Offworld Trading Company

By far the best economics game on steam. The prices are actually dynamic and responsive to what the players do, and for the most part the game mechanics are driven by real economic principles. The only downside is it can be hard to find games to play with real players because it isn't as popular as it should be. But, there are literally thousands of single-player matches to be played against many AI difficulty levels.

Also the game has never crashed for me.

game crashes at random.

underrated gem

I was really good at this game once. The best. I don't know that for sure because even online multiplayer fills me with a terror of socializing with other humans that paralyzes me until the morning sun breaks my frothing spell, but I was definitely destroying all those robot players on easy. But I forgot about this game or something and when I came back it was different. I was bad. My mom says it's brain damage

Not what I thought it would be. Not quite turn based, but still very limited in what you can do / build. The games are over in like 15 mins and you start over. Almost like a very fast paced board game. You get limited tiles to build on and the AI opponents move very fast. Before you really even know whats going on the game is over. Requested refund.

After 45 years of playing games I'm tired of reading. Hire voice actors or get some AI.

This game is more like a PVP or PVE tycoon RTS game condensed down to hour long or less matches. Definitely a very interesting game and executes the concept very well.

Dear Valued Shareholders,

It is with great difficulty that we address you today regarding the financial status of Red Horizon Mining Corp. Our latest operations in the Martian resource sector faced extreme market pressures, logistical challenges, and unforeseen disruptions that have severely impacted our bottom line.

Despite rigorous extraction efforts and strategic realignments, our equity has cratered, and our market position has eroded beyond sustainable levels. The cost of maintaining operations has exceeded projected returns, and liquidity reserves have been fully depleted. As a result, we have no viable path forward.

Effective immediately, Red Horizon Mining Corp. is ceasing operations and entering formal bankruptcy proceedings. We deeply appreciate the trust and support of our shareholders and stakeholders throughout this ambitious endeavor. While this chapter closes, the vision of Martian industry will endure, and we hope our efforts have paved the way for future ventures.

It's a great RTS with clever mechanics. The depth of strategy is there and I like learning more. Warning! This game can get addicting because it's so enjoyable! I like that it's different than all these combat based games that are out.

Great little economic RTS game. I wish there were more games like this. One qualm that I have is that the game is FAST. If you want leisurely decision making, you won't find it here.

The AI are very good at the game, and even in single player, figuring out how to best the AI provides a lot of value. The multiplayer is also very good, but you'll need friends, as the online community does not seem very active.

This is a great game. Fast paced, challenging, and complex. Great game design, appealing visuals, and a bop for soundtrack. What more can you ask for?

awesome game

This game inspired me to take on a carrier on Wall street where I invested all my life savings and lost everything. 10/10

I wanted this game to be good but it's not a simulation, it's just random number generators all the way down. The sabotages also ruin it

The creators of this game played a round of terraforming mars and wondered "Hmm, what if this game was good?"

Fun, unique market-based rts

This game has a lot of niches, but it takes weird directions with all of them

It's an RTS, but without combat.
It's a base building game without many structures.
It's a colony sim, where colonists don't really matter.
It's a business sim where hostile takeovers is the goal.

I guess if any of those things sounds good, then get this game, but if you're here for the normal feel of any of those genres stay FAAAR way.

If I could refund this I would.

Game is very fun and differen, having to harvest and sell resources at rates which fluctuate based on demand, just like real life.
Feels like strategies are fairly linear however.

Good with friends, as a nice relaxing experience

At first this game felt interesting, but after playing a few hours you will find out that it is nothing more than randomness simulator.

You build your base near good resources and then pray one of the bots won't claim those resources away from you.
Because when that happens you have no way of reclaiming them.
Add the fact that this game balances the difficulty by giving the bots higher stats (thus making the bot always pick resources to claim before you) and you get a game where you can loose within first 5 minutes of the game with no way of preventing it nor fighting back.
After you survive your first 5 minutes, next you have to sell resources, hoping that the RNG will decide that the resource that you are producing is going to be worth anything.

This is not a strategy game, because there is no strategy, your win or loose is decided 100% by luck and luck alone.

This will destroy friendships faster than a game of UNO

fastpaced and dynamic, there are stillv plenty of games where i'm surprised by the price dynamics.

Fun game :)
Requires a lot of adapting to the market.

step 1, ruin everyone. step 2 profit

This is a fast paced real-time economy simulation. Highly recommended.

Better than Civ 6

I like this game. You're a mining company competing with other mining companies by selling goods to a space colony. Each mining company has unique advantages and disadvantages that requires you to make some interesting choices when setting up your operation. There is also an active market for the resources you are mining and goods that are manufactured. Prices fluctuate based on colony demand and the supply of goods.

The early game has you deciding which resources to go for first as you're competing for plots of land with the other mining companies. As the game progresses, you may continue to mine for more resources, but have to balance that with power, water, food, and profitable manufactured goods. The number of land claims granted to you is limited, so you have to choose wisely. You'll need to wait until your headquarters is upgraded before your claim limit is increased. Or, if it comes up, you can try your luck at purchasing a new claim through auction.

