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The 20 Best City Building Games

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For aspiring mayors and governors, city building games let you construct virtual metropolises, towns, and civilizations from the ground up, allowing you to leave your mark as an urban planner by developing settlements under varying historical or futuristic settings. While classic city building games established genre conventions like zoning and tax policies while enabling deep building customization, more modern installments build on those foundations with deeper simulation and enhancements. All those elements combined equal up to everything featured in the best city building games.

The most engaging city builders give you the tools to address complex urban planning challenges like citizen happiness, infrastructure, and traffic at your own pace, with the strategic depth of keeping all these plates spinning making for rewarding gameplay. Whether you want to create modern cities, historical towns, or even extraterrestrial colonies, assuming the mantle of mayor or benevolent dictator in this list of definitive city builders games provides ample flexibility and progression for amateur planners to construct the unique metropolis of their dreams.

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Best City Building Games

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Kalypso Media

1. 'Cities: Skylines'

Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC - Steam, Epic Games Store

Buy Now, $41.60

2. 'SimCity 4'

Available on: PC - Steam

Download Now, $19.99

3. 'Tropico 6'

Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC - Steam, Epic Games Store

Buy Now, $10.05

4. 'Anno 1800'

Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC - Steam, Epic Games Store

Buy Now, $19.93

5. 'Banished'

Available on: PC - Steam, GOG.com

Download Now, $19.99

6. 'Frostpunk'

Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG.com

Buy Now, $32.99

7. 'Townscaper'

Available on: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC - Steam, GOG.com, iOS, Android

Download Now, $5.99

8. 'Medieval Dynasty'

Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam, GOG.com

Download Now, $34.99

9. 'Surviving Mars'

Available on: PC - Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG.com

Download Now, $29.99

10. 'Anno 2070'

Available on: PC - Steam, Epic Games Store

Download Now, $19.99

11. 'Dawn of Man'

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam, GOG.com

Download Now, $24.99

12. 'Frozenheim'

Available on: PC - Steam

Download Now, $44.98

13. 'Against the Storm'

Available on: PC - Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG.com

Download Now, $29.99

14. 'Caesar 3'

Available on: PC - Steam, Epic Game Store

Download Now, $5.99

15. 'Pharaoh: A New Era'

Available on: PC - Steam, GOG.com

Download Now, $22.99

16. 'Rimworld'

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam, GOG.com

Download Now, $34.99

17. 'Aven Colony'

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC - Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG.com

Download Now, $29.99

18. 'Flotsam'

Available on: PC - Steam, GOG.com

Download Now, $24.99

19. 'Prison Architect'

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, PC - Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG.com, iOS, Android

Buy Now, $59.89

20. 'Aquatico