Building one's kingdom or colony is the dream of many gamers. Managing resources, materials, supplies, weapons, and labor is very stimulating, and the games we address in this article perfectly balance all these aspects. Let's delve into the best Colony Building Games to let you know which ones are worth trying.

• Release Date: March 15, 2018
• Developers: Haemimont Games / Abstraction Games
• Publisher: Paradox Interactive
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Metascore: 78

As you can infer, Surviving Mars is a colony simulator set on Mars, the red planet. It addresses the attempts of humankind to expand humanity beyond the Earth. In this context, the main goal is to turn the alien world into humanity's new home. 

In Surviving Mars, you take the role of a city builder who is part of a sponsoring nation. Each conferring provides unique vehicles, tools, and benefits to prepare the colony for humans. To enhance the colony's chances, you must set up domes, building shelters, resource depots, water infrastructure, and oxygen generators. 

The thriving colony you create on Mars must survive over time. To do this, you need to balance between the scarce resources you receive from Earth and those you produce on the red planet. In this sense, economic strategy is primordial to raise your colony over other colonies. 

The main challenge in Surviving Mars is expanding the colony while managing resources such as water, electricity, food, and technologies. Regarding the latter, you can delve into five fields of research –Engineering, Physics, Social, Robotics, and Biotechnology – to unlock and develop techs that can lead you to master science.  

Surviving Mars - Deluxe Edition Steam CD Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

• Release Date: October 17, 2018
• Developer: Ludeon Studios
• Publisher: Ludeon Studios
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, macOS, Linux, 
• Metascore: 87

RimWorld is a top-down sci-fi colony sim led by an intelligent AI storyteller that generates stories by simulating psychology. You are in charge of a territory that you must administer. To take the colony and civilization to a successful development, you must gather resources, plan buildings, and protect your colonists.

The title is developed in a distant future, where new technologies have permitted humanity to travel across the universe. In the vast space, different human colonies have achieved several levels of evolution. 

This colony sim is set in a procedurally generated planet located in the frontiers of space known as a RimWorld. This starter planet can vary, and you can choose one that fits your style better. 

Characters are also randomly generated. They have positive and negative traits that can affect the way they relate to each other. These traits also affect the general gameplay, their contribution to the settlement, and their final decisions.

Each of these factors and decisions generates stories and leads to the expansion of the colony. Over time, many other colonists from other planets joined the settlement to create a vast space community.    

RimWorld was initially released through a crowdfunding campaign providing early access to Windows, Linux, and macOS. Now you can play it on several consoles.

RimWorld Steam CD Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

• Release Date: May 23, 2022
• Developer: TARO
• Publisher: Gamera Games
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Steam 
• Metascore: N/A

Keplerth is a 2D sandbox village management game developed by an indie studio whose primary goal is survival on a hostile alien planet. In this top-down RPG, you control a personalized character, who can decide if they want to explore alone in the world or fight side by side with friends in an online multiplayer mode. 

Keplerth features several activities you can perform to survive in the land of this barren planet. You can build a shelter, farm for getting limited resources, craft tools to carry out other activities, fight to defend yourself and allies, and explore the landscapes. 

This survival title has randomly generated infinite worlds, dungeons, and maps. On these, you'll have to fight against enemies via ranged and melee combat. Then, every time you play Keplerth, you'll experience a new journey. 

In Keplerth, your fate depends on you. Build your own home and become the best explorer of your small society. Leave your mark on the culture of humankind on this new planet.  

Keplerth Steam CD Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

• Release Date: October 6, 2015
• Developers: Introversion Software / Double Eleven 
• Publishers: Introversion Software / Paradox Interactive / Double Eleven
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch 
• Metascore: 83

Prison may not be a colony, but from a certain point of view, it is a community made by people deprived of liberty. Prison Architect is a base building private prison construction and management simulation game; thus, you must bring out your best talent as an architect to make your project work. 

In this top-down title, you control a high-quality manager hired by the CEO of a prison. Your job is to take control of the building and correctly run the prison. Like in the other communities mentioned in this article, you are responsible for several aspects of the game, such as managing staff and connecting utilities. 

As a city building manager, you'll handle the business's finances, handling the billions of a giant prison. You also must be attentive to the prisoners' needs by performing several labors and reforms reducing recidivism.

You can also manage a female prison, which will require many other facilities, such as child care and nursing. 

Constantly, your prison will be evaluated by an in-game report with several factors, such as prisoners' happiness level and general violence.

Prison Architect is a fantastic game with hundreds of possibilities and a good specimen of the management and simulation genre you should try.

