Mars Rally Championship, the free browser game where you drive Mars rather than manage it, is listed first because it is ours; it is a rally game, not a colony builder. The closest games to Surviving Mars are Planetbase, a smaller colony sim where oxygen, water and food decide everything, and The Crust, a lunar colony builder with drones, regolith mining and a rover. Oxygen Not Included goes deepest on life support, and Terraformers and Plan B: Terraform take over the terraforming.
In-game screenshot: a storm board on The Opener, Stage 3: the rover's headlights light the dust while red-brown haze swallows the slope behind.
What makes a game like Surviving Mars?
Four systems make Surviving Mars what it is, and this list judges every pick on them. You usually loved one of these, not all four.
- Life support. Oxygen, water, power and food, in a colony that dies if one line breaks.
- Logistics and automation. Drones, bots or conveyors move resources so the colonists do not have to.
- Disasters. Dust storms, meteors and cold: the planet fights back.
- Long-term goals. Terraforming, mysteries and a society that can feed itself.
The yardstick is Surviving Mars: Relaunched, from Haemimont Games and Paradox Interactive. It came out on 10 November 2025 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and Paradox describes it as an updated, expanded and remastered edition of the 2018 original, with all previously released DLC and the new Martian Assembly political mechanics. Its Steam page lists it at $39.99 and promises "a steady supply of resources, oxygen … experience with sandstorms" and a curious attitude toward "those weird black cubes". The Feeding the Future expansion released on 8 September 2026 at $9.99, and Paradox schedules Machine Utopia for Q4 2026.
One point most similar-game lists miss: the 2018 original is no longer sold on Steam. Relaunched is the version to buy. For Mars-set games of every genre, including Per Aspera and Occupy Mars, see our guide to games set on Mars. This post goes the other way and follows the mechanics, wherever the game is set.
Games like Surviving Mars, compared
Mars Rally Championship is first because it is ours; the rest are ordered by how many of Surviving Mars's four systems they share.
| Game | What it shares with Surviving Mars | Setting | Platforms | Price (Steam, USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mars Rally Championship Play | Mars itself: 0.38 g, thin air, dust storms that drain the battery; you drive it, nothing to build | Mars, invented terrain | Browser: desktop, Chromebook, phone | Free |
| Surviving Mars: Relaunched (the yardstick) | Domes, drones, oxygen, sandstorms, mysteries | Mars | PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S | $39.99 |
| Planetbase | Oxygen, food and water; meteors, sandstorms, solar flares; bots | Four remote planets | PC (Windows, Mac) | $14.99 |
| The Crust | Regolith mining, drones and conveyors, colonists' health and mood, rover expeditions | The Moon | PC (Windows, Mac) | $31.99 |
| Oxygen Not Included | Oxygen, warmth and food from the first breath; plumbing, power, stress | An asteroid's interior | PC (Windows, Mac, Linux) | $24.99 |
| IXION | Infrastructure, resources and crew trust | A drifting space station | PC (Windows) | $34.99 |
| Terraformers | Terraforming and cities, turn-based | Mars, procedurally generated | PC (Windows, Mac, Linux) | $19.99 |
| Plan B: Terraform | Climate, water, supply chains, cities of millions | A new planet | PC (Windows) | $15.99 |
| Surviving the Aftermath | Disaster-proof colony, specialists, the "Surviving" label | Post-apocalyptic Earth | PC (Windows) | $29.99 |
| Frostpunk 2 | Survival city building, factions | A frozen Earth | PC (Windows, Mac) | $44.99 |
| The Planet Crafter | Oxygen, heat and pressure built by hand; online co-op | An alien planet | PC (Windows) | $23.99 |
Each game's Steam listing and its developer's or publisher's pages were checked; prices are US list prices on Steam, before any sale. Last checked: November 2026.
Reading the table: Planetbase is the cheapest way to get the oxygen-and-meteors loop at $14.99, while The Crust lists at $31.99 and IXION at $34.99. Only one of the nine third-party picks, Terraformers, is set on Mars, and it is turn-based.
Diagram: which of Surviving Mars's four systems each pick's own pages confirm; Planetbase shares the most, Mars Rally Championship only a dust storm.
The best games like Surviving Mars
Each game here is best at something, and says what.
Mars Rally Championship: drive Mars instead of managing it
Our game, listed first for that reason. This is Mars Rally Championship's own site; everything below it is ranked on how many of Surviving Mars's systems it shares.
Mars Rally Championship is a free browser rally game. It has no colony, no building, no resources to manage and nobody to keep alive, so it shares exactly one thing with Surviving Mars: Mars as the hard part. Gravity is 3.72 m/s², 38% of Earth's, and the air is about 1.6% of Earth's density, so there is no downforce at any speed and braking from 100 km/h takes about 125 m. A pilot in a pressurized suit drives a pressurized rally rover with oxygen tanks and a comms mast in its open rear bay.
In-game screenshot: Stage 4, Down the Mountain, at sunset: a bowl of open ground to cross, and the next gate against the low sun.
The closest it comes to a colony problem is the storm board that every stage has. A moving dust haze hides 95% of the view by about 100 m, the sun dims to a glow, and panel obscuration costs 50% more battery. The wind pushes the rover too, 0.7 m/s² gusting to 2.0 m/s², and that is deliberately exaggerated: real Martian air could never shove a rover. At night the sky shows Phobos and Deimos, drawn larger than life. Our explainer on Mars dust storms covers what the real ones do.
What it does badly for a Surviving Mars player: there is nothing to build or manage, and it is not a planet but four short stages (1,164 m to 2,676 m) and a free-roam square. The terrain is sculpted to Martian morphologies, not mapped from real Mars. The game is in development.
