Settlements Rising
Released Jan 2025
Settlements Rising is a medieval city building and colony management game. It offers a lively colony experience with simulated villagers, dozens of professions and resources, natural disasters, and raids, while providing full control over the colony through trade, production chains and datas.
79% positive · 437 reviews
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
Medium confidence
Active Development
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
Medium confidence
Active Development
Where to buy
Steam $18.99
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Evaluation
Settlements Rising left Early Access and launched as a full 1.0 release on January 20, 2025. At that time, the developer — a solo developer — stated that reaching 1.0 did not mean the end of updates, and that development would continue with bug fixes, balance work, quality-of-life improvements, and occasional new content.
Since then, the game has received substantial ongoing updates well beyond what the launch announcement described. Major content additions after the 1.0 release include: new bridges (V1.0.14, April 25, 2025), four new crops with associated resources and enhancement cards (V1.0.16, September 17, 2025), and two new buildings (Mushroom Cellar and Jam House), two new professions (Jam Maker and Mushroom Grower), a new crop (Strawberry), and 20 new enhancement cards (V1.0.17, February 2, 2026). Feature patches in between have reworked core systems including predators, the marketplace, and builder behavior.
The most recent developer communication is the V1.0.17 preview post on February 2, 2026. The September 19, 2025 hotfix post also noted that the next update would focus on a builder rework, indicating the developer was planning additional work at that time.
As of today, October 1, 2026, the last developer communication was on February 2, 2026 — approximately 8 months ago. The established cadence between major content releases has been roughly 1–5 months (with gaps of about 1 month between V0.6.6 and V0.6.8, about 3 weeks between V0.6.8 and the 1.0 launch window, about 3 months between the 1.0 launch and V1.0.13, about 2 months to V1.0.14, about 5 months to V1.0.16, and about 5 months to V1.0.17). The current silence of roughly 8 months is beyond the historical cadence window of 1–5 months, and it approaches — but does not conclusively exceed — the 3x outer bound of the longest observed interval.
No announcement of an end to updates has been made, no distress signals have been posted, and no roadmap has been left unfulfilled. The developer went silent after signaling active work on a builder rework in September 2025. The sustained pattern of major content across 8+ updates since launch means the game is not simply complete by default, but the lengthening silence means the previously confident active development picture is now somewhat less certain. The developer's track record and the lack of any closure statement still support ongoing development being the most likely explanation, though the silence is now worth noting.
Evidence
V1.0.17 added two new buildings (Mushroom Cellar, Jam House), two new professions, a new crop (Strawberry), and 20 enhancement cards. This is the most recent developer communication on record.
V1.0.16 added four new crops (Tomato, Bell Pepper, Eggplant, Pumpkin) along with 48 new enhancement cards, representing substantial new content well after 1.0 launch.
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
The Catalyst Crew
Achievements
35
Platform
Windows
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Playable
Players
Single-player
About this game
Settlements Rising is a city-building and colony management simulation game set in medieval times. The game offers extensive depth with dozens of professions and resources available to the player. Each profession features villagers with their own animations and work cycles, creating a living colony experience in the game. It allows for micromanagement through trade, limited resources, production chains, and production data.
Villagers have their own life cycles. They can work in over 35 different professions. Each villager has needs for hunger, energy, health, and warmth. When they're hungry, they eat, and when their inventory runs out of food, they purchase more. When their energy depletes while working or during cold weather, they return home to rest. They are born, grow, receive education, and eventually age and pass away. They gain experience in their jobs. They acquire character traits either from birth or later in life.
At specific intervals, you will be presented with a set of random cards from which you can choose the one that best suits your needs. You can use these enhancement cards according to your requirements. These cards are for single use, but you can choose to save them for future games. In each new game, you can start with a few of the cards you've saved.
In the game, you can earn gold by mining, trading, and conducting raids. Traders visit your village at regular intervals. They buy some resources and sell others. The prices vary from one trader to another, allowing you to buy low and sell high. Additionally, build trading ships and manage your resources by trading with neighboring villages based on the resources they import and export.
Construct exploration ships for exploration missions and send them out. Depending on the mission's risk, you can earn various rewards. These rewards can be gold, resources, or enhancement cards.
As the resources of your village increase, raiders will periodically attack, attempting to plunder your resources. To defend against raiders, build towers and walls. Train villagers as archers or swordsmen, hiring them as military units for a certain salary.
Villagers have their own life cycles. They can work in over 35 different professions. Each villager has needs for hunger, energy, health, and warmth. When they're hungry, they eat, and when their inventory runs out of food, they purchase more. When their energy depletes while working or during cold weather, they return home to rest. They are born, grow, receive education, and eventually age and pass away. They gain experience in their jobs. They acquire character traits either from birth or later in life.
At specific intervals, you will be presented with a set of random cards from which you can choose the one that best suits your needs. You can use these enhancement cards according to your requirements. These cards are for single use, but you can choose to save them for future games. In each new game, you can start with a few of the cards you've saved.
In the game, you can earn gold by mining, trading, and conducting raids. Traders visit your village at regular intervals. They buy some resources and sell others. The prices vary from one trader to another, allowing you to buy low and sell high. Additionally, build trading ships and manage your resources by trading with neighboring villages based on the resources they import and export.
Construct exploration ships for exploration missions and send them out. Depending on the mission's risk, you can earn various rewards. These rewards can be gold, resources, or enhancement cards.
As the resources of your village increase, raiders will periodically attack, attempting to plunder your resources. To defend against raiders, build towers and walls. Train villagers as archers or swordsmen, hiring them as military units for a certain salary.
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Oct 1, 2026
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