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In the realm of the “Best City Building games,” urban life rarely offers a leisurely stroll, except when you wander through a pristine park. The metropolitan landscape pulsates with noise, ceaseless commotion, and the occasional navigation conundrum. If only there existed a means to construct the quintessential city, one that could resolve all your urban tribulations.
No matter which game you choose, the main way to play is the same. It can be thought of as a computer game about building and planning. If you are a city planner or just want to unwind after a long day, city building games are a good choice. We’ve put together a list of the best city-building games for all devices so that you can find something you like. So, without further ado, read on to find out which games we think are the best for building cities.
Best City Building games Comparison Table
Game | Setting | Gameplay | Graphics | Multiplayer |
---|---|---|---|---|
Timberborn | Post-apocalyptic beaver civilization | Building, resource management, survival | Cartoonish, stylized | No |
The Architect: Paris | Paris, France | Architectural design, city planning, management | Realistic | No |
Anno 1800 | Industrial revolution | Economy management, trading, city building | Detailed, realistic | Yes (Co-op and PvP) |
Caesar 3 | Ancient Rome | City planning, construction, resource management | Isometric | No |
Pocket City | Modern city | Simplicity, casual gameplay, city management | Cartoonish, colorful | No |
Aven Colony | Alien planet colonization | Sci-fi, city building, resource management | Futuristic, detailed | No |
Cities: Skylines | Modern city | Extensive city simulation, urban planning | Realistic, detailed | Yes (Co-op and PvP) |
Timberborn
System Requirement | Minimum Specifications | Recommended Specifications |
---|---|---|
Operating System | Windows 7, 8, or 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
Processor | Intel Core i3-530 or equivalent | Intel Core i5-7600 or equivalent |
Memory | 4 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or equivalent | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or equivalent |
DirectX | Version 11 | Version 11 |
Storage | 2 GB available space | 2 GB available space |
Most of the time, people build and live in towns. In Timberborn, settlements are built by beavers, which you control. It’s your job to guide these furry animals as they build houses, gather materials, and do what beavers do best: build dams.
As you might expect, water is a very important part of the game. This is one of the ways that Timberborn is different from other city builders. The game is still in Early Access, but it has a loyal following and a lot of good ratings.
The Good
- A unique mix of building a city and being a beaver.
- Engaging and challenging gameplay.
The Bad
- Compared to other city-building games, this one has less content and features.
The Architect: Paris
System Requirement | Minimum Specifications | Recommended Specifications |
---|---|---|
Operating System | Windows 7 or later (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
Processor | Intel Core i3 or equivalent | Intel Core i5 or equivalent |
Memory | 4 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or equivalent | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or equivalent |
DirectX | Version 11 | Version 11 |
Storage | 5 GB available space | 5 GB available space |
The Architect: Paris is a very different kind of Best City Building games, but it will appeal to gamers who care a lot about details and the way things look. In this game, you can change everything about buildings, from their heights to their roofs and plants.
In fact, The Architect: Paris is more of a city designer game than a city builder game, but it has a unique take on the genre. It can take hours of your time because it makes you think creatively and want to be great.
The Good
- A very realistic and detailed look at Paris.
- Realistic city planning and accurate history.
The Bad
- Focusing only on Paris could turn off players who want to build cities in other places.
Anno 1800
System Requirement | Minimum Specifications | Recommended Specifications |
---|---|---|
Operating System | Windows 7, 8, or 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
Processor | Intel Core i5-4460 or equivalent | Intel Core i5-4690K or equivalent |
Memory | 8 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 or equivalent | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or equivalent |
DirectX | Version 11 | Version 11 |
Storage | 60 GB available space | 60 GB available space |
During the Industrial Revolution, you can use farms and warehouses to build an industrial metropolis in the game Anno 1800. In the game, you can still get people to visit your parks and museums. Storyline: This game has a story campaign that you can participate with, a sandbox that you can change, and a fun multiplayer mode.
You can either play against AI characters or make a huge kingdom look nice. Like other famous 4X games, the key to winning Anno 1800 is to get foreign investors and tourists to come to your city. There are three ways to play the game: the story, multiplayer, and sandbox. You should also pay attention to what other places do and how they are known, since you will be competing with them.
The Good
- Economies that are deep and complicated.
- Campaign based on interesting stories.
- Design and layout of cities can be changed in many ways.
The Bad
- Beginners will have a hard time getting used to the Anno series.
Caesar III
System Requirement | Minimum Specifications | Recommended Specifications |
---|---|---|
Operating System | Windows 7, 8, or 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
Processor | 1.8 GHz or faster | 2.4 GHz or faster |
Memory | 512 MB RAM | 1 GB RAM |
Graphics | 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 7 | 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 9 |
DirectX | Version 7.0a | Version 9.0c |
Storage | 700 MB available space | 700 MB available space |
Caesar III is one of the Best City Building games city-building games in the Caesar series. In the game, the player takes control of a Roman ruler whose job is to save and protect the people in his city. Story: In Caesar III, you can build cities, set up zones, and talk to the people in your region.
