The Colonists

Robot colony builder with resource chains and transport networks

Codebyfire · Published by Mode 7 · Released Oct 24, 2018

Reviews: Very Positive; 86% of 1,243
Recent reviews: Not enough recent
Playing now: 18; right now
Steam Deck: Playable
Last update: 3 months ago; Jun 3, 2026

What is The Colonists?

The Colonists is a settlement-building strategy game about self-replicating robots seeking a new home after leaving Earth. Build roads, boat routes, and rail lines to move resources, produce food, and research technology. Play separate campaign missions focused on peaceful building or competition against AI colonies, or choose generated maps, sandbox play, co-op, or PvP.

For you if...

+you enjoy relaxed colony building and managing supply chains
+you want peaceful building with optional military challenges
+you like starting new colonies on generated maps

Not for you if...

−you dislike planning production chains and transportation networks
−you want one continuous campaign instead of separate missions

What players say

86% of 1,243 reviews are positive

Players praise the relaxed pace and building robot settlements. They often complain that economic missions move slowly and that goods take illogical delivery routes, sometimes requiring manual routing rules.

Screenshots and trailer

The Colonists system requirements

As published by the developer.

Minimum

OS: 64 bit Windows
Processor: Multicore with SSE2 instruction set support
Graphics: 1GB DX9 (shader model 3.0)
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Storage: 1 GB available space
DirectX: Version 9.0c

PC version details

DRM, required accounts, controller support and Steam features.

DRM: None declared on Steam
Controller: Keyboard and mouse
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
Achievements: 27
Steam features: Workshop, Cloud saves, Family Sharing, Trading cards

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
Cloud saves are not shared across platforms

Multiplayer and co-op

Languages

Text only: English, French, German, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Italian, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Czech, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Turkish.