It runs in a browser with no download and no account, on a desktop, a Chromebook or a phone in landscape. For a builder, free roam is the calm way in: a 2.5 km square at sunset with no timer. It suits you if you want to feel the planet you spent hours managing.
Play free — no downloadPlanetbase: the closest small-scale colony survival
Planetbase, from Madruga Works, came out on 15 October 2015 and lists at $14.99 for Windows and Mac. Steam describes guiding "a group of space settlers trying to establish a base on a remote planet", with a "constant supply of oxygen, food and water" to maintain. You manufacture bots, run solar and wind energy and hydroponics, and survive "disasters like meteors, sandstorms or solar flares".
That covers life support, disasters and a light version of automation. It suits you if you want the survival loop at a smaller scale.
The Crust: a Moon colony with drones and a rover
The Crust, by VEOM Studio and Crytivo, was released on 10 September 2026. It lists at $31.99 for Windows and Mac. You "build and automate a lunar colony that Earth depends on": mine regolith, run conveyor-and-drone factories above and below the surface, manage colonists' health, mood and needs, and trade with rival Earth factions. There are three research trees, and you deploy your rover to various locations.
This is the nearest match for logistics and automation, and it sits well with our piece on what regolith is. It suits you if drones and conveyors were your favorite part.
Oxygen Not Included: the deepest life support
Klei Entertainment's Oxygen Not Included (30 July 2019, $24.99, Windows, Mac and Linux) is "a space-colony simulation game" set deep inside an alien space rock. Steam says "scarcities of oxygen, warmth and sustenance are constant threats", and the management runs "right down to plumbing and power systems", with stress simulations on top.
No other pick here goes as far on life support, and the plumbing is the game. It is set inside a rock, not on a planet's surface. It suits you if the oxygen and power chains were what you loved.
IXION: a colony on a drifting space station
Bulwark Studios and Kasedo Games released IXION on 7 December 2022 for Windows at $34.99. You are Administrator of the Tiqqun, DOLOS's prototype space station, "balancing preservation and exploration as you manage infrastructure, resources and crew", and you must keep the crew's trust.
It shares infrastructure, resources and the people side of Surviving Mars, on a space station rather than a planet. It suits you if you liked managing a population under pressure more than building domes.
Terraformers: turn Mars green, turn by turn
Terraformers, from Asteroid Lab with Goblinz Publishing and IndieArk, released on 9 March 2023 at $19.99 for Windows, Mac and Linux. Steam calls it a "turn-based colony builder and resource management game with roguelike elements" where you terraform Mars. The planet is procedurally generated, you play project cards each turn, and the options run from restarting a volcano and building giant space mirrors to nuking the poles, taking the planet from bacteria to forests.
It takes over the terraforming goal and keeps the city building, on Mars, at a slower pace. It suits you if the long game mattered most.
Plan B: Terraform: terraforming as logistics
Gaddy Games released Plan B: Terraform on 29 August 2025 for Windows at $15.99. You "terraform a lifeless rock into a lush and habitable world", building trucks, trains and sprawling factories on an enormous hexagonal planet of over a million tiles, and growing its population to millions. It has greenhouse gas generators, and rivers and oceans from underground ice. Steam calls it "a calm and contemplative sci-fi simulation", and a free demo exists.
It pairs terraforming with supply chains. It suits you if you want a slower, calmer game.
Surviving the Aftermath: the same "Surviving" label, on a ruined Earth
Iceflake Studios and Paradox Interactive released Surviving the Aftermath on 16 November 2021 for Windows at $29.99. The goal is a disaster-proof colony, with more than 130 buildings and over 80 unique specialists, in a post-apocalyptic setting where "a natural disaster or environmental catastrophe can doom an ill-equipped settlement."
It shares the publisher and the disaster-proofing, not the space setting. It suits you if disasters were the draw.
Frostpunk 2: survival city building in the cold
11 bit studios released Frostpunk 2 on 20 September 2024 for Windows and Mac, listed at $44.99. You "lead your city through a cascade of calamities" in a postapocalyptic snowy setting, juggling factions and resources like coal, oil, food and warmth.
It carries the hostile climate and its own politics, and it is the most expensive pick here. It suits you if you wanted the political layer.
The Planet Crafter: terraforming in first person
Miju Games released The Planet Crafter on 10 April 2024 for Windows at $23.99. It is "a space survival open world terraforming crafting game, designed for 1 to 10 players", where you "generate oxygen, warmth, and pressure to create a brand new biosphere" and make the planet habitable for humans. A free demo exists.
You do the terraforming by hand rather than through a colony, and you can do it in online co-op. It suits you if you would rather be on the surface than above it.
Which games like Surviving Mars are set on Mars?
Few, apart from Surviving Mars itself. Terraformers is set on Mars. Farlanders, from Andrii Bychkovskyi and Crytivo, is a retro-inspired turn-based Martian colony builder: you terraform with kits each turn and expand underground. It released on 17 January 2023 for Windows, Mac and Linux at $14.99. Planetbase 2 is listed on Steam for 2 April 2027, with "a base on Mars and beyond", so treat it as announced, not available.
For Per Aspera, Occupy Mars and Terraforming Mars, see games set on Mars. For vehicle-based Mars sims, there is a guide to Mars rover simulators.
Is there a free game like Surviving Mars?
Not a full one. Surviving Mars: Relaunched is paid. What exists is free demos and prologues on Steam: Farlanders: Prologue (free, Windows, Mac and Linux) and Farlanders Demo, The Planet Crafter Demo, and Plan B: Terraform Demo.
Mars Rally Championship is free in a browser too, and again, it is ours and it is driving, not colony building. If you would like to see the planet your colony would sit on, try the storm board of Stage 3, The Opener, where the haze and the dimmed sun show a dust storm from the driver's seat.