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Game
Game2023Published by indie.io
Mercury Fallen
Developer Nitrous Butterfly
A sci-fi colony management sim with a focus on exploration, expansion, and survival. Rebuild your underground facility, manage colonists and robots, and uncover the mysteries of an alien world light-years from Earth. Dig deep, expand across the surface, and shape your new home. From the Steam store page
188 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 19, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
73
Fresh
135 positive · 49 negative
95% range 67–79%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 135 | 49 | 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
Mostly Positive
248 of 321 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Mostly positive colony sim with bugs and slow pacing.
Many players praise Mercury Fallen as a fun, unique colony management game with a relaxed pace and rewarding progression. [1][4][7][17]
However, critics point to bugs, a lack of updates since June 2024, and a tedious late-game grind. Some find the game boring or too basic, with limited content and a high price point for what is offered. [19][27][29][31][34]
Praised relaxed colony sim · developer dedication · polished systems
Criticised bugs · lack of updates · tedious late game · limited content
Summary drafted by an AI model from the 36 reactions it cites ([n] links open each post), then checked by code: every paragraph cites real posts and every quote is verbatim. Written Oct 7, 2026. Method
Reactions
60 of 188 · most liked firstTo my knowledge, Nitrous Butterfly (the indie developer of the game) has been working on this game for over 5 years. (In Steam the game came out of Early Access on August 22nd 2023.) And, as I understand it, the developer has received very limited financial support through his Patreon account. With that in mind… Wow… what a great game! What an achievement! After purchase, I’ve been playing Mercury Fallen almost every available hour since. At the time of writing that is more than 42 hours.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great Game, hard working dev......One I have followed and played and never disappoints (:
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't get fooled by the positive reviews on this one. The game lacks late game balancing. If you don't manage to do some steps early on you will get stuck in the end game and there's almost no way around it. The last proper update was June 2024 and then the developer moved to another game. I enjoy the theme, but I wish I've seen the negative reviews and it would have saved me several hours. At least I managed to watch some movies while trying to lvl up some of my characters.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have played this game till I could not go any further. Even contacted the creator, who gave me a very useful hint. This is a very well put together game, you an create your base your way. All the research is there. I really like the replay ability. I strongly recommend this game. I don't do reviews, so this is a rare thing for me. It does start out slow going, but, it's worth it to see the rocket blast off.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought the game a couple of years ago, thinking, 'this game looks different, it has potential'. After several hours of trial and error, I started to get a feel for it, and it wasn't bad. I don't really remember any bugs or glitches, at least nothing that a quick-load couldn't fix. But it just got boring. Oh it was okay enough, researching, gathering materials, building walls, rooms, and machines. Then, the much anticipated, 'explore the surface' was finally available. Collected…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No updates since June 2024. Super basic and needed a lot of attention. I only played it for 13 minutes before I decided to set it down and wait for more updates. It's May 2025 now, and the developer is working on a different game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is bloody fun and unique. It's another Town Survival game that is not beating you down every second like many of them. Your colony does not die out because the AI is broken. It actually works really well and quite polished for a Early Access game done by 1 Developer. This game honestly is one the better bug free games I have played in a very long time. The Surface twist sure adds a whole new element and level to the game in a really unique feeling and way. I can't see what else is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's really fun for the first portion underground, but around the time you reach the surface each new item is more and more expensive until everything slows to a crawl until you just don't care anymore. Also, 17 hours into my playthrough I managed to somehow mine out all my azurite, so even if wanted to grit my teeth and chisel out 65(!) more microchips (either for a deep mining bot or a surface mine), I can't - all my copper is gone and I'm just screwed. It's really a shame, it was very fun…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worth it on a $5 sale, otherwise no. Boring and really basic. Little strategy, just resource attrition and tedium
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a game very much like Oxygen Not Included. If you played that you'll find it very similar in overall strategy. It is a thinking game. If you want to run around with a gun in your hand shooting at everything, this game is not for you. There is a little instructions and help but it is very minimal. If you are clever enough to do this then this is an excellent game. I am eighty-seven and not quite so bright as I used to be. Therefore, for me it was a little difficult to get going. But in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Similar style play to Rimworld and Stranded Alien Dawn but down scaled. Mercury Fallen has some bugs and I found that loading my most recent save would resolve the issue. The game also lacks the Rimworld drama and it would've appealed more to me if they had some enemies to attack or defend the base. Buy the game on sale, wouldn't recommend otherwise at full price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Was waiting to try this when it released out of EA and I just strongly dislike it - and I want to like it. Biggest gripes are... 1. You have to change out colonists jobs a lot of the time to be efficient and it's just tedious. 2. Prioritizing construction doesn't work all the time and your guys will just ignore important construction orders. 