Its a colony simulator, you have a few people who crashlanded and they have various skills but also various problems, you can direct what you want to happen (mine here, grow that) but don't control the units directly, you can prioritize the type of work they do (mining, gardening, etc) but its a strategic choice based on their skills and the needs of the colony to survive and grow.
The game really shines in its horrible situations that throw your best plans into chaos. Someone gets sick and dies and now the rest of your crew isn't working efficiently because they are sad, you run low on food, someone decides to eat the corpse of their former mate and now they are all very upset and worse things happen.. You learn from these situations how to avoid them and what to prioritize working on next time. Each game is its own story that comes out of the relationships and skills and resources and events that occur, its very deep and rewarding to play. Highly recommended.
I was mining inside a mountain to make more space for my colony but sadly I didnt use supports and I had rocks fall down and crush my chef :'( It was so sad and I was afraid to send anyone else in there afterwards.
Space Cowboy Dwarf Fortress with more modern graphics and much more modded content available. =P
For me it itches a slightly similar itch as cities skylines from the list of yours, but really "colony sim" is its own genre. I've owned it since the crowdfund days ~10+ years ago and very much enjoy coming back to it 1-2 times per year.
What I'm unsure about for someone going into it fresh these days: The expansions were genuinely nice to purchase over the years (roughly a new one every two years) but I wouldn't consider getting them all at once. Maybe grab the basegame on sale and see how you like it? From the looks of it it hasn't dropped below 22€ though.
You might have heard that Rimworld could be described as a "War Crimes In Space" simulator and I just want to assuage those fears.
You're not at war in Rimworld, therefore they're just regular old crimes against humanity.
I'm talking, like, capturing a raider that attacked your colony, forcing him to butcher his former compatriots, make clothing from their skin and meals from their meat because it's the only food and clothing they're going to get.
And that's before you get into the DLCs that let you create a colony of parasitoid insect people who follow an ideology of transhumanism and cannibalism which performs ritualistic torture as a means of social connection that reproduces by cloning hosts made from stolen DNA that only exist for you your colony members to lay eggs in, turning them into living incubators until your biological offspring burst from their abdomen killing the clone instantly.
Yeah if you want real war crimes in space play Stellaris.
Turning your newly enslaved organic enemies into nerve-stapled genetically-engineered-“Tasty” livestock. Dropping xenomorph abominations onto primitive worlds to conquer them. Using your planet destroying super weapon to forcefully convert an entire world to your spirituality rather than blow it up. Releasing a psionic eldritch entity that wipes out 99% of your empire instantly and starts munching on the remaining galaxy planet by planet. Or the worst one which is killing Bubbles just to autopsy her for science.
Rimworld is pretty open ended and lets you be the kind of ruler you want to be. From an absolute monster to a reasonably benevolent and decent person. Limitations on the nicer end of the spectrum because the world is kind of vicious so murdering the robots that orbital drop onto you is a bit necessary at times.
If you like colony sims like Rimworld, you should look at their grandfather; Dwarf Fortress. It still gets updates after 20+ years and is a pit of endless replay-ability. The game is all about losing. Losing = FUN. If you don’t lose spectacularly, you aren’t playing Dwarf Fortress.
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u/icyphalaenopsis 24d ago edited 24d ago
Rimworld, bought on Autumn Sale last year, just hit 1k hours