In single player campaign, goods and resources can be used to build buildings for the colony, getting you points. In skirmishes, they're sold so you can begin to buy out the other mining companies with the objective of becoming the last mining company standing.

There is also a "take that" element in the form of a black market. These are special actions you (or your opponents!) can pay for that either give you a boost, or cripple some function of the competing mining company. It can get pretty hostile! You can also upgrade your production, manipulate market prices, and patent special abilities that only you can use.

Its a fast paced game that requires some planning. I use the pause function a lot to stop the action and game plan. Usually claiming my plots and taking actions while the game is in pause. Then letting it run and see how it goes. There is a learning curve here, but I didn't find it too complicated. After playing through the tutorials and failing miserably my first few rounds, I got the idea and began to play much better. The good part about it is the games are quick. This isn't a multi-hour, 4x type of strategy. So if you blow it big time, its not a lot of time lost and you can jump right into a new round.

I'd recommend this for someone who likes some light economic strategy, quick matches, and some "take that" action sprinkled in.

Great resource game! Been playing for years!

good

Has a beginning starting issue but gets real fun once you get the hang of it. I only wish there were ways you could guess market forces based on news or some feature similar to that.

The most intense strategy game I've played. You see and follow the market demand while looking at your competitor, have different way of strategizing (there is 4 different type way of playing), and very different take than the usual fighting or war strategy game.. it focuses on making money then acquiring your competitor XD

Not what I expected, the AI teams even on lowest difficulty, always overwhelm my colony, this makes it not fun to play.

Fun economic based RTS. Matches are short and you can easily knock out two or three in one sitting. It’s a breath of fresh air to not have an RTS that is all about destroying your opponent militarily.

FRANTIC SPEED. Computer levels up their HQ within 20 seconds. I can't even scroll the map that fast.

This could have been a game with nuanced strategy, but it's absolutely ruined by the ridiculous speed.

Why do developers think a game needs lightning twitch reaction times to be fun?

Unless you already have hundreds of hours playing and understanding every nuanced mechanic, there is no time to think. CLICK CLICK CLICK TOO SLOW YOU LOSE.

Yes you can pause in single-player. That just removes the RTS aspect completely. Why make an "RTS" that you have to pause to have any chance at playing?

Good but short. I want more depth and stuff to explore

Core game is great. I would be cautious on which DLC's you buy, the ones that add new maps are great for variety, but the campaign ones (such as blue chip) are.... lacking. They don't add much in the way of story or variety, they have a few "challenges", but the challenges don't follow the normal gameplay mechanics and rely on Min/Max strategies that are just not that entertaining. (Such as, produce 300 glass for colony - so ignore everything and just make glass. No reacting to changing market conditions or anything.)

Earth may indeed, be dying.

This is one of the best economic games I have played.

Shitty game with shitty mechanics youll never win

excellent tutorial/learn to play, mesmerising building construction animations. after a while the music feels right and it becomes immersive. great job mohawk games!

Refreshing angle on economic simulators demonstrating the interplay between supply chains, capital asset ownership (production) and working capital (trading and leasing) and basic corporate finance.

Unfortunately AI can probably compute elasticities of production, efficiency and cumulative margins on products faster than humans. And can add up the production/consumption * price = net margin faster than the human can. All this is constantly changing but still linear maths. Demolishing then rebuilding to produce different goods is also too quick and impacts the realism despite the robotic age wrapper.

Awesome game. Never imagined i would get so addicted to it. It is an amazing, competitive RTS without your normal military units.

Great !

Very fun and unique game! We need a FTP multiplayer release to revive the PvP player base!

Overly complicated and AI cheats. Too difficult even on easier settings. Not fun at all.

this is my first game simulating a market economy. I do not know what other games in this genre exist but this is one hell of a fun experience.

You and some competitors get to build a a business somewhere in the solar system (mars, io, ceres, europa). The map contains different primary resources (minerals, water etc.). You can use these, together with electricity to improve the capabilities of your business. Your colony will also consume all kind of resources to both sustain itself and grow. There is also a market for secondary goods (all sort of microchips, chemicals, etc, which consume primary resources).

What the game really does well, is simulating well the supply and demand of all these resources and products. The better you are at your predictions, the more money you can make. Money does have uses however. You can buy stuff that you do not produce yourself, you can buy all sort of "services" on the black market to ruin your competitors business and you can also buy your competitors as well.

It's amazing. Besides skirmish, there is also campaign with different upgrades carrying out between maps, which gives you an even better feeling of progress.

Overall i enjoyed this game a lot if you are into playing the market thing. At its's core this a production, trading, sabotage and mergers & acquisitions game.

The game is great but unfortunately the multiplayer lobby freezes randomly for everyone but the host when playing with friends, even on a flawless internet connection across different PCs :(

Quite Fun. Learn a bit about supply and demand, adaptability, and buying out competitors too.

trading but doesn't get updates anymore

I used to enjoy this game, but it's really only fun if the math helper in the game actually works and it does not when it comes to buying resources, which leaves you unable to see where the money is going unless you work it out yourself. I would say it's a game breaking UX issue as if you don't know what you are spending, you're done for.