Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2023
Farlanders
Developer Andrii Bychkovskyi
Farlanders is a turn-based space colony city-building game set on Mars. It is of the strategy genre, having puzzle elements, the perspective is 2D and gridded, and the maps are procedurally generated. Terraforming is an integral part of the strategy for colonization. It has seven missions in total. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
185 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Mastodon, Bluesky) · newest Oct 4, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
85
LovedLoved
154 positive · 27 negative
95% range 79–90%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 154 | 27 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
4 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
539 of 599 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 185 · most liked firstSo, even after beating the main campaign, I just cannot recommend this game. The first 5 missions seem to indicate that the game is more puzzle-like, where the map is solvable. It's not. It's 100% random. I restarted mission 6 upwards of 100 times to get a starting map layout that would even let me feed 60 colonists. The bulk of my 20+ hours of this game has been spent restarting missions 6 and 7 to get a decent starting map. Don't bother with this game. Buy "Against the Storm" instead,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →More of a puzzle, not a builder.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Deleted this review on the grounds that in retrospect, it was too mean-spirited. I like this game, I don't like the story, 'nuff said.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Why didn't I write a review for this amazing game yet? :D It's amazing! Go try the Prologue and / or the demo and if you like it, buy it. :D Happy Constitution Day everyone! 💛💙 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟨🟦🟦🟦🟦🟨🟦🟦🟦🟦🟨🟦 🟦🟨🟨🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦🟦🟨🟨🟦 🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦 🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦 🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦🟦🟨🟦🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦 🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦🟦🟨🟦🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦 🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦🟦🟨🟦🟦🟨🟦🟨🟦 🟦🟨🟨🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦🟦🟨🟨🟦 🟦🟨🟦🟨🟨🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨🟦🟨🟦 🟦🟨🟦🟦🟨🟨🟦🟨🟨🟦🟦🟨🟦…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game has a built in failure. You can go slow and build your colony, then all of a sudden every thing goes to heck. You can't trade, your colony moral goes to the negitive, you can't build enough water facilities. All the time an effort has gone to waste. I would not recommend this game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Super fun but dev abandoned it with two broken challenges.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →PROS - Terraforming the planet is challenging and fun - Good campaign progression to learn the game and have fun - Although some moves are forced initially, there is still room to change the construction order and the strategy from game to game. Also regarding what tech to take CONS - The story is boring. I know it's not important in this type of game but I felt like skipping most of the dialogue - Victory on the last campaign scenario and last free-to-play scenario are RNG dependent.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thoughtfully made and balanced. Difficulty is well calibrated. The demo sold me. I love the terraforming mechanic. A lot of pattern matching, which appeals to me. You can't afford to overhaul everything, so you need to identify *workable* terrain,
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Farlanders is the best solitaire colony-builder strategy game I have played since [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against_the_Storm/]Against The Storm & [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1264280/Slipways/]Slipways. It took me around 26 hours to complete the Farlanders campaign. The campaign acts as an extended tutorial, with each new mission gradually introducing a few new layers of the game. There's also three stand-alone scenarios with different target objectives, a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got this game on sale and am very pleased with my purchase. Farlanders is a turn-based game, which is my favorite genre. Each turn, your accumulations or losses are calculated. The basic idea is to build enough housing for the residents of Mars, who consume food and water. The industries to produce food and water require electricity and workers. Then, to make life better than just basic, upgrades require some diversity in industries and structures. Along with all of that, there is a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sad to see such good game be abandoned by dev, it has a lot of potential.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Probably the best sim/puzzle game hybrid I've ever played. It manages to scratch both itches by making the colony-wide management and map planning more simmy and the localized details (such as how to get the most out of your scarce terraforming resources) more puzzly. Naturally, as your colony grows and your resource income flows more freely, the scale of your thinking will broaden. That's a cool progression--you're rewarded for understanding what is becoming more or less valuable as time goes…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Solid little game. Really hits the "1... more... turn!" vibe. The difficulty felt just right, being a little forgiving, but still forcing you to think, without making you sweat bullets over every tiny mistake. My only complaint is the chronically blushing character portraits, like gd, calm tf down xD
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A nice game and fun for a bit, but falls short in several areas, including its math/balance, interface, editing and story that's not skippable enough.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent mechanics that are tight like a boardgame. RNG can be a little rough: I'd recommend some way to see where the red crystals are below ground before launching, as it is totally random and can make a huge difference in late game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decently enjoyable puzzle-y terraformer... not really a colony builder per se, more of an optimization puzzle with constrained placement and some adjacency bonuses. Doesn't do anything spectacular, but if you like the genre, it's a good one to pick up. The story/characters are very cringey but those are pretty easily ignored. Campaign is a fairly short 7 missions which largely involve slightly bigger and bigger colonies. There's a freeplay mode as well once you finish the campaign if you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoyed this game. It scratches the city builder itch, along with some exploration, puzzle solving in the sense of how to manage the rising upkeep of your citizens. The campaign was well written, it had a fun outtake with mission info coming in the form of phone messages or vlogs. Calming music, almost no bugs (had a small bug with the pop-ups for everything giving the display for a silicon factory, but a reload fixed it - minor bug), you can undo your whole turn if you mess something…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yes, but. It's a fun tile game sort of like Terra Nil but with a campaign and a lot more play time. If you like colony management you'll like this. The but comes from the random map generation. At the start it is almost impossible to lose no matter what the map throws at you. By the time you reach the end this flips around and you can get several map generations in a row that aren't possible to make it past ten or fifteen turns in.