3. By looking at the tech tree there just isn't much content. Want to like it but with the gaming market being over saturated, there's just so many more…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At one point I was gearing towards 100%ing this game, at one point I was going to give it a thumbs up. But I honestly can't do any of that. Right off the bat this game has a huge issue with communication. I don't care how smart you are, There will be MULTIPLE times where you have absolutely no idea what you're supposed to do. This will happen multiple times. You will scour the discussions finding countless posts where the dev had to chime in to explain how something works or where something…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like the core concept of the game is is fun with satisfying progression, but only when you actually progress, it feels very slow even when playing the game at max speed constantly, with near constant bottlenecks on progression. I would like to recommend this game but it hasn't been updated in a year and is just lacking that final balance and polish.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best "ant-farm" style simulation games out there. An elegant and rewarding science-fiction entertainment. Absolutely recommended if these things appeal to you. Restore your colony and help it thrive!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Updated and edited review: I came back and played the game some years later. It isn't any better, in fact, it's somehow worse. Avoid this absolutely boring dumpster fire of a game. Graphically, it's reminiscent of something from 15-20 years ago. And yet, it still somehow manages to slow down or crash. Gameplay is nothing new. The GRIND though, that's bloody new. I've never played a game where I could literally walk away, go take a shower, come back and NOTHING HAS REALLY PROGRESSED. I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Awful graphics. Clunky interface. Ugly UI. Got this from a cheap Fanatical bundle and I still feel ripped off.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game lacks a cohesive experience, and my expectations were higher. The developer has since shifted their focus to a vacuum cleaner-themed game, diminishing my prospects for future releases.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Seems like it has potential, but it's utterly broken. There are frequent freezes that last a minute or more where the entire program doesn't respond. It's too frequent for saving, so maybe pathfinding? Either way, not enjoyable. When I actually got to play the game, it seemed promising, but very unpolished.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game froze on me regularly, units in the game would often just decide to just wander aimlessly rather than do assigned tasks even when resources were available, one time all of my units just stood in the same spot staring at food until they all starved to death. There were also significant pacing issues where you could only wait for thirty minutes to an hour for resources to be stockpiled or a skill was trained before you could advance, despite being on the highest time acceleration. This…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mercury Fallen is a sci-fi colony management simulator with addictive gameplay that encourages exploration. It's a must-play for city-building lovers. Gameplay: https://youtu.be/WOvHEqTKOWo Control colonists and robots, build buildings and collect resources, mine minerals and grow plants. Play the game at your own pace as you deconstruct the old facility, construct new rooms, make discoveries, conduct research and expand both the underground and surface of alien planet. Every map is randomly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Buggy. Right now I can't recommend it for someone. onetime people wasn't do his job, even when he was assigned for it, in schedule was work time, his mood was normal and wasn't ANY of things, preventing him to work. But he was still wandering around without doing anything... Another time, bio refactory wasn't work, because of lack of electricity. I build electricity cables at all four squares under it, check, that there still remains 100 of 300 available electricity, check EVERYTHING, but it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Using Hammer and Sickle as an icon for gathering. "hehehe ideology that killed 100 mio people le edgy hahah subversive clever" If you had used a swastika you would've at least shown balls, but I'm afraid you cut those off a long time ago.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game! Not unlike Rimworld but not a total ripoff either. I like the whole "digging for your expansion" vibe. I dunno...just...felt kinda neat lol. It has some problems. I think some of the negative reviews on steam do highlight them. Mainly it comes down to limited content, not-so-limited bugs, and a seemingly high price point. I will say that there definitely could be...more. I dont think the price is unfair because Rimworld and its babies tend to be in the $30 range and dont often…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a fun colony sim. It runs well and it's balanced. The progression is well done and the little tidbits of story and other discoveries while mining are a nice touch. As with every colony sim, people will compare it to Rimworld. First off, it's not the same price as Rimworld and there are no DLCs that make the full experience a whopping $100 USD. I love Rimworld and it's my favorite. I have just shy of 3K hours in the game. But if you compare every colony sim to Rimworld and expect a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love the mix of exploration, building and crew management. Great value and replayability. I've been with this title from it's early Early access days. The developer actually took the time via email to help me understand what I thought was a bug. It is definitely a labor of love and I hope it is also a commercial success.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can recommend this game for the asking price. What is here is enjoyable and close to bug free (nothing game breaking I could find). The story is not complete yet and the development pace is slow. (EA 5 years already), but the dev is keeping at it. The game can entertain for one or 2 playthroughs. There is not enough here for more. All the core systems are there and a little more effort could make this more replayable but right now the game is lacking randomisation (every playthrough is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mercury Fallen is the subject of @gbmento.bsky.social's latest "Indie Game of the Week" feature on Giant Bomb! Read why they initially enjoyed its straightforward tactics gameplay until a nasty glitch. Link: giantbomb.com/users/4945/a... #games #gaming #indiegame #mercuryfallen #giantbomb
