City simulators remain a busy genre filled with hit titles. Whether with current, medieval, futuristic or dystopian themes, the range of options for you to build your cities is wide. That's why we've brought you a list of the 20 best games of the genre in 2022 for all platforms. Check out!
1 Cities: Skylines
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4 e Nintendo Switch.
Cities: Skylines is a quintessential city-building game and one that we 100% recommend if you're looking for one of the best (or best) titles in the genre. The amount of detail and freedom that this game gives us is incredible, whether it favors us or hinders us.
As your city grows, you must take care of the buildings, districts, public transport lines, lanes and everything that is built. You should also establish civil policies and be aware of possible changes throughout the day or night. It's also good to know how to connect different parts of your city to ensure its prosperity. You will never be bored!
Cities: Skylines has mod support, with over 100.000 on Steam, so the ways to customize your game are basically endless.
2. Years 1404 and 1404: Venecia
Release year: 2009
Platforms: PC.
Anno 1404 is a game that invites us to colonize lands. It has combat, but the main focus is on building and trading settlements. Little by little, you must work to make your village prosper until it becomes the greatest power. Even though it's a lot of fun, the game isn't even close to being simple.
The Venice expansion is great if you love the city theme. In addition to adding more challenges and missions, it introduces a multiplayer mode that you can play co-op or against your friends to see who is the best builder.
3. SimCity 4 and Rush Hour
Release year: 2003.
Platforms: PC.
SimCity 4 is undoubtedly one of the great titans in city building games. Its premise is very similar to other games in the genre, but underneath that first layer it hides a deep richness. Over the course of the game, you must not only build and make your cities bigger, but also keep your inhabitants happy. Otherwise, they will leave!
The care you take in every aspect will define the success of your cities. Whether in the economy, health or education, among others, you must give your all as a manager. SimCity 4 includes different modes such as God mode, Mayor or My Sim, which are different ways to enjoy this impressive simulator. Try anyway; You will not regret!
4. Tropico 6
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One e Nintendo Switch (anunciado).
In Tropico 6 you play the role of island manager in the Caribbean. In fact, you could end up being a dictator. Even in such a great franchise, the sixth title managed to outdo itself and now allows us to govern different islands and face international challenges.
When managing an archipelago, transport and connections between different neighborhoods or islands are crucial. At the same time, you'll be able to do funny things, like asking for the Statue of Liberty to be stolen and giving speeches. Tropico 6 takes everything as a joke, but it still has spectacular gameplay.
5.Sim City 3000
Release year: 1999.
Platforms: PC.
The years weigh a little on SimCity 3000, but it's still one of the most sensational city-building games of all time. One of the details that players liked is the theme of consultants, which tell you which aspects you need to improve to prevent the city from sinking. With them, it's fun to manage finances, security, environment, education and health.
Managing the supply of electricity and drinking water is also crucial, as is keeping the population happy and ensuring quality of life. Otherwise, its inhabitants will come out to protest or the criminals will roam free! In short, even though SimCity 3000 is an old game, it's a must-have experience for all fans of this genre.
6. Caesar III
Release year: 1998.
Platforms: PC.
Caesar III is part of a saga in which our objective is to conquer the position of emperor and become the next Caesar. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to grow as a ruler, starting from the bottom until you receive all the necessary support. In the process, you must take care of peace, culture, prosperity, population, etc.
As you might have guessed, the buildings in Caesar III are based on the Roman Empire. If you love everything that has to do with this weather, it's more than enough to play! Even though much of the gameplay has to do with combat, you also need to manage and organize the inhabitants' houses well so that everyone can live well.
7. Frostpunk
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC, PS4 e Xbox One.
Frostpunk is a very curious city-building game that combines several survival elements. You will help the last group of humans on Earth to survive a new ice age. Thanks to steam technology, you will have to work hard to keep people's happiness high and expand your terrain with risky expeditions.
As it is not a very promising context, you will face numerous challenges based on the discontent of the inhabitants. People seek peace, prosperity and security in the face of the lethal circumstances they live in, and you decide how to move people forward. Will you be a tough leader or will you decide to be more sensitive and make everyone happy? There are no correct choices in Frostpunk!
8. Empires II
Release year: 2008.
Platforms: PC.
Imperivm Civitas II puts you in the simple yet complicated task of creating the best city in Rome. To do this, you will need to create fully functional regions in which not only show your talent in coliseums and temples, but also take care of the inhabitants to live in the best way. Prosperity is achieved with sweat and blood, and Imperivm Civitas II proves it well!
Other important points are resource management, to have enough to build and maintain buildings and allow citizens to play their roles. Trading posts are vital as they are a means of increasing productivity and improving diplomatic arrangements. Finally, water is very important. Make sure you have fountains and aqueducts!
9. Surviving Mars
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC, Xbox One e PS4.
Surviving Mars is an interesting game in the city-building genre. It presents the challenge of surviving on Mars and you are responsible for creating domes that act as small districts and that can have different functions.
It is important to well control the parameters of oxygen, water, shelter and food, in addition to obtaining resources. Each Surviving Mars game will have its own obstacles: from time to time plagues, wars and aliens will appear.
10. Banished
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC.
