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Gaming
PC Games
What are the best city building games on PC?
20
Options
Considered
108
User
Recs.
Aug 2, 2023
Last
Updated
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20
Games
Considered
Best city building games on PC
Price
Steam Rating
Genre
--
Cities: Skylines
$29.99
Very Positive
City Simulation
--
Tropico 5
19,99€
Very Positive
-
--
Anno 1800
-
-
-
--
Frostpunk
$29.99
Very Positive
City-building, Survival
--
Banished
-
Very Positive
-
See Full List
--
Cities: Skylines
My Rec
ommendation
for
Cities: Skylines
My Recommendation for
Cities: Skylines
All
13
Experiences
1
Pros
7
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Large scale
At a total of 36 square kilometers of area to use (compared to Sim Cities 4), there is quite a bit of room to build and play.
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Top
Con
•••
Can be difficult to glean what one has done wrong in game
Cities: Skylines has difficulty letting the player know what they have done wrong, which results in a lot of head scratching.
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ReliablePamola's Experience
Many hours spent building, very enjoyable
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Specs
Steam Rating:
Very Positive
Genre:
City Simulation
Top
Pro
•••
Endless hours of fun
Cities Skylines is extremely addictive. It's open ended gameplay will ensure that you will be hooked on it for hours to come. It has a well-designed reward system which ensures that good governance will be rewarded and there's nothing as satisfying as seeing your CIMS move around in the wonderful world you created.
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Top
Con
•••
Expensive
If you want more gameplay features, you have to buy an expensive DLC, but you can get them on sale sometimes.
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Top
Pro
•••
Mods and assets
Through the Steam Workshop, you will have access to thousands of well-designed assets and awesome mods which help build the perfect city. You can also create your own assets to be used in the game.
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Top
Con
•••
Resource-heavy
If your computer doesn’t have decent specs, don’t expect to be able to run this game smoothly.
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Top
Pro
•••
Large amount of workshop mods & assets
With almost 150 thousand assets and mods, you can totally change the gameplay and look of the game.
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Top
Con
•••
Too easy
It isn't really a challenging game.
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Top
Pro
•••
Impressive AI
Cities Skyline runs on a brilliant Traffic and citizen AI that constantly calculates the consequences of your actions which helps provide a truly immersive and accurate experience.
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Top
Pro
•••
Depth of field
There is a depth of field effect that will blur distant buildings, which mimics Sim City's diorama effect. It can of course be adjusted with a slider as to how much or little to use.
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Top
Pro
•••
Steady stream of new content via DLCs
DLCs are optional, they do go one sale. Plus when a new DLC is released a bit of the content is released into the base game.
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$29.99
Recommend
17
1
--
Tropico 5
My Rec
ommendation
for
Tropico 5
My Recommendation for
Tropico 5
All
3
Experiences
1
Pros
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Allows for choice in play
There is a mission mode (which is great for those that want to learn the ins and outs of the game through progression) and a sandbox mode (which is more like a city builder where it is up to you how to create your civilization). This makes for a good choice of different play depending on what the user wants at the time. There is also a multiplayer mode that works through competition (who can export more cigars, build a bigger plantation, etc.) that can extend the endgame content when the player feels they have experienced all the single player has to offer.
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RickZeeland's Experience
Now on offer in the Humble Tropico bundle for €10.18 https://www.humblebundle.com/games/tropico-bundle-2021
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Specs
Steam Rating:
Very Positive
Hide
See All
19,99€
Recommend
11
--
Anno 1800
My Rec
ommendation
for
Anno 1800
My Recommendation for
Anno 1800
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
9
--
Frostpunk
My Rec
ommendation
for
Frostpunk
My Recommendation for
Frostpunk
All
8
Pros
4
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Engaging moral choices
You can enact and carry out laws in your city that will affect both the survival and happiness of your citizens in interesting ways. These moral choices add an entertaining and engaging depth to gameplay. For example, if your workers are frostbitten, you can house them in hospitals which costs resources. Otherwise, you can choose to amputate them which effectively takes them out of your workforce, yet they still have to be housed, kept warm, and fed. Children can be kept protected and warm, or you can send them off in the frozen wasteland to work like the adults. Every single action you take affects how content or upset your population is. Whether you keep them safe and warm, or make tough calls in the name of survival is your choice. These systems must be carefully balanced if you want to succeed. All in all, Frostpunk offers no shortage of interesting moral choices for you to make.