unlabelledView post →Reasonably good game I would compare to simplified and more relaxing Dwarf fortress or Rimworld, with few interesting twists and ideas thrown in (especially getting to surface was quite a bit of pleasant suprprise). Pace of the game is very slow and there is no "enemy" in it. Ideal to chill out after work, There are quite a few bugs (nothing game breaking) and I do not see repleyability value in it, and content is somewhat limited - it is one person work - but in general I can recommend if…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're like me, you do your research. You've watched the videos, watched Youtube; you're not going to buy the game thinking it's Fallout 4 or Empyrion or anything else. You've got a good bead on what the game's about, so I'm not going to insult you by telling you what you've already researched on your own anyway. So, if you're like me, you want to know about what the videos don't show you ; the bugs. Will your vehicles randomly crash into a mountain, killing everyone on board and scattering…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Whats the point? This game has you mining for resources and going on expeditions, But whats the end goal? After less then 10 hours of playing i found myself board and confused, I mined out all the material around me then started with expeditions, My crew was under skilled so i failed every POI, Whether it be trying to get a bio sample or something that should be so ridiculously easy as breaking a lock i was unable to successfully preform what should be the simplest of actions. Understanding…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I liked how this game is at a medium level of difficulty. It's not too complicated and yet not too simple. The number of people you control, the types and amounts of things you build, the new types of technology you can research are not too small and not too large. The story is interesting and there are a few sci-fi Easter eggs in it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like the premise, the design and the need to puzzle out need vs resources... You know, balancing my game plans. Material needs - manufacturing (limited by low personnel), Discovery, Exploration and so on It scratches an itch - it must do- I've got 1200 hrs in game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fairly laid-back base-building and exploration game. Fun overall, with nice options for the underground base building and a story to follow in the surface exploration. Pros: + Clean and pleasing aesthetics + Reasonably developed base building system + Reasonably developed technology tree Cons: - The final exploration and exploitation phase to get to the end goal can be a bit tedious. The developer is very responsive, both in email and on discord, which is a definite bonus.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Currently very light on content with basic bugs(such as resolution settings resetting every time you open the config window or colonists getting stuck in open space and dying of starvation). Even with all the issues fixed, there isn't enough happening to keep the colony management entertaining.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been playing this off and on since 2017 and have over 114 hours in. I've loved watching it develop. It is fun to play as is and every month just seems to just get better. You can tell the single developer loves this project. He fixes bugs quickly and appreciates feedback. Can't wait to see what he adds next.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →no help as there is no tutorial, click to mark stuff to mine, gather, harvest and they did not do anything, however if you click to decommission the capsule they came out of they did decommission those BUT would not do walls. 20+ mins is all it took before i un-installed and threw it into my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ folder. Waste of space and time with this one, where the hell did the favorable reviews come from, bunch of fake positives there.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mercury Fallen, developed by solo developer Nitrous Butterfly and published by indie.io, is a thoughtful and engaging colony management simulation that trades frantic pacing and survival pressure for a more measured, methodical experience. Set in a sci-fi future where your colonists awaken from malfunctioning stasis pods deep beneath an alien planet’s surface, the game drops you into a derelict underground facility and tasks you with rebuilding it from the rubble. Over time, you’ll construct an…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My game Mercury Fallen is part of the @steam #citybuilderandcolonysimfest! Whole lot of great games I'm honored to be included with! #indiedev #indiegaming #gamedev #unity3d #mercuryfallen bit.ly/MercuryFallen
unlabelledView post →An excellent colony sim. Medium complexity, no combat. The world map is a nice layer that keeps things interesting in the mid + late game. Story is simple and minimal but it gives the player a reason to press forward and I personally enjoyed it. A great game if you're looking for a step up from introductory colony sims or you want/prefer a game that's not top tier complexity.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played for several hours offline so the hour total is less than actual playtime. A fairly enjoyable game, but it can wear on you a bit over time. It's got rough edges. There is a brightness setting, but even on the highest level everything is too dark. The UI is hard to read, even on the largest font size. It's inconsistent, for example, escape closes most windows but not the tech window. It also needs the ability to remap the keys of the building menus.