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun little game, but the lack of keyboard shortcuts makes it not worth replaying for me. I don't like having to use the mouse for literally everything.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I had already played the prologue, so I knew what I was in for. That being said, there has been a significant amount of work done since. The prologue was mainly a proof of concept, not an almost finished game they polished for launch. On the gameplay side everything is great. I really enjoyed the prologue and the full game expands on those ideas. It's a puzzle-ish citybuilder, a subgenre I'm a big fan of. The art is clear and legible and all the information is presented conveniently. If…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an excellent city builder, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a city builder with some challenge. I've only played through the campaign (which took me about 22 hours), but it does an excellent job of introducing mechanics and building up the complexity without excessive hand-holding. The difficulty is reasonable and I lost a few colonies early on due to poor planning, but each time felt fair and I was able to understand what I did wrong and succeed the next time. Resources can be…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Removed russian language
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a very fun game! It has a campaign that is pretty challenging and a freeplay/sandbox mode. It also has daily challenges if you want even more. It's a unique twist on the city builder and I've thoroughly enjoyed playing it. My only gripe is that I wish there was a "Restart Same Map" button. There is a "Restart" button, but it gives you another random seed map. The last campaign map was very hard and I restarted a few times, but the challenge was fun!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is like something you'd find in a rare mineral deposit- an absolute gem.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Farlanders, developed by Andriy Bychkovskyi and published by Crytivo, is a turn-based colony-building strategy game that offers a compelling, methodical take on Martian colonization. Set in a future where humanity is looking to settle on the red planet, the game puts players in the shoes of Marco, an enthusiastic but increasingly disillusioned colony architect. While the narrative is subtle, it adds a layer of context to the gameplay, touching on themes like corporate control, environmental…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very nice turn-based strategy game with a decent story. I have only completed the campaign, and there are yet sandbox, free play missions and daily challenges to have a go at. I might be back for more!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Turn-based martian colony builder. Balanced, but very stressful because resources and time are tight. Significant randomness, and it takes a while to learn to work around it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The concept is great and I had fun in the beginning, but that changed when the game progresses. WAY TOO MUCH randomness to the game and terraforming. I just feel I can never get a favorable condition to progress. I find my self restarting at the start because it's too difficult to get the right conditions to expand the settlement. In the Campaign, it seemed it was doable, but on free play it's too hard. I have a feeling some of the players rated this game before progressing. You will get…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very nifty little game. Combining a sort of puzzle element with some long term strategy. There is a certain balance of adapting to the landscape and terraforming the landscape to suit your needs which is interesting. I think there are some solid pieces i. This game but I'd wish to see a bit more variety in the gameplay, there are a number of random elements that a bit of variety however they're a bit shallow, the gameplay loop is pretty much the same every run. Adding some "factions" with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I delayed getting this game for a long time, mostly because of the aesthetic choices. It is, in the end, just so orange. It is one of the best city builders I've played in a while, and I play all kinds of them! It also boasts a very cute campaign, which delighted me because I thought we left all those in the 2010's!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game, but developer communication leaves a ton to desire. The game still includes messages of "soon to be released," while the last update was in March saying they were working on the next update. Only to then find out in August through a comment on another review that the dev decided to take a break. Still no sandbox mode, and a weird pointless leveling system that does absolutely nothing and feels like an undeveloped feature Been waiting on sandbox mode to really dive in, not sure it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A rather captivating city-builder. I would split its appeal into three parts: There's city-building (surely enough) - you build habitats, gather resources, and tend to needs of your population. Buildings have adjacency bonuses (most buildings benefit from being next to specific other buildings), which adds a layer of planning to city building. I wrote [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967445845]a little guide about this. There are variously shaped "terraforms" to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoyed this game - the combination of turn-based expansion and development, with economic balancing of purchasing terraform patterns vs. other resources; it's a sweet spot of absorbing but not stressful. I enjoyed the story. No bugs, smooth play, and the campaign does a good job of introducing concepts as you go.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If this game is going to let you know how difficult to develop Mars, it did. It shows that it is very difficult to transform the Mars to suitable environment for human. For me, it is not enjoy to play this game. The good idea is the turn base with puzzle. However, it is very horror to convert a land to a farmable land. For example, you need to find water/ice in the 1st turn. If it is ice, you may need to wait for 2/3 turns to wait for the fire puzzle to come so that you can melt the ice.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the tutorial is absolutely terrible!