29 Best Games Like RimWorld But For PC (Microsoft Windows)

1. Dwarf Fortress

Dwarf Fortress is the legendary grandfather of colony simulation games and remains one of the most similar experiences to RimWorld. This game features incredibly deep simulation systems where every dwarf has detailed personality traits, relationships, preferences, and can experience complex emotional states including stress and mental breaks.

Like RimWorld, the game excels at emergent storytelling where unexpected events create memorable narratives. The colony management mechanics are even more intricate, with detailed production chains, z-level construction, and systems that simulate everything from weather to individual combat injuries. The Steam version now includes updated graphics and a more accessible interface while maintaining the legendary depth.

Defending your colony from raids is a core part of the experience, and players who enjoy that challenge might also like classic real-time strategy games.

Players who love RimWorld's focus on survival against overwhelming odds will appreciate Dwarf Fortress's infamous difficulty curve and the mantra "losing is fun." Both games feature threats from raiders, wildlife, and environmental hazards, with colonists who develop skills through practice.

2. Going Medieval

Going Medieval delivers a remarkably similar experience to RimWorld but with a medieval setting and unique 3D multi-level construction. The game captures the same colony simulation feel with settlers who have needs, moods, skills, and relationships that evolve over time.

The base building mechanics are intuitive yet deep, allowing you to construct layered fortifications, underground storage, and defensive structures. Like RimWorld, you'll manage production chains, assign work priorities, and respond to random events including raids, disease outbreaks, and harsh winters.

What sets Going Medieval apart is its emphasis on medieval authenticity and architectural freedom. The threat system is similar, with hostile factions attacking your settlement, requiring you to balance expansion with defense just as you would in RimWorld's colony management gameplay.

3. Oxygen Not Included

Oxygen Not Included shares RimWorld's focus on intricate colony management but applies it to a space survival setting where you manage duplicants (colonists) in an asteroid base. The game features similarly deep systems for managing colonist needs, skills, stress levels, and work assignments.

The survival mechanics are incredibly detailed, requiring you to manage oxygen production, temperature control, food cultivation, and waste management through interconnected systems. Like RimWorld, every decision has cascading consequences, and poor planning can lead to colony collapse.

Fans of RimWorld's emergent gameplay and problem-solving will love how Oxygen Not Included constantly presents new challenges. The automation systems are more complex, and the physics simulation creates unique scenarios where your duplicants' personalities and traits directly impact colony success.

4. Stranded: Alien Dawn

Stranded: Alien Dawn is explicitly inspired by RimWorld, offering a 3D colony survival experience on an alien planet. The game features survivors with individual skills, traits, needs, and mood systems that directly mirror RimWorld's colonist mechanics.

You'll manage base building, resource gathering, crafting, and research in a similar progression loop. The threat system includes alien wildlife attacks, harsh weather, and disease, requiring defensive structures and careful management of your survivors' well-being.

The constant struggle for survival is a major draw, and if you enjoy that high-stakes pressure, you should explore games about scavenging for resources in a hostile environment.

The main difference is the 3D presentation and more accessible interface, making it an excellent choice for players who want RimWorld's gameplay with modern graphics. The social dynamics, skill development, and emergent storytelling are all present, creating comparable narrative moments.

5. Ratopia

Ratopia is often described as "RimWorld with rats" and delivers an incredibly similar colony simulation experience in a charming 2D side-scrolling format. Your ratizens have individual traits, needs, moods, and relationships that develop organically through gameplay.

The colony management mechanics mirror RimWorld's systems with job assignments, production chains, research trees, and detailed policy management including taxation and laws. Each rat's personality affects their behavior and social interactions, creating character-driven narratives.

Fans of RimWorld's emergent storytelling and depth will appreciate how rats can become depressed, turn to crime, form factions, and react to raids, natural disasters, and survival challenges. The cute art style contrasts with serious simulation depth, offering RimWorld's complexity in a more accessible 2D presentation.

6. Clanfolk

Clanfolk provides a more intimate colony simulation experience focused on managing a medieval Scottish Highlands family. Like RimWorld, colonists have detailed stats, moods, relationships, and skill progression that develop naturally through gameplay.

The survival mechanics emphasize seasonal preparation, resource management, and responding to emergencies similar to RimWorld's storytelling events. You'll assign tasks, manage production chains, and ensure your clan survives through harsh winters and other challenges.

