You weren’t born into a rich family, resulting in you not being able to build yourself a nice city to live in? Well, worry not, as I will present to you the best city building games in our solar system. No, not in our solar system, but in our universe :O!
Besides building a city you might also be able to look after the people that live inside of your city - either by creating entertainment centers for them or making sure that they don’t starve to death. Maybe you’ll even be able to send a nice meteor towards them!
20. Medieval Dynasty
You’re a peasant. In this game, of course! Your job will be to survive in a harsh, medieval world deprived of necessities like water, food, clothing, or safety - protect yourself and the inhabitants of your village from wolf attacks and many other threats.
The game also has a cool crafting system that will allow you to make your village or settlement safer, more comfortable, and prosperable. Ride horses, hunt animals, pull out your fishing rod, and start fishing - this game is simply awesome if you like survival games set in medieval times with pretty graphics!
19. Tropico 6
Become a ruthless, merciless, brutal dictator or a loving sweetheart that will be admired by his citizens - it’s totally up to you how you want others to perceive you. It’s also pretty relaxing to play after a day’s work, but people who don’t have experience with the Tropico series might find this game a little bit difficult!
But in terms of building, what can you exactly do in this game? Well, you can build long bridges that can connect lands, underground tunnels, house districts for your citizens, cities with tall skyscrapers, use transport vehicles for your citizens. It’s also worth adding that you can get overthrown by rebels or your own citizens, ungrateful bastards!
18. Townscaper
It’s hard to say if this is actually a game or a city-building simulator, the main purpose of this game is to construct the borders of your city and start popping out various buildings inside. Keep in mind that this game is about 5$ on steam, surely worth the price!
17. Going Medieval
Welcome to RimWorld, but in medieval times. Settle on an unconquered land and provide a good life for your citizens, or die trying. You will face many threats, either from wildlife or people, they will gladly break into your village and massacre your townfolk!
Thus, you’ll have to provide your people with food, either by hunting or farming, building houses for them to live in, equip them with proper equipment, such as swords, bows, etc. Perfect game if you wanna start from 0 and play till you reach 100!
16. Frostpunk
The world went to crap, everything is cold and if you venture out, you’ll freeze to death. That’s why you’ll be building a city in a frozen wasteland in a circular shape, why in a circular shape? Because the center of your city is the only heating source that keeps your city and its inhabitants alive.
Treat your people with respect, provide them with a comfortable life or treat them like disposable garbage. Jesus Christ, you can even send out a child to work in the mines… but the game is pretty cool in terms of atmosphere and gameplay. Discover research, new infrastructure, and many more features that this game has to offer. Lovely, addicting game!
15. Factorio
As the name of the game suggests, you’ll be building factories that will produce more and more complex items that you’ll need to further improve the land that you’re settling on. The game is also pretty mod-friendly and you can play it with your friends!
But why do I need the factories so much? Well, they’ll provide you with materials needed to defend your base from local creatures that are not exactly happy with you stealing their resources - they might come in swarms and will gladly destroy your whole progress, so you have to build walls with turrets on them to fight them off. This game is also not easy, you will die a lot at the start of this game, later on you will still die, but die less and eventually get good!
14. Cities: Skylines
Build cities in a more modern fashion on different terrains, look after your people by providing them with a flourishing city to live in. Build houses, roads, shops, skyscrapers, highways connecting cities together, funicular railways that your citizens can use to travel, you can even build dams!
But managing your city is also difficult, things like running water, electricity, healthcare highly matter and your reputation will be shaped by your actions in a realistic manner. If you get bored with the default version of the game, you can always equip yourself with the DLCs that this game offers!
13. RimWorld
A game that was made by a single person and achieved great success. You’re supposed to survive in this game on a foreign planet, surrounded by hostile creatures and a harsh climate, you will have to start your settlement somewhere, it’s best if you start it somewhere with an active water source and a fertile ground.
Besides food and water, make sure that your base is built on a beneficial(to you) ground that will boost your defensive capabilities. The game is also filled with dark and ridiculous humor, ranging from squirrels biting you to death, a lighting strike burning your house down, or harvesting organs of your opponents. Truly a lovely 2D game!
12. HUMANKIND™
A strategic city-builder that rivals Civilization 6. In this game, you’ll build your civilization from scratch and shape your future with decisions that you’ll have to take, be involved in many cultures and evolve from a neolithic-era tribe to a more advanced civilization.
I’d like to create an emphasis on the word “decisions”, they matter greatly and can have a trillion of outcomes, that will be passed onto your future civilizations. It’s a fun game with unique mechanics, gameplay, and fancy-looking graphics.
11. The Tenants
So what’s this game with very low system requirements have to offer? Well, you’ll be put in a role of a landlord and your job will be to satisfy them with your interior design skills. You’ll be furnishing your house depending on what your tenant likes, which will also improve your salary.
But, your tenants might also drive your neighbors insane, they might call the cops or they will just simply ruin your house, cuz they’re a bunch of douchebags. Also, this game is currently 25% off on steam, so make sure to get it - it’s worth the price and will definitely work on crap PC’s!
