That is the one!

That actually sounds nice. Maybe I should check it out, but probably not this year anymore.

Sadly, but understandably, no one guessed this one. It is too obscure a game, maybe we can change that.

Sometimes games shape a genre. That typically can be seen as many other games copying the formula or parts of it. Doom is a common example for this. In the area of complex simulations, Dwarf Fortress has this place. It is a complex fantasy colony simulator, to be specific you guide a bunch of dwarven settlers (and probably let them all die horribly). The problem with Dwarf Fortress: it is really, really complex. It actually starts with generating a complex world with ten thousand years of history. And all your dwarfs have in detail descriptions, including the songs they know. Something you probably can explore. I once tried to play it, following a Youtube tutorial. But even after two hours I still didn't feel like I was playing my own game, but still following the tutorial to the T, without making own meaningful decisions. that is too hard, even for me as I love complex games. So Dwarf Fortress is not on my list.

But a lot of games took inspiration from Dwarf Fortress, some being more direct copies but simplified, some following other styles but borrowing ideas. An incomplete list contains Gnomoria, Oxygen not Included, Rimworld, Prison Architect, Stonehearth, A Game of Dwarves, Civitatem and probably a lot more. Even Minecraft is cited as have taken inspiration from Dwarf Fortress, although obviously straying farther from the core concept. I played some of these games, and among them there is a clear favorite: Odd Realm.

In Odd Realm you settle on a new map with a bunch of settlers and try to build a bustling colony. If you play as humans, you first have to secure a supply of food and water probably, but not all races are played the same way. As usual the winter proves to be a challenge, so a first goal may be to build up the colony enough, to survive the winter. You can assign professions to your settlers, and they will automatically pick the appropriate job. For instance if you mark some trees to be felled for wood or clearing the area for building, the forester (or anyone you unlocked the log-skill for) will get to the job.

Odd Realm has height in the maps, meaning not only the existence of hills and valley, but you can actually build multistory-buildings or mine deep down into the earth. You gather or mine resources and can craft them into different things or build stuff from it. Most importantly buildings to house your colonists. If they have proper sleeping accomodations, they will also start to produce offspring, which you can employ for more task once they grow up.

Odd Realm offers the complexity of a colony sim, where you can build it like you want, down to the single block that the buildings consist of. This will give you a big creative outlet, every colony will look different, while still adhering to the general need for survival.

Odd Realm is still early access, so far only three of the planned five races are unlocked. But even these three offer a very varieed game style, as their needs and abilities strongly differ. Also the dev is really active, pushing out new updates to improve the game and add the races that were missing so far. So I am very optimistic about this game.

If you are into deep complex simulations games, you should give Odd Realm a try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6lDVJFFJ10&t=1s&ab_channel=UnknownOriginGames

I have to get going:

#33: The Errant Errand
Fight for Your Time Slot!
That's Just Frank

#32: Muhahaha! You think you outsmarted me, the mighty Moldorc?! I don't think so Yoked Girth!
...so stop by, fill up, and make sure you get your Billy Hog hot dog before you jet away.

#31: guessed by coolbeans: Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV
The game starts with the peach garden oath.

#30: Your heroes grow old and retire - if they aren't killed on the battlefield.

_{ranking in the guessing game, list so far}

Would highly recommend! Very good halloween game

You're getting a little warmer but no. It's not a horror or survival horror game.

31 - Romance of the Three Kingdoms?

I've been slacking a bit with these, but here's more hints. Also adding two more.

34 - Though not every faction will be affected as harshly, when the hordes from the steppe arrive, you better be prepared.
Hint 2: An attack from hordes like this happens twice in the game, once from the northeast and once from the southeast. These attacks come from factions that are unplayable.

33 - Three influential families and the central government, allies at first, until one seeks to rule them all.
Hint 2: This technically happened in real life too, where the leader of one of these families (they're represented in the game) had cast the die.

32 - There's a strange bug in the steering in this game where if you make a couple quick, short turns in succession you'll be stuck with a long, big and wide turn that'll send you all across the stadium.
Hint 2: This means you can really annoy your friends when you create a track with a couple of short corners in a row and then a table top, in the map-editor.

31 - In real life, getting cockroaches in your hotel room would be bad, but here, it's completely doomed and you'll need to demolish the rooms and rebuild them.

30 - Shouldn't rock the boat because someone will puke.

Correct. It is XIV to be precise, but I felt it was hard to package that info into the hint.

Let's add a hint:

#33: The Errant Errand
Fight for Your Time Slot!
That's Just Frank
The 6th Cutest Girl

#32: Muhahaha! You think you outsmarted me, the mighty Moldorc?! I don't think so Yoked Girth!
...so stop by, fill up, and make sure you get your Billy Hog hot dog before you jet away.
Introducing Apricop... it's a punch to the gut!

#31: guessed by coolbeans: Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV

#30: Your heroes grow old and retire - if they aren't killed on the battlefield.
They also can acquire strange body parts, like a fire arm, a wolf's head or crow's feet.

_{ranking in the guessing game, list so far}