn’t quite live up to the hype, but Hello Games deserves credit for continuing to improve the game even after a lot of criticism. They really listened to players and transformed it into something special – a truly ambitious and now well-loved space exploration game. A big part of its appeal is the ability to explore the universe with friends, and the developers added cross-platform play to make that happen. Players enjoy building bases and creating communities together in space, but the game offers much more than just that.

In No Man’s Sky, you can establish and manage colonies called Planetary Settlements. Bigger planets can have several of these, each focused on different goals. Taking on more settlements means more work, but can also be very rewarding. As the Overseer, you’ll direct construction projects and interact with the settlement’s inhabitants to keep everything running well – happy citizens are essential! If you’re familiar with the town management aspects of the Kingdom Come: Deliverance DLC, you’ll quickly understand the system.

1. Plan B: Terraform

Developing A Huge Population

When we picture colonies on other planets, we usually think of small teams – maybe a dozen scientists and explorers. That’s likely how they’ll begin, both in fiction and eventually in reality. However, if humanity truly wants to expand throughout the universe and establish new settlements, it’s encouraging to see a game that envisions much larger populations.

Plan B: Terraform initially feels like a mix of Factorio and Terra Nil. It combines the detailed factory construction of Factorio with the environmental restoration focus of Terra Nil. What really sets it apart is how it merges these elements with a massive scale. You’ll be building huge colonies that can house up to a million people, giving you complete control over their development. To keep your colonists thriving, you can reshape the land however you like – even leveling mountains – to create space and ensure they have the resources they need.

2026-02-22 02:38