City-building games are timeless because their mechanics easily engage players. Gamers can become engrossed in the process of planning zones, researching services, developing policies, and ensuring logistics run seamlessly. Watching cities thrive and discovering new ways to enhance systems can lead players to invest countless hours in the same game.
Developers are constantly finding innovative ways to rejuvenate the genre, with some games even being utilized to research and simulate real-world urban development policies. Others blend city building with related genres to introduce new challenges and settings, offering players unique experiences.
Updated on January 2, 2024, by Rie Takumi: As 2023 transitions into 2024, the roster of incredible new city-building titles continues to grow. Each title brings something fresh to the table, often featuring a significant secondary mechanic that sets it apart from competitors. This could range from an exciting siege or horde mode to a focus on economics and realistic policies. Several titles have progressed from the early access stage and are gearing up for their full release in 2024. Early gameplay footage and reviews from beta testers indicate promising prospects for these games. With a supportive city-building community, these titles are poised for widespread success and enduring popularity.
17 Night Is Coming
Full Release Coming 2024
Set for release in 2024, Night Is Coming combines settler-like city building with horror, creating a tactical survival simulation.
The game primarily involves settlement building and management in the Carpathian Mountains. Settlers are tasked with gathering, mining, and producing resources, as well as constructing homes and defenses, all while honing crafts to enhance individual skills and town development.
Training settlers becomes crucial as they face nightly assaults and adverse weather conditions. Waves of monsters inspired by Slavic mythology threaten settlements unless their baron is vanquished first. Avoiding these challenges comes at the expense of encountering even more formidable and perilous situations.
16 Celestial Empire
Chinese City Builder Coming In 2024
Built on Unreal Engine 5, Celestial Empire boasts impressive visuals inspired by Chinese history and aesthetics. The visuals align with other shenmo works, depicting gods, demons, and even a floating world that presents a captivating challenge.
At its core, Celestial Empire revolves around enhancing a city as its appointed governor. Strategic planning of infrastructure, trade routes along the Silk Road, and interactions with gods and demons are pivotal for success in this game.
15 Laysara: Summit Kingdom
Early Access To Full Game On April 2024
Unlike most city-builders, Laysara: Summit Kingdom challenges players to establish a thriving society atop a mountain, susceptible to avalanches, thunderstorms, and other natural calamities at any moment.
Efficient resource management is critical to ensure the well-being of settlers across all three levels of the mountain. Players must make decisions such as constructing artificial avalanche barriers with precious materials or prioritizing the enhancement of transport networks. While the game lacks a specific release date apart from a broad 2023 window, a demo is currently available for download on Steam and GOG.
14 Gord
Mixed (417 Steam Reviews)
Gord shares similarities with Night Is Coming, placing players and settlers in perilous circumstances where they must combat to protect their tribe. Familiar Slavic terrors loom in the darkness, posing a challenge that can be overcome with melee combat and potent spells. Conquering these threats is pivotal for overcoming diverse scenarios, or objectives, set in this procedurally generated realm.
Amidst battles and scenarios, managing the tribe's growth and preserving sanity presents additional obstacles. Death, hunger, illness, and other adversities impact a settler's mental well-being, potentially leading to breakdowns or desertions. Establishing a secure city complete with essential resources is essential to maintaining a healthy population and offering players more time to achieve their objectives.
13 Cities: Skylines 2
Mixed (30,737 Steam Reviews)
Eight years after the release of the original game, Cities: Skylines 2 introduces new features, enhanced tools and AI, and expanded elements.
Road and zoning tools, public and cargo transportation, traffic AI, and city services now feature more nuanced mechanics, enhancing their fundamental functionality. Skylines 2 also incorporates diverse climates to complement its four seasons, presenting players with weather-related challenges to consider when planning their cities. Changes to economic and production simulations also test players' abilities to strategize for a thriving city.
