A city/town-building is a genre of simulation game where players plan, build and manage a city or town. Due to their strategic nature, city-builder games have been getting more and more popular on PC and consoles. In this article, Gurugamer is going to showcase the top 5 best city builder games to try out in 2023.
1. Rimworld
This game is fantastic if you like to build a colony from the ground up, it's very interactive and you'll always have something to do, be it planning a new room for your base, building up defenses, creating a more reliable food source, or even raiding enemy factions. At first, it's very daunting as there is a lot to get used to, but each new discovery comes with a new way to experience the game, your story is always your own and it'll never be the same as before, lending this game to nigh-infinite replayability, and that's not even considering mods which are abundant, relatively easy to make yourself and very active.
While there is no set story, this game is still both heartbreaking and hilarious. Things can go in any direction - you could have a trader caravan arrive to sell items just as a raid occurs, causing a massive shoot-out between two major groups just outside your base. Afterward, you can mop up all their valuables and turn their corpses into meals and skin, maybe for that human leather hat you've always wanted.
2. Anno1800
In Anno1800, you play as a city planner and must build and manage your own city. The game is set in the 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution, and you must use your resources wisely to grow your city and become a successful leader. One of the things I loved about this game is the attention to detail in the graphics. The buildings and landscapes are beautifully rendered and really bring the world to life.
As you progress through the game, you'll have to manage a variety of different resources, including food, goods, and workers. This can be challenging at times, especially as your city grows and your needs become more complex. You'll have to make tough decisions about how to allocate your resources and which buildings to construct in order to keep your city running smoothly.
In addition to managing your own city, you'll also have the opportunity to trade with other players. This adds an extra layer of strategy to the game, as you'll have to decide which goods to produce and trade in order to maximize your profits. The multiplayer aspect of the game is well-implemented and adds a lot of replayability.
3. Frostpunk
Frostpunk is a catastrophe simulator and pits you, a simple ape with opposable thumbs, against the cruel and ultimately deadly effects of the oncoming global apocalypse. In Frostpunk, you must balance the needs of what may very well be the last people on earth, with the needs of the generator that keeps your city warm and alive (and that will doom you to failure should you be unable to keep it lit or accidentally make it explode), whilst fighting with the daily struggle to scrape together resources in a frozen apocalypse.
If you force your people to work gathering wood, steel and coal in the frozen snow, they will get sick, but building better resource-generating buildings takes time and extra resources you may not have. If your people get too sick, they will get frostbite, forcing you to choose between leaving them sick and bedridden for the rest of their (probably short) lives, or leaving them as amputees, who will be unable to work and may eventually commit suicide rather than continue to be a burden in such extreme circumstances.
4. Dwarf Fortress
This is not a drill. This is one of the most complex games ever created. It's hard to call it a game when you start to understand it at a deeper level. This is a Fantasy World Generator/Simulator, which doesn't fit neatly into the box of many of its contemporaries that came after it. This is the game that inspired Minecraft. This is the game that inspired Infiniminer. All rivers flow from one source and this is that source.
Are you looking for a fantasy war simulator where you take on huge sieges at your own base? This is that game. Are you looking to create a peaceful utopia where all the game races and people can come together to drink and be merry? This is that game. Are you looking for a game where the world you exist in has thousands of years of recorded, readable, discernible history that you can read from start to finish? This is that game. Each world you generate can be any of the above or more. Want a fort designed around just selling musical instruments? Done. Want to focus a fort on living aboveground instead of underground, building on the surface a more human-style fortress with walls and gates, and bridges? This. Is. That. Game.
5. City Skylines
There is a very realistic feel to this game. It's not just about throwing out color-coded building zones, but more about true city management. Do things right and your population will be grateful and steadily grow. Do things poorly and your city will clear out faster than a zombie apocalypse could make it happen. Numerous tools are at your disposal as expected with an interesting dynamic that truly brings realism into the game. Cities can be carved up into different districts and each district can have its own set of policies and characteristics. Players even choose the names. But it doesn't just stop there. Players can give custom names to just about everything in the game including its citizens.
Transportation and pollution will be key challenges as with any game of this type. Having experience with previous endeavors like the Cities in Motion series, Colossal Order has easily found a way to challenge players along these lines. Cars and trains, ships and planes. Cities Skylines has it all. The water simulation is spectacular as well. Placing your sewage disposal upstream, for example, could result in contaminating your citizens' water supply.
Realistic flooding is another possible scenario. The maps included are gigantic and beautifully designed terrains that offer endless possibilities when planning your city and continued population growth unlocks the ability to expand to adjacent tiles on the map as well as make more buildings and options available (such as taking out loans). These options are tied in with overall success and not just simply from having enough funds available, a feature that definitely enhances the experience.
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