Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2017
Aven Colony
Developer Mothership Entertainment LLC
Aven Colony is a city-building strategy video game developed by Mothership Entertainment and published by Team17. The Beta was released on September 8, 2016 on Microsoft Windows. The main storyline revolves around the human colonisation of an alien planet, in which a new colony must be built in order to survive. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
199 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 6, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
57
Mixed
104 positive · 79 negative
95% range 50–64%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 104 | 79 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
16 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
2,012 of 2,795 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 199 · most liked firstThe game stopped working several years ago. Still doesn't work to this day. After a few minutes it will just close. Don't waste your time or money with it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Overall a fun game, but it's completely unplayable on Windows 11. It won't stay open for more than about a minute without crashing ever since I updated. Which is really unfortunate, because I do enjoy it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm a huge fan of Banished and Cities Skylines, but after playing the demo for Star Trek Outposts Unknown, i realized i've never seen a sci-fi colony builder at this scale, so i did some hunting, and came across Aven Colony. I was like 'perfect, and cheap too!' i bought it on sale for $3, and I can safely say i got more than that out of it, so i do not at all regret my purchase. Well if that's the case, why don't i recomend it? Oh boy, if you're still reading, lets get into it. First…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I loved playing the game on my laptop, in spite of my hardware limitations. Now, that' I've got a proper gaming PC... I keep getting an error when I try launching the game. I am so disappointed, and I don't know how to fix it. I love the game, but I can't recommend it if I can't play it anymore.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The most polished alpha abandonware you'll ever play. Beautiful models and textures set on an intriguing environment but seem limited, there's a few buildings and a hint at a military aspect with plasma turrets and a gunship but they do little more than handle environmental effects that are already handled by specific buildings. Maps are also riddled with blockers and there was no system implemented to handle them. Well thought out systems with lots of promise but a lot of them seem…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’m genuinely surprised I hadn’t heard of Aven Colony sooner — it’s a beautifully crafted sci-fi city builder that deserves more attention than it seems to have received. The graphics are gorgeous, with vibrant alien environments and excellent design work on buildings and UI elements. The interface took a little time to fully grasp, but once it clicks, it’s smooth and satisfying to use. What really impressed me is how fast the game loads — I can go from the main menu to playing my colony in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It looks like a great game, but it continues to crash. :(
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A pretty simple and basic colony sim but overall quite enjoyable and chill time. Just don't expect anything innovative. It could however do with some more building variety and a campaign that is less repetitive. Works without any issues on Linux with Proton (9.0-4). Seems like some people have issues running it on Windows and have crashes but I encountered exactly 0 problems.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I found the game to be very enjoyable. There are a great many reviews stating that the game crashes all the time - which it does on newer chips. This can easily be overcome by adding the following variable to the game properties in Steam Right click on Aven Colony in Steam and paste the following into launch options. cmd /c "set OPENSSL_ia32cap=:~0x20000000 && %command%"
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game will crash if the system is connected to the internet. Very poor.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game itself is cool, the buildings and the quests are nice. I do not recommend the game because it feels stupid in certain aspects: -> People complain when buildings are full when they live in a skyscraper as they would not each have their own appartment. They are happy when half of building is empty which for me makes no sens -> People complain when workplaces are unused. I have 100 people out of 100 working. But I make 2 new working places. People complain that no one works there...why…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After trying insane mode, going through some levels, it's a very basic city builder that really just introduces catastrophe to attempt to make the game harder. There isn't really any strategy; it's forced play. Imagine playing chess where every move is, "do this or you get checkmated". That's this game. It feels like you have decisions, but you don't.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The concept is good. The execution is not bad. But what makes this game terrible is the static maps. All veteran developers know that the key success of a great sandbox game is random generated maps. Unfortunately this game does not have that and the developers are already gone.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →game just crashes as soon as it starts
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bug prevented gameplay. Appears to be a known problem since at least 2021 and has not been fixed. Do not recommend.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I kind of like the game but i cant recommend it since it has so many game breaking bugs that have been brought to the attention of the team almost a decade ago but 0 ♥♥♥♥♥ given by the devs. If u want a potentially completely broken game that has 0 chance of having fixes then sure waste ur money, otherwise i would recommend a different game. The bugs are not just affecting individual missions but are permanent for the entire game. My biggest prob is that things didnt unlock when i unlocked…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bought this game and it does nothing but crash. Unplayable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel like the game devs have abandoned this game entirely. I have played the entire game through til the end and although it is a weird cross that cannot decide if it is a city building sim or a management sim (and fails at both) but since the last update a long while ago it has a nasty habit of crashing within 2 minutes of opening the game. And the ONLY fix is to disable it through Windows firewall or play offline. There are threads upon threads on this topic specifically.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Constantly crashes. Completely unplayable
