The Crust

Lunar colony simulator blending automation with deadline-driven Earth contracts

VEOM Studio · Published by Crytivo · Released Sep 10, 2026

Reviews: Mostly Positive; 76% of 4,178
Recent reviews: Mostly Positive; 70% of 417 in 30 days
Playing now: 1,453; right now
Steam Deck: Playable
Last update: 4 days ago; Sep 19, 2026

What is The Crust?

This single-player simulation and strategy game puts you in charge of a lunar colony. You mine and process resources, automate production with belts and drones, manage colonists, research technology, explore by rover, and trade with Earth through contracts. A campaign connects your choices to Earth's politics and has multiple endings, while a sandbox mode supports open-ended building.

For you if...

+you like factory automation tied to contracts and deadlines
+you enjoy managing production, trade, and colonist needs
+you prefer lunar campaigns or open-ended sandbox building

Not for you if...

−you want the genre's deepest automation systems
−you prefer simple systems with extensive guidance
−you dislike contract deadlines shaping your factory plans

What players say

76% of 4,178 reviews are positive · 70% of 417 in the last 30 days

Players most often praise the Earth contract and market systems for giving production deadlines and purpose. Common complaints include poor onboarding and automation that is less deep than in leading factory games. Older reviews report severe bugs and late-game performance drops, though recent players say saves, drones, and performance have improved.

Screenshots and trailer

The Crust system requirements

As published by the developer.

Minimum

OS: Windows 7 64-bit or newer
Processor: Intel i5-4590K or equivalent AMD-Hardware
Graphics: GeForce 1060 or equivalent with 6GB of video RAM
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Storage: 8 GB available space
DirectX: Version 11

PC version details

DRM, required accounts, controller support and Steam features.

DRM: None declared on Steam
Controller: Keyboard and mouse
Platforms: Windows, macOS
Achievements: 28
Steam features: Cloud saves, Family Sharing

Steam Deck: Playable

Default controller config not fully functional
Sometimes shows mouse, keyboard or non-Deck controller icons
Some text entry requires manually opening the on-screen keyboard
Some in-game text is small and may be hard to read
Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck

Multiplayer and co-op

Single-player

Languages

Full audio: English, Russian. Text only: French, German, Spanish - Spain, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Portuguese - Brazil, Polish, Italian, Spanish - Latin America, Japanese, Turkish.