The Crust ▶ Trailer
The Crust screenshot 1The Crust screenshot 2
SimulationStrategyBase BuildingSpaceAutomationColony SimResource Management

427 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 777

Peak in the last 7 days: 1,068

The Crust Steam store

Game description

Build and automate a lunar colony that Earth depends on. Mine regolith, run conveyor-and-drone factories above and below the surface, manage colonists, trade with rival Earth factions — and play a story campaign with multiple endings.

Basic info

DeveloperVEOM Studio
PublisherCrytivo
PlatformsWindows · macOS
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateSep 10, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 7 64-bit or newer
ProcessorIntel i5-4590K or equivalent AMD-Hardware
Memory8 GB
GraphicsGeForce 1060 or equivalent with 6GB of video RAM
Storage8 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 439 reviews from the past 1 year

72.6/ 100
Bottom 30%

Steam rating: Mostly Positive (76%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

A lunar mining and colony builder in early access, The Crust scores 72.6, with praise for its ideas and frustration with its bugs.

👍 Strengths

136 reviews enjoy the game, calling its concepts interesting and its building fun, and some say it kept them absorbed for a long time. 41 praise the soundtrack and sound design for an immersive atmosphere, and a few single out the Russian voice acting. 35 like the strategy of the production loop, with contracts and deadlines that push meaningful build decisions and chains to optimize. Content Volume ranks 298th of 1351, and Visuals & Sound ranks 585th of 1249.

👎 Where it falls short

Tech & Support appears in 50% of analyzed reviews and ranks 1041st of 1399. 61 reviews report bugs where colonists get stuck or starve, drones ignore priorities and buildings stop working, and some say late game bugs forced a restart. 39 find the systems poorly explained for new players, with a few relying on the wiki or videos to learn the tech requirements. 36 describe performance drops and poor optimization as a colony grows, with frame rates sinking in the late game. Gameplay ranks 835th of 1396.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“loves the concepts introduced” · 136 reviews
“beautiful game, music, and Russian voice acting” · 41 reviews
“lunar-tycoon business loop is genuinely fresh and reason still playing” · 35 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 58% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Strategy +2.18 · Depth of builds, tactics, and meaningful choices
Positive “lunar-tycoon business loop is genuinely fresh and reason still playing” · 35 reviews

Progression 20% · Difficulty 9% · Onboarding 20% · Freedom 16% · Controls & feel 13%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 27% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

World +2.87 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “incredible atmosphere, music, graphics, and immersive space director feeling” · 20 reviews
Negative “doesn't match Rimworld comparison, overwhelming micromanagement” · 1 review

Story 18% · Characters 3%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 19% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +2.68 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “500+ hours played, real time sink with solid gameplay” · 10 reviews
Negative “lacks endgame content and story rewards” · 3 reviews

Variety 6% · Replayability 4%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 29% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

Audio +3.39 · Music, sound effects, and voice acting
Positive “beautiful game, music, and Russian voice acting” · 41 reviews

Visuals 15%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 2% of reviews mention this.

Playing together -3.00 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 11% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.18 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “balancing issues compared to similar games” · 10 reviews
Positive “balanced well, fun gameplay” · 1 review

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 4% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 50% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -0.69 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “colonists get stuck and die, drones ignore priorities, patch notes claim fixes never work” · 61 reviews
Positive “save games now work after being fixed in updates” · 3 reviews

Performance 15% · Developer support 31%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

Was this analysis useful? Sign in with Steam to vote

🎲 What kind of gamer are you? Find your title in 3 minutes.