Top 26 City Builder Games of All Time

Traffic jams, frozen winters and demanding emperors all turn up here, with nineties box-art classics facing modern indie survival experiments.

1. 1
   Cities: Skylines

   Colossal Order's 2015 city builder that took SimCity's crown with traffic AI and endless Workshop mods.
   1000pts
2. 2
   SimCity 4

   Maxis's 2003 regional city sim, still modded and played two decades later.
   680pts
3. 3
   Anno 2070

   The 2011 futuristic Anno that split players between eco and industrial factions, with underwater cities.
   647pts
4. 4
   Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic

   3Division's hardcore Soviet-era republic builder where every brick and worker is simulated.
   624pts
5. 5
   Zeus: Master of Olympus

   Impressions' 2000 Greek city builder with gods, heroes and multi-city colonies.
   624pts
6. 6
   Anno 1800

   Ubisoft Mainz's 2019 industrial-age Anno of production chains, newspapers and the New World.
   560pts
7. 7
   Anno 1404

   Related Designs' 2009 trade-and-build game where Occident and Orient settlements depend on each other.
   560pts
8. 8
   Foundation

   Polymorph Games' grid-free medieval builder where villages grow organically.
   560pts
9. 9
   Farthest Frontier

   Crate Entertainment's frontier town survival builder with crop rotation, disease and raiders.
   485pts
10. 10
    Islanders

    Grizzly Games' 2019 minimalist island builder about placing buildings for points.
    485pts
11. 11
    Pharaoh

    Impressions' 1999 Egyptian city builder of Nile floods, monuments and dynasties.
    485pts
12. 12
    Timberborn

    Mechanistry's beaver colony builder of dams, droughts and vertical wooden cities.
    485pts
13. 13
    SimCity

    Will Wright's 1989 original that turned zoning, traffic and tax rates into a genre of its own.
    397pts
14. 14
    Kingdoms and Castles

    Lion Shield's 2017 cosy castle-town builder with dragons and Viking raids.
    397pts
15. 15
    SimCity 3000

    The 1999 SimCity that brought neighbour deals, waste management and a wall of advisers.
    397pts
16. 16
    Tropico 4

    The 2011 banana-republic builder where El Presidente balances factions, elections and tourists.
    397pts
17. 17
    Tropico 6

    The 2019 Tropico of island archipelagos, bridges and heists on world landmarks.
    397pts
18. 18
    The Settlers II

    Blue Byte's 1996 builder of road networks and production chains, loved for its busy little settlers.
    397pts
19. 19
    Against the Storm

    Eremite Games' 2023 roguelite city builder of short settlements under endless rain.
    397pts
20. 20
    Banished

    Shining Rock's 2014 survival city builder where one bad winter can wipe out a village.
    397pts
21. 21
    SimCity 2000

    Maxis's 1993 sequel that added isometric views, underground pipes and arcologies.
    291pts
22. 22
    Surviving Mars

    Haemimont's 2018 Mars colony builder of domes, drones and life-support crises.
    291pts
23. 23
    Frostpunk

    11 bit studios' 2018 society survival builder around a coal generator in a frozen world.
    291pts
24. 24
    Manor Lords

    Slavic Magic's 2024 medieval builder with organic village layouts, acclaimed in early access.
    291pts
25. 25
    Frostpunk 2

    The 2024 sequel that scales the frozen survival up to a city run by quarrelling factions and a council.
    291pts
26. 26
    Caesar III

    Impressions Games' 1998 Roman city builder of walkers, aqueducts and demanding emperors.
    0pts

Comments