Do you want to build a strong city? Do you want your own empire? Want to satisfy your need to conquer? Here are the Top 20 most addicted city building games you must know.
People always wanted to build their own dream town and these city building games can help you do that. Let’s play the role of a city planner and develop your city from the ground.
1. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Game genre: Real-time strategy
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is so attractive that everyone wants to try it, although you need to pay $19.99. Why is that? The game not only has brand new content with The Last Khans campaigns but also has many of the most famous campaigns in the history of Age of Empires II, including 21 campaigns and each campaign contains many missions, 60 historical battles to fight.
AOE II: Definitive Edition takes you thousands of years earlier, massive events from the world’s most influential people, the great attraction of Age of Empires II.
The campaigns are interesting and offer a wide range of play styles from chapter to chapter. For example the task of escorting the Joan of Arc through the forest full of battles, avoiding other fighting armies.
In the new campaign from The Last Khans, you are trying to unite different factions in the territorial plains without letting your leader die. At the same time, you need to try to capture objects from rival Transoxiana khanates.
The fundamentals of gathering resources, training the army and trying to destroy enemies, building wonders, stealing relics still stay the same, but the differences in the goal keep things interesting.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition: For PC & Mac
2. Cities: Skylines
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux
- Game genres: city-building game, construction and management simulation
- Game mode: Single player
In Cities: Skylines, industry becomes a bigger and more significant part of the game.
Gamers can customize their industrial areas with supply chains for four different resource types and unique factories. Well-managed industrial parks will gain levels and become more efficient.
In addition to the production lines, there is a new public service for mail management and a freight airport that facilitates the import and export of manufactured goods. There are also FIVE new maps, unpublished policies, new utilities and buildings (including resource mining machines, manufacturing buildings, warehouses, etc).
BUY / DOWNLOAD Cities: Skylines: For PC & Mac | For Xbox One | For PlayStation 4 | For Nintendo Switch
3. Caesar IV
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: City-building game, strategy
- Game modes: Single player‎, ‎multiplayer
Although the game set in thousands of years ago, it seems that all the needs of Rome are similar to what modern society wants.
Caesar IV will not only be construction and defense, but gamers must also pay attention to the field of entertainment and education for their subjects.
Your main purpose in Caesar IV is to build prosperous Roman cities while simultaneously completing a lot of unexpected missions. For example, when Rome needs a busy port to supply goods to the empire, or to attract the impression of neighboring countries, you will have to set up a prosperous cultural center.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Caesar IV: For PC
4. Pharaoh
- Platform: Windows
- Game genre: city-building game
- Game mode: Single player
Pharaoh is a strategy game from the late 20 century, enough to make people have nostalgia about their childhood. Gamers will play the role of an incumbent Pharaoh building a powerful Egyptian empire.
In the game, there are also religious elements of Egyptian worship that will surely interest you.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Pharaoh: For PC
5. Tropico 5
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Xbox 360, Linux
- Game genres: Construction and management simulation, government simulation game, city-building game
- Game mode: Single player, multiplayer
Tropico 5 is a game set in the city building simulation. Gamers will play the president El Presidente to build the country of Tropico to become rich and prosperous.
In Tropico 5, players will be able to decide their own national destiny, you can be a ruler to create jobs and equality for everyone, or a tyrant with high taxes who just to fill their pocket. Your choices will greatly affect your country, so players will have to think more about each of their choices.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Tropico 5: For PC & Mac | For PS4 | For Xbox One | For Xbox 360
6. Anno 2070
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Game modes: Single-player, multiplayer
- Game genres: City-building game, Real-time strategy
Anno 2070 is Ubisoft‘s latest game project following the success of the real-time strategy game series that combines the simulation genre.
The game takes players towards the future in 2070, a time when the land area is significantly narrowed due to rising sea levels.
Climate change is clearly everybody’s task, but their perceptions are not the same. Typically in Anno 2070, society is divided into two major factions: Eco and Tycoon.
