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Squirrel's Pick Squirrel's PickThe best game on this page. If you only try one, try this. Budget Pick Budget PickThe best game here for the least money.
CrimeOpen WorldAction
$19.99 ~35.3 hr median co-op complexity: light 97.8% of 307k
The Squirrel's verdictPlayers who want a co-op illegal-operation builder with crafting, deliveries, and gradual progression will find Schedule I covers that ground. Released in 2025 at $19.99, it holds a 97.8% Overwhelmingly Positive rating with 35.3 median hours. Reviewers praise the early-to-mid game loop but note that once endgame money and gear are reached, the pick-up, answer-texts, deliver cycle turns repetitive with little left to work toward.
Not for you if you want a strong late-game progression curve — reviewers consistently report the loop becomes repetitive once you hit endgame.
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CrimeActionOpen World
$19.99 ~28.5 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 86.2% of 21k
The Squirrel's verdictDrug Dealer Simulator is a finished first-person game about producing, packing to exact gram weights, and delivering product while avoiding police. The production-and-fulfillment loop overlaps with Basement's core fantasy, but this is a full 2020 PC release at $19.99 with a Very Positive 86.2% rating and 28.5 median hours logged. Reviews flag a fiddly packing UI, repetitive open-world running, and post-update performance and crash problems.
Not for you if you dislike repetitive delivery runs, gram-precise packing UI, or reported crash and performance issues after recent updates.
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Closest Match Closest MatchThe most similar game to the anchor, by what players say.
RTSResource ManagementSurvival
$29.99 ~30.8 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 76.2% of 4k
The Squirrel's verdictBasement fans came for cartel-flavored economic management, production chains, and campaign-style progression. Cartel Tycoon shares that mechanical core but ships as a 2022 release still getting reviews within the past week and sitting at Mostly Positive. It has no co-op, runs $29.99, and median playtime is about 31 hours.
Not for you if you need co-op play or the game stops giving you new problems once your cartel is established and money stops mattering.
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Open WorldCrimeAction
$24.99 ~47.2 hr median co-op complexity: moderate 69.8% of 6k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth are open-world operation-building sims where you construct a criminal enterprise from scratch. Unlike Basement's stalled early access, Drug Dealer Simulator 2 is a full 2024 release with co-op, priced at $24.99, median playtime 47.2 hours. Reviews call it thinner and buggier than its predecessor, with a mixed 69.8% rating.
Not for you if you need the predecessor's dense city layout and mechanics, or can't tolerate reviewer reports of repetitive missions and save-corrupting bugs.
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CrimeCapitalismEconomy
$24.99 ~26.2 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 73.4% of 3k
The Squirrel's verdictDefinitely Not Fried Chicken is a factory-management and base-building game with a crime-comedy premise — a fast-food chain secretly producing meth. It released in 2023 at $24.99 with a Mostly Positive 73.4% rating and 26.2 median hours. Devs have confirmed via Discord that no further updates or bug fixes are coming, so the current build — which reviewers describe as feeling incomplete — is the final state.
Not for you if you need a bug-free or actively supported game; devs have confirmed no further fixes or content updates.
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Shoot 'Em UpThird-Person ShooterTop-Down Shooter
~9.7 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 68.5% of 321
The Squirrel's verdictCygnus Enterprises shares Basement's base-building and equipment-management loop: gear variety, mission structure, and a campaign that reviewers call unbalanced in similar ways. The difference is scale and automation — every base task here is manual, run-everywhere chores between missions, with no co-op to split the work. Median playtime sits under ten hours.
Not for you if you want automated base systems instead of manually running every chore between missions.
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SurvivalBase-BuildingAuto Battler
$14.99 ~8.8 hr median no co-op complexity: light 65.2% of 1k
The Squirrel's verdictGarbage shares Basement's skill-tree grinding and survival-stat management, framing progression around training a homeless fighter instead of dungeon exploration. Fights run automatic while you plan builds and resource routes. Unlike Basement, Garbage is a finished 2021 release, not an ongoing early-access project, though Mixed reviews cite a poor tutorial and repetitive combat loops.
Not for you if you want co-op, a guided tutorial, or more than roughly nine hours of median playtime before the grind repeats.
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Villain ProtagonistBase-BuildingReal-Time with Pause
$19.99 ~19.5 hr median no co-op complexity: light 65.7% of 807
The Squirrel's verdictA monster-mansion take on the same recruit-minions, manage-resources, survive-threats loop: MachiaVillain has you luring victims rather than running a drug lab, but the base-management structure is comparable. It left early access in 2018 at $19.99 with a Mixed 65.7% rating. Reviews consistently describe the content as thin, the pacing as grindy, and bugs as persistent despite the full-release label. Median playtime is 19.5 hours.
Not for you if you expect a polished, content-rich release — reviews call it barebones and buggy even post-launch.