Colonizing and conquering unknown planets is a fantasy that most people seem to enjoy and video games might be the perfect way for you to do that.
Whether you are Elon Musk looking to colonize Mars or just a simple gamer who wants to fulfil his dream of setting up a space colony, these 15 games are definitely worth your time. These include single players as well as MMO games that you can enjoy with your friends.
This article will tell you about the 15-planet colonization games that you should start playing right now.
15 Best Planet Colonization Games To Play Right Now
1. Entropia Universe
The first title on our list is Entropia Universe which is a sandbox MMO created by Swedish studio, MindArk where players take the role of a humble colonist who spends his time exploring and developing the planet.
There are plenty of different planets with some of them run by vampires, werewolves and other evil spirits while others are filled with oceans, palm trees and white sand for you to relax. You will meet friendly NPCs as well as aggressive predators during your journey.
2.RimWorld
Rimworld is a survival game where you need to build a base for settlers, develop technologies, and defend your base from enemies, everything depends on your decisions even the narrator that you choose at the beginning will affect the complexity and events in the game.
Further pumping depends on the starting choice of the mode that you select, for example, if you choose the Rich Researcher mode, you won’t be limited by financial constraints or the technologies available but by the value of human resources instead.
Similarly, the events of the game will be influenced by the presence of neighbours, chosen climate as well as the characteristics of the settlers. The best thing about Rim World is that you can play it endlessly by choosing different starting parameters every time and applying different survival strategies.
3. Kerbal Space Program
Kerbal Space Program is a beautiful sandbox where cute kerbals will do incredible things under your careful guidance.
Here you can do anything from building a rocket, going in search of new worlds, researching and extracting resources from known planets, conducting scientific experiments and developing technologies to conquer the universe. The possibilities are endless and go as far as your ideas allow you.
The game mechanics reflect the real problems of astronautics and the game is really addictive, thoughtful and fun.
4. Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth
Sid Meier’s Civilization series is known for allowing players to build their own cities in a beautiful sandbox environment. Beyond Earth, however, is different as it tells the story of the forced colonization of planets as the earth is no longer inhabitable and beautiful as it once was.
At the beginning of the game, you need to choose a faction on behalf of you and your colonists to seek domination over this new planet. The faction bonuses here only affect the style of playing allowing you more freedom as compared to normal Civilization games.
In general, you will need to master this new planet from scratch with a set of basic technologies, enthusiastic travellers and the items they took with them.
5. Mars Tomorrow
This free browser-based economic simulator offers players a chance to colonize the red planet however the path toward the goal isn’t easy and there are plenty of obstacles that you will face during your journey.
Instead of using a rover to travel on the surface of Mars, you will need to start a production chain and mine resources important for humans.
Prepare yourself for tables, numbers, charts and anything else that is related to economics. It is a multiplayer game so you can help your friends if they are weak at maths.
6. Galactic Civilizations
Your main goal in Galatic Civilization as the name suggests is to have total control over the galaxy. There are different ways to achieve it- waging wars to conquer territory, using diplomacy to solve problems, developing technologies or using cultural influence to expand your territory.
Apart from dealing with mere mortals like humans, you will also have to face extraterrestrial beings and not all of them are friendly toward you. You will meet evil slave owners, intelligent machines and even space paladins on your journey.
In addition to military, technological, economic and cultural development, the game also offers you opportunities for construction allowing you to create things like Death Star
7. Endless Space
Most Sid Meier’s Civilization fans will be already familiar with Endless Space where you need to explore and colonize new worlds but with limited resources that increase exponentially as you progress further.
The choice that you make will have an impact depending on whether you purchase planets for a giant corporation or uncover the secrets of the universe by conducting research missions or using force to capture your neighbouring territory. Your decisions will impact the entire galaxy even changing its shape and will.
8. Astroneer
This cartoonish-looking sandbox game allows you to explore distant planets and harvest their resources to earn some easy money.
In the pursuit of earning money, you will need to travel large distances, create complex production, change the landscape of entire planets and monitor the amount of oxygen in the space suit.
You can also play it with upto 4 friends using the co-op mode so you can have fun exploring new planets together.
9. Stellaris
Paradox Interactive is reputed for developing great strategy games and Stellaris is no exception. You will need to lead a civilization that has recently discovered space travel and use it to conquer your presence across space by creating new colonies, towers, outposts, mining stations and much more.
During your adventures, you will also meet alien races so you need to think about diplomacy, trade relations and military alliances with them. Despite a large number of possibilities and complexity, the game is relatively beginner friendly.
10. Infinity Battlescape
This space MMO strategy game requires players to participate in large-scale battles over dominance over star systems that take place in the void of space as well as on the surface of the planets.
The resources obtained in these colonies can be used to create new types of ships and there is a very detailed balancing system which requires you to pay attention to the composition of your fleet.
Each ship comes with its own advantages and disadvantages so you need to find combine all of them to find your winning strategy.
11. Surviving Mars
Surviving Mars is another game created by Paradox Interactive, the developers behind Stellaris and it is believed to be inspired by the works of science fiction writers Asimov and Clark.
The purpose of the game is to showcase how the colonization of Mars could actually take place one day under a new generation that has never seen Planet Earth before. Your resources on the red planet are extremely limited and the survival of every settler is important for the progress of the colony.
Before you send them in search of a new build, you will need to thoroughly prepare by scouting the situation, building necessary structures using drones etc.
12. Planet Base
Planetbase requires you to establish a settlement on one of the available planets, each of them having varying degrees of hostility where even choosing the least hostile planet does not guarantee that your settlement won’t die because of a cataclysm so you need to be prepared for everything.
The main goal is to develop a self-sufficient base with adequate resources for the settlers living there. Apart from economic development, construction and surviving through dust storms and other troubles, you will need to monitor the happiness of your citizens otherwise they will stop working resulting in everyone’s death.
13. Aven Colony
Aven Colony is another city-building simulator that immerses the player in the conditions of the new planet where he lives.
It has all the necessary ingredients required to colonize a planet: building a base, extracting resources, oxygen management and surviving through natural disasters etc.
14. Imagine Earth
Imagine Earth offers players a chance to colonize various planets but also to compete against interstellar corporations. From your bird’s eye view, you can produce goods, trade or explore unknown corners of space.
However, if you leave your planet unattended for a long time then chances are that dangerous space events such as forest fires, tornadoes, attacks by space raiders etc can undo all the hard work and time that you spent on your progress.
The game provides a perfect balance between different genres: space, strategy, tower defence and economic simulation.
15. The Colonists
In the Colonists, you need to take care of cute little robots who are in search of a new home. You will need to help them progress their colony by developing settlements, extracting resources and researching new technologies.
It is a game that spans three different centuries and during your playthrough, you will be mostly engaged in activities that will help colonize the planet and you will also witness a struggle for territories as the robots are not the only ones living on this planet.
The Colonists is worth playing if you are looking forward to enjoying a relaxing strategy game where you manage cute little robots instead of humans.
That’s it, these are all the best planet colonization games that you should definitely play.