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Remember when Caesar 3 appeared, and all building had their own animation, and most of the ground would be animated in one way or another? Move that to a "SciFi on another planet" setting, add some un-Earthy-yet-somehow-familliar landscape and the posibility to "get to the ground level" and you have Aven Colony, a "cute" colony builder with a somehow "young but smart adult" orientation (adult level voice acting, some young adult jokes from the characters). It's a "feel good" game (compared to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do not buy this game if you have the 13th or 14th gen intel with "the issue" It will cause the game to crash consistently within the first 2 mins. It crashes on my 14900k, but runs finne on my AMD laptop.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Suddenly stopped working, and there's no response from the developer.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Continuously crashing?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I enjoy playing this game, honestly, I do. But would I recommend this game to my friends? Definitely not. It has interesting ideas, but they feel not fully implemented. This game is mostly superficial, it does not really engage me into world story telling, nor to process itself. I enjoy game for theme and genre, but this game does not hit you. And it hits my pc. Aven Colony could be better, that's for sure.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do not buy this game "Aven Colony". It constantly crashes withing the first 2 to 3 minutes. No support from game support team! Had to search and find my own solution to be-able to play it. Support team will not refund me because I play it with my own solution. Steam needs to fire the team thats pushing this product without fixing the problem and issues it had.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In short, the game is decent and fun, but horribly unstable. I give it a positive review because when I managed to make it work, I actually enjoyed playing it quite much despite its flaws. Pros: + the game is a decent city-builder with some original ideas + the resource system is simple but sufficient + the campaign maps are quite good + the customization is good - advisors are a nice addition, difficulty can be fine-tuned to form a challenge as desired Neutrals: * the plot is simple and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just purchased the game and it's completely broken, it crashes within a minute of playing. I'm not a happy bunny. 1/10 fix it or give me a refund
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game. Wish devs still supported it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I had to refund this game, the game would not play for more than 2 mintues without crashing. I tried serveral times. The forums said a fix is to turn off the internet, tried blocking the game from accessing the internet but it still crashed. It is unrealistic to expect someone to disconnect their internet to play a game so I refunded it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Crashes - the crash is well known and devs didn't fix it - crashes to desktop in 2 minutes.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have heard many people directly compare this game to Surviving Mars, Frostpunk, or Planetbase - I haven't played any of those so I can't state one way or another. What I can say however is that this is a "space sim" city building game, filled with all sorts of random events, and can be quite difficult at times. It's a deceptive city builder insofar as the hubris it allows you to garner will be stripped away completely once the finite resources run dry. Obviously it allows you to make due…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Needs more development and more building options/strategy paths. I think it could benefit from more early game resource gathering methods. Trade could also use work, but a really cool mechanic over all. It has okay graphics and fun game play. It is a "Frost Punk" like survival strategy style city builder game, but it is simpler than some of the other examples of the genre, and therefore less exasperating; less rug-pulls, dead end strategy paths, and death spirals. Liked it and think it has…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a fun enough game, but even after finishing the campaign it felt too easy, underwhelming and bland. It is not a colony simulator nor a city builder, it acts more like a statistics game that doesn't know what it wants to be or focus on. I would not recommend this game on full price. solid 5/10 game. fun for a few hours perhaps.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →keeps crashing to desktop smh
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Aven Colony review Sadly this game always crashes for me when entering game. I haven't been able to properly play it. Maybe this is an issue that's been corrected by a fan patch or something but for now... I'd steer away from this. On the plus side the graphics are good and the soundtrack is by GOAT Alexander Brandon. Could have been great fun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Reading other Steam reviews, I don't know what's going on in Windows land but over here in Linux the game is crash-free, solid as a rock! Maybe you should join us? WINK. Unlike other city-builders that got bitten by the punish-the-player bug, Aven Colony is light-hearted, relaxing and fun. The simple, attractive graphics and easy build systems combine to weave a hypnotic little spell as you lovingly craft your little sci-fi colony from tender lander-acorn all the way to mighty,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tried it several times. It just crashes within a minute or to. Needs fixing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Loved playing this game before it was available on steam, spent over 100 hours playing. Game crashes after start up and after looking at other reviews it seems other people are having the same issue. Devs need to update so the game can run on Windows 11 but I am just going to assume they don't care.