Space Colony (2003)

Space Colony is a real-time strategy, management game developed by Firefly Studios in 2003, later re-released in HD on November, 2012.

If you're looking for the classic 2000s vibes of games that do not take themselves too seriously while allowing for a manner of challenge, look no further - Space Colony has it for you.

Full disclaimer: I have never gotten too far into the campaign of the game but I have done some sandbox content to see what would change. I was a silly kid when I got this game, don't judge me too harshly! (But I have been replaying it so maybe judge me.)

Zany 2000s comedy - no gross out humor but be warned of particularly caricaturesque voice overs of Asian people, though the game tends to jab at most people within its scope of storytelling - packed into tight compartment of a base overflowing with characters with their own unique wants and desires, unique friendship dynamics that cannot be ignored lest your base falls to ruin and tender little critters that can spread the plague.

The game wraps every mechanic with a delightfully 2000s 3D isometric view of your colonists, along with 'just there' animations to keep everything entertaining. The graphics help keep the UI easy to digest, along with most of its functions being relegated to handy buttons that allow you to immediately spot what you might need for your base by dividing it up in larger categories and unlocking them only when the game takes you there.

Your objectives varies by map and scenario, sometimes it being making sure your little people don't go insane and sometimes it's destroying an alien race before they try to stop you from mining the ever loving holes out of the planet but at the end of it all, your capitalistic overseer - Blackwater Industries - is the only one you'll have to respond to at the end.

It's The Sims meets Terraforming Mars meets 2000s anti-capitalistic humor. What's there not to love?