After you have prepared the facilities and resources, you must develop an army to invade or prepare for the imminent defense war. At this point, war will occur as often as both sides have flourished and began to expand their territory.
It is worth noting that your territory includes not only land and offshore, but also in the vast ocean. By 2070, science and technology have grown to the limit, allowing people to build cities on the ocean floor so that we can make the most of our natural resources.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Anno 2070: Ubisoft | Steam
7. Sid Meier Civilization VI
- Game genres: turn-based, strategy, city-building
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PlayStation 4
- Network connection: not required in single mode
Similar to previous Civilization versions, Civilization VI will take people to an era of civilization in which players will play the role of a great leader. You must find a way to unify the world through gentle foreign policies, or aggressively promoting war to conquer the world.
This second expansion of the game will be called Gathering Storm and will bring a lot of valuable additions to Sid Meier’s Civilization VI. The main highlight of Gathering Storm will be “natural disasters”. Yes, natural disasters like storms, earthquakes, volcanoes will be added to the game. These factors will easily destroy the civilization that you have built so hard without precautions.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Civilization VI: For PC & Mac | For PS4
8. Anno 1404
- Game genres: city-building simulation, strategy
- Platform: PC
- Network connection: required in multiplayer mode
- Multiplayer: Only with the Venice expansion
- Minimum system requirements: minimum Windows XP, processor Pentium 4 3GHz or comparable, graphics DirectX9-compatible graphics adapter with 128 MB RAM.
- Age rating: 7+
- Easy to play: the tutorial system is not so good. It may be difficult for a beginner to figure out how things work in the game.
When you start Anno 1404, you will be given a ship by a warlord and begin your journey to conquer the ocean. The game will recreate an image of the vast sea, cloudy wind, there are white foam waves flapping on the sand. Once you find a suitable, large, uninhabited and uninhabited island, it’s time for you to drop anchor and start building your own empire.
Anno 1404 is not only limited to the Western islands, but you can also conquer the eastern islands, with completely different architectural styles. After that, the development process will not be much different from that in Europe when you build farmers’ markets and develop.
In terms of graphics, Anno 1404 really makes fastidious players also satisfied with its vivid authenticity. Blue sea surface with wavy white foam waves. You will admire the magnificent European cities, a city full of art and poetic Venice, a symbol of Renaissance Italy.
Talking about the sound of the game is also extremely great when the monumental music bearing the imprint of medieval Europe. The songs will make you more energized and more excited to continue your arduous journey.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Anno 1404: For PC
9. Frostpunk
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: City-building game, survival game
- Mode: Single player
Frostpunk is set in 1886, alternating with the eruption of Krakatoa and Mount Tambora, the fading of the Sun and other unidentified factors that cause icy weather around the world. The frost made the crops fail to grow which led to the deaths of millions.
Your task is to build a city so people can survive. The center is a heated reactor in the middle, providing both operating energies for the city’s buildings and plant systems. You will have to calculate reasonably so as not to fall into the shortage of energy to warm people here because when that happens, there will be no hope.
Mechanism of survival in the game bears the direction of the blockbuster This War Of Mine years ago. However, everything in Frostpunk is raised to a new level, a larger scale, a lot more complicated.
Gameplay requires very high management skills from the player. It will take quite a while for you to get used to the game. But when things are under control, Frostpunk will be a very powerful addictive drug for you.
Buy / Download Frostpunk: For PC | For PS4 | For Xbox One
10. Planet Base
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, MacOS
- Game genres: Simulation, strategy, city-building
- Game mode: Single player
Planet Base is a strategy game where you guide a group of space settlers trying to set up outposts on a remote planet.
In the game, you play the role of architect and facility manager, telling your locals where to build the structures they will need to survive. You will have to ensure that they have a constant supply of oxygen, food, and water to live.
You will gather energy, extract water, mine metals, grow food, produce bots, and build a completely self-sufficient base in a harsh environment.
