Settlement Builder Games With Unusual Settings

The settlement builder genre is a large genre with many different games, from big names such as Cities Skylines to more niche outings. Many settlement/city builders are set in the modern world, while others are set in a kind of medieval/renaissance era to provide just the right kind of vibe for would-be urban planners to get their thing on.

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But some games go in a completely different direction and invite players to build settlements in an unusual time or place. Here are ten settlement builder games with unique and interesting settings.

11 Surviving Mars

The Red Planet

For centuries humans have longed to colonize Mars, Earth's sister planet. In Surviving Mars, players can do just that. But it's not all easy going - Mars as in real life is a harsh, unforgiving environment, and it takes a lot of effort to build a functioning colony there.

Surviving Mars includes challenging gameplay designed around the harsh environment of Mars and the skills of the colony's colonists, presenting several unique challenges to the player.

10 Dawn of Man

Stone Age Settlement Builder

Dawn of Man by indie studio Madruga Works is a charming settlement builder set right at the dawn of man—hence the name. Players get to take charge of a Stone Age group of wanderers as they decide to settle down for the very first time, finding a permanent home in Dawn of Man's end of the Ice Age setting.

Gameplay challenges involve weather, along with the more normal resource management, as well as the literal invention of farming, warfare, and buildings.

9 Per Aspera

Making Mars Green

Per Aspera

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Simulation

Real-Time Strategy

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Released

January 1, 2020

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Developer(s)

Tlon Industries

Publisher(s)

Raw Fury

Platform(s)

PC

Genre(s)

Simulation, Real-Time Strategy

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Per Aspera is a sci-fi settlement builder set on Mars by developer Tlon Industries. Not content with simply colonizing the red desert planet Mars, Per Aspera tasks players with terraforming the planet to make it a nicer place to live.

Featuring a branching, nonlinear story with multiple endings, Per Aspera gives players a unique terraforming mechanic to go along with all the usual challenges of resource and citizen management, providing a very interesting setting for the game.

8 Nebuchadnezzar

Mesopotamian Settlement Builder

Inspired by classic city-builder games such as Pharaoh, the Mesopotamian settlement-builder game Nebuchadnezzar offers a more historically focused experience than some other games in the settlement-builder genre. Dripping in historical references and esthetics, Nebuchadnezzar is a pleasing look at early urban life in ancient Mesopotamia.

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Players are tasked with building some of the most famous cities of all time, including such heavy-hitters as Ur, Nineveh, and Babylon itself.

7 Aquatico

Under The Sea

Aquatico by developer Digital Reef Games takes place entirely underwater at the bottom of the sea. This is an unusual and picturesque setting for a settlement builder game, and the game even features a tech tree for researching buildings - including a sushi house.

Aquatico offers a charming and more relaxed approach to the genre, and its unique setting helps set it apart from other, similar games.

6 Clockwork Empires

Steampunk New World

Clockwork Empires features a steampunk-inspired world with elements of Lovecraftian horror. Sent forth by the eponymous Clockwork Empire to colonize a new world filled with fish people, cannibals, and all sorts of other obstacles, players in Clockwork Empires need to manage the sometimes incredibly weird desires of their citizens to keep their cities functioning.

Clockwork Empires allows players to design their own buildings and floorplans, too, which gives the whole setting a different kind of feel every game.

5 Rimworld

Dwarf Fortress in Space

A kind of spiritual successor to Dwarf Fortress, Rimworld is a roguelike settlement builder sim set across the vastness of space. Players are tasked with building up colonies on vastly different worlds, some with very unusual challenges such as roaming bands of mutant cannibals.

Rimworld offers an intricate, deep sim where dozens of things can go wrong for a given settlement. Citizens can turn to cannibalism, become depressed, or start cults - and every world is different, offering new kinds of challenges every time.

4 Frostpunk/Frostpunk 2

It's Literally Freezing Out There

Set in a post-apocalyptic frozen world, the setting of Frostpunk and its sequel, Frostpunk 2, is a harsh one. Produced and developed by 11-bit studios, Frostpunk is a challenging game that presents the player with a number of ethical decisions.

Ostensibly the last city on Earth, players need to contend with the freezing cold world and a hostile environment - while managing their citizens and their needs so that the whole city doesn't erupt into revolution and collapse.

3 Timberborn

Beavers Inherit The Earth

At first glance, the setting of Timberborn, a surprise hit in early access by devs Mechanistry, seems quite ordinary. It looks like the typical pseudo-medieval setting common to many settlement builder games such as Banished or Manor Lords.

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But Timberborn is a world populated entirely by talking beavers. Not only that, but it's a post-apocalyptic world in which humans have long since perished, relinquishing control of the Earth to its new beaver masters.

2 Airborne Kingdom

City In The Sky

Airborne Kingdom

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City Builder

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Systems

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Released

December 17, 2020

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Platform(s)

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Developer

The Wandering Band

Genre(s)

City Builder

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Unusual for settlement builder games, Airborne Kingdom as the name suggests takes place not on the ground but in the skies. And not on a mostly stationary sky island - no, the cities produced by the player in Airborne Kingdom can travel the world.

They in fact need to travel the world in search of resources and personnel, giving Airborne Kingdom an entirely unique feel as players need to scour the environment for resources. This unique setting also comes with some interesting game balance decisions - literally, since players need to ensure the settlement is balanced so that it doesn't topple over.