Games like Oxygen Not Included

The Squirrel's verdictBoth hide deep systems engineering under an unassuming shell: ONI's thermodynamics and gas physics, Factorio's logistics and throughput chains. Factorio drops the survival pressure and duplicant micromanagement, focusing instead on optimizing production lines against enemy raids. Suits players who want the same obsessive systems-optimization loop without colonist needs to babysit.

Not for you if you played ONI for the colony-survival tension rather than pure systems optimization, since Factorio strips that out for base-defense and belt logistics instead.

The Squirrel's verdictFirst-person factory building on a large open 3D world is Satisfactory's defining angle: you walk your production lines, place machines by hand, and watch belts carry materials across a landscape that visibly fills with infrastructure. Disassembling and rebuilding costs nothing — full materials return every time. Co-op is supported. With a 144-hour median playtime, it suits players who want the optimization loop in a more exploratory, hands-on format.

Not for you if you want a top-down colony sim with colonist management and thermodynamics-driven systems rather than first-person open-world factory logistics.

The Squirrel's verdictPlanet Crafter is a first-person survival and terraforming game where gathering materials and placing machines gradually transforms a planet's atmosphere, with visible environmental changes tracking your progress. The optimization loop is present but lighter than ONI's — survival pressure eases once early scarcity passes and there is no closed-loop systems engineering. Co-op is supported and median playtime sits near 66 hours.

Not for you if you came to ONI for dense simulation math and sustained pressure — Planet Crafter's building is simpler and the challenge diminishes as the game progresses.

The Squirrel's verdictColony Survival puts you in charge of assigning jobs, managing food chains, and defending a growing voxel settlement against nightly zombie waves. The production systems expand over time, but reviewers describe the player's direct crafting role as limited to basic items, and the combat scaling draws more criticism than praise. Co-op is supported. Best suited to players who want a base-growth loop with NPC colonists and some survival pressure in a voxel world.

Not for you if you want deep environmental simulation — Colony Survival's systems are far simpler and colonist interaction is largely passive.

The Squirrel's verdictSame thermodynamics-first engine: gas, heat, and power systems interlock and every fix creates a new problem elsewhere. Stationeers trades ONI's 2D colony sim and clones for first-person control, direct manipulation of your character's hands and tools, and co-op. The systems modeling is deeper; the interface asks far more of you to run it.

Not for you if you want ONI's streamlined menus and automation rather than manually operating tools and inventory slots in first person.

The Squirrel's verdictMercury Fallen covers familiar underground colony-building ground: dig rooms, wake survivors, manage resources, and research tech on an alien world. The scope is smaller than ONI's and the systems are shallower — no layered physics simulation. Reviewers flag late-game balance problems and a content drop-off once early research is complete. Median playtime runs about 37 hours. Suits players drawn to the early setup and progression arc of the genre.

Not for you if you want sustained late-game challenge — reviewers report balance issues and little to do once the early research arc is finished.

The Squirrel's verdictOxygen shares the surface setup of ONI: settlers under a dome, oxygen generation, and resource balancing against a hostile environment. The underlying systems are considerably simpler — reviewers describe easily obtainable resources, unexplained mechanics, no win condition, and difficulty that does not increase over time. At $14.99 and a 16-hour median playtime, it fits players who want a low-stakes introduction to the dome-colony genre.

Not for you if you want interlocking physics-driven systems with a real difficulty curve — reviewers call the mechanics basic and progression essentially endless without escalation.

The Squirrel's verdictBoth put deep production chains and resource management ahead of colony-sim comfort: long dependency lines, overlapping environmental threats, and systems that punish players who don't plan ahead. Project AURA trades ONI's gas/heat physics for economic and political layers atop a post-apocalyptic dome colony, with a much smaller scope at 16.8 median hours.

Not for you if you need a clean, readable interface — multiple reviews cite a cluttered UI with no scaling as the main barrier to the underlying systems.