City building games have this unique ability to make you pleasantly anxious all the time about the city you run and the wellbeing of its population. There’s plenty of things to take care of; from lining up buildings efficiently to making sure that the folks living in them are looked after. You can be an ideal leader or lose control and watch everything you’ve built burn to the ground. That latter part could be a lot of fun too. Anyway, we’re here to give you a compilation of the best city building games you can play right now on a variety of platforms. Here goes the list.
Tropico 6
The latest in the much-loved series, Tropico 6 again puts you in the shoes of El Presidente, the leader of a Caribbean island nation. It asks you to guide the country throughout four different eras of world history, namely the Colonial era, the World Wars era, the Cold War era and the modern era. Available for Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4 and the Xbox One, Tropico 6 not only makes you focus your attention on the construction and management of your cities, but also adds a twist with its political simulation aspect. This gives it a grand nature, and challenges you to make important political decisions that ultimately affect the fate of the whole world.
The Colonists
Ever heard of robots wanting to be humans? The Colonists takes this concept and asks you to guide a group of escaped robots, even as they build a colony for themselves on a distant planet. On this planet, they won’t find any swanky malls or exquisite casinos like on Indiacasinos.com, but they will encounter plenty of resources that they can put to use in order to satisfy their ultimate goal of becoming like humans. You can play The Colonists on PC, Mac as well as Linux machines.
Anno 1800
For those who love history, Anno 1800 is the perfect city building game to treat yourselves to. As its name suggests, it starts at the cusp of the nineteenth century, right when the industrial revolution is about to kick off. It puts you in charge of creating and maintaining a city built on the innovation of your research and technological advancement. Even as you build trade routes and head out on expeditions to grab useful resources, you’ll be faced with taking care of important tasks like grappling with competing rulers, civil unrest and political warfare. Released in 2019, Anno 1800 can be grabbed now for PC.
Frostpunk
Frostpunk marries the city-building genre with survival elements, and that’s what makes it so popular. It’s set in an alternate history 1886 where several geographical anomalies have caused a worldwide ice age. And this ice age has arrived just as humans were in the middle of building a sheltered steampunk-powered city, leaving its work unfinished. The game features three different scenarios, each with their own different backgrounds and storylines. Moreover, two additional scenarios were added later on as DLC. An Endless Mode is also part of the game that shuns the main story, and allows you to try and survive for as long as possible. It’s available for PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 and the Xbox One.
Surviving Mars
At some point in the distant future, humans could very well be forced to leave Earth for good, and settle on the closest habitable planet, Mars. This game explores that possibility, and asks you to ensure that your colony on the red planet runs smoothly enough to allow its inhabitants to survive its harsh conditions. You need to take care that they have enough oxygen, water and food at all times, while also ensuring that their shelters are properly fortified. Surviving Mars also features branching stories called mysteries that add several events to the colony, including plagues, war, rival corporations, AI revolt, aliens and more. You can grab this game for PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 and the Xbox One
Cities: Skylines
You are the new mayor in a town, and are in charge of building a city from the ground up. While doing so, you’ll be managing every aspect of its urban planning like controlling zoning, road placement, taxation, public services and public transportation. Not only that; in order to safeguard the populace, you will also need to take care of health, employment and pollution levels. Available for PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch, Cities: Skylines is known for its realistic nature that really gets you hooked on to it in no time.
Aven Colony
The premise of Aven Colony is what makes it so attractive. It has put humans on a distant alien planet, on which a new colony must be built to ensure the survival of the human race. You can build buildings like space elevators and skyscrapers, even as you cater to the needs of new humans who keep arriving in batches. The buildings not just house them, but also take care of oxygen creation, food cultivation, resource mining, protection of the colony, exploration and expansion. Everything on this planet is managed by flying drones that can build, upgrade, recycle and manage other tasks. Unpredictable elements like storms, dust devils, toxic gas and shard storms also arrive from time to time, so that’s something else you will need to protect the citizens from. Aven Colony can be played on PC, PS4 and the Xbox One.
Pocket City
If you’re looking for something more light that you can play on your phone during your daily commute, Pocket City is the right game for you. Its premise is simple. In fact, you can consider this is a mobile version of the classic SimCity games, but with eye-pleasing, adorable graphics. As the mayor, you need to ensure the wellbeing of the population by building proper housing, commercial and industrial zones. Oh, and don’t forget about those parks and recreation spots. Watching the city come alive, even as you slowly go on building it bit by bit is a joy. You can jump into Pocket City on either your Android or iOS devices.