What makes Clanfolk similar is its focus on emergent family drama and character-driven narratives. Relationships form, children are born and grow up, and each clan member's personality affects colony dynamics, creating the same engaging stories that RimWorld is famous for.

7. Space Haven

Space Haven translates RimWorld's colony simulation formula to a spaceship management setting. Your crew members have needs, skills, health conditions, and relationships that must be managed while building and maintaining your vessel.

The game features detailed base building where you construct ship sections room by room, manage life support systems, and assign crew to various tasks. Combat, exploration, and random events create emergent narratives similar to RimWorld's storytelling systems.

Fans of RimWorld's colonist management and emergent gameplay will appreciate how crew members develop personalities, form relationships, and react to stress. The survival challenges shift from planetary threats to space hazards, but the core colony simulation remains familiar.

8. Against the Storm

Against the Storm offers a unique twist on colony building by making each settlement a roguelite run. Like RimWorld, you manage settlers with different needs and abilities, construct buildings, and respond to environmental threats.

The resource management and production chains are complex and satisfying, requiring you to balance multiple species' needs while racing against the deadly storm. The game captures RimWorld's tension between expansion and survival, where overextension can doom your colony.

While more structured than RimWorld, Against the Storm delivers similar strategic depth and replayability. Each biome presents different challenges, and the meta-progression system rewards experimentation while maintaining the satisfying colony management core.

9. Settlement Survival

Settlement Survival brings RimWorld's colony management to an ancient civilization setting. You'll manage villagers with needs, assign work tasks, construct buildings, and develop your settlement through technology research progression.

The game features survival challenges including natural disasters, bandit raids, and seasonal weather changes that require careful planning. Production chains, resource management, and balancing villager happiness mirror RimWorld's core gameplay loop.

What makes Settlement Survival appealing to RimWorld fans is its focus on organic growth and adaptation. The pacing is similar, with gradual expansion punctuated by crisis events, and the satisfaction of watching your settlement evolve from a few shelters to a thriving town.

10. Stardeus

Stardeus combines RimWorld's colony management with space station building. Your colonists (and drones) have individual needs, skills, and AI behaviors that create emergent situations as you rebuild a derelict space station.

The base construction and automation systems are reminiscent of RimWorld's zoning and work assignment mechanics. You'll manage life support, food production, research, and defend against threats while uncovering the station's mysteries.

Fans of RimWorld's emergent narratives and complex systems will appreciate how Stardeus handles colonist AI, equipment degradation, and cascading failures. The game rewards creative problem-solving and long-term planning in ways that feel familiar to seasoned colony managers.

11. Banished

Banished is a classic medieval colony builder that emphasizes harsh survival and careful resource management. While citizens don't have the individual depth of RimWorld colonists, the overall settlement management shares similar strategic challenges.

The game focuses on population dynamics, resource chains, and seasonal survival. Like RimWorld, poor planning leads to starvation, cold deaths, and colony collapse. You'll assign workers, manage food production, and balance expansion with sustainability.

What makes Banished appealing is its unforgiving difficulty and emphasis on consequences. Every decision matters, and the challenge of surviving harsh winters while growing your population creates the same tension that RimWorld players appreciate.

12. Manor Lords

Manor Lords blends medieval city building with RTS combat, offering a more grounded take on colony management. Your villagers work plots of land, construct buildings, and develop your settlement organically rather than through direct individual control.

The settlement management mechanics require balancing resources, seasonal farming cycles, and citizen happiness. Like RimWorld, you'll face external threats from rival lords and must prepare defenses while maintaining economic growth.

While more focused on historical accuracy, Manor Lords captures the satisfaction of watching a settlement grow from nothing into a thriving town. The detailed medieval systems and beautiful visuals provide a different atmosphere while maintaining strategic depth.

13. Timberborn

Timberborn offers post-apocalyptic beaver colony management with unique water mechanics. Like RimWorld, you manage colonists with needs, construct buildings, research technologies, and respond to environmental challenges.

The survival focus centers on managing droughts and wet seasons, requiring you to build dams, irrigation systems, and water storage. The production chains and resource management feel familiar to RimWorld players, with vertical construction adding new strategic depth.

Fans of RimWorld's engineering challenges will appreciate how Timberborn's water mechanics create complex problem-solving scenarios. The cute aesthetic contrasts with serious survival stakes, creating a unique but mechanically similar experience.