10. Prison Architect
Well, this is not exactly a city-building game but more of a… prison-building game. Your primary task will be to make sure the inmates don’t start any trouble, such as fires, gang fights, stabbings, and general uncivilized behavior. Either approach them with a heavy hand and force them to live in constant danger and filth or try to rehabilitate them through providing them with normal living conditions and inmate cohesion, or something like that. Personally, I’m a pretty messed up dude and force them to live in 1 square meter cells with cockroaches - but that’s just my preference <3
9. They Are Billions
Build, survive and fight literal billions of zombies trying to swarm your base - build your base before you can get overrun by zombies on a hostile, unforgiving planet in this steampunky game!
The beginnings in this game are harsh, you’re left with little - a small outpost and a handful of units to defend yourself with. Gather resources and create structures that will help you survive, build long walls around your base so the infected don’t march in, create infantry and improve them as you progress, so you can eventually become unstoppable in the quest of providing a normal life for your citizens.
8. Surviving Mars
Elon Musk’s wet dream. This game will make you think that colonizing Mars is more difficult than it seemed at first. Your goal will be to… colonize Mars. To be more specific, create high-tech infrastructure cities with funny domes covering them!
On a less funny note, that’s what is keeping your citizens alive. Seriously, one small mistake can deprive your citizens of oxygen and cause the extinction of your colony. The game’s mechanics are extremely complex and hard to comprehend for newer players, but it’s rewarding at the same time to get everything up and running while knowing what in the flying duck is going on. Fun and a unique game about colonizing Mars - try it out!
7. Kingdoms and Castles
First, it was some lame village. Then it became a more desirable settlement, later it became a city and now it’s a gorgeous castle. Welcome to Kingdoms and Castles, engage in land and naval battles between other kingdoms that will want to pillage your settlement.
Although the game is short, you will fall in love with it before you can finish it. Try it out if you’re looking for a short-term game!
6. Dawn of Man
Welcome to a prehistoric era of the human race. You’ll be forced to adapt in a world full of hostile creatures and people, fight between rivaling tribes and hunt large animals like mammoths for their fur and meat.
As you progress, you’ll be able to switch from various eras to more advanced ones, lemme show you a chain:
Paleolithic>Mesolithic>Neolithic>Copper Age>Bronze Age>Iron Age.
Each era will provide you with new tools to craft and more challenges to face, as you become more deadly, the other tribes become more deadly as well. The game is unique in terms of gameplay and the period that this game is taking place in - try it out, especially if you like prehistoric games!
5. Banished
Yet another city-building game where you’ll have a group of settlers under your command. With those settlers, you’ll have to create a village and provide your people with food, water, livestock, engage in trading with travelers, in short, activities that will reward you, your people, and your village. Make sure to create gatherer’s huts as well - they generate plenty of food!
But we shouldn’t forget about harsh climates in this game - eventually, it will rain in this game, so make sure your people have a shelter to take cover in. It might also snow, so having a tailor in your little group of settlers is also important. Also, BUILD WELLS, SO YOUR CITY DOESN’T BURN TO THE GROUND!
4. The Last Haven
The world went to crap once again, this time due to nuclear fallout. Create a community of survivors, provide them with food, water, infrastructure, but make sure to inflict them with discipline, otherwise, they will become spoiled little pricks and decrease the chances of your settlement surviving.
Build factories in which you’ll create materials necessary for your community to flourish, research new technology which involves weaponry, new buildings, new tools, and plenty of other things. Fight off marauders and gangs that are constantly trying to raid your camp. Sounds lovely if you ask me!
3. Stonehearth
A rather unique and sandbox city-builder, here you’ll look after the needs of your citizens and make sure that they’re happy, or at least alive for a while till they get slaughtered by a bunch of Kobolds. Kobolds are not the only enemy in this game, you’ll face off goblins, orcs, ogres, other animals, the undead, and other pricks that will want to invade your base!
This game reminds me a bit of RimWorld… that’s also combined with Banished, but at the end of the day, it’s a cool game with core city-builder features like farming, establishing a water supply, buildings, creating defenses for your city, etc - a cool game with fancy graphics!
2. Colony Survival
The game is a lot like Minecraft in terms of graphics, but doesn’t focus on individual features as much - you’re supposed to establish a colony here and defend it every night from upcoming hordes of zombies and other monsters. The map is randomly generated, you can choose terrain to build on, I advise though to pick a spot that will be beneficial to the defenses of your upcoming kingdom(hills, water, etc).
To build your kingdom, you will have to command your colonists, order them to guard your outpost or do some work inside your little base. As you advance in this game(building bigger cities, more people living inside of your city), more zombies will pop up and attack you. If you like Minecraft that makes building makes sense, then this game is for you!
1. ISLANDERS
Start on a small island and build your first city in this relaxed, casual game - manage your resources correctly to create bigger cities, the things you do in this game might have minor consequences that might cost you some of your points. Not gathering enough points will lose you the game, forcing you to start over again.
This game is pretty easy and has great replayability, it’s perfect for people who just want to have fun every once in a while and build themselves a nice city in the middle of nowhere. I highly recommend this game, it offers light gameplay with unique mechanics and eye-pleasing graphics. Best game ever!
