RimWorld

RimWorld

Money never better spent.

I’ve bought a lot of games over the years. Most I play and forget and the pile of those games serves as nothing but a lesson to buy carefully and to remember replay-ability. A colony building sim with plenty of flavor and fun that rarely gets boring.

This is not one of those games. It has lasted me years of constant entertainment. A spiritual heir of Dwarf Fortress (before my time) in space where anything can happen and things scale up properly. So many variables and steady but solid updates from the Dev and a healthy mod community that keeps the best afloat.

Real player with 4333.4 hrs in game


Read More: Best Colony Sim Management Games.


A Rimworld story:

Dave is gay. Bill is beautiful, but not gay. Dave hits on Bill. Bill says no thanks. Dave has a breakdown and wanders in a daze. A raid suddenly hits. They attack Dave. Dave is downed by the raiders. Bill isn’t capable of fighting or medical tasks. Bill is attacked and downed too. The raiders steal some stuff and set the fields on fire. Bill becomes able to walk again, but can’t help Dave. Dave dies from bleeding out. Bill has another mental break, this time from the loss of his best friend Dave. Bill attacks their pet warg which pushes the pet overboard and then it attacks Bill. Bill is downed. The fires are raging through the mostly wood base and eventually Bill is set on fire. Bill dies from the fire.

Real player with 1098.1 hrs in game

RimWorld on Steam

Oxygen Not Included

Oxygen Not Included

I have been playing this game on and off during its entire release time, the base game as well as its DLC, and during this entire time I could see the work that has been constantly put into it.

Pros: Always a work in progress. You rarely run into a time in the game where you do not know what to do next. There is always the next project or problem that needs your attention. Not in a stressful way, more in a “it never gets boring” kind of way. There are tons of things to learn and build to get your dupes more comfort or to just mess with the elements in the sandbox mode.

Real player with 566.5 hrs in game


Read More: Best Colony Sim Resource Management Games.


Excellent simulation game with tons to experience and learn. Intimidating because of its complexity, but satisfying when things work. Lots of content, fun to start new games once you’ve learned how to handle different challenges. Charming, funny animations, great art style and music, always something new to try. Does take effort to learn all of the systems, probably the most complex game I’ve played, but also one of the most rewarding. One of my favorites purchases on Steam.

Real player with 219.7 hrs in game

Oxygen Not Included on Steam

Space Haven

Space Haven

i enjoy the game very much, nice, relaxing, do your own thing, the adventure is what you make it,

you can take your time, save the game any where during play, come back where you left off and

pick up the adventure again.

what i like most, is if something turns out wrong, you can change, rearrange, move and make it just right for you.

take the time to go over the settings, make your doctor, pick your salvage crew, who is going to tend to the plants,

move stuff around, who will be your boarding party, i have watched games where people get up set because a major portion of the crew stands around and does nothing, well it is because no one’s task has been set.

Real player with 328.6 hrs in game


Read More: Best Colony Sim Space Games.


It’s a more relaxed, less mechanistically picky resource management game than the likes of Oxygen Not Included, which works great for me. It doesn’t go far from where it starts, though, and leaves me wishing it had more narrative elements, which is fine for early access since I feel the underlying mechanics are superb and lay a great foundation for what will hopefully become a more well-rounded game.

Real player with 177.4 hrs in game

Space Haven on Steam

Mercury Fallen

Mercury Fallen

This is a fun little game in early development. Start by awakening in a small ruins underground on an alien planet. Dig out rooms and gather resources to build the base that was supposed to be awaiting you, but something went wrong. But you do get a few friends to help and a little spidery robot. More survivors and robots can be found burried outside your base. The only food at this time is potatoes, that can be made into mashed potatoes (This must be heaven for the Irish), but more crops and items are planned. Water pipes and electrical is not very intuitive, but a little trial and error will teach you all you need to know. After a game week you will have all the tech tree filled and have built all there is to build, but with an elevator to the surface and more content planned, this game has a ton of potential. This game is hours of fun, but not days of fun. Only buy now if you are willing to get it cheap and wait for more content to follow. I had 2 crashes and a bug where a survivor became stuck until I reloaded. Compared to other early releases this is pretty minor. As more content is added I am sure most people will find this very enjoyable. I recommend this game.

