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Squirrel's Pick Squirrel's PickThe best game on this page. If you only try one, try this. Closest Match Closest MatchThe most similar game to the anchor, by what players say.
City BuilderGod GameColony Sim
$29.99 ~27.7 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 79.7% of 11k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth are colony builders that reached 1.0 with unfinished systems and developers who moved on rather than kept tuning. The Universim trades underwater base defense for planet-scale civilization management with a semi-hands-off, watch-it-grow style rather than direct micromanagement. Fits players who want scope and atmosphere over balanced survival pressure.
Not for you if you want active management rather than watching automated systems run, or you need ongoing developer support before buying.
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Base-BuildingSpaceColony Sim
$29.99 ~36.1 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 76.7% of 4k
The Squirrel's verdictSame colony-builder DNA: belt logistics, drone/worker management, escalating survival pressure against timed threats. The Crust trades underwater cloning mechanics for surface base-building with a laser-defense endgame. Reviews report worker pathing bugs and drone priority failures causing resource shortages, similar frustration to Abyss's balance complaints, but at 36.1 median hours players are logging real time before hitting walls.
Not for you if you want stable large-scale saves, since reviews report save files breaking as bases and production scale up.
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Sci-fiSurvivalColony Sim
$9.99 ~37.2 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 78.5% of 316
The Squirrel's verdictMercury Fallen shares the underground colony-building loop with Surviving the Abyss: digging rooms, gathering resources, recruiting survivors instead of cloning workers. It exited early access in 2023 as a completed release rather than a stalled one, though updates stopped in June 2024 when the developer moved to another project. Fits players wanting a smaller, RimWorld-style base-builder with thinner late-game content.
Not for you if you want ongoing development or a game that stays challenging into the late game—updates stopped in June 2024 and reviewers report end-game balance problems.
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The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation
PC
SurvivalBase-BuildingRPG
$29.99 ~10 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 66.6% of 440
The Squirrel's verdictBoth put you managing a small crew against harsh survival systems and disaster-driven difficulty spikes. The Pioneers shifts to direct character control instead of colony-builder abstraction, closer to This War of Mine, with 10-hour median sessions. Reviews cite pathfinding bugs, unfinished English translation, and zero autonomy when you're not micromanaging each survivor directly.
Not for you if you want colony-management abstraction rather than direct control of individual crew members, or can't tolerate translation and pathfinding bugs.
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Colony SimSci-fi2.5D
$14.99 ~18.9 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 62.3% of 1k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth put you managing a small colony against hostile odds, balancing worker survival against production quotas. Starmancer swaps underwater cloning for a space station run by an AI overseer, with colonists you command directly rather than clone-and-discard. It released in 2021 at $14.99, sits at Mixed on Steam, and suits players who want the base-building loop without an active-development gamble.
Not for you if you're hoping the AI-overseer premise translates into actual rogue-AI mechanics rather than switch-flipping and door-locking, or you need a bug-free colony sim.
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AdventureCraftingAutomation
$15.99 ~22.9 hr median co-op complexity: moderate 62.3% of 681
The Squirrel's verdictBoth are colony-building survival sims with layered production chains and Early Access growing pains. Junkpunk trades Abyss's underwater cloning loop for a scrap-salvage factory build reminiscent of Satisfactory, adds co-op, and has already reached a stable Mixed rating with a 22.9-hour median playtime rather than a rushed, contested 1.0.
Not for you if you need tight, responsive controls — reviewers single out the driving and camera systems as genuinely frustrating.
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SurvivalBase-BuildingColony Sim
$11.99 ~13.3 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 61.3% of 168
The Squirrel's verdictPhoenix Hope shares the core loop of Surviving the Abyss: build outward from a base, track individual resources like wood, stone, iron, and souls, and manage escalating pressure to survive. Instead of an underwater industrial colony, it's a side-scrolling Kingdom-style layout with pixel art and a day/night cycle, aimed at players who want deeper resource management than Kingdom offers.
Not for you if you need co-op, want a fast pace, or dislike a steep learning curve — Steam rating sits at Mixed (61.3% positive) and reviews describe slow, grating pacing.
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Base-BuildingSpaceSurvival
Free ~20.2 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 50.4% of 1k
The Squirrel's verdictStarship Theory shares the colony-management loop of Surviving the Abyss: assign workers, balance resource chains, keep a small population alive against escalating strain, this time on a spaceship instead of underwater. It's free, single-player only, sits at Mixed reviews, and carries its own history of long dev silences between updates, so expect the same kind of shaky, community-argued support cycle.
Not for you if you want a developer with a steady, predictable update cadence rather than one with documented multi-month gaps in communication.