Games like Terraforming Mars

Looking for games like Terraforming Mars? You are after something that rewards long-term engine building, where every card played in the early game shapes what you can achieve by the end. Terraforming Mars sits in medium-heavy territory — meaty enough to satisfy strategic thinkers, without the intimidation of a full simulation.

Gaia Project and Ark Nova both score strongly against that profile. Gaia Project swaps the Martian surface for deep space but keeps the same satisfying tension between expanding your engine and timing your end-game bonuses. Ark Nova channels a similar income-and-engine structure into building out a modern zoo, with an unusually clever card action system. Scythe also appears near the top, offering variable set-up and strong end-game bonus scoring — though it leans more into area control.

All three share Terraforming Mars's hallmark of variable set-up and meaningful income decisions. Here is what scores highest against that brief.

— BoardMatch team