20 City Builders You Can Lose A Weekend To

City-building games are incredibly addictive – it’s easy to lose track of time as you manage resources, design layouts, and watch your city grow. From realistic historical settings to challenging survival scenarios and relaxing puzzle-solving, there’s a city builder out there for everyone. Here are twenty of the best, spanning different time periods, gameplay styles, and developers, with a brief overview of what makes each one unique.

‘Cities: Skylines II’ (2023)

Okay, so as a Cities: Skylines player, let me tell you what’s cool about the new stuff. They’ve seriously upped the simulation – it’s way more detailed now. The road tools are awesome, letting you build exactly what you want, and everything feels connected. Like, how you manage electricity affects your schools, which affects your healthcare – it’s all linked! They’ve added really smart traffic AI and a whole cargo system, so you can’t just slap a fix on a problem, you actually have to design good districts. Plus, the weather and seasons actually matter now, so you need to plan for things like snowstorms and increased demand. The maps are huge, and there are tons of ways to look at the data, which is great for figuring out what’s going wrong before your city grinds to a halt.

‘Cities: Skylines’ (2015)

As a huge fan, I can tell you this game is a classic for a reason! Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive really nailed it with the way you can build and zone things – it’s super flexible. The public transport system is really in-depth, and you can even create policies for different areas of your city, controlling things like taxes and how the police work. What’s amazing is the Steam Workshop – you can download tons of stuff made by other players, from little details to complete game changes, so you can make it as easy or as challenging as you want. If you’re into planning, you’ll love setting up industries and cargo routes. And even when your city gets huge, the game makes it pretty easy to figure out what’s going wrong with these helpful heatmaps and data displays. It’s just a fantastic city builder!

‘Anno 1800’ (2019)

In this game, Ubisoft Mainz and Ubisoft set the action during the industrial era, where you’ll manage production across both the Old and New Worlds. New technologies like electricity, oil, and tractors will boost your production capacity as the game progresses. You’ll also need to focus on making your cities appealing to tourists. Exploring the world and establishing trade routes will be crucial for gaining resources, and you’ll need to carefully plan your city layout to support your workforce and meet the needs of your growing population.

‘Anno 1404’ (2009)

In Related Designs/Blue Byte’s game (published by Ubisoft), players develop settlements in the Old World and establish trade routes with the East to obtain valuable, advanced goods. Creating these goods – like glass, spices, and books – involves carefully specializing islands and managing supply convoys. The ‘Venice’ expansion introduces new layers of strategy with espionage, auctions, and manipulating city councils to gain an economic edge. As your population grows, providing them with faith, culture, and luxury goods becomes just as important as successful trading.

‘SimCity 4’ (2003)

Maxis and Electronic Arts enhanced the game by allowing cities to connect and share resources like workers, electricity, and water. Players can now meticulously shape the landscape, create custom buildings, and simulate realistic traffic patterns, encouraging thoughtful city planning. The ‘Rush Hour’ expansion introduces new missions where you control vehicles, alongside better public transportation options to help solve traffic problems. The game also offers more detailed zoning tools and helpful advice to manage finances, citizen happiness, and property values over time.

‘SimCity 2000’ (1993)

I still love SimCity Classic! It was such a groundbreaking game. It really invented the way we see city builders today, with that cool angled view and the idea of building underground. You had to manage everything – power, water, even the land itself – which taught me how these things actually work in a city. Plus, dealing with disasters made you realize you needed backups for everything! And what was really neat was how easy it was to see what was going on with your city – the data displays were so clear, letting you track growth and make sure everyone had the services they needed.

‘Pharaoh’ (1999)

In Impressions Games and Sierra’s Pharaoh, you build a city along the Nile River, where farming depends on yearly floods. Building impressive structures like pyramids and temples requires careful planning of resources and a large workforce. The happiness of your city and the goals you pursue are influenced by religion, festivals, and your city’s reputation. Managing trade, storage, and how goods are moved around creates a challenging but rewarding puzzle of logistics and design.

‘Caesar III’ (1998)

In this Roman city-building game from Impressions Games and Sierra, you’ll focus on creating appealing neighborhoods with essential services. To grow your city, you’ll need to provide a variety of food, entertainment, and maintain good hygiene and religious observance. Balancing cultural development with military defense and economic success is key, as invasions and city ratings impact your progress. You’ll build a thriving economy through exports to fund major projects, and manage resources using warehouses and granaries to control the pace of growth.

‘Zeus: Master of Olympus’ (2000)

In this game, you’ll build a Greek empire where mythology meets city management. You’ll deal with legendary heroes and monsters alongside everyday resources like wool, wine, and statues. Expand your influence across a world map by establishing colonies and trade routes, adding depth to your campaigns. Keep your citizens happy by hosting festivals and building cultural centers to unlock improvements for their homes and your cities.

