10 best games like RimWorld

Want the best of both worlds when it comes to strategy games and colony-management simulators? Then you’ve probably heard of RimWorld.

Released in 2018, RimWorld focuses on efficient resource collection with careful colony management, and being good at the game requires a mastery of these mechanics.

If you’re a player who deems they have more or less mastered the game’s mechanics and intricacies and would like to move on to other challenges that fall under genres similar to RimWorld, then continue reading this guide.

Below is a list of the 10 best games like RimWorld.

10 best games like RimWorld

Prison Architect

If you want to experience RimWorld but built with less of a macro scale in mind, then Prison Architect would be the right experience for you.

Instead of managing an entire colony on a huge planet as you do with RimWorld, you simply run a prison in Prison Architect. In particular, you will be taking on the role of the architect, like the title suggests, where you design and create your own penitentiary.

You will also be in charge of managing the rest of the aspects, such as the security, funds, lawyers, doctors, and also the big baddies—the prisoners.

And they are far from one-dimensional. Every prisoner has their own story to tell along with compelling personalities, some of which you will feel pity for, and others whom you will grow to loathe. Prisoners can form gangs, break out, and murder each other, and you will be the other making sure the chaos stays to a minimum.

Ruinarch

So far, you’ve been at the mercy of the AI generator of the colony simulation games; but what if we took that idea and flipped it? If the first entry on this was all about containing sin and evil, this one is all about letting it loose, and how. 

In Ruinarch, you see yourself as the evil overlord in the game, creating exciting stories that have a penchant for mayhem.

You wanna start an apocalypse? Simple enough. Summon cataclysmic meteors? Never been easier. What about raising a zombie army? We thought you’d never ask. Chaos is the status quo in this game, and with the game integrating procedural generation, the world is extremely conducive to chaotic environments.

Ruinarch’s end goal is to gradually build up your evil portal and summon yourself to wreak havoc upon the world. A perfect game to make those evil fantasies brewing in the depths of your mind come to life in a fun and practically harmless manner.

Dwarf Fortress

The pioneer of the colony-based strategy games, Dwarf Fortress is the game that started it all and also happens to be the game that inspired RimWorld in the first place.

Dwarf Fortress offers a colony-based strategy gameplay experience that is unrivaled by any and all of its successors to date. As the title implies, you are building colonies of dwarves and fortresses. 

With its highly indulgent storytelling and the wacky AI-generated stories that unfold as you continue on in the game. The game does have a steeper learning curve than RimWorld and will take a bit of your time to get used to it, but it also happens to be free, so there’s nothing to complain about, really.

And the best news is a reboot of Dwarf Fortress is about to release on Steam on Dec. 6, which should be taking the game to heights unfathomable to the colony-based strategy gamer.

Frostpunk

Frostpunk was a game that grabbed everyone by the collar and proved what a great game it was during its release.

The game is set in an alternate history, a timeline with an era that parallels the steampunk generation, which sees a world that has been completely frozen over. You need to manage a society while maintaining your scarce resources and fighting off the harsh cold.

You will have to make some tough decisions that will make you philosophize while having an existential crisis soon after, all the way from making your workforce unfairly work overtime in deathly conditions, to straight-up child labor, making you truly feel the weight of your actions.

Frostpunk is a must-play if you love strategy, colony-based games similar to RimWorld. The game also boasts stunning visuals and a masterfully-crafted tense atmosphere that immerses you like no other game.

Timberborn

Timberborn is a top-down modern city-building game that takes away the usual complex mechanics of colony-builder games and instead adds in a straightforward, simpler, and easier simulator experience.

Beavers are now constructing the city in Timberborn as humans in the world have been “long gone.” Build vertical structures across forests and around rivers, playing as one of the two distinct beaver factions with unique traits and buildings.

The most important elements of the game are water management and its physics, dealing with events like heavy rains and drought. The systems present encourage players to build their city strategically rather than as quickly as possible.

Timberborn also coined the term “Lumberpunk,” a world where you ultimately need to turn timber into advanced machinery, technology, and metal.

The Planet Crafter

The Planet Crafter is a first-person space survival crafting game that is open-world. The game is currently in early access, but is still streamlined and well-executed, along with being a ton of fun, turning it into one of the most popular games on Steam within its genre.

The Planet Crafter has no random events and no procedural generation, but instead, has a selected map that lets the player have a larger-than-life sandbox experience.

In the game, you will have to transform the ecosystem of a dangerous alien planet through the construction of the right structures while harvesting the necessary resources to make the place inhabitable for humans.

The structures you create either produce oxygen, heat, or air pressure. Balancing these three resources is key to creating a biosphere suitable for humans.

Oxygen Not Included

While the game is not too similar to RimWorld in terms of visuals, Oxygen Not Included is a colony-based strategy game through and through, only coming second to RimWorld in terms of its rating and popularity.

The game is fully 2D and underground where you help a group of colonists survive on their subterranean asteroid base. Everything is under your control and requires a lot of meticulous hard work.

The resources in Oxygen Not Included do not work as single entities but are all connected to each other, where procuring one resource will lead you down a chain to get various more resources, upping the aspect of realism and complexity that a lot of simulator games do not execute perfectly.

The survivors you control will go through different emotional states, needing leisure and accommodation to stay happy—and like the title alludes to—oxygen as well, with your main goal being to construct interlocking pipes that deliver oxygen and fuel to important areas in your base.

Amazing Cultivation Simulator

With an Asian setting, a top-down 16-bit look, awe-inspiring fantasy elements along with a unique plotline, Amazing Cultivation Simulator makes itself a standout on this list.

The game sees you—the Grandmaster—recruit apprentices and defeat rival sects on a long and arduous quest to take on sacred cultivation, ultimately carving the path towards immortality, fusing Taoist and Chinese Buddhist mythology with the functionalities of a farming simulator.

You need to expand your domain through commerce and politics, apart from facing the demons and various evils along the way. You will have to actively keep the balance between good and evil in your empire, taking care of the talismans, miracles, relics, laws, and other features present during the campaign.

Factorio

If you want a game that focuses more on the building and crafting aspect of RimWorld, Factorio is the ideal pick for you. As the title suggests, you will be tasked with designing your own automated factory.

You will be handling the mining ore, infrastructure, and research for new technologies while battling enemies all the while in the background of it all.

Factorio has a bustling modding scene and a lot of multiplayer modes which include scenarios and free play, along with amazing multiplayer support. Freeplay stands as the core gameplay where you will be free building as opposed to scenarios that engage you in designing factories under specific challenges.

Going Medieval

Okay, think RimWorld but with gorgeous 3D graphics. Want that to be a reality? With Going Medieval, it can be.

Going Medieval is set during the end of the 14th century when the plague wiped out most of humanity, ushering in the end of the Dark Age.

Your job is to bring humanity onto its feet once more.

In a post-apocalyptic lawless land, you will focus on collecting resources, managing raids, and supplies, and most importantly, protecting your colony. Due to the 3D design of the game, there is a lot more creativity in building with the 3D design tools at your fingertips.

Every villager is unique and has their own personality and backstory. You will need to listen to them attentively to manage each of their needs equally to keep them happy and watch as they grow to have complex relationships with one another.