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Top
Con
•••
Camera zoom may ruin immersion for some
After building up your city, you can't zoom in to see workers headed down the bustling streets or admire the fine details on the cyberpunk style buildings. You're stuck with a zoomed out camera, which can sometimes ruin immersion.
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Specs
Steam Rating:
Very Positive
Genre:
City-building, Survival
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Unique premise
Frostpunk takes place in a steampunk-themed 1886 England. A freak snowstorm has wiped out most of the world's population and plunged Earth into a deep freeze. As the last remaining bastion of humanity, you'll be building and managing an outpost as you fight the weather and human nature itself. It's out of this dark and desolate post-apocalyptic premise that allows the game to offer a lot of grim, yet interesting gameplay choices.
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Top
Con
•••
Not much replayability
Due to no open sandbox/endless mode, a large amount of scripted events that will play out the exact same in every playthrough, and skill trees that essentially accomplish all the same end goals, there's not much replayability.
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Top
Pro
•••
Balanced simulation experience
Overall, the simulation aspects are handled quite well, and there is a lot to micromanage. Resources such as lumber and coal must be harvested and managed to construct buildings and keep your city warm. Rationing and finding food is important too, as your citizens need to eat to work. You will also be managing your "hope" and "discontent" metrics which is a general indicator of your population's happiness. Overwork them and they may revolt or die of exhaustion. Underwork them and they may starve or freeze to death. Finding this delicate balance between survival and keeping people content is where the game truly shines.
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Top
Con
•••
Limiting experience overall
Frostpunk's main scenario only runs about 45 in-game days (6-12 hours). There is no sandbox mode where you can keep growing and building indefinitely, making it a rather limited simulation experience overall. This may be disappointing to those who would prefer to keep their city going as long as possible.
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Top
Pro
•••
Captures the grim reality of survival incredibly well
As the world lies in a deep freeze and your city is just barely clinging to life, many situations will arise where tough choices have to be made in the name of survival. When facing a shortage of adult workers, you may opt to send children to work, and possibly their death, out in the wasteland collecting coal and lumber. When people die, you can bury the dead or, in the most dire of times, use them as a food source. When coming across survivors, you have to weigh the benefits and downsides of taking them in. They may provide extra labor, but it's just another mouth to feed. As the temperature plummets, you can order workers to double shifts to keep the heating going, but it puts them at risk for starvation and exhaustion. There are just so many little decisions that add up to driving the point home that you are really in the middle of a crisis and its captured incredibly well in-game.
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$29.99
Recommend
2
--
Banished
My Rec
ommendation
for
Banished
My Recommendation for
Banished
All
1
Specs
Specs
Steam Rating:
Very Positive
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
6
--
SimCity
My Rec
ommendation
for
SimCity
My Recommendation for
SimCity
All
10
Experiences
2
Pros
4
Cons
4
Top
Pro
•••
Stable and runs well on lower end systems
SimCity runs well on mid range hardware with little to no crashing.
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Top
Con
•••
Limited building space
SimCity limits the payers amount of building space which can ultimately prohibit the creativeness of a players city building.
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AdaptableNamtar's Experience
BEST GAME EVER
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Top
Pro
•••
Includes tourism
See More
Top
Con
•••
City to city resource sharing is limited
City to city resource sharing can only take place if both cities are able to provide said resource with one borrowing some from the other. There is no way to share resources with a city that for instance does not have a power plant and power is what the player wants to share.
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MemorableNikkal's Experience
Best game ever
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Design any city you want
SimCity allows for users to play and build how they like. From small country or suburban towns to huge cities and all the perils and gains they bring.
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Top
Con
•••
Always on DRM
Simcity features always online DRM, even for it's single player campaigns. Read Gamesindustry.biz article.
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Top
Pro
•••
City socialization
City socialization add in an extra element of story and advancement allowing user to specialize in certain fields that will allow for expanded options and buildings.
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Top
Con
•••
Takes a lot of dedication and time to learn the ins and outs of planning a city
Even after 100 hours users can still be learning about different features or plans on how to expand their towns from the earliest outsets.
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Hide
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Get it
here
Recommend
16
1
--
Concrete Jungle
My Rec
ommendation
for
Concrete Jungle
My Recommendation for
Concrete Jungle
All
5
Pros
3
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Great mix of strategy and puzzle
Concrete Jungle mixes city building strategy with aspects of line clearing puzzlers such as Tetris in a very original way.