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is very entertaining, but very bugged. Energy distribution system is very weird, you have sometimes almost no consumption, like 1/100 of real value, and then you build one machine and it shoots up to normal value. Another buggy feature is moving the machines - I moved the storage with food and all my colonists stopped in line before it, unable to get their food until I built another storage and emptied the old one.. I played the game until the end of story, and just after that, it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're a fan of colony building and exploration to find resources then this is a good title to pick up. I've owned the game for years and pleased with how it evolved with the addition of exploration and a story. A fantastic and receptive dev, as well.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game! Is is setup as more of a lower stress colony builder. So people looking for combat would do better to look elsewhere. EA has been great thus far (I have been in since before it was on Steam). The dev is very communicative both here and on the games official discord. I think the normal EA disclaimer applies. This game is NOT ready to launch, so you aren't just coming in at the end for beta testing. The dev is still adding major systems and changing things drastically. If that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Best game I played on Steam so far. I got 50 games in my library.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☑ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great chill but slow paced indie base builder game that will require some patience. Was looking for this type of game where you start over after a 'catastrophe' and build back your way to greatness. Pros: - Nice chill base building game with a good complexity balance imo - Big maps - Well made and no breaking bugs for an indie game (there are some minor bugs tho that is cleared by a save/reload) - Many layers to the game that is interesting to discover - Interesting stories that keeps some…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm offering a fairly early review of my game experience for the sake of the developer. First, the game is well worth the asking price, especially if you pick it up on a sale like I did. I have had zero crashes or technical issues so far. Graphically, it's an attractive, if unremarkable game. I do enjoy the depth and wit of the writing so far, and I'm intrigued to keep playing. It's definitely a thumbs up for me. That said, I'll offer my criticisms. The control scheme for most actions is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great no pressure, relaxing game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →for sure this game has a lot of potential. it just needs a continued story line and further exploration to new planets and more underground maps. It also wouldn't hurt to have some actual threats.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One more underestimated game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →UPDATE : 6th May Literally the next day I reported the launch site bug dev released a patch. BUY THIS GAME. Support more devs like this. And the game is actually pretty fun! --------------------------------- This game was made in 2017 btw. Way way ahead of its time reason why so little people play this city builder / civilization game. And it's made by one man . Only issue I have is with the Launch Platform not receiving mats for the rocket. Anything else is fair game with small bugs.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played finished games that had less content than this little gem. It's colony survival and resource management sim. Very enjoyable and immersive. If you like "Rimworld" and "Oxygen Not Included" I think you'll like this one too. Can't wait for more content from this talented developer. And if you want to start playing, here's some tip: research deep drilling robots and prioritetize going to surface, because underground resources aren't nearly enough.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decent game so far. A nice bit of content, although I have no idea how many people in the reviews have 100+ hours. A very casual stress free colony builder. If you like a builder where you're not going to fail this is the one. Kind of odd pacing. You can research a ton of stuff you can't do anything with til you start exploring the surface, so on a first playthrough it's not immediately clear which things you should be building. This is only a problem because it is possible to soft lock…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an awesome game! It does require patience in some areas, but its not a bug, its just it takes times. Highly recommend for strategy
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've done 153 hours of this, its an awesome fun little game, my replacement for Fallout Shelter I got finally bored with, its pretty much bug free too. It's got no enemies yet but they will come eventually but Starvation is the current way to die. It's progressing pretty good for a 1 person Development team and he is very active on the Discord channel and open to ideas. There is also XML file modding capability for this game allowing you to tweak it as you see fit :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Normally i would give a recommend because for a small games its well made. But there is one thing that is really frustrating: In game logic / missing explanations. Normally in such a game new machines, buildings, etc. are either explained how they supposed to work, or its made obvious / logical. Here, unfortunately, it's neither. You build certain things, but it's not explained how they actually work. Sometimes you have to look up the steam discussions to get ahead (as people have asked that…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →gave it just under 2hrs and so far progress seems very slow Awful graphics buggy interface and not much fun, got the game cheap from a Fanatical bundle no way would of paid full price for this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So im torn. Im recommending cause there is long term play value even though was released in 2023. SOme major needs are a start tutorial. The AI seems to work very well but some of the issues are the constant clicking just to mine one thing at a time and then it gets overhwhelimg to figure our whats needed for what because things happen totally out of order. But i still recommend. So some of the issues include running out of resources to make more items before you even get to the planet.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lags with more and more beachballing before eventually stops working on Mac. Totally unplayable. Update: Crashes regularly. No real ending.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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