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Squirrel's Pick Squirrel's PickThe best game on this page. If you only try one, try this.
City BuilderGod GameColony Sim
$29.99 ~27.7 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 79.7% of 11k
The Squirrel's verdictYour civilization starts at campfires and ends at space colonization — Universim's defining loop is guiding a society through technology eras and across planets while its population handles daily tasks autonomously. Like the cult sim, buildings are assigned and workers dispatched, but oversight here is broader and more hands-off, closer to watching a system run than directing individuals. Median player hours land near 28.
Not for you if you want direct, granular control over individuals rather than steering a civilization from a distance.
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Colony SimCraftingMedieval
$24.99 ~44.6 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 83% of 1k
The Squirrel's verdictZ-level construction and direct third-person pawn control set Noble Fates apart: you can drop into your colony, harvest resources manually, and fight alongside your settlers. It shares the cult sim's individual-character focus and happiness tracking, but in a medieval Rimworld-style setting with random world generation. Reviews consistently highlight responsive developer support and fast bug fixes.
Not for you if you want cult-specific theming or streamlined combat, since reviews cite awkward fill-in-blank dialogue and weak AI in fights.
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Closest Match Closest MatchThe most similar game to the anchor, by what players say. Budget Pick Budget PickThe best game here for the least money.
Colony SimSurvivalBase-Building
$6.99 ~34.8 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 80.7% of 2k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth put you managing a base full of quirky survivors through building, crafting, and happiness systems rather than deep sim mechanics. Judgment swaps cult theming for a demon apocalypse and leans harder into combat and research gating, with survivors requiring scavenged materials before basic needs like beds are met. Median playtime runs about 35 hours. Suits players who want a base-management loop with meaningful combat at its center.
Not for you if you want combat kept minor rather than central, or dislike being locked behind resource-gated research before basic upgrades unlock.
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God GameAutomationBase Building
$34.99 ~33.4 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 81.2% of 987
The Squirrel's verdictBoth put you in charge of a base full of quirky, semi-autonomous subjects with dark comic framing, and both mix building management with overworld-level decisions. Sintopia trades cult customization for hell bureaucracy and layers in stricter puzzle-like optimization and rigid campaign missions rather than open-ended base growth.
Not for you if you want loose, creative base-building rather than tight optimization puzzles with rigid campaign structure and limited building variety.
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CrimeBase-BuildingResource Management
$19.99 ~7 hr median no co-op complexity: light 70% of 2k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth are base-builders about managing a criminal operation with limited build slots and staff to keep happy. Basement swaps cult theming for a drug-production setup, with tighter build-space constraints and a harder campaign that punishes wrong build order rather than rewarding experimentation like the cult sim did.
Not for you if you want a forgiving campaign — Basement's level design demands a specific build order and punishes deviation heavily.
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Political SimHorrorTurn-Based Strategy
Moral Weight Moral WeightHard choices with real consequences are central here.
$12.99 ~6.2 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 70.2% of 2k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth cast you as cult leader managing followers through virtue, vice, and secret-rooting, but The Shrouded Isle trades base-building and life-sim customization for a tighter, structured five-year cycle of villager assignment and interrogation. Median playtime sits around 6 hours, suiting players who want the cult-management premise resolved quickly rather than sustained long-term.
Not for you if you want ongoing base customization and cult-daily-life sim rather than a short, structured five-year management cycle with heavy RNG.
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City BuilderPost-apocalypticColony Sim
~7.3 hr median no co-op complexity: light 65.7% of 583
The Squirrel's verdictPost-apocalyptic society-building is Atomic Society's pitch: you set laws around punishment and rights, your leader unit constructs buildings directly, and arriving survivors populate your settlement regardless of your choices. The loop is shallower than the cult sim's — reviews describe a research tree that exhausts quickly, finite scavengeable resources, and social decisions with few meaningful mechanical consequences. Median playtime sits around 7 hours.
Not for you if you want deep interconnected systems and long-term progression rather than a shallow loop that runs dry within a few hours.
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Colony SimBase-BuildingOpen World
$24.99 ~14 hr median no co-op complexity: heavy 59.6% of 413
The Squirrel's verdictPlayers who enjoy watching individual colonists live, age, and die across generations will find TFM's core appeal: each person carries distinct traits gained through leveling rather than through building or happiness systems, and tactical combat and map exploration are central rather than incidental. UI is widely reported as confusing, and one major update removed mechanics — tools, professions, character interactions — that earlier players valued.
Not for you if you want clear UI feedback and stable mechanics across updates rather than opaque systems requiring significant trial and error.