BradleyAuerbach said:
But what is a good way to justify having to research technology (like new ways of farming) that will probably exist in the future? Maybe technology progresses slower in this world?

You ask because you assume in the future no more progress is needed, because we will figure out everything?
I doubt this. But ofc. it's hard to come up with predictions about future technology. Though, that's usually what sci fi authors do.

If you can't, then why do you want your restaurant simulation game to be in the future at all?
Just because of Russia vs. Ukraine? Really?

If so, i think you're on the completely wrong track. Just make *your* game the way you want, and don't try to pretend political correctness. That's not what games are about, even if actually one could think they are.

Just observe the outcome:
Gamedevs: Look, our new game. You can hypnotize your enemies, so they cut open their belly, and strangulate themselves with their guts. How cool is that? \:D/
Kotaku: Meh, another game where you can only play as a white male. You dumb gamedevs suck so hard!
Gamedevs: Ok, see our next one: You play as a black girl. And you can still hypno…
Kotaku: What? You hypocritical aholes! You make a game with a black protagonist, although your entire studio consists of just white males? Disgusting. You should be happy we need all our space to post new pictures of Amouranths boobs, otherwise we would tear you apart in a whole series of articles, right beside the evil devil of Bobby!

You know what i think? All this bullshit is just made up to distract from the fact that we currently have a deep crisis about stagnation in games.
We can't admit this, but the journalists can't either, because we both depend on games being popular and successful.
Thus they shift attention to other topics, which have nothing to do with the true problem, or games at all.

If there is no reason for sci fi in your game, then don't use it. Use present time and the borders on the map as they currently are. That's all you (or anybody) can currently do about it.

@BradleyAuerbach As a theme for a novel, it's too forced a situation. As a theme for a game, it's too much backstory, unless you're able to build a full-sized multi-planet game with enough NPCs to make it look populated. Which is a big job.

BradleyAuerbach said:

@undefined This is just a game world used for multiple games as an alternative to Earth to avoid having to deal with using real countries (especially given what’s been going on in the world lately). So the player’s role depends on the game.

Sigh,

If you change or base your direction on current events, you will constantly be behind.

I would personally not do this.

If all is the same, we learn nothing.

If you want a fictional world, make a full fictional world. If it's interesting enough it may lead to a full universe, and then if all goes well, you have a franchise.

Also, sometimes settings get dated…

First impression: a contrived premise, and just the right kind of contrived for an heroic and ultraviolent anime/manga about the rebellion of the test subjects against their handlers, if rounded up with some fantasy elements (cyberware, psychic powers, high-tech weapons, biotechnology, helpful aliens…). Elfen Lied or Last Exile with trucks, or Mobile Suit Gundam with stolen weapons,

It's less of a good fit for a game, since the two obvious angles of managing the experiment on the moon or surviving the experiment on the planet deny the fundamental conflict of the setting, and the other obvious angle of a combat or war game is disadvantaged compared to other settings (for example, the colonists are severely spaceflight-challenged but the bastards are not).

I agree with the other comments about resemblance to Earth: space opera is an opportunity to experiment with exotic environments that you shouldn't miss. Even if you want gravity, atmosphere, orbit etc. to resemble Earth for the sake of convenience, you should make something very different in order to be realistic (unless your setting is actually the Solar system in the far future, when Russia and Ukraine and everyone else are gone, more or less deliberately disguised).