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Dune: Imperium – Uprising(2023)
Games like Dune: Imperium – Uprising
Looking for games like Dune: Imperium – Uprising? It rewards players who think several moves deep through tight, interlocking systems — built on asymmetric powers that make your side play unlike any other and building an engine card by card as the game unfolds. This page rounds up 12 of the closest alternatives, scored on mechanical overlap with the original (45%), complexity match (35%), and player-count fit (20%), then weighted by BoardGameGeek community ratings so every pick is one players genuinely rate. The strongest matches come first; the further down you go, the more a game trades exact overlap for a fresh take on the same core appeal.
12 recommendations · scored by ISO
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Dune: Imperium(2020)
A near-perfect match — Dune: Imperium shares nearly everything with Uprising: deck, bag, and pool building, worker placement, card play conflict resolution, force commitment, multi-use cards, delayed purchases, open drafting, a solo mode, progressive turn order, and variable player powers. At 3.08 weight against 3.53, it's slightly lighter, though the depth is close. It tops out at four players and is best at three, versus best-at-four with support up to six here. You lose the contracts and team play and gain ownership, racing, and take-that elements — but if you want one of the closest games in feel, this is it.
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Anachrony(2017)
If Dune: Imperium – Uprising hooked you with worker placement, open drafting, contracts, variable player powers, and a genuine solo mode, Anachrony carries that same core forward in a science fiction shell. It is a step heavier, though: 4.00 weight against the original's 3.53, so expect more rules overhead before things click. Player count narrows too—1–4 with a best-at-three sweet spot, versus the seed's 1–6 and best at four. What plays differently: there's no deck-building, card-play conflict resolution, or multi-use cards here; instead you get dice with icon resolution, different worker types, events, and set collection layered onto the familiar placement backbone.
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Star Wars: Rebellion(2016)
Shares Card Play Conflict Resolution + 4 more
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Agricola (Revised Edition)(2016)
Weight-wise these two are nearly identical — 3.45 against 3.53 — and Agricola (Revised Edition) overlaps more than the farm theme suggests: worker placement, automatic resource growth, increase value of unchosen resources, variable player powers, and both team-based and solo modes. Player count lines up too: it runs 1–4 and is best at four, right where the seed peaks. The divergence sits in the card engine — there's no deck-building, card-play conflict, or multi-use cards; instead you manage a hand, work with enclosure, and use closed drafting in an economic farming setting. Fighting over contested action spaces feels familiar; almost everything around it doesn't.
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Lost Ruins of Arnak(2020)
At the table, Lost Ruins of Arnak runs on the same loop: deck, bag, and pool building, worker placement, open drafting, multi-use cards, contracts, and delayed purchases, with a solo mode and progressive turn order to match. It shares the core of what makes the original tick, though at 2.93 weight against 3.53 it's meaningfully lighter — quicker to teach and settle into. It plays 1–4 and peaks at three, a notch below the seed's best-at-four. Instead of force commitment and card-driven combat you get area movement, exploration, and end-game bonuses — less confrontation, more expedition.
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La Granja(2014)
Contracts, automatic resource growth, multi-use cards, open drafting, variable player powers, and solo play: La Granja covers a solid slice of what drives Uprising, even though the frame is farming and economics rather than sci-fi. Complexity is effectively a wash — 3.57 against 3.53 — so expect a similar level of thought per turn. It takes 1–4 players and is strongest at three, below the seed's best-at-four but with the solo option intact. The big shift is the absence of worker placement and deck-building; you'll roll dice, wrestle with area majority, pick actions simultaneously, and hide victory points instead. Familiar decisions, different skeleton.
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Lewis & Clark: The Expedition(2013)
One to five players fit at this table, with three the consensus best — narrower at the top than the six Uprising supports, but the solo mode carries over. Lewis & Clark: The Expedition matches on deck, bag, and pool building, worker placement, open drafting, multi-use cards, and delayed purchases, so the card-and-worker rhythm transfers directly. At 3.32 weight versus 3.53, it asks a little less of you, though it's clearly in the same league. The real difference is the race: rather than committing forces to conflicts, you're managing your hand and spending resources to move along a track, sprinting instead of scrapping.
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Scythe(2016)
Shares Card Play Conflict Resolution + 4 more
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Ark Nova(2021)
Ark Nova demands more of you: at 3.80 weight it sits above the seed's 3.53, the heftier of the pair. The overlap is genuine — contracts, open drafting, increase value of unchosen resources, variable player powers, and solo play all appear in both — but there's real divergence around that core. It supports 1–4 and is generally considered best at two, a quieter fit than Uprising's best-at-four. Gone are the deck-building and worker placement; in their place you're laying tiles on a hexagon grid, collecting sets, tracking income, and chasing end-game bonuses under an animals-and-environment theme rather than science fiction.
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Altiplano(2017)
Bag building is the hook: Altiplano keeps deck, bag, and pool building alongside worker placement, open drafting, contracts, progressive turn order, and variable player powers — a strong chunk of the original's engine. It comes in at 3.29 weight against 3.53, a touch simpler but comparable in depth. The count runs 2–5, best at three, and note there's no solo mode, which the seed does offer. Where Uprising layers on conflict resolution, force commitment, and multi-use cards, Altiplano adds action points, a modular board, and tile placement in a pure economic setting. The engine satisfaction is similar; the confrontation is gone.
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Terraforming Mars(2016)
Science fiction connects these two, and Terraforming Mars also matches on contracts, progressive turn order, variable player powers, and solo play — a real overlap, though with plenty of divergence around it. It's somewhat gentler at 3.27 weight to the seed's 3.53, while still being a substantial game. It plays 1–5 with three as the sweet spot, compared to best-at-four and up to six for Uprising. There's no worker placement, deck-building, or open drafting here; you get hand management, tags, income, take-that interaction, and tile placement on a hexagon grid instead — an economic engine race across a planet rather than a fight over one.
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Skymines(2022)
Shares Deck, Bag, and Pool Building + 4 more
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