Games like Terraformers

The Squirrel's verdictBoth center on terraforming a hostile planet without empire combat or enemy factions. Terraformers runs terraforming through card-based deck-building roguelike runs with campaign resets; Planet Crafter is a first-person survival game where you physically explore, harvest, and build automation on one persistent planet, with co-op support and a visible, gradual landscape transformation over dozens of hours.

Not for you if you want the abstracted deck-building strategy layer rather than first-person exploring, scavenging, and base-building survival mechanics.

The Squirrel's verdictFactory-style logistics on a 3D globe is Plan B: Terraform's core loop — three cities consuming resources, production chains, and trains connecting depots across a planet that gradually becomes habitable. There are no roguelike runs, no card draws, and no competing factions. Released in 2025 with a Very Positive rating. Reviewers flag that depots handle too many roles with limited control, and that train stations cannot be relocated once placed, making late-game adjustments difficult.

Not for you if you want card-based run structure and meta-progression rather than continuous logistics planning where late-game infrastructure is hard to reorganize.

The Squirrel's verdictBoth strip combat from the 4X formula and focus on economy puzzles: no empires to fight, just resource chains to optimize. Terraformers runs deck-building rogue-like meta-progression across full campaigns; Slipways compresses everything into hour-long sessions of connecting planets via supply routes, with quests driving replay variation instead of card unlocks.

Not for you if you want the empire-scale strategy layer Terraformers implies, since Slipways admits it's closer to a logistics puzzle than grand strategy, with no competing factions at all.

The Squirrel's verdictFarlanders uses tile placement and resource chains on Mars as its core mechanic, with no rival factions and no deck-building. Where Terraformers randomizes each run through card draws and meta-unlocks, Farlanders structures progress through a campaign of maps where terrain layout and construction order are the puzzle. Reviewers note the maps lean heavily on procedural generation, meaning restarts can be frequent. Suits players who prefer deliberate spatial planning over card-based randomness.

Not for you if you want consistent run variation from card draws — map randomness here can force many restarts to get a workable starting layout.

The Squirrel's verdictReshaping Mars shares Terraformers' Mars-colonization setting and its focus on resource management rather than combat against rival empires. Where Terraformers runs as a card-based roguelike with meta-progression between short runs, Reshaping Mars is a continuous base-builder: expand a single colony, balance housing and worker resources, and build across one persistent playthrough instead of resetting each run.

Not for you if you want short roguelike runs with card-based meta-progression instead of one continuous colony to manage, or find repetitive build-balance-repeat loops tedious.

The Squirrel's verdictPer Aspera's defining feature is an AI-narrator story layered over planet-scale terraforming logistics on Mars, with no rival empires and no card-based run structure. It plays as continuous real-time base-building across the whole planet, closer to a factory management game than a colony builder, with a visual-novel storyline running alongside. Median playtime is around 31 hours. Suits players drawn to Terraformers' peaceful colonization premise who want a persistent, story-driven experience instead of deck-building runs.

Not for you if you want card-driven short runs and meta-progression rather than slow logistics management and a heavy narrative layer.

The Squirrel's verdictBoth let you build a planetary colony without empire-vs-empire combat, replacing war with environmental and resource pressure. Imagine Earth is a persistent city-builder rather than Terraformers' card-driven roguelike runs: no deck construction, no meta-unlocks between attempts, just one continuous colony reacting to pollution and disaster over time.

Not for you if you came for Terraformers' card-based run structure and meta-progression rather than a continuous, non-roguelike city builder.

The Squirrel's verdictBoth put you on an alien world building a colony through research and construction with no warfare against other factions to manage. Terraformers wraps this in short roguelike runs built around card-based events; Mercury Fallen is one persistent base you dig out, staff with survivors and robots, and expand continuously, closer to Rimworld. Suits players who wanted Terraformers' colony-building without the run resets.

Not for you if you need active development or smooth late-game pacing — updates stopped in June 2024 and reviewers report getting stuck in the endgame with no way to recover.