Whether in a fairy tale world or a space colony, colony sim games let you feel the rush of starting from scratch to build a successful town.
It used to be that every city in the world was just a piece of land ruled by nature and no one else, until the first people moved there. Have you ever wished that scene could happen in a video game? After that, you should play a colony game.
When the first people decide to settle down and build their own town, Colony Sims transports you to that moment. They give you the satisfying feeling of taking a small group of colonists and giving them the tools they need to build a successful city. Some of these games take you back to the Middle Ages, while others take you to faraway worlds in space. There are many colony sims to choose from, no matter what scene you want to play in.
Fabledom
You could be the king or queen of a fairy tale country where pigs fly and trees have faces. It sounds very detailed, but that’s the kind of world Fabledom puts you in. Fabledom is one of the younger games on this list that is still in early access. It lets you build your kingdom from the ground up, starting with just a few people living in a small town in the middle of nowhere.
Some fantastical creatures from fairy tales start to appear in the world around you as your settlement grows and you unlock more of the nearby area. Plus, if you talk to the masters of the countries around you, you might meet the prince or princess of your dreams.
Oxygen Not Included
This space city simulation game from Klei Entertainment, the makers of Don’t Starve, has the same silly but hard vibe. In the game Oxygen Not Included, you are in charge of a group of astronauts who are deep inside an asteroid. Their mission is to mine, study, and build a successful space city. Even oxygen, as the name suggests, is a valuable resource that you have to handle from the very beginning of the game.
In contrast to most colony sims, waste is also a resource that needs to be considered in order to keep the colony alive. This is because on a small asteroid, resources are so scarce that nothing can be lost. When the colony gets far enough along, you can even build your own rocket ship and go on trips into space.
Timberborn
In Timberborn, people are long gone, and a new, smart species called beavers has come to power to build a new society. You have the power to shape beaver society as they try to build a better civilization than humans did. You can do this by leading either the Folktail or Iron Teeth factions.
Like other colony sims, Doodle Cricket lets you handle resources and give beavers different jobs to do. However, the game has a lot of extra features that make it even more unique than it already is. Like beavers do in real life, you can change the direction and speed of rivers to bring life to dry, barren land. You can make your own maps to play on or share them with other people who play the game if you don’t like the ones that come with it.
Going Medieval
When you go to the Middle Ages, you can rebuild society after a plague wipes out most of the people who lived there before. As you turn your villages into towns and build big buildings to protect your people, raiders will come and try to steal everything you have worked so hard to build.
In Going Medieval, you can build and engage on different levels, such as by digging deep underground caverns or tall walls. But raiders with trebuchets and other siege tools can come and try to break down your walls, even if you have strong stone walls and trained troops.
WorldBox – God Simulator
As its name suggests, WorldBox – God Simulator takes the idea of building a town in a very different way from the other colony sims we’ve talked about. You are not in charge of making your town great; instead, you are in charge of a whole sandbox world and get to play as its god.
Want to help people make their town bigger? As the god of this world, you can give them new berry bushes to eat from or animals to take care of. It’s possible that the village has been growing too quickly for your taste. Hit them with a meteor, make the nearby volcano rise, or maybe even flood the land they lived on.
Songs Of Styx
Tales and myths come to life in Songs Of Styx, which takes you to a world with many countries, cultures, species, and even gods. In contrast to the other games on this list, your small town can not only grow into a thriving metropolis, but it can also spread its power until it becomes an empire bigger than the countries that surround it.
The game takes pride in having a lot of complicated features and systems that make the world feel real. As you work to improve your settlement, the world around you is always shifting, and countries rise and fall to match. Every time you play, the world will be different because it is made at random, with new creatures, countries, and stories to discover.
Northgard
You are in charge of a group of Vikings in Northgard as they sail to a faraway, uncharted land. Most colony simulation games go on forever, but Northgard is more like a real-time strategy game, where you can try to reach certain goals and even play against friends in social mode.
Based on Norse mythology, you will meet many strange creatures and dangerous enemies as you travel across the new land. Watch out, because you’re not the only Viking group that wants to rule Northgard!
Medieval Dynasty
Are you sick of being a ruling force in the sky over your colonists? As you build a world, have you ever wished you could play as a character in it? In Medieval Dynasty, you play as a single person trying to claim a piece of land so they can build a successful town. This is a first-person colony sim.
You can either hire wanderers from the nearby towns and give them work to do in your hamlet, or you can do the hard work yourself. You can meet that special someone, have kids, and build a family in Medieval family so that you can leave your lands to someone after you die.
Rimworld
Rimworld is one of the best and most famous colony sims. It takes place in a sci-fi world and has AI storytellers who tell you about the exciting things that happen to your colonists. In contrast to other colony sims, your colonists did not choose to come to their world; instead, they crashed-landed there after their ship was destroyed.
Do study, build up your colony, fight raids, and hopefully make a ship that your colonists can use to get home. The large group of modders that work on Rimworld is part of its appeal; each time you play, you can find something new and fun to do.
Dwarf Fortress
Many of these colony sims were based on Dwarf Fortress, which is considered a classic in the genre and came out before any of them. After getting an update that made the images look a lot better from their original bitmap tileset, the game came out on Steam at the end of 2022.
Lead your dwarfs as they set out to build a new home for themselves. All they have is a cart full of goods and the word that a merchant caravan will come in the fall with more supplies. Each world is made from scratch and has its own past and groups that interact with you and each other. Dwarf Fortress also has an Adventurer mode where you can explore the generated world and do things that aren’t related to making colonies.