Games like Per Aspera

The Squirrel's verdictPlan B: Terraform shares planetary-scale terraforming viewed from orbit and logistics chains feeding cities, with the world visibly changing as you progress. The terraforming itself happens mostly automatically rather than through active management. Production chains are simpler than Per Aspera's, distribution runs through a train-and-depot system that offers limited manual control, and there is no narrative or story layer.

Not for you if you came for Per Aspera's story and dilemmas rather than its logistics, or you want granular control over how goods move between facilities.

The Squirrel's verdictPlanetbase puts you managing a single base on a hostile world, balancing mining output, power, and life support with close attention to colonist behavior. Survival stakes are immediate: colonists default to construction tasks over their own basic needs like hydration, so a poorly timed build order can collapse the colony. Players who want tight, base-level pressure rather than planet-scale sprawl will find that focus rewarding.

Not for you if you want planet-scale terraforming, a story layer, or colonists that self-prioritize survival without intervention.

The Squirrel's verdictTerraformers uses a card-based building selection system and roguelike meta-progression to structure its Mars terraforming runs — a format Per Aspera never uses. You work toward a defined end state each run rather than managing an open-ended macro colony, and there's no visual novel story or AI narrator. Suits players who want the same Mars setting with repeatable, structured sessions.

Not for you if you want continuous open-world colony building rather than run-based card-driven sessions, or expect full control over terraforming completion rather than a luck-influenced end game.

The Squirrel's verdictFarlanders is a turn-based, tile-placement colony builder set on Mars: each structure occupies a grid space, terrain adjacency affects output, and decisions carry forward without the ability to fast-forward through consequences. That deliberate, puzzle-oriented pacing replaces Per Aspera's real-time planet-scale management. Median playtime is around 29 hours. Players who prefer thinking through each placement over managing sprawling macro systems will find it well-calibrated.

Not for you if you want real-time control over a full planet, or procedurally generated maps where starting conditions feel fair rather than luck-dependent.

The Squirrel's verdictReshaping Mars centers on surveying terrain, claiming resource nodes, and expanding a base footprint across the Martian surface — a loop built around steady territorial growth. Building types are limited, production chains are shallow, and there is no narrative or logistics-transport layer. Median playtime runs around 27 hours. Players drawn to simple, addictive expansion without supply-chain complexity or story will find it accessible from the start.

Not for you if you want production-chain depth, story and dialogue, or varied building mechanics beyond placing a small set of structures repeatedly across the map.

The Squirrel's verdictCompeting corporations racing for the same planetary resources are Imagine Earth's defining feature — you extract materials, hit population and production targets, and manage industrial growth, but rival companies and pollution-triggered disasters create pressure that Per Aspera's solo AI narrative never does. There's no story layer here, just economic and environmental competition across a globe.

Not for you if you came for Per Aspera's AI-consciousness story and terraforming narrative rather than corporate competition and pollution mechanics.

The Squirrel's verdictThe Crust is an underground Mars colony builder driven by belt-and-conveyor production chains, drone logistics, and timed story quests that escalate in urgency. Players who wanted deeper manufacturing systems than Per Aspera offers will find more layered chains here. Documented issues include drone priority failures and save instability at large base sizes, and reviewers report these persist across patch cycles.

Not for you if you need reliable drone priority handling, stable saves at scale, or a fully resolved bug environment before playing.

The Squirrel's verdictMercury Fallen is an underground colony builder where survivors and robots dig out rooms, chain resource production, and work through a research tree on a hostile alien world. Median playtime runs around 37 hours. Players who wanted Per Aspera's logistics and research progression in a more contained, base-focused format will find the systems here familiar, though reviewers note the late game runs thin on objectives once core production loops are stable.

Not for you if you want terraforming spectacle, narrative dilemmas, or meaningful late-game challenge beyond expanding an established resource base.