Real player with 1003.3 hrs in game

The game is in the early stage of EA which means it is not a full game yet and bugs, crashes and lag can happen.

That said, in the 30+ hours i played, the game has crashed once and never had any lag issues even on the highest possible settings.

So is there anything to do already?

For the stage MF is in yes.

It has the basic items to build your base and with research you can add new rooms, equipement and other options.

You can refine the raw materials from mining and farming and use those to make building materials, food, bots or refine them into next tier materials. Besides the production of bots you can also clone colonists.

Real player with 158.8 hrs in game

Mercury Fallen on Steam

Founders' Fortune

Founders' Fortune

So, 40 hours in, and I think I own this game a review, As an avid Rimworld fan, I’m always on the search for colony building/town building type games. It was hard to know what to expect from this game, but the videos looked promising so I took a chance. My expectations were a Rimworld game, smaller scale in terms of pawns to control, with a 3d world, but many of the same aspects. After a few short runs of the game, it turned out to be not what I had expected. In fact, I was downright disappointed with the game. The survival aspects are very simplified, the crafting isnt as deep as I thought, some of the aspects like that storage piles dont do anything other than take up space and distance to build seems to have absolutely no bearing (no hauling).

Real player with 115.1 hrs in game

I fell in love with this game pretty quickly. Hours pass by in a blink of an eye and my sleeping schedule is even more ruined since I bought it.

I’ve seen it described as a mix of Sims and Rimworld (which is what made me buy it, on top of my Sims 4 having gamebreaking bugs and fuck EA). It is.

Let me just say that this game gave me very strong Sims vibes for a non-Sims game. I’ve been looking for a Sims alternative for ages, and while this isn’t quite it, it fills that void in my heart better than any other “Sims-like” titles I’ve played.

Real player with 54.5 hrs in game

Founders' Fortune on Steam

They Are Billions

They Are Billions

I have finish playing the campaign and its a learning process. This game is like a soul like RTS game, one zombie gets in or penetrate your defenses and the whole thing could get out of control. I understand on why some gamers gave a negative review of these game, you could have invested 2 to 4 hours in your campaign or survival building your city and thenone zombie sneaks in or overwhelm your defenses and the whole thing is game over. It has no backward save, so there is no second opportunity on your mistake. I know because it did happen to me several times, but I think its unfair to immediately give a negative review, because of being defeated. The hero mission on the campaign is actually good, but it takes patience and planning, also paying attention, so you can find all the treasure. Overall, I find the game very challenging, but in a reasonable matter. Its just you have to get good in playing this game.

Real player with 214.8 hrs in game

Tedious and frustrating don’t even begin to describe this game.

I’ve tried playing this game several times. Each time I have, I find that my hours of investment are promptly wasted when I make one mistake that leads to an inevitable game over. This game is very very difficult, even on the more “accessible” levels; you have to balance manpower, energy, food, and material resources all while slowly expanding, and clearing out areas of zombies. The problem is that if even one zombie slips past your defenses they can infect your entire base in seconds.

Real player with 127.6 hrs in game

They Are Billions on Steam

First Feudal

First Feudal

The game is cool but it has alot of polishing and quality of life improvements to go.

-Your dudes just seem to quit hunting and cooking despite the avaliable resources and tools. you’re just strolling along and suddenly you have no food. You got the tools. the animals, no food, your dude’s just standing around. there’s no explanation. I’ve been having to manually do all the hunting.

-Need to have more options for work. some dudes I strictly want doing things, once those positions are filled I just want to place orders, I don’t care who does it.