Buy / Download Planet Base: For PC & Mac | For PS4 | For Xbox One
11. Banished
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: City-building, strategy
- Game mode: Single player
This is not a game with the flashy of the fighting army, it requires players to use their minds and manipulate tactics. You need to use resources appropriately to build a mighty city in the middle of a wilderness.
In the game, you will command a group of exiled people to an area of nothing. And you have to think about how to use available resources appropriately to help grow from a small village to a big city. The game emphasizes tactics and intelligence that are suitable for the “big brains”.
Buy / Download Banished: For PC
12. The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom
- Platform: PC, MacOS
- Game genres: City-building, real-time strategy
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
If you are a long-time fan of the genre of city-building and economic management, you should definitely not miss the following extremely good and unique game. Simply because this game series always knows how to refresh itself through multiple versions. And with the change in graphics, sound, and challenging gameplay, brainstorming, the latest version of this series deserves to be a potential candidate for the title of a good game.
Like every other strategy game, The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom offers players the option to play single and multiplayer. Unlike the previous version, the single player in The Settlers 7 is carefully cared for as you could play the game campaigns longer. Through these campaigns, the game teaches you the basics before you test your skills on a larger scale.
A huge difference between The Settlers 7 and other tactical games is the division of the map into small areas (can be called bastion, territory, area, land or simply Sector ).
In a map there will be a lot of points, they are linked together into unique routes that can visualize these points like the stars in a large constellation, and the path between the points. This is exactly the fantasy of those stars. In the case of areas occupied by other players, you are forced to put your efforts into success in order to capture that area.
BUY / DOWNLOAD The Settlers 7: For PC & Mac
13. Aven Colony
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: City-building game, strategy
- Game mode: Single player
In Aven Colony, gamers will come to the planet Aven Prime, a place full of vegetation, tundra terrain, desert that are similar to the Earth. This will be the new home of mankind and you have the duty to build and develop it into a place worth living.
Aven Colony has a menu for building and upgrading works that are very intuitive. Besides, the control mechanism in the game is also designed to be simple to match console gamers.
Start by developing a small area with a range of food, energy and housing issues. After balancing the output into production, you will face an increase in demand for living, forcing players to return to the development stage with dozens of new arising.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Aven Colony: For PC | FOR PS4 | For Xbox One
14. Surviving Mars
- Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, MacOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows
- Game genre: City-building game
- Game mode: Single player
Surviving Mars is a colonial building game on Mars and is modeled after real Martian data. Prior to Surviving Mars, the development team of Haemimont Games had participated in developing a number of games of the same genre such as some parts of the Tropico series so it was quite sure to design the gameplay mechanics.
In addition to the survival factor that makes the game experience quite challenging, the gameplay of the game does not have much difference compared to other games of the same genre.
The game is more of a construction and management element, so it doesn’t put much emphasis on the plot. However, the game still uses content details to create events that occur in the colony to bring challenges to the player. Such as epidemics, wars or hostile companies, rebel AIs or aliens, etc.
You also produce resources, build Domes and other structures to manage the inhabitants of the colonies.
In particular, the red planet does not have oxygen to breathe, so things like shelter, water, oxygen and food are the top priority for the survival of its inhabitants.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Surviving Mars: For PC & Mac | For PS4 | For Xbox One
15. Urban Empire
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: City building, strategy, RPG, simulation
- Game mode: Single player
In Urban Empire, you will play the role of mayor of the city and govern the inhabitants throughout 200 years of history. The game offers infrastructure setting, city planning.
Urban Empire demonstrates the political nature of debating political decisions at the city council, blackmailing or bribing opponents, and so on. You will be able to strengthen the democratic rights of the people or ignore them and rule them with dictatorship.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Urban Empire: For PC
16. Valhalla Hills
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Linux, MacOS
- Game genres: Strategy, city-building, simulation
- Game mode: Single player
Valhalla Hills is a simulation game that builds and manages a Viking empire developed by Funatics. In this game, Odin has closed the gate to Valhalla, leaving the Viking heroes with nowhere else to go after death.