You can trade and have fun, but you have to stay in your town. Also, if you don’t please the Gods, bad things can happen.It has two ways to play: the main campaign mode, where you move forward by achieving goals, and the free build mode, where you don’t have to worry about an emperor or a goal. Invasion and attack are still a risk, though.
The Good
- This is a classic city-building game set in ancient Rome.
- Progression that is both hard and rewarding.
- Engaging campaign with many different goals.
The Bad
- Some players might be turned off by graphics and controls that look old.
Pocket City
System Requirement | Minimum Specifications | Recommended Specifications |
---|---|---|
Operating System | Windows 7 or later | Windows 10 |
Processor | 1.8 GHz dual-core CPU | 2.2 GHz quad-core CPU |
Memory | 2 GB RAM | 4 GB RAM |
Graphics | Integrated graphics | Dedicated graphics with at least 1 GB VRAM |
Storage | 150 MB available space | 150 MB available space |
If you want to build cities on your phone, Pocket City is one of the Best City Building games fun ones on iOS and Android, and it does a good job of making the genre feel right at home on touch screens. You can create and build your own city, from a small town to a big city, with just a swipe of your finger.
The little city builder has two main modes: one lets you unlock buildings gradually by completing quests and objectives, which gives your city’s growth a nice sense of progression, and the other is a sandbox mode where all the buildings are unlocked and you can just build the perfect city and watch it grow.
The Good
- Controls that are easy to use and a user-friendly interface.
- There are a lot of different buildings and city parts to unlock.
The Bad
- Compared to bigger titles, this one has less content and features.
Aven Colony
System Requirement | Minimum Specifications | Recommended Specifications |
---|---|---|
Operating System | Windows 7 or later (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
Processor | Intel Core i3 or equivalent | Intel Core i5 or equivalent |
Memory | 4 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GT 440 or equivalent | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 or equivalent |
DirectX | Version 11 | Version 11 |
Storage | 25 GB available space | 25 GB available space |
Best City Building games house is where you make it, and it just so happens that your house is now an alien world. Really, if you thought it was hard to move to a new house or country, just think about how hard it would be to move worlds. Aven Colony is another city-builder game that takes place in space. The goal of the game is to settle on an alien world and grow there. But not all worlds are like Earth, of course.
There are many different biomes on the surface of the world that you can discover and live in. Some are better places to live than others. For example, the wetlands will give your group a good source of water, while the deserts won’t have much to offer at all. You start out as the governor of the colony. If you take care of the people in your settlement and help it grow, you can finally become the president.
The Good
- Unique sci-fi setting on an alien planet.
- Storyline and campaign goals that keep you interested.
The Bad
- There aren’t enough ways to change the look and layout of cities.
Cities Skylines
System Requirement | Minimum Specifications | Recommended Specifications |
---|---|---|
Operating System | Windows 7 or later (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.0 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+, 3.2 GHz | Intel Core i5-3470, 3.20 GHz or AMD FX-6300, 3.50 GHz |
Memory | 4 GB RAM | 6 GB RAM |
Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or AMD Radeon HD 5670, 1 GB VRAM | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7870, 2 GB VRAM |
DirectX | Version 9.0c | Version 11 |
Storage | 4 GB available space | 4 GB available space |
Cities Skylines is the Best City Building games, made by Colossal Order, is the best city-building game right now. It is amazing, frustrating, and huge. Cities Skylines came out in 2015, but it’s still the best game after more than seven years. A big reason for the game’s success and stability is its huge army of modders.
In this way, the game in 2022, when this was written, is very different from when it came out in 2015. Many people would say that playing the original version of Cities Skylines on PC (the console version can’t be modded) is a waste of time when there are so many improvements to the game’s quality of life in the Steam Workshop.
The Good
- Building a city is a big part of this game.
- System for managing traffic and simulations that are very close to reality.
The Bad
- Not enough in-game help and tutorials.
FAQs
A: City-building games are a type of video game where the player acts as a city planner or mayor and is in charge of building and running a virtual city. In these games, you usually have to do things like divide land into residential, commercial, and industrial areas, manage resources, keep infrastructure in good shape, and meet the wants of the people who live there.
A: You can play city-building games by yourself or with other people. Many city-building games are single-player, so players build and run their cities on their own. However, some games have multiplayer modes where players can work together or fight against each other. In multiplayer modes, players can usually connect with each other’s cities, trade resources, and even play together or against each other.
A: Yes, you can usually plan and set up the layout of your city in a lot of different ways in city-building games. Players can usually zone different areas for residential, commercial, and industrial use, place buildings and infrastructure, and make road networks based on their tastes and strategies. Some games also let you change things like the scenery, the style of the buildings, and the decorations.