Kenshi
A harsh open-world squad sandbox where a wandering group can become traders, outlaws, farmers, slavers, rebels, or base builders.
Kenshi is not a conventional colony sim, but many RimWorld players love it for the same small-group survival fantasy. A squad can settle, farm, build a base, manufacture goods, defend against raids, lose limbs, recruit prisoners, and carve out a story in an indifferent world.
Kenshi belongs in the catalog because it pushes the core colony-sim question: can a settlement keep functioning when people, resources, environment, and bad timing all collide?
Core mechanics
People pressure
Colonists, settlers, crew, or citizens create needs and priorities that turn a base into a social system.
Base planning
Rooms, storage, production, defenses, temperature, oxygen, water, or logistics decide whether the settlement works.
Failure stories
The best run is rarely perfect. Shortages, bad layouts, events, and cascading mistakes create the memory.
Long-term arc
Research, expansion, seasons, raids, diplomacy, or self-sufficiency give the colony somewhere to go.
Related colonies
RimWorld 10.0
The reference sci-fi colony sim: a small group of crash-landed survivors tries to build a home while an AI storyteller turns logistics into drama.
Oxygen Not Included 9.8
A sealed asteroid colony sim where oxygen, heat, germs, food, morale, and plumbing all become survival problems.
Going Medieval 9.6
A medieval colony builder about turning a few survivors into a fortified settlement with rooms, food stores, jobs, and defenses.