Now, you will have to choose one of the islands, plant and raise, build an entire city and lead the Vikings to the highest mountain, so they can step into Valhalla on their own.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Valhalla Hills: For PC & Mac | For PS4
17. The Sim City
- Platforms: PC, MacOS
- Game genres: Construction and management simulation, city-building game
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
The Sim City by EA is a game quite famous and not too strange to young people today. It attracts players because of its diversity and new changes through each level.
You can build a house as you want, build a city of your own and can also do the work you love such as painting, painting, police, filmmaking, etc. Moreover, your Sims can love, get married and have their own children.
Did you feel excited and attracted yet? And yet, you can also make money in a variety of ways from creating yourself a job that you enjoy, you can also plant trees or sell your own necessities to make money. With the money the residents of the city earn, along with the character named you earn can be used to buy cars, houses, or build and expand other entertainment areas.
BUY / DOWNLOAD The Sim City: For PC & Mac
18. Cities XL
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: City-building game, Massively multiplayer online game
- Game mode: Single-player‎, ‎multiplayer
Coming to Cities XL, players continue to have the opportunity to transform into the “leader” of a city with dozens of tasks to be solved.
In this version, the freedom of the game has been upgraded by 1 level and gamers can arbitrarily solve problems that arise according to their liking. For example, building a hydroelectric plant can bring a lot of profits but cause environmental damage, and you, as the city leader, are responsible for making the final decision.
You can do anything in Cities XL but remember the consequences will be unpredictable if gamers take care of one segment and neglect the other legitimate needs of the people (for example, you just focus on economic development without forgetting the entertainment problems of the people).
In Cities XL, players will have to take care of every aspect to make the city a better day. It may be a new building of close intimacy with other mayors or simply an act of conduct to inspect the people.
Remember, in order for your city to develop in a good way, you must always know how to balance the painful problems of society such as the economy, welfare policy, unemployment rate, pollution. environment, and so on.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Cities XL: For PC
19. Northgard
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, MacOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux
- Game genres: Real time strategy
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer (co-op)
Northgard is a strategy game based on the Northern mythology, in which you head a competing Viking family to gain control of a new mysterious continent.
The Viking ventured out to search for a new land and they finally did it. They found the land called Northgard. The Northmens always have the desire to expand their lives on the new coast via trading, conquest, exploring. These brave warriors do not yield to this mysterious, dangerous land and want to exploit its richness.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Northgard: For PC & Mac | For PS4 | For Xbox One | For Nintendo Switch
20. Foundation
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: City-building, simulation, strategy
- Game mode: Single player
Gamers who’d like to organize strategies, build cities and expand businesses will love Foundation. Your job is to create a strong hustling bustling country and protect the nation from invasions.
Foundation PC opens a new era of city-building games with a professional organization system. Besides developing agencies, you also have to build monuments, works and manage resources effectively.
Foundation provides you with powerful building tools to create numerous monuments, castles, buildings, barracks, and so on. They are closely linked together and create a harmonious whole, a strong empire in the time. Medieval.
With medieval architecture and modernized designs, you can recreate the city in the classical or creative design language of your choice.
BUY / DOWNLOAD Foundation: For PC
Summary: Top 20 best city-building games
- Age of Empires II
- Cities: Skylines
- Caesar IV
- Pharaoh
- Tropico 5
- Anno 2070
- Sid Meier Civilization VI
- Anno 1404
- Frostpunk
- Planet Base
- Banished
- The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom
- Aven Colony
- Surviving Mars
- Urban Empire
- Valhalla Hills
- The Sim City
- Cities XL
- Northgard
- Foundation
And that brings us to the end of this top 20 best city building games you must know. Some of the games above are also available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch platforms.
If we have missed something, please comment in the comment section below, share it with your friends so they can spend their time in these magnificent games. We will always keep this list up to date so you can enjoy our article. What are you waiting for? Let’s call a friend and start playing! It is gaming time!
