Games like Terraformers

The Squirrel's verdictPlanet Crafter is a first-person game where you physically explore a hostile planet, harvest materials, build automation systems, and watch the landscape visibly transform over dozens of hours — blue skies, water, and wildlife emerge as terraforming milestones. Co-op is supported. Median playtime is around 66 hours. Suits players drawn to hands-on exploration and gradual environmental change rather than abstracted strategy.

Not for you if you want a top-down, card-based strategy loop rather than first-person scavenging, base-building, and survival mechanics.

The Squirrel's verdictFactory-style logistics on a 3D globe is Plan B: Terraform's core loop — three cities consuming resources, production chains, and trains connecting depots across a planet that gradually becomes habitable. There are no roguelike runs, no card draws, and no competing factions. Released in 2025 with a Very Positive rating. Reviewers flag that depots handle too many roles with limited control, and that train stations cannot be relocated once placed, making late-game adjustments difficult.

Not for you if you want card-based run structure and meta-progression rather than continuous logistics planning where late-game infrastructure is hard to reorganize.

The Squirrel's verdictBoth strip combat from the 4X formula and focus on economy puzzles: no empires to fight, just resource chains to optimize. Terraformers runs deck-building rogue-like meta-progression across full campaigns; Slipways compresses everything into hour-long sessions of connecting planets via supply routes, with quests driving replay variation instead of card unlocks.

Not for you if you want the empire-scale strategy layer Terraformers implies, since Slipways admits it's closer to a logistics puzzle than grand strategy, with no competing factions at all.

The Squirrel's verdictFarlanders: Prologue is a free, turn-based demo where terraforming tiles snap together in a tetris-style grid across fixed narrative levels set on Mars. Crisis events and randomly generated maps mean no two attempts play out identically, but the structure is puzzle-driven with a narrative thread rather than a long unlocking campaign. Median playtime is around 5 hours. Suits players who want tight, replayable puzzle logic with a colony-building theme.

Not for you if you want a long card-based roguelike with deep meta-progression rather than a short structured demo with fixed scenario levels.

The Squirrel's verdictFarlanders uses tile placement and resource chains on Mars as its core mechanic, with no rival factions and no deck-building. Where Terraformers randomizes each run through card draws and meta-unlocks, Farlanders structures progress through a campaign of maps where terrain layout and construction order are the puzzle. Reviewers note the maps lean heavily on procedural generation, meaning restarts can be frequent. Suits players who prefer deliberate spatial planning over card-based randomness.

Not for you if you want consistent run variation from card draws — map randomness here can force many restarts to get a workable starting layout.

The Squirrel's verdictReshaping Mars is a single-colony builder focused on balancing housing, workers, and resources across one continuous playthrough on Mars, with no combat and no run resets. The core loop centers on expanding territory, placing buildings, and managing population growth — reviewers note this can become repetitive as the build-balance-expand cycle dominates. Median playtime sits around 27 hours at $9.99.

Not for you if repetitive expand-and-balance loops wear thin for you, or you prefer short card-driven runs with meta-progression between attempts.

The Squirrel's verdictPer Aspera's defining feature is an AI-narrator story layered over planet-scale terraforming logistics on Mars, with no rival empires and no card-based run structure. It plays as continuous real-time base-building across the whole planet, closer to a factory management game than a colony builder, with a visual-novel storyline running alongside. Median playtime is around 31 hours. Suits players drawn to Terraformers' peaceful colonization premise who want a persistent, story-driven experience instead of deck-building runs.

Not for you if you want card-driven short runs and meta-progression rather than slow logistics management and a heavy narrative layer.

The Squirrel's verdictBoth let you build a planetary colony without empire-vs-empire combat, replacing war with environmental and resource pressure. Imagine Earth is a persistent city-builder rather than Terraformers' card-driven roguelike runs: no deck construction, no meta-unlocks between attempts, just one continuous colony reacting to pollution and disaster over time.

Not for you if you came for Terraformers' card-based run structure and meta-progression rather than a continuous, non-roguelike city builder.