Per Aspera
A planetary-scale Mars terraforming sim where an AI oversees infrastructure, colonization, and the transformation of the Red Planet.
Per Aspera is macro-scale rather than pawn-scale, but it belongs in the wider colony discovery layer. It is about building industrial systems across Mars, supporting colonization, terraforming the planet, and making AI-shaped strategic decisions over a long survival horizon.
Per Aspera 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.
Stranded: Alien Dawn 9.2
A 3D planet survival sim about guiding a small stranded group through shelter, research, farming, injuries, wildlife, and defenses.