Real player with 112.4 hrs in game

I’ve been playing this game non-stop for a while so i can make a review, so here it is.

Things i like:

  • Has a great sound track

  • Has a great art style

In general its a fun game to play, not just to pass the the time, its a game where you can put a lot of hours into and still have a lot to do.The AI is great, i haven’t experienced many bugs with them besides a couple of times which ill mention later. Its a very re-playable game, with every new world being unique from the last, which makes you rethink strategies to survive on that map.

Real player with 94.5 hrs in game

First Feudal on Steam

Per Aspera

Per Aspera

It’s rare for a city builder / logistics game to have a good story, but this one sure does. Through monologue and dialogue options we follow the self-discovery and existential ruminations of the player character, an AI tasked with terraforming Mars. The planet visuals are beautiful. It’s incredible to zoom in and look at the contoured terrain and watch it change as it fills in with water and plant life.

Gameplay is less elaborate than most city builders and the logistics are not even close to the level of complexity of something like a Factorio style game. Managing the interconnected temperature and atmospheric composition is interesting. The end result is a casual, relaxing builder with a memorable story.

Real player with 95.2 hrs in game

===SUMMARY===

This is my favorite game of 2021. I like simulation games as a group, and this is a beautiful installment of this growing genera. I love what simulations teach me, being spoon fed facts off a list. I love that (having played Per Aspera) I know the landscape of Mars better. I know some of the names, sure, but grokking the SCALE, the oddness, sparking my curiosity about Noctis Labyrinthus, just from working on the planet is priceless. I became familiar with Mars in a way that Surviving Mars never did (though I played that a lot too).

Real player with 68.7 hrs in game

Per Aspera on Steam

Hammerting

Hammerting

Review Date: Nov 20, 2021

I wrote a giant review, and then after reading through it, realized my opinion was more like no than yes, and when I changed it, Steam erased everything I had written. So, rather than do it again, I’ll just drop some bullet points. I’ve been playing since early in Early Access, so that will color my review.

New overworld trade system is terrible. It’s boring. It’s grindy. and it doesn’t work. I’m at max rep with a faction, and have yet to see the “subversion” mission mentioned in the tutorial.

Real player with 158.5 hrs in game

A decent time killer as-is, but released far too soon for the ambition they sought to achieve.

  • Settlement milestones are sparse and largely uninteresting, with few “make your own goals” opportunities to fill in the blanks. You will pretty much always build the same structures in the same order, and most structures are not actually all that useful.

  • Overworld is shallow and brainless, with pawns moving around for the sake of moving. Factions have no personality or storyline aspects, and the “war” has nothing to make it compelling or interactive. This is actually a bit of a downgrade from the initial concept at the start of Early Access, where there was at least a good vs. evil kind of thing going on.

Real player with 116.1 hrs in game

Hammerting on Steam

Embark

Embark

TEHBEARDEDGAMER REVIEWS

Reached character limit I cant add any more ask me questions on Twitch

[Edited] - Current Standing

8.5/10

[TLDR] - While there are some issues or bugs I definitely RECOMMEND Embark If

  • You like Simulation, RTS, God Games, Colony Survival Or games similar to the ones listed below.

-Relaxing game play that can provide mental stimulation

Pros

  • Great game to relax with a survival simulation taking some of the best and most complex features from games like Rim World, The Sims, Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft, and Populous (1989)

Real player with 539.1 hrs in game

I found Embark is a nice little gem with lots of potential that all DF and Gnomoria fans will find very promising. Although it has not yet reached same levels of complexity and deep gameplay (and probably that is not its true objective), it’s development roadmap announce some very interesting new features (like minecarts and out-of-the-map expeditions) that are not that usual and could make the game a really different experience while staying familiar to those that, like me, have been for so long looking for a worthy version of DF with a better UI.

Real player with 280.9 hrs in game

Embark on Steam