The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation

Space survival management with a small crew on volcanic Io

Supercube · Released Jan 20, 2023 · Early Access

As of Oct 28, 2026: Early Access, no updates for over a year

Reviews: Mixed; 61% of 414
Recent reviews: Not enough recent
Players: 1; daily peak, Oct 28, 2026
Steam Deck: Unsupported
Last update on Steam: 2 years ago; May 13, 2024
Minimum PC: GTX 1050; 8 GB RAM · 4 GB disk; Full requirements

What is The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation?

A single-player, top-down survival management game set on Io after your crew’s spacecraft crashes. You direct three specialists, salvage wreckage, build modules, craft equipment, and monitor crew health while exploring by rover or drone. Each run starts with randomly selected characters and has multiple victory conditions and endings.

For you if...

+you like adapting survival plans to different character strengths
+you enjoy balancing construction, resource use, and crew needs

Not for you if...

−you want exploration without continually tending to a crew
−you prefer cooperative survival over managing a team alone

What players say

61% of 414 reviews are positive

Players praise the space-survival premise, but recent reviewers say development appears abandoned. Another recurring complaint is that disasters happen too often, leaving too little time to make progress.

Screenshots and trailer

The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation screenshot 1

The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation system requirements

Minimum: GTX 1050, 8 GB RAM, 4 GB of disk space.

As published by the developer.

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Minimum

OS: Windows 7, 64-bit
Processor: Intel i5 4th generation / AMD FX-8300
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1050 / AMD RX 590
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Storage: 4 GB available space
DirectX: Version 11

Does The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation have co-op or multiplayer?

No: single-player only, no multiplayer modes declared.

Single-player

Does The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation run on Steam Deck?

Unsupported No: Valve rates it Unsupported on Steam Deck.

Graphics settings cannot be configured to run well on Steam Deck

PC version details

DRM: None declared on Steam
Controller: Keyboard and mouse
Platforms: Windows
Steam features: Family Sharing
Languages: Full audio: English, French, Spanish - Spain. Text only: German, Russian, Swedish, Hungarian, Polish, Italian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese - Brazil, Portuguese - Portugal, Romanian, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Hindi, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese.

Does The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation use AI-generated content?

No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.

Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Oct 27, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam