15 Best Colony Building Sim | Management Games

Fabledom

Fabledom is an economic strategy game set in a fairy tale world full of magical and often dangerous creatures. You take on the role of a ruler whose task, like in most games of this genre, is to create and develop a kingdom that can prosper and continue to grow.

The gameplay is very intuitive and designed to quickly immerse you in both the atmosphere and the world of the game. At the beginning, you gather basic resources and construct a few essential buildings. You then expand and enhance your initially small village with additional structures until it transforms into a sizable city and, eventually, a kingdom. It’s also important to maintain diplomatic relations with neighbors and to build up an army, which will be useful in case of attacks from hostile nations or dangers lurking in the forests.

Manor Lords

Manor Lords is an economic strategy game created (almost entirely) by an independent Polish developer. The game is set in medieval Europe from the 11th to the 15th century, though it is not tied to any specific location or time. Here, you also take on the role of a ruler, whose task is to create a village and oversee its development.

Interestingly, in Manor Lords, you don’t just focus on city building and managing the economy of your town. The game also includes tactical elements implemented during battles.

The camera work is also notable. While the majority of the game is viewed from above, you can dynamically control the camera to look at buildings, watch the residents at work, and observe battles up close. And there’s plenty to see — the game boasts superb, realistic graphics and excellent historical accuracy.

Dwarf Fortress

In a way Dwarf Fortress is a platonic ideal of a colony sim. It’s incredibly complex, did procedural generation before it was the hot feature in seemingly every other game, and is a true anecdote generator. Although the original game is based on ASCII graphics, there is a more accessible version coming soon, adorned in proper graphics without affecting the structure of the game.

Even the world generation is a complex process, especially if you pick a large, old world. Once your PC is done overheating due to calculating the world’s history, culture and geological changes you can start carving an underground colony for a bunch of brave dwarves. Govern trade, build around lava lakes, and exploit, or suffer from, the staggering degree of simulation offered. DF is a masterpiece.

Dwarf Fortress is free to play game.

RimWorld

In a way RimWorld is a science fiction-themed version of Dwarf Fortress, albeit with much more readable graphics than DF’s default ASCII. You’re running a settlement on an alien planet, populated by a bunch of characterful colonists. There are many different biomes to survive in, plenty of threats, both environmental and coming from beast, aliens, pirates, or your people’s own incompetence.

Image credit: Ludeon Studios

RimWorld also has a very interesting feature: the AI Storyteller, which directs the style of your campaign. You can, for example, pick a chaotic Storyteller if you want to get weird, or go for a mellower AI for a chill playthrough. You have an entire planet to work with…and to endure, so picking the right Storyteller for your desired playstyle might be more important than it seems.

RimWorld

Read more

Prison Architect

A change of pace from establishing a self-sustained colony, Prison Architect uses the genre’s trapping to have to create a functional and fully featured penitentiary facility. You’ll design the buildings, hire staff, set schedules, run reform programs for the inmates… and try to make profit at the same time. Prison Architect is as much a Dwarf Fortress as it is a business simulation, and it’s great at both.

Image credit: Introversion Software

There are several metrics by which your performance of judged, and you might, be fired if your reform programs are not effective, for example, or if you simply go bankrupt. The prisoners are ranked by the security levels, including the Death Row, but they also have their own needs which you’ll have to meet, or they’ll start causing trouble and not even your Guards might be able to control the riot.

Prison Architect

Read more

Frostpunk

The world is a frigid hellscape, and the only hope for your people to survive are coal-fueled heat generators. Frostpunk is a colony management sim set in an alternative version of the late 19th century suffering from a volcanic winter. You’re a ruler of a town built around one of the generators and you have to keep it running no matter what…but you also have to make sure your people don’t despair.

Image credit: 11 bit studios

Balancing the needs of the infrastructure and the needs of the people grows harder with every passing day. Eventually you’ll have to start making uncomfortable compromises, sending children to the coal mines, establishing police hours, etc. Frostpunk is a game about the dark side of running a city in extreme conditions, with limited resources. It is exceptionally good, though.

Frostpunk

Read more

Frostpunk 2

Since we’ve already discussed Frostpunk from 2018, we can’t update this without mentioning its sequel, which is set to be released in about two months on September 20, 2024. This new installment will once again transport us to an alternative dieselpunk version of the past, affected by a new ice age.

Image credit: 11 bit studios

Frostpunk 2 takes place 30 years after the events of the previous game. New London has evolved into a well-established city, where we once again take on the role of its leader. However, this time, beyond the slow development of the city, we must face a new threat. The coal reserves that previously provided warmth are gradually depleting, leading to increasing shortages of energy and heat. The hope lies in underground oil deposits, which are attracting attention from outsiders.

The mood in the metropolis is deteriorating, compounded by a rise in crime, nomads camping on the city’s outskirts, and a general distrust and animosity towards the authorities from the residents.

Frostpunk 2 | Deluxe Edition

Read more

Banished

A group of people exiled from their homeland find a new place to settle. Much of your job will revolve around assigning your fellow outcasts to various areas of the map for construction, resource gathering, maintaining crops, etc. There are about twenty different jobs your people can perform, and all of them are going to be vital for your growing settlement’s long-term survival.