14. Farthest Frontier

Farthest Frontier delivers detailed medieval settlement building with deep simulation systems. Citizens have needs, buildings require specific resources, and you must manage complex production chains to sustain growth.

The survival challenges include disease outbreaks, raider attacks, harsh winters, and soil fertility management. Like RimWorld, you'll research technologies, assign work priorities, and balance multiple interconnected systems to keep your settlement thriving.

What makes Farthest Frontier similar is its emphasis on organic colony growth and adaptation. The detailed economy simulation and consequence-driven gameplay create satisfying long-term planning challenges that RimWorld fans will recognize.

15. Dawn of Man

Dawn of Man takes colony management to prehistory, guiding your settlement from the Stone Age through technological advancement. You'll manage tribe members, hunt wildlife, gather resources, and defend against predators and rival tribes.

The survival progression mirrors RimWorld's research system, unlocking new buildings, tools, and capabilities over time. Resource management, seasonal changes, and population growth create similar strategic challenges.

While more focused on technological evolution, Dawn of Man captures the satisfaction of building from nothing. The threats and management challenges scale with progress, providing comparable difficulty curves to RimWorld's storytelling events.

16. Amazing Cultivation Simulator

Amazing Cultivation Simulator combines RimWorld-style colony management with Chinese cultivation fantasy. Your disciples have individual traits, needs, and cultivation paths that develop through gameplay, creating emergent character stories.

The base building and resource management feel familiar, with work assignments, production chains, and complex systems to master. You'll manage disciples' moods, relationships, and cultivation progress while defending against demonic invasions.

Fans of RimWorld's depth and emergent narratives will appreciate the intricate cultivation mechanics and how disciples' personalities affect sect dynamics. The fantasy setting provides unique flavor while maintaining satisfying colony simulation gameplay.

17. Noble Fates

Noble Fates offers kingdom management with direct character control options. Your subjects have needs, skills, and personalities that develop over time, similar to RimWorld's colonist system.

The base building mechanics allow flexible construction and room design, with production chains and resource management creating familiar strategic challenges. Random events, threats, and character emergent behavior mirror RimWorld's storytelling approach.

What sets Noble Fates apart is the ability to directly control characters for combat and exploration while maintaining the colony simulation layer. This hybrid approach offers variety while preserving the management depth RimWorld players enjoy.

18. Land of the Vikings

Land of the Vikings focuses on Norse settlement management with survival emphasis. You'll manage villagers with needs, construct buildings, gather resources, and prepare for harsh winters and raids.

The colony building mechanics require balancing food production, crafting, trading, and expansion. Like RimWorld, seasonal preparation is crucial, and poor planning leads to starvation and death.

Fans of RimWorld's survival challenges and settlement growth will appreciate the Viking theme and sailing expeditions. The management depth and random events create comparable strategic gameplay with Scandinavian flavor.

19. Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation

Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation blends colony management with tactical combat in a demon-invaded world. Survivors have skills, needs, and relationships that develop through gameplay, similar to RimWorld's systems.

The base building and defense mechanics require constructing fortifications, researching occult technologies, and managing survivor wellbeing. Random events, demon attacks, and resource scarcity create constant challenges.

What makes this similar is the emphasis on emergent survival stories and adaptive gameplay. The combination of settlement management with squad-based combat offers variety while maintaining the strategic depth of colony simulation.

20. Kenshi

Kenshi offers a unique blend of base building and open-world RPG elements. While more focused on character development, establishing a base requires managing squad members, constructing buildings, and defending against raids.

The survival emphasis and skill progression through practice mirrors RimWorld's systems. Your characters develop through experience, form relationships, and the harsh world creates emergent narratives of struggle and triumph.

Fans of RimWorld's freedom and emergent storytelling will appreciate Kenshi's ruthless world and base management options. The game rewards experimentation and adaptation, with base building feeling like one path among many in a vast sandbox.

21. Frostpunk

Frostpunk delivers survival city building in a frozen apocalypse. While more focused on societal decisions than individual colonists, the resource management, production chains, and crisis response share RimWorld's strategic depth.

The survival mechanics emphasize heat management, food production, and keeping citizens alive through deadly cold. Like RimWorld's storytelling events, Frostpunk presents difficult moral choices that impact your settlement's future.

