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indielist (beta)

The best colony sim indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

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Data report Built from live indielist data on 2026-06-13. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 29 colony sim indie games on Steam, holding 957,765 reviews at an average of 86% positive. This list ranks them by Steam review count, the most reliable public sales proxy, with a white-box sales estimate behind every title. The most reviewed is RimWorld with 203,969 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. RimWorld · 203,969 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
  2. Oxygen Not Included · 132,475 reviews · 97% positive · 2019
  3. Frostpunk · 112,553 reviews · 93% positive · 2018
  4. Cult of the Lamb · 107,337 reviews · 96% positive · 2022
  5. Prison Architect · 59,791 reviews · 89% positive · 2015
  6. WorldBox - God Simulator · 49,191 reviews · 95% positive · 2021
  7. They Are Billions · 45,790 reviews · 85% positive · 2019
  8. Banished · 37,741 reviews · 90% positive · 2014
  9. Foundation · 23,820 reviews · 86% positive · 2025
  10. Amazing Cultivation Simulator · 23,520 reviews · 86% positive · 2020
  11. Soulmask · 21,697 reviews · 77% positive · 2026
  12. Going Medieval · 20,969 reviews · 89% positive · 2026
  13. Dawn of Man · 17,734 reviews · 87% positive · 2019
  14. IXION · 17,302 reviews · 79% positive · 2022
  15. Captain of Industry · 11,014 reviews · 90% positive · 2022
  16. Space Haven · 10,735 reviews · 86% positive · 2026
  17. Planetbase · 10,342 reviews · 80% positive · 2015
  18. Endzone - A World Apart · 9,898 reviews · 77% positive · 2021
  19. Colony Survival · 8,887 reviews · 92% positive · 2017
  20. Settlement Survival · 7,934 reviews · 86% positive · 2022

How this list is built

Games are ranked by Steam review count, the most reliable public proxy for sales when actual figures are private. Each title links to its indielist page, where the white-box sales estimate expands into the full Boxleiter formula, so you can audit the number rather than trust a black box. Review counts come from Steam; sales figures are estimates, not official sales data.

Want the underlying estimate for your own game? Try the sales estimator, or browse the full game directory.