There is a certain feeling of power we feel when you see a whole functioning city on your screen, knowing you built it and you’re the one keeping it running. I’m a huge fan of city building games.
I’m always on the look out for something new or different. With so many names out there it can get difficult picking just one to try out.
We’ve taken the time to look at the many titles that can be found on Steam and picked out those that really stand out, whether that’s via the mechanics or the story.
Here are some unique and fun city building games on Steam; from popular ones you may have already experienced to completely new titles you must try out.
Townscape
Oskar Stålberg
| Developers: | Oskar Stålberg |
| Release Date: | August 26, 2021 |
| Find at: | Steam |
| Multiplayer: | N/A |
| Average Playtime: | 2 hours |
Let us start with something small and simple. Townscape is a very straight forward city building game.
In Townscape you have no citizens to take care of or objectives to chase. It is all about exploring your creativity. With the click of a button you can place down a building or platform. Connect them and fuse them to create bigger structures.
There is no limit to shape or size.
It is a very cute and relaxing game that you can spend hours on trying to build your perfect city, without the worry of managing it at the same time. The building options have a surprising amount of variety.
Different colors allow you to separate structures. Different fields on the grid also ensure different shapes to each building.
You can build anything from a mansion with a courtyard and fountains, to looming and interesting towers.
Townscape allows you to build a city of your own design with absolutely no limit or worry. I personally spend hours at a time creating my own cities in this game.
Flotsam
| Developers: | Pajama Llama Games |
| Release Date: | September 26, 2019 |
| Find at: | Steam |
| Multiplayer: | N/A |
| Average Playtime: | 7 hours |
Why would we limit our imagination and cities to land? In Flotsam the world has been drowned by the ocean and you must build your city out from floating garbage.
Fishing out trash from the ocean is the way you gather material and resources for your city and people. Recycling allows you to discover old world technologies and implement them. Though, for an apocalyptic setting the world of Flotsam is very colorful.
There is no dull colors or gloomy atmosphere which usually follows an apocalyptic game. Instead, Flotsam gives a very hopeful vibe.
The people you manage are lively and quirky. Each of them is unique with their own likes, dislikes, and specific needs that you have to cater to in order to keep them happy.
The more people you find, the bigger your floating city can be.
The whole game leaves you with a nice and happy feeling. Instead of fearing the ocean in a ruined world, you will instead enjoy the colors and usually calm sea. Stir your city in whatever direction you want it to go.
They Are Billions
| Developers: | Numantian Games |
| Release Date: | June 18, 2019 |
| Find at: | Steam |
| Multiplayer: | N/A |
| Average Playtime: | 66 hours |
They Are Billions is a game made by Numantian Games that is set in a steampunk post-apocalyptic alternative universe. Human kind has been almost entirely eradicated by zombies.
It is up to you to discover how the fall happened and where humanity had gone wrong.
You must lead and manage a colony of the final humans on Earth and keep them safe from the swarms of undead, as well as other natural threats.
This is a real time strategy game that focuses on strategic building. Each zombie in the game has its own AI and there are many of them. And by many, we mean a whole lot.
The way you organize your city and army will ensure your survival or stray you further from it.
At a single moment there can be up to 20,000 units on the screen. If a single one breaches your defenses everything will be at risk.
Can you ensure the survival of your colony?
Surviving Mars
| Developers: | Haemimont Games, Abstraction |
| Release Date: | Mar 15, 2018 |
| Find at: | Steam |
| Multiplayer: | N/A |
| Average Playtime: | 20 hours |
Surviving Mars is a game that gives us insight into a future that seems more than possible with each day. To colonize Mars has been one of humanity’s most ambitious goals and this game explores this scenario.
This game by Haemimont Games puts you in charge of a colony tasked with colonizing this alien planet.
You get to pick out your own space agency that will supply and support you in the journey. On the planet you will be in charge of all the infrastructure and expansions your colony undergoes.
The technology tree is randomized so you must improvise each of your runs, rather than rely on a single strategy to get through the game. You will have to cultivate your own food and energy to power the colony.
The colonists are all individuals and will have their own needs that must be met. Making people feel at home on an alien planet is key.
