Cataclismo
A brick-by-brick fortress defense game about building settlements that can survive hordes from the Mist.
Cataclismo is more siege builder than colony sim, but the overlap is useful: settlement planning, resource management, exploration, defenses, and survival pressure. It works best as an adjacent recommendation for base-defense readers.
Cataclismo 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
Dwarf Fortress 9.9
A legendary fortress simulator where a generated world, stubborn dwarves, and one bad tunnel can turn a settlement into history.
Oxygen Not Included 9.8
A sealed asteroid colony sim where oxygen, heat, germs, food, morale, and plumbing all become survival problems.
Going Medieval 9.6
A medieval colony builder about turning a few survivors into a fortified settlement with rooms, food stores, jobs, and defenses.