Prison Architect Steam CD Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

• Release Date: September 15, 2021
• Developer: Mechanistry 
• Publisher: Mechanistry
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS
• Metascore: N/A

Building and developing civilization and interpersonal relationships are not competencies of human beings only. This colony sim set in a distant future performed by beavers is proof of it. The apocalypse has arrived, and humans are long gone. Now beavers are the new form of life that rules the entire planet. 

In Tiberborn, beavers have enough technology to build amazing cities and create lives full of prosperity. As an architect and manager, you'll have to administer resources and plan the best for the future of your animal civilization.

You will have to join one of the beaver factions and discover that the Earth still has many resources to build an entire civilization. Make the best decisions and see how long your new homeland can last. 

The gameplay in Timberborn involves realistic aspects; you should pay attention to the harsh winters and continuing droughts, forcing you to maintain forests and fields in good conditions.

You and settlers will have to leverage the power of timber and iron to build sophisticated machinery. Of course, beavers are masters of water, so you should use it to move engines and mechanize pumps. 

Focus on facing the challenges and transform the dry and perished wastelands into a new paradise on Earth. Begin your new civilization and establish your domain over the territory.    

Timberborn Steam CD Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

• Release Date: April 24, 2018
• Developer: 11 bit studios
• Publisher: 11 bit studios
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows,Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, macOS, iOS, Android
• Metascore: 84

If you're looking for a game where fighting against the elements is the core of the gameplay, then Frostpunk is for you. As you can infer, Frostpunk is a kind of dystopia in a cyberpunk world in the nineteenth century. The long winter has begun and covered all of the Earth. In this context, you must ensure all its inhabitants survive the seasons.

In Frostpunk, you control "The Captain," who must administer a small team of engineers, workers, and even children and begin building civilization. To conquer the territory and survive in the harsh conditions, you'll have to harvest coal and gather steel and wood to keep the health of your people. 

Since the surface of Earth is cold, the game will put you in the dilemma of choosing buildings according to the heat requirements. Possibly, you'll have to plan houses and medical facilities near the reactor, the core of the settlement.

But that's not all. Laws are also crucial to determine the effectiveness of your decisions. With laws, you can regulate production, for example, by forcing 24-hour shifts or child labor. You must enforce security through "Order" and implement religion via "Faith." Thanks to these factors, you'll be forced to make moral decisions about humanity or the population's survival.

Challenge yourself in this ice-age map and build the best settlement for your villagers. Climate will be your main enemy, but we know you can avoid the collapse of your emergent civilization. 

Frostpunk Steam CD Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

• Publisher: Klei Entertainment
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Steam

As the name of this space-colony simulation game indicates, oxygen is scarce, so you and your industrious crew must maintain it at reasonable levels and keep an eye on it. In short, your main objective is to guide the colonist through a lost asteroid in the middle of nowhere. You will have to harness incredible space tech to survive deep inside an alien space rock and overcome strange new lifeforms.

• Publishers: Harpoon Games, Gamera Games
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Steam

First Feudal is a fantasy village builder focusing on creative building, resource management, and colonist psychology. You take the role of a real medieval feudal lord in charge of converting a small group of houses into an enormous castle and, eventually, into a bustling kingdom. 

Of course, the number of castles you can build is endless since you can give it the shape you want. Graphics in First Feudal are a bit old-fashioned, like pixel art, but it fits perfectly with the gameplay and style.

• Publisher: Unknown Origin Games
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Steam

Odd Realm takes place in a procedurally generated fantasy world with multiple races and landscapes. There are five available races: Human, Tomek, Gwydir, Ardyn, and Ancients. Regarding biomes, there are five of them: Desert, Voidland, Taiga, Tropical, and Tundra. In Odd Realm, you’ll experience unique scenarios and interesting encounters based on your decisions. Playing Odd Realm involves getting items, gear, and buildable blueprints for building blocks, props, trees, platforms, and more.

• Publisher: Nitrous Butterfly
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS

Mercury Fallen resembles tabletop games like The Island or The Settlers of Catan. The reason? Its hexagon configuration. Still, Mercur Fallen is set on a distant planet, where you must manage a sci-fi colony. In this demanding environment, you'll have to face harsh conditions. Exploration, expansion, and story progression are the cornerstones of this experience. You’ll also complete short- and long-term goals to ensure the survival of your spaceship's crew. Besides, Mercury Falleen features excellent ambient music and an exciting system of deconstruction and rebuilding.

• Publisher: Bay 12 Games
• Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux

Dwarf Fortress is currently just a classic. This construction and management simulation game with some roguelike elements was the base for the subsequent games of the same genre. The game's primary mode takes place in a procedurally generated fantasy world. Here you control a group of dwarves attempting to build a giant fortress. Administration of resources and equipment is the key to achieving victory. Dwarf Fortress has serious difficulty, but thankfully it'll provide you with hours and hours of suffering and fun.