Rank 01Why this
Shares tower defense and wave based combat with Desperate Place.
- $5.99 (Price checked Oct 31)
- Deck Playable
- 2024
Games like Desperate Place
- 23 games
- Updated May 5, 2026
Players who liked Desperate Place also play
The closest matches to Desperate Place: Frontline Crisis, Lumencraft, Border Pioneer, Thronefall, and IDUN - Frontline Survival. Ranked by imho.run from Steam co-play data, shared tags and reviews.
- Rank 01
Rank 02Why this
Also Base-Building and Tower Defense, like Desperate Place.
- $19.99 (Price checked Oct 31)
- Deck Verified
- 2023
Rank 03Why this
Shares tower defense and base building with Desperate Place.
- $7.49 (Price checked Oct 31)
- Deck Playable
- 2025
Rank 04 
Thronefall
Why this: Shares tower defense and resource management with Desperate Place.
Rank 05 
Rank 06 
clickyland
Why this: Also Base-Building and City Builder, like Desperate Place.
Rank 07 
Rank 08 
Calyx
Why this: Also Tower Defense and Space, like Desperate Place.
The full ranked list: top 24 games like Desperate Place
Best match first, as plain text. The same list for AI assistants:
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- 16Tower Dominion
Shares tower defense and character progression with Desperate Place.
- 87% of 2,467 reviews
- 17
- 18Dead in Antares
Shares base building and character progression with Desperate Place.
- 78% of 116 reviews
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- Released: 2025
- Developer: BruceGalaxy
- Price: $10.99checked Oct 31
- Steam Deck: Deck Playable
- 52% of 54 reviews
- Genres: Strategy, Indie
- Platforms: Windows
Players highlight
- Affordable price for casual tower defense gameplay
- Blending tower defense with base building and survival mechanics
- Gorgeous graphic style in a sci fi setting
- Atmospheric
- Stressful
- Tense
More games like Desperate Place, sliced differently
Cheaper alternatives
Games in the same vein priced at least 40% below Desperate Place at current Steam store prices.
Acid Planet
Why this: Shares tower defense and wave based combat with Desperate Place.
Kingdom's Deck
Why this: Also Base-Building and City Builder, like Desperate Place.
Stellar Settlers: Space Base Builder
Why this: Shares base building and resource management with Desperate Place.
Aven Colony
Why this: Shares resource management with Desperate Place.
203 new reviews this week- Trending
Minimalist Tower Defense
Why this: Shares tower defense and upgrade system with Desperate Place.
Armed to the Gears
Why this: Also Base-Building and Cyberpunk, like Desperate Place.
Free alternatives
Free games the recommender matches to Desperate Place, limited to titles with at least 500 Steam reviews and 80% positive.
Infinitode 2 - Infinite Tower Defense
Why this: Also Cyberpunk and Tower Defense, like Desperate Place.
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition
Why this: Also Base-Building and City Builder, like Desperate Place.
Ninja Kiwi Archive
Why this: Also Tower Defense and Top-Down Shooter, like Desperate Place.
Plays great on Steam Deck
Valve-Verified or Playable picks from the similar pool — ready to go on Deck out of the box.
Lumencraft
Why this: Shares tower defense and wave based combat with Desperate Place.
Thronefall
Why this: Shares tower defense and resource management with Desperate Place.
IDUN - Frontline Survival
Why this: Also Base-Building and Tower Defense, like Desperate Place.
Drill Core
Why this: Shares tower defense and base building with Desperate Place.
About Desperate Place
The closest matches to Desperate Place: Frontline Crisis, Lumencraft, Border Pioneer, Thronefall, and IDUN - Frontline Survival. Ranked by imho.run from Steam co-play data, shared tags and reviews.
If Desperate Place is your kind of game, the closest matches are Frontline Crisis, Lumencraft and Border Pioneer — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers describe it as atmospheric, stressful and tense, and single out its base building and character progression. Each pick is ranked by what players of this game also play, shared genres and tags, and review-mined similarity — not a generic popularity list.
About Desperate Place: Desperate Place is a strategic tower defense game where you play as a crew member who wakes up early on a damaged colonization starship. Stranded on an unknown planet, you must gather resources, repair the ship, and defend against alien monsters to survive and escape.
Is Desperate Place worth buying?
Players are split
A summary of what players say, not a promise you'll like it. Every signal is listed below.
- 52% of 54 Steam reviews are positive.
- We don't track this game's daily reviews yet, so this is the all-time picture.
- Price: $10.99 (checked Nov 7).
- People who recommend it had played a median of 6 h when they wrote their review.
- Critics had played a median of 3 h before their negative review.
- Steam Deck Playable: works, with some rough edges.
What fans praise · Themes mined from positive reviews
- Affordable price for casual tower defense gameplay
- Blending tower defense with base building and survival mechanics
- Gorgeous graphic style in a sci fi setting
- Hero abilities add tactical variety
Top critical reviews
The most up-voted negative English reviews in our sample, quoted as written.
“In this case its not easy to leave a negative review. There is a lot of good stuff here and clearly a lot of good work was done. I did really enjoy my 7 hours. There are huge balance issues with this game. Usually specialized towers deal…”
“nice concept poor execution. Its more like a puzzle tower defense where you have the optimal and less optimal way of completing the map. I bought the game because of the art, refunded it for the gameplay”
People who play it also play: Frontline Crisis, Lumencraft, Border Pioneer
Frequently asked about Desperate Place
Can I run it?
Does Desperate Place run on Steam Deck?
Desperate Place is rated Playable on Steam Deck — it runs, but expect some manual adjustments (control remapping, text size, or graphics settings) for the best experience.
How much does Desperate Place cost?
Desperate Place is listed on Steam at 10.99 USD (current store price; Steam sales may reduce this temporarily).
What games are most similar to Desperate Place?
Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside Desperate Place are Frontline Crisis, Lumencraft, Border Pioneer.
Who developed Desperate Place?
Desperate Place was developed by BruceGalaxy.