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I read Hubbard's review, who described Aven Colony as “the most polished alpha abandonware you’ll ever play,” and honestly, I agree. At first, the game is very promising. The setting is interesting, the maps look great, and the early progression feels satisfying. Unfortunately, that feeling does not last. This is disappointing, as the game has a lot of potential to be great. As you reach the mid to late game, it becomes clear just how shallow the mechanics really are. City layouts remain bland…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I kinda really enjoy this? im not well versed in the genre but this game surprised me. overall it feels less crunchy than id expect a colony sim to be, which struck a better balance for me idk. (just finished vanaar) pros: --- - the system is weirdly easy to pick up. things only require up to two resources usually, so it isnt hard to figure out how different sub-systems fit together. - extremely performant, even on higher graphics. - great sound direction. voice acting (and art ngl) are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Your Colonists Can't Breathe: The Game! It turns out they can breathe. They're just really picky. I don't have a lot of bad things to say about Aven Colony, aside from the bugs, the design oversights, the videos not playing correctly, the cumbersome interface, the distinct lack of polish and QoL improvements, and the pointless story that I never paid attention to and I still beat the game just fine so obviously it was never important but the devs felt I should still be forced to endure it,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do not buy this game. There was a bug reported a few months after release that kept you from ulocking all the content, Not one response was from the developers, all were through Team13 support. They asked the reporter for many logs and to try potential fixes and none worked. After that, they just stopped replying. Not one patch released, although they did release a DLC less than a month after release (bugged as well). My FAVORITE bit was asking people not to review the game unless they…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Does not work on modern pcs Aven Colony does not seem to work on modern pcs. I tried coming back today after a few years on my windows 11 pc. The game crashes within minutes of starting. The furthest I got was one minute into a new game before a crash. Unless you have an older pc, do not get this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've enjoyed this colony sim quite a bit. I wouldn't say it's a particularly innovative one – I've seen everything it does before in other games – but it's polished and looks great, and I think it's a competent entry worth some play time if you enjoy the genre. One thing I will compliment especially is the campaign. While the story and writing is pretty mid, the gameplay is very well done. You have basically the same things you can build in every mission, but they keep it fresh by creating…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fairly interesting city/colony builder
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Update: It still crashes for a lot of users. I would really like to get my money back. I will by ignoring future products of that developer and publisher. For some reason it crashes starting the campaign. Nobody wants to fix this? In addition: It's annoying that you cannot max the FPS to 60 in the menu. 2900 fps is too difficult for me to follow ;)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Listen to the other reviews, it crashes shortly after it launches.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I absolutely love this game, it's super fun and I think it's well executed. It reminds me vaguely of GoodGame Galaxy and Galaxy Life from my childhood. 10/10, would 100% recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was somewhat hesitant to buy this, given the mixed, and occasionally very negative, reviews. I've actually been quite pleasantly surprised by it and feel the game is underrated. I've not encountered any performance issues at all, and it's turning out to be a perfectly competent and relaxing colony management sim. It's nothing mind-blowing, but is reasonably polished, immersive and, in my opinion, fun! The music and voice acting in particular is great, and it's a fun way to pass the time…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played and won the entire campaign, and got about 90% of the achievements. It gets repetitive and worse, mindless. Especially re-researching the exact same tech in each new colony.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →3/10 Everyone wants to build a city builder but this is not good. Skip
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Currently this game is pretty well unplayable. It crashes about 2 minutes after start up every single time. It can be fixed with system edits but its a pain, and there are more issues besides. Another example is the sound- there is none, unless the game is paused. It makes little sense and there seems to be no fixs for it, so you would be playing the entire game in silence unless you press the pause button. Honestly its a shame becasue the game looks awesome and previous reviews sound like it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DO NOT GET! Sadly, not playable. Wasteful. Got it in a bundle. Happy I didn't pay full $30. I feel like a lot of comments are saying it doesn't work at this point, which is sad.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Was fun. Kinda Anno-esque. Doesnt have much content but it also doesnt break the bank to buy.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun little space city builder. Easy enough achievements. A solid 4/5
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a decent city builder. I didn't have any of the crashes or issues mentioned in other reviews personally. The only issue I had is that when the city gets big with hundreds of buildings the performances suffer a lot. Every time I play a game like this I wonder if the people in charge have ever played one. The lessons from this game even if set in the future on an alien colony are universal. Don't ramp up immigration unless you have surplus of food, energy and housing and have enough…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an OK game. I tried it long ago and I tried it again now. But its as basic as it gets. I like it just fine enough. Environments and background foliage are really pretty, but the buildings don't look varied or unique enough from each other. Its also all thrown at you in a veeery basic set of tutorial levels. The menu and UI elements are somehow just outdated for even a 2017 release. The game also has this really weird "blurry" filter. If you have a colony building itch, there are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun casual game. Missing some visual QOL stuff almost all city builders have which ramps up the difficulty a little as you search for buildings and decide on placement. Prone to the "death spiral of unhappiness". People mad - no food Build farms - more than enough People so mad they are protesting and won't go to work Crops stop growing because no one is tending them More people protest because there is no food People spend all their time protesting the absence of food while refusing to work…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →'Build a new home for humanity in Aven Colony.' They said. 'Discover Aven Prime - an alien planet of deserts, tundras, and wetlands light years from earth.' They said. But every single f@cking time I launch the game, crashes are all I can f@cking find. I said what I said.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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