What makes Frostpunk compelling is its focus on consequences and adaptation. The scenario-based structure provides different challenges, and the tension of managing limited resources against escalating threats feels familiar to RimWorld veterans.

22. Factorio

Factorio shares RimWorld's emphasis on complex systems and automation. While focused on factory building rather than colonist management, the satisfaction of designing efficient production chains and defending your base translates well.

The resource management and base expansion require similar strategic thinking. You'll research technologies, combat environmental challenges, and defend against alien attacks while optimizing increasingly complex systems.

Fans of RimWorld's engineering aspects and long-term planning will appreciate Factorio's depth. The emergent problem-solving and satisfaction of building elaborate automated systems creates comparable gameplay engagement.

23. Crusader Kings III

Crusader Kings 3 focuses on dynastic management and character-driven narratives in medieval times. While different from colony building, the emphasis on individual character traits, relationships, and emergent stories parallels RimWorld's strength.

The strategic depth comes from managing realm politics, marriages, succession, and expansion. Like RimWorld's colonists, every character has personality traits, skills, and relationships that create unique narratives.

What connects these games is emergent storytelling and consequence-driven gameplay. Crusader Kings 3's dynasty management creates memorable stories through character interactions, similar to how RimWorld's colonist dynamics generate narrative moments.

24. Surviving Mars

Surviving Mars brings colony management to Mars colonization. You'll manage colonists with needs and specializations, construct domes and infrastructure, research technologies, and respond to disasters.

The base building mechanics require managing life support, resource production, and colonist happiness. Like RimWorld, you'll balance expansion with sustainability while preparing for random events and environmental challenges.

Fans of RimWorld's colony simulation and survival challenges will appreciate the sci-fi setting and unique Mars-specific mechanics. The strategic depth and colonist management feel familiar while offering different atmospheric challenges.

25. Anno 1800

p>Anno 1800 offers industrial revolution city building with incredibly detailed production chains. While citizens aren't individually managed like RimWorld colonists, the complex resource management and settlement growth share strategic similarities.

The supply chain optimization requires careful planning of production, trade routes, and population needs across multiple tiers. Like RimWorld's mid-to-late game, you'll manage interconnected systems where changes cascade through your economy.

What appeals to RimWorld players is Anno 1800's depth and long-term strategic planning. The beautiful presentation and satisfying production management create comparable engagement, though with a more peaceful city-building focus.

26. First Feudal

First Feudal combines medieval colony building with RPG elements. You directly control your character while managing a settlement, assigning tasks to villagers, and developing infrastructure.

The survival mechanics include resource gathering, crafting, defending against raids, and managing villager needs. The blend of personal adventure and settlement management offers variety while maintaining colony simulation elements.

Fans of RimWorld's base building and survival challenges will find familiar systems here, with the addition of direct character control providing a different perspective on colony management.

27. Life is Feudal: Forest Village

Life is Feudal: Forest Village offers medieval settlement simulation with emphasis on realistic resource management. Villagers have needs and roles, and you'll construct buildings, manage production, and survive harsh conditions.

The survival focus on seasonal preparation, food storage, and disease management creates challenges similar to RimWorld. The production chains and work assignment systems require strategic planning.

While simpler than RimWorld in some aspects, Forest Village captures the satisfaction of settlement growth and the challenge of maintaining stability through environmental threats.

28. Stardew Valley

p>Stardew Valley is a farming simulation RPG that shares RimWorld's satisfaction of building from nothing, though with a much more relaxed and personal focus. You'll manage crops, animals, crafting, and relationships in a charming pixel art world.

While very different in tone, the resource management, planning, and progression systems offer comparable satisfaction. The game rewards long-term planning, optimization, and adapting to seasonal changes.

Fans of RimWorld who want creative building and management without survival pressure will appreciate Stardew Valley's peaceful gameplay loop. The depth of systems and satisfying progression create a relaxing alternative.

29. Evil Genius 2: World Domination

Evil Genius 2 offers base building with a villainous twist. You'll construct an elaborate lair, manage minions with different roles, research technologies, and defend against investigative forces.

The base design and minion management require assigning tasks, managing morale, and creating efficient workflows. Like RimWorld's storytelling events, you'll respond to investigative threats and world domination schemes.

What connects these games is the focus on base building and management systems. Evil Genius 2's unique spy thriller theme provides different flavor while maintaining satisfying strategic depth in lair construction and operation.