Image credit: Shining Rock Software

In time, if you do your job well, you’ll develop a thriving community that other wanderers in strange lands will be eager to join, offering their skills and aptitudes. Of course, it’s not smooth sailing all the way through. Banished isn’t above sending some calamity your way if it means knocking you out of the comfort zone and have you scrambling for a solution to whatever crisis befell your town.

Banished

Read more

Timberborn

Despite its green, lively aesthetic, make no mistake: Timberborn’s world is post-apocalyptic. Humans are long since dead, the world recovered, and was reclaimed by beavers. Thankfully for the game, these clever animals have just as much engineering and construction talent as humans, so you can, in fact build a thriving colony that’s well-prepared for the inevitable dry season.

Image credit: Mechanistry

There are two beaver faction to choose from, each with a different approach to the environment. Whichever faction you pick, you’re going to not only do the classic beaver thing of building elaborate dams, but also develop all kinds of useful technology, both for industry and for improving the quality of life in your colony. It’s a lovely game with a great theme, well worth checking out.

Timberborn

Read more

Medieval Dynasty

Medieval Dynasty shows your community-building endeavors from a different perspective. Instead of watching the world through a bird’s eye view, MD puts you in a first-person perspective as you go about crafting, building, creating a new place to live for yourself, helping the local community, and, eventually, founding your own dynasty to carry on your legacy.

Image credit: Render Cube

Thanks to its approach, Medieval Dynasty is quite immersive and very engaging, while still offering a colony-building experience. There’s a questline to give you some direction if you find yourself lost at some point, but you can easily just do things at your own pace, at whatever order you want. Just be aware that MD features survival game mechanics, so watch your health and sustenance levels.

Medieval Dynasty

Read more

They Are Billions

They Are Billions takes a much more militant approach to building a thriving settlement, but it’s nevertheless quite compelling. The premise is simple: zombies infest the world, and if your colony is to survive in this unfriendly circumstance you’ll have to industrialize, build solid walls, and put a few turrets on them. Indeed, TAB is both a colony builder and also kind of a tower-defense game.

Image credit: Numantian Games

The game plays out in two fluid phases: the time to build, and the time to defend. When the zombies come, they are a sea of ravenous, rotten undead which will put your countermeasures to a difficult test. They Are Billions features a story-based, lengthy campaign digging into the story of the world, but if you’d rather enjoy some free play, then the survival mode is exactly that.

They Are Billions

Read more

Northgard

Although the Vikings are best-known for their raids an impeccable hair styling, there also had a knack for founding settlements. Northgard taps into that legacy and allows you to create your own Norse-style colony in an unfamiliar, and unfriendly, land. The titular island is more interested in Norse myths than history, which is why it’s rife with undead, giants and other fantastical creatures.

Image credit: Shiro Games

The moment-to-moment gameplay is exactly what you’d expect. You’re placing buildings on a map, assign jobs to your settlers, and prepare for the inevitable winter. Northgard is playable both solo, including a dedicated campaign, and online, sharing a land with other players. There are even dedicated servers for ranked play! Pick you clan and carve your history in the land of Northgard.

Northgard

Read more

Going Medieval

Going Medieval is kind of like a large-scale Medieval Dynasty that plays closer to the usual colony-building game, instead of a survival FPP. GM is set in late 14th century world, just as the continent starts recovering from the plague. You’re given powerful tools you can use to establish a new settlement and care for it as it grows from a humble village to a powerful city with stone walls.

Image credit: Gramophone Games

Although Going Medieval is presently in Early Access, it already offers plenty of features an enterprising city-builder can latch onto, especially the robust, powerful construction tools. The roadmap is lengthy, and the already achieved goals include a trade system and diplomacy systems. If you’re looking for a competent, modern simulator of a medieval settlement, GM is for you.

Going Medieval

Read more

The Universim

Running a settlement, or even a city, is a very local matter, satisfying, if one’s into small-scale projects, but what about people with grand ambitions? Well, they might take a shine to The Universim, where you’re running entire planets, making them livable to a lovely alien species known as the Nuggets, who can’t do anything without your mighty guiding hand.

Image credit: Crytivo Games

For all the grand scale you’re operating on, The Universim abstracts a lot of detail, turning planets into 3D dioramas of biomes and natural resources, rather than showing realistic globes. The decisions you make have repercussions, and growing an interplanetary Nugget empire takes planning, care, and delight, as you watch your people live their lives, launch little rockets, and blow stuff up.

The Universim

Read more

Kingdoms and Castles

Kingdoms and Castles’ premise is encapsulated rather well in the game’s title. You’re building a castle around which a kingdom might eventually form. Of course, before you can turtle behind high stone walls, you’ll have to establish a settlement and take care of the villagers. That means giving them things to do, but also letting them blow off some steam in a tavern you’ve built for the purpose.

Image credit: Lionshield Studios

You’ll also have to prepare your city for inevitable catastrophes, be them a raider attack or a dragon deciding to fly by and burn your crops. Kingdoms and Castles has a nice, somewhat blocky and cartoonish, aesthetic that lends it a lot of charm, and looks very nice in motion. And you’ll see a lot of variants of the environments, because the changing weather and seasons provide visual diversity.

Kingdoms and Castles

Read more