Banished is a game that doesn't focus so much on creating great cities, but on surviving exiled residents. You'll start from the lowest point, with just a few clothes and few resources, and you'll have to help the villagers start from scratch. The strong point is managing the citizens themselves, watching them grow until they die naturally or from other causes.
You will have to collect resources and assign the occupations of the inhabitants, to ensure that together they are successful. From time to time, traders will arrive and very important people will help you to have more animals and food, but it is also possible that they will bring diseases to your city.
11. City Life 2008 Edition
Release year: 2008.
Platforms: PC.
City Life is a great city building game that has a simple yet powerful editing tool. You can choose between different types of settings and environments and let your imagination run wild. You can build small towns or big cities full of skyscrapers. Little by little, your creation will come to life and you will then have to worry about the happiness of your population.
In this game, citizens are divided into six subcultures, each with different needs. This will make you have to choose well which buildings to create, as each group needs work, houses, health, etc. Not paying attention to them will lead to them causing riots throughout the city.
The 2008 version has more content than the original, with several monuments inspired by real buildings. In addition, satellite maps can be imported to provide even more rich scenery editing.
12. The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom
Release year: 2010.
Platforms: PC.
The Settlers is a saga known to management and strategy fans. In this seventh version, Campaign mode takes you on a journey in which you must achieve several different objectives. To succeed, you must primarily focus on one of three branches: commerce, technology, or military.
When managing the economy of your settlements, it is important to establish trade routes and upgrade your buildings. The economic aspect is very important in The Settlers 7, as it is a fact that you will pay constant attention to. From time to time, you will be forced to struggle and adapt quickly. Wrong decisions will hardly make you lose the game, but they will greatly delay your progress.
13. Aven Colony
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC, PS4 e Xbox One.
With Surviving Mars, did we go to Mars? Well, with Aven Colony, we're going to another solar system! You will be in charge of creating a new human civilization on the planet Aven Prime and, believe me, there will be no shortage of challenges. You'll have to find out how to build buildings in the most different environments, such as deserts, jungles and tundras. Being an alien planet, many surprises await you.
On the one hand, humans must coexist with alien races, some more dangerous than others. On the other hand, weather conditions change from one moment to the next and very strong storms happen! In addition to all these external factors, you need to manage the colonists in a way that earns their respect.
14. Factory Town
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC.
As you might have guessed from the title, in Factory Town, the focus of construction is not on creating cities, but on an industrial line. The objective of this game is to create a functional production chain, but without forgetting about building smart houses and collecting resources, medicine and accessories. You will still find magic items!
Planning each step is important because there are many ways to increase production, but not all are equally efficient. It is convenient to manage the workers well and choose the moments to get resources and improve the machines. Little by little, you will create a production network large and powerful enough to be the envy of the world!
15. Islanders
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC.
Islanders is not the most complete game of its kind, but it is one of the most colorful and relaxing of them all. If you're looking for a minimalist experience where you explore beautiful islands and create cities at your own pace, this game is for you. It doesn't really have a lot of content, but with the random generation of islands, you can certainly play a lot of different matches with each other.
16.Planetbase
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC, Xbox One e PS4.
Planetbase entrusts you with the curious task of colonizing four very different planets: a desert, an icy one, a gaseous one and the last stormy one. Each has its own particular challenges. In addition, you must ensure that there is enough oxygen, food and water and make use of solar and wind energy.
To succeed in Planetbase, you must use resources to improve technology and create robots. As your new civilization grows, you must create an efficient supply chain, grow crops and even create synthetic meat.
17. Pocket City
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: iOS e Android.
Pocket City is an excellent game of the genre that brings the experience to mobile phones. The gameplay does not lag behind games on other platforms. The construction tools are very good and of course you have to take care of the inhabitants! Sometimes you will experience natural disasters and all their consequences.
Pocket City has both paid and free versions (which contain ads). Also, it has no microtransactions, so everything unlocks over time.
18. Dawn of Man
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC, PS4 e Xbox One.
Dawn of Man puts you at the forefront of prehistoric humans who must survive and grow from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. For this, you will not only have to build houses and expand your territory, but also hunt, gather and prepare your people to face difficult times.
Hunger, storms, cold, wild animal attacks are just some of the game's dangers. Little by little, to ensure survival you must research new technologies, learn to cultivate and strengthen your settlements. Dawn of Man is therefore a different experience and not focused on building big cities, but it's certainly worth it if you're a fan of the genre.
19. Concrete Jungle
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC, iOS e Android.
Concrete Jungle is a game that mixes genres. It's predominantly a city-building game, but it doubles as a puzzle and card game. It challenges you to build strategically to create the right buildings at the moment and keep as many inhabitants happy as possible.
Concrete Jungle has a very flashy audiovisual and a fun local multiplayer mode that can be played both cooperatively and competitively.
20. Valhalla Hills
Release year: 2022.
Platforms: PC, PS4 e Xbox One.
We warn you right away that Valhalla Hills is not a game for everyone. Although the game deals with the expansion of the Viking population, most of the game is focused on managing the units themselves. You must ensure that they work and are increasingly productive, but also ensure that they are cared for and fed.
From time to time, Vikings do whatever they want or just do nothing. In this sense, Valhalla Hills is a unique experience that integrates very interesting mechanics.
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