12 Landnama
Mostly Positive (293 Steam Reviews)
Landnama is a Viking-themed fusion of a dungeon crawler and city builder. Exploration, expansion, and survival dictate the player's actions as they settle hostile lands revealed through hex tiles. With the Winter's Toll on the horizon, every clan's contribution becomes invaluable.
Surprisingly, the game lacks combat. Instead, players face the challenge of erecting settlements that can withstand the harshness of winter. Sonderland, the developers, even encourage players to take breaks and appreciate the music and art while overseeing their clans.
11 Pharaoh: A New Era
Mostly Positive (3,359 Steam Reviews)
Pharaoh: A New Era is a reimagining of the 1999 Sienna Studios city-builder Pharaoh. While it remains faithful to the spirit of the original, the game incorporates quality-of-life improvements and updated graphics to welcome both new and returning players to the enchanting realm of Egypt.
However, it is the game's classic feel and mechanics that set it apart. Its steep learning curve is offset by an intuitive and user-friendly interface, guiding players through the primary aim of creating a prosperous city along the Nile. A New Era also accounts for the Nile's floods, enabling players to plan effectively around this natural phenomenon.
10 Desynced
Very Positive (934 Steam Reviews)
While set in a sci-fi universe, Desynced unfolds on a vast planet replete with lush forests, picturesque deserts, and meadows teeming with extraterrestrial life. Players must dispatch their AI-led drones, under the guidance of ELAINE, to search for a suitable, resource-rich location where they can construct facilities to repair their ship.
Exploration and automation play pivotal roles in advancing through the game. Advanced customizable parameters, drag-and-drop scripting, and logical pathing provide assistance as players master resource management and strive to complete their objectives. The online multiplayer mode offers varied experiences, allowing players to tailor their gameplay to their preferences.
9 Ratopia
Very Positive (1,725 Steam Reviews)
Ratopia is a delightful blend of Don Bluth-style adorable animals, Terraria, and Thronefall. Players assume the role of a leader among Ratizens and must ensure the well-being of their people. Beyond constructing functional cities, players must create intricate tax policies and make discoveries to advance their rat colony.
Players are encouraged to explore the world through tunnels. Expeditions unveil new lands, schematics, and resources, but they may also awaken apex predators, bringing peril to the colony.
8 Pioneers Of Pagonia
Very Positive (1,813 Steam Reviews)
True to its name, Pioneers of Pagonia immerses players in an archipelago, tasking them with developing settlements after a cataclysm ravages colonies. Traversing from island to island, players explore the map to establish territories, locate resources, plan logistics, and forge alliances with villages to unite the archipelago.
Unlike The Settlers, the lead developer Volker Wertich's previous work, Pagonia does not feature real-time strategy controls. Combat, patrolling, and a village's progression hinge on the player's city planning and decision-making skills. Grasping the game's core mechanics is essential, as each map is procedurally generated and presents a unique experience with every playthrough.
7 Terra Nil
Very Positive (4,367 Steam Reviews)
Unlike traditional city-building games, Terra Nil challenges players to restore a desolate world and rejuvenate its barren landscape.
Players begin from scratch in this environmental strategy game. Eco-technology aids players in transforming desolate fields, toxic soil, and polluted oceans into vibrant habitats for wildlife. However, in this reverse city-builder, any technology used to terraform the wasteland must also be reclaimed before players depart the area.
Ultimately, Terra Nil preserves the essence of city-building, allowing players to rebalance ecosystems to provide a sustainable habitat for wildlife.
6 Against The Storm
Overwhelmingly Positive (17,711 Steam Reviews)
While primarily a city builder, Against the Storm incorporates roguelike elements, ensuring each playthrough is fast-paced and challenging. Players must construct settlements around the Smoldering City to counter the looming threat of a corruptive forest and a treacherous landscape. Once established, villages must fulfill tasks while players strive to maintain the villagers' contentment.
Each round offers opportunities to unlock technology that eases subsequent playthroughs. With every procedurally generated map presenting new challenges, builders must strive to achieve as many objectives as possible within hour-long playthroughs.