Even once your colony has become a success you can expand the gameplay by utilizing the games extensive Mod list. Surviving Mars will encourage you to make your own spin on the game with its expansive modding tools.
Endzone – A World Apart
| Developers: | Gentlymad Studios |
| Release Date: | March 18, 2021 |
| Find at: | Steam |
| Multiplayer: | N/A |
| Average Playtime: | 18 hours |
If the threat of billions of zombies wasn’t really up to your taste, maybe a slower paced setting could be for you.
Endzone is a post-apocalyptic city builder game set many years after an ecological disaster.
The people have spent generations hiding beneath the Earth’s surface and now they are ready to face the dangers above. You must command the last of human kind and build a brand new home for them all.
Your main goal is the pursuit of happiness for your people.
The world is dynamic with many threats looming, some obvious and some invisible. Radiation, droughts, and the weather itself are your enemies. Exploring the world will allow you to find treasures and discover what had truly happened to the world before you.
This game is decision based and your choices will ultimately decide the fate of your people and ultimately the rest of man kind.
Medieval Dynasty
| Developers: | Render Cube |
| Release Date: | September 23, 2021 |
| Find at: | Steam |
| Multiplayer: | N/A |
| Average Playtime: | 27 hours |
When playing city builders we are used to the bird’s eye view, feeling usually like some godly architect working and controlling the lives of our people. Medieval Dynasty brings us much closer to the action.
In Medieval Dynasty you play as a man looking for a new beginning. You escaped your home and came to a new land. You have to build your home from scratch and start assembling a community.
Find people you want to work in your village, build them houses and work stations. Find a suitable wife and make an heir to your dynasty.
You are tasked with personally managing everything within the village. From what resources are being gathered, where, and by who, as well as deciding which of your villagers marries who. The way the village looks is totally up to you.
Once your original character dies of old age, you take on the role of your son.
The game has a heavy focus on realism. The materials from which you build your buildings aid in the mood of your people and protection from the elements. Any cut down tree takes in-game years to grow back.
Even if your character has not bathed in a while, people will complain. This can actually ruin your chances in finding a wife as well.
It is a city building and managing game you are bound to be fully immersed into.
Timberborn
| Developers: | Mechanistry |
| Release Date: | September 15, 2021 |
| Find at: | Steam |
| Multiplayer: | N/A |
| Average Playtime: | 17 hours |
Timberborn is an early access game in which you manage a city of beavers. Currently available on Steam, you must build and manage a city through times of rains and plentiful water and times of drought.
Build irrigation systems and dams to help preserve your people during the droughts. You must protect your natural resources from drying out.
But be careful not to flood the valley once the water comes back.
The game is currently available on Steam and has much more planned for its development. Even in its current state it is a very fun builder, that brought in a unique mechanic of building stacking to its gameplay.
Farthest Frontier
| Developers: | Crate Entertainment |
| Release Date: | August 9, 2022 |
| Find at: | Steam |
| Multiplayer: | N/A |
| Average Playtime: | 20 hours |
Farthest Frontier takes you deep into unknown lands and untamed wilderness. Your people are settlers.
Together the people must tame the wilderness in order to build up their first town from absolutely nothing. You will depend on nature for everything; farm, fish, forage, and trade all you collect.
Farthest Frontier prides itself on its very complex farming system. You will have to be mindful of the environment and all that affects your crops and soil.
Things such as parasites, plant diseases, extreme heats and cold can all pose a threat to your crops. Without proper food production your people will starve!
All the maps in Farthest Frontier are randomly generated. You will have to depend on all the things you can find and use locally. Creating an economy allows you to trade and acquire things that are not natural to your region.
Ixion
| Developers: | Kasedo Games |
| Release Date: | December 7, 2022 |
| Find at: | Steam |
| Multiplayer: | N/A |
| Average Playtime: | 60 hours |
Ixion is a game developed by Bulwark Studios. It is a game that aims to combine the best city building, survival, and exploration games all together.
Your city is located on a large space station that is set on exploring the stars and solar systems far from our known planet. Not only must you maintain the stations, but you must keep the trust of all those aboard the station.
Each decision you will be making is a blind shot in the dark. Too many wrong decisions will lead your own crew to mutineer against you.
Explore and discover the unknown space around us.