‘Tropico 6’ (2019)

Limbic Entertainment and Kalypso Media are expanding the series with island chains, allowing players to connect islands with bridges and establish trade routes. As you progress through different eras – from Colonial to Modern – you’ll unlock new buildings, vehicles, and laws to develop your economy. You can also raid other civilizations or use a pirate cove to obtain world wonders, which will increase tourism and your nation’s reputation. A simple political system, involving elections and the demands of different groups, adds another layer to managing your cities.

‘Tropico 4’ (2011)

Haemimont Games and Kalypso Media have created a city-building game centered around completing missions. It features well-defined rules and distinct groups of citizens. The game keeps things interesting with unexpected disasters and goals, and lets you develop different industries like tourism, mining, and factories. The ‘Modern Times’ update adds new technology, buildings, and events that change how you play. Keeping your citizens happy depends on finding the right balance between freedom, employment, and good housing – otherwise, they might become unhappy and cause problems.

‘Banished’ (2014)

This simple-to-use survival game, made by Shining Rock Software, lets you follow the lives of your citizens, keeping track of their age, health, and skills. Getting prepared for tough winters and bad harvests is crucial, and managing your resources carefully can mean the difference between life and death. The game doesn’t use money; instead, you trade goods at posts, so having enough storage and producing a surplus are key. Planning the layout of your town – placing buildings like markets, barns, and homes efficiently – helps people save time and allows your settlement to grow steadily.

‘Frostpunk’ (2018)

In this game by 11 bit studios, you manage a city and its people in a frozen wasteland, focusing on keeping them alive. You’ll need to carefully balance resources like heat and coal while making difficult decisions about things like work conditions and healthcare. These choices impact your citizens’ hope and satisfaction. The game combines challenging resource management with a compelling story told through different scenarios and expeditions.

‘Surviving Mars’ (2018)

In Haemimont Games and Paradox Interactive’s new game, you’ll build a colony on Mars, complete with habitats, life support systems, and specialized jobs for your colonists. You can tailor the challenge with sponsors and commanders who offer different funding levels and technology speeds. Unexpected ‘Mysteries’ – like strange anomalies, evolving AI, or random events – will appear mid-game, forcing you to adapt your colony’s objectives. Careful planning is essential, as you’ll need to build reliable systems for power, maintenance, and protection against the harsh Martian dust.

‘Timberborn’ (2021)

In Mechanistry, you build a colony managed by beavers, focusing on surviving droughts and cleverly using water. Two different groups offer unique ways to generate power and grow food. You can control rivers with dams, levees, and floodgates to protect your resources during dry periods. As your colony grows, managing districts and supply lines becomes a complex puzzle.

‘Against the Storm’ (2023)

Eremite Games and Hooded Horse have combined city building with the replayability of roguelite games, set in a world constantly battered by storms. You’ll manage diverse species – including humans, lizards, beavers, and harpies – each with their own special needs and abilities. Every town you build will face changing challenges due to citizen requests, important landmarks, and random events. As you progress, unlocking new buildings and perks in the Smoldering City will let you try different approaches in future settlements.

‘Foundation’ (2019)

Polymorph Games is creating a medieval town-building game with a unique, free-form layout. Instead of building on a grid, villagers choose where to live based on where they work, meaning your town’s neighborhoods grow organically. You can design and build fully functional, custom structures like churches, castles, and bridges using modular components. Your town’s economy and progress are driven by trade, land ownership, and your growing influence.

‘Aven Colony’ (2017)

Mothership Entertainment and Team17 are taking players to alien worlds filled with dangerous environments like poisonous spores and intense weather. You’ll manage a colony by building structures with drones while carefully balancing oxygen, power, and food supplies. Your colonists will decide if you’re a good leader through votes and by how happy they are. Expand your reach and uncover more of the story by building expedition centers and distant outposts to gather resources.

‘Kingdoms and Castles’ (2017)

In Lion Shield, you build a medieval town where keeping your people happy depends on providing them with good homes, diverse food options, and fair taxes. You’ll need to defend against Viking raids and dragon attacks by building strong walls, towers, and strategically placed ballistae. Well-planned roads, easy access to food storage, and nearby forests help you build a more efficient and compact town. As you progress, you can use stone and iron to create even stronger defenses and build impressive structures like cathedrals.

‘Planetbase’ (2015)

Madruga Works created this base-building game where keeping everything running smoothly is key – you’ll need to carefully manage air, water, power, and essential parts. You’ll rely on solar, wind, and batteries for energy, so planning your base layout is crucial to avoid power outages at night. While robots and factories can automate tasks, they need regular upkeep. Expect challenges like sandstorms, meteors, and limited medical resources, which mean you’ll need to expand cautiously and strategically.

Share your favorite week-eating city builder in the comments and tell us what hooked you hardest!

2025-11-13 10:17