Rimworld

Rimworld is a colony simulator where you are dropped onto a somewhat undeveloped planet after the star ship you were on crashes. You have to keep your colony alive and hopefully reach one of a few endings where you make it off the planet and get back to whatever you were doing in space.

The planet can be heavily or sparsely populated depending on what you choose on world generation, so some of the lore of the specific planet you are on varies between play throughs. You could have a crowded world with large amounts of settlements, or you could be one of just a few settlements on the entire planet. Your planet being on the "rim", at least to my understanding, means you are fairly far from other developed planets, and with no access to bargaining power, you can't just call someone to come pick you up. It's an interesting mix of knowing there is space capable technology but being completely unable to access it due to your lack of resources and position.

There does exist, though, the "Empire". Which is kind of like the main government of the universe (?). The Empire has a few settlements on the planet, and you have the option of joining them, which is the easiest way to gain psychic powers for one of your colonists. There is technology called "Archotech", which is technology so advanced that you are unable to learn how it works and replicate it. One of these technologies is called a psylink which enables a colonist to affect the world with their mind (the aforementioned psychic powers). There are ways to get these powers without the empire, but taking on certain quests to gain honor (which is the currency for gaining ranks within the empire) seems to be the easiest way to get them. Making an enemy of the empire is dangerous also, as once you do, you will get raided by them and their soldiers are usually better equipped than standard pirates. Being part of the empire also allows you to call aid in the form of allied soldiers, transport shuttles, medicine, food, etc. Which have saved my colony more than once. I definitely get why you wouldn't join the empire, as the most glaring thing to me is they have slaves, however it's hard to deny that being part of the government with the most resources is helpful to staying alive. A common joke is losing your morals when playing this game regardless, as trying to do a playthrough without breaking international law or having some serious ethical violations is hard to do even when you're trying to be as good as possible.

Rimworld is fun but it is also an easy way to burn a lot of time. If you don't have a clear idea of the best path forward you can end up wasting a ton of time on parts of the game that don't move you closer towards your goal. Kind of like real life I suppose.