10 Best City Building Games for PC

Ever wondered how your metropolis would look like? If you enjoy analysing cities and structures, why not try city building games to keep you occupied. PC has witnessed a huge surge in games thanks to platforms like Steam who have catapulted many popular games into the PC platform. While city building games were limited to rigid boxes and low quality visuals, today’s city building games have evolved to have realistic visuals and the freedom to fine tune your city to the minutest details. Here are some city building games for your PC

• Tropico 6

The popular city building game’s sixth edition allows you to play the narrative of a president ruling a bunch of islands simultaneously. While building a city from scratch, the game allows you take charge of not only supply and demand of various needs, the game also makes for a decision based strategy game which is filled with choices of corruption and parity, each of them having consequences that you need to deal with. Tropico 6 is about achieving a balance between the population and your electoral campaign that can be easily sabotaged by your own choices. The game keeps you hooked to it for a long time and is perfect for people looking for a game that involves more than just building structures.

• Aven Colony

Set into outer space, Aven Colony is a game based on a different planet that puts you in-charge of reviving the human race in difficult conditions. You are given the title of Governor and have a chance to climb up the ranks to become a President, all while fighting lack of oxygen, devastating natural disasters and deadly alien life-forms. The game sees a drastic change over the course of time which starts with building basic living structures like houses to having a space army at your disposal later in the game. Aven Colony Is much more than a city-building game and makes for a unique gameplay of extra-terrestrial survival.

• Frostpunk

Frostpunk is a much different game than your traditional city-builder with edgy graphics that are set in the ice age. Your task is to keep your citizens alive by running a heater that keeps them warm and alive. The game is not forgiving and produces tough choices for the player that can either make or break your gameplay. Choosing between one’s death and the entire city’s survival is just one of the examples of how the game puts the user into tough situations. Frostpunk is not for the casual gamers and the role of building your city only becomes difficult as the game progresses. Frostpunk is known as one of the hardest city-builder games not because of its ability to put down structures but its intense expectation of strategic decision making from its player.

• Surviving Mars

With the red planet as your home, Surviving Mars is yet another city-builder game that relies on the survival of humans on this barren planet. You as the player are responsible for finding the perfect land that can be fertilised for growing food. The game features stunning visuals and survival based gameplay that spans well into the latter parts of the game. If survival on another planet are the things that you like, you must give Surviving Mars a spin.

• SimCity 4

Right from early days on Windows 98, SimCity is one of the oldest franchises of city-building games. It is regarded as one of the first city building games on PC and its mobile version has also seen a fair amount of popularity in the Android gaming community. SimCity offers a unique experience to the player that surpasses any game that was made in 2003. This city-builder allows you to take charge of your city and instead of survival based gameplay, the game focuses on details that help you make your dream city. SimCity relies on nostalgia for the players to enjoy it and while many may see it as old, it still makes for a good trip down the memory lane for fans of the original SimCity.

• Cities: Skylines

This game has seen a meteoric rise to success mainly due to its integration with Steam and its enormously large Workshop feature. Cities: Skylines is without a doubt one of the best city building games that one can find right now. The realistic visuals combined with the possibility to add a McDonald’s restaurant in your city makes the game perfect for all kinds of players. The game has seen several DLCs that add new features and depth to the game and every time you think you have a perfect city in hand, a new DLC will make you revamp your city to accommodate new services for your citizens. One of the best features of the games is its mods community that allows you to even control the life of a citizen or even cause a natural disaster by yourself to unleash the wrath on your citizens. Cities: Skylines is one of the best games to start your city-building dreams.

• Anno 1800

Travel back in time with Anno 1800’s Industrial Revolution based setup. The game allows you to trade with outside connections and build your own city. The unique theme of the game makes the visuals all the more appealing as the game continues and you grow your empire. Offering several modes which include campaign, multiplayer and sandbox, the game’s endless nature makes anyone go wild with their city ideas. Anno 1800 is one of the few games that allows you to keep track of your enemy and make diplomatic ties with allies for the benefit of your city.

• Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition

Just like the humble beginnings of SimCity, Age of Empires franchise has also come very far since their early launch. Based on a strategy that revolves around building armies while the worker population gets busy in city-building, Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition is one of the classics that every gamer has played in the past. The recent iteration allowed the use of HD graphics which had earlier plagued the game’s visuals.

• Banished

Developed by Shining Rock Software, this survival game involves growing your city in a self-sufficient machine. Banished has an uncommon approach to its game-play that involves economics and optimisation that many city-building games lack. The complex nature of this game captures you into the game for a long time. The game has received mixed reviews with some admiring the beautiful graphics while others disliking the high difficulty in the early game. Either way, Banished offers a one-of-a-kind experience as a city building game.

• 10. Ostriv

Ostriv puts you in front of a struggling 18th century town where you are responsible to use your management skills to creatively revive the city. Its survival mode is filled with challenges while its sandbox mode is perfectly designed for the ones who seek perfection in their city without the limitations posed by the story of the game.

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