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Top
Con
•••
Games can last a long time and difficulty is unknown until level is started
Not knowing how long a game will last can be frustrating for those just looking for a quick sessions. On top of this the terrain will not be known until a round is started, which means it could potentially be stacked against the player, which makes for unknown difficulty before a round is started.
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Specs
Steam Rating:
Very Positive
Top
Pro
•••
Deep gameplay
How the puzzle aspect is implemented allows for a lot of depth to the strategy gameplay
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Top
Pro
•••
Campaign mode that eases the player into the gameplay
By playing the campaign mode users can easily get used to the game at a comfortable pace, with new elements getting introduced the further one makes it. This is a great way to learn the gameplay as it can get complex.
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Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
2
--
Civilization 6
My Rec
ommendation
for
Civilization 6
My Recommendation for
Civilization 6
All
1
Specs
Specs
Steam Rating:
Very Positive
Hide
59,99€
Recommend
1
--
Tropico 6
My Rec
ommendation
for
Tropico 6
My Recommendation for
Tropico 6
All
2
Experiences
1
Cons
1
Top
Con
•••
Mac problems
Some users complain about bugs in the Mac version.
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RickZeeland's Experience
Go bananas for only €13.95 with the Humble Kalypso Bundle (12 items)! https://www.humblebundle.com/games/kalypso-hits
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Hide
39,99€
Recommend
5
--
SimCity 4
My Rec
ommendation
for
SimCity 4
My Recommendation for
SimCity 4
All
2
Experiences
1
Cons
1
Top
Con
•••
Windows XP game
As this game is written for Windows XP it might need some tweaking (see last video) to run it with high resolution support.
See More
RickZeeland's Experience
Now on offer on Steam for only 1,99€
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Hide
$19.99
Recommend
4
--
TheoTown
My Rec
ommendation
for
TheoTown
My Recommendation for
TheoTown
All
1
Specs
Specs
Steam Rating:
Very Positive
Hide
$6.59
Recommend
1
--
Dawn of Man
My Rec
ommendation
for
Dawn of Man
My Recommendation for
Dawn of Man
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
10
--
eCity
My Rec
ommendation
for
eCity
My Recommendation for
eCity
All
3
Experiences
1
Pros
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Free
See More
RickZeeland's Experience
The eCITY project aims to provide a pedagogical methodology supported by an online Simcity like simulation engine that stimulates Problem Based Learning in engineering schools.
See More
Specs
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Free
Recommend
2
--
Aven Colony
My Rec
ommendation
for
Aven Colony
My Recommendation for
Aven Colony
All
1
Specs
Specs
Steam Rating:
Mostly Positive
Hide
$29.99
Recommend
3
3
--
Home Wind
My Rec
ommendation
for
Home Wind
My Recommendation for
Home Wind
All
4
Experiences
1
Pros
2
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Low system requirements
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RickZeeland's Experience
An early access city building game in a procedurally generated world that is available for free.
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Specs
Steam Rating:
Mostly Positive
Top
Pro
•••
Free version
See More
Hide
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Free / paid
Recommend
1
--
Anno 1404
My Rec
ommendation
for
Anno 1404
My Recommendation for
Anno 1404
All
3
Experiences
1
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Con
•••
Ubisoft launcher
Even when purchased on Steam, the Ubisoft launcher is needed.
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RickZeeland's Experience
Now on offer on Steam for only 7,49€
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Specs
Steam Rating:
Mostly Positive
Hide
See All
$14.99
Recommend
1
--
CivCity: Rome
My Rec
ommendation
for
CivCity: Rome
My Recommendation for
CivCity: Rome
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
6
--
Zeus + Poseidon
My Rec
ommendation
for
Zeus + Poseidon
My Recommendation for
Zeus + Poseidon
All
2
Experiences
1
Pros
1
Top
Pro
•••
Realistic city management, not too deep but fun mechanics and compelling scenarios to play through
Must play for (Greek) mythology geeks.
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SuccinctTenjin's Experience
Played 100's of hours back in the day. One of the best city+managament sims out there and it still holds up in this day and age.
See More
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
5
--
Pharoah + Cleopatra
My Rec
ommendation
for
Pharoah + Cleopatra
My Recommendation for
Pharoah + Cleopatra
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
1
--
Caesar 3
My Rec
ommendation
for
Caesar 3
My Recommendation for
Caesar 3
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
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