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got it for 3 -4$ . It does not worth the time to play it. No clear UI on what each terraform does and no clear explanations of why some things do not work. ( e.g. could not complete a buy transaction for no good reason) Based on that and the limited time I have I am not recommending this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →really cool game, unfortunately it feels unpolished and full of bugs. My biggest frustrations were parts of the game straight up not working the way they were intended (buttons missing)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Any game that costs the price of a latté (on sale) and that I can get more than ten hours out of gets a thumbs up from me. A retro mars colony builder with puzzle elements. Makes me feel like I'm back in the good old 90's.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Far too many bugs just doing the tutorial missions. Giving you an objective that is impossible to achieve in the first mission – and if you use to in-game options to try and redo results in having to do the whole thing again? no thanks.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shame this isn't that popular as it's a great game. Nice city builder with an element of puzzling to it thanks to it being a turn based game. What's better is that it actually has a campaign which most don't bother with these days. Worth buying at £19.99 so definitely at the discounted prices.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Loved it. Would love to play more missions but daily challenge is not available yet for osx.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game combines turn-based strategy with puzzle elements and resource management. Enjoyable campaign with additional 3 scenarios and open play to keep you entertained for 30 to 40 hours.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I vividly remember that I had a lot of fun with the prologue back when it released, so getting this game eventually was a given. Other reviewers are right though: this is less of a sim and more of a puzzle game. But it's an excellent puzzle.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →point One- support Ukraine by buying this fun base building game. point Two- I love this game... I have been a player of S M ´s Civilization since its invention. This feels like "the good times are coming back" for me.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Like it! Turn based building. Scarce resources, good for hard decisions. Build your colony and survive. And yes, you should lose colonies. That's absurd that you know all without learning. Go play something else if you dont want to think and "you cant fail"... not that this is complicated :D learn by mistakes and continue.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →5/10 Simple but decent enough hybrid city builder/puzzle game. So why the negative? The campaign is both short and to be blunt, some of the most cringe BS I have ever read!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great mix of colony sim with puzzle elements. You're constantly terraforming the surface of Mars to better suit your colony, for example removing mountains and filling canyons with fresh water. Also features underground floors - at most you can have a map with 20 floors below. Includes a campaign mode with 7 levels, 3 scenarios and a sandbox mode where you can set the map the way you want and play to your heart's content. I don't have much experience with colony sims but had a great time…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A charming little indie title - sorta turn-based colony sim meets puzzle game. Addictive gameplay, nice art, and a soundtrack that'll live rent-free in your head.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a hidden gem, it's amazing how well balanced this game is. Every decision feels meaningful.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I found the story in the campaign very tedious the actual gameplay was quite fun. The storyless freeplay mode also offers a lot of replayability. If you like management games with a bit of mechanical problem solving you'll likely enjoy this as well.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's an interesting hybrid between puzzle game and city builder. It's definitely possible to get yourself stuck in a bad spiral, but that's the game: you're supposed to avoid that. Restart the level and try again!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →https://youtu.be/93RpwPnhJho Terraforming other planets, especially Mars, is a popular genre and this puzzle adaptation of that theme if mechanically sound but balanced a bit too tightly to be aspirational over frustrating.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice colony sim with RNG terraforming mechanics. Difficulty wise the game is more on the casual side and the greatest challenge comes from timed objectives (which can be turned off for the campaign). Timed objectives for free-play cannot be disabled though and with the RNG terraforming and sandstorms + winter it is a bit too much of a headache to go for 100%. Still it is a good game that keeps you engaged from start to finish even with timed objectives off.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first I would hesitate to call this so much a terraforming game or a city builder, but more a turn based puzzle game. But either way I would consider it a good, if difficult game. Oddly enough, the game I'm most reminded of here is Aven Colony, another grid based city builder type. To start with, the pixelated graphics look decent, but some buildings can confuse which are which out of the gate. Audio does the job and the music is pleasant, and it really doesn't need to be any better. One of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Satisfyingly fair to be relaxing, while still providing enough challenge to breed creativity.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm sorry but this game is hella tedious.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The tutorial and QoL are a complete joke, making the so-called "campaign" barely playable. You'll be better off learning this game blindly than following those idiotic instructions/completing tasks. Normal tutorial: you follow instructions, you finish it. Farlanders' tutorial: you follow instructions, the game soft-locks you — all while FORCING you to do exactly what it says. So even if you know the game will screw you over, there's no easy way to try and avoid that since your hands are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even on discount, this is difficult to recommend. Its got the worst tutorialization Ive seen in a game and the writing is just so very awful. After struggling for a while to figure it all out, I did start enjoying the gameplay. There's some nice terraforming mechanics and building synergies. I wish resource generation was more complex or varied, like other city management games; There is only one way to build up your critical resources which feels boring. But random map generation, nice pixely…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Muy chulo! El inicio es aspero y el tutorial poco intuitivo y dificil de seguir/entender, pero una vez lo superas y hace click, es muy entretenido y adictivo! Porfavor haced que la camara no se resetée al cambiar de planta!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a good game. As vibey as you can get for a turn-based city/colony builder. The gameplay loops and systems are challenging and rewarding. The gameplay seems to get muddled the deeper into the game you get. What starts as an interesting puzzle ends as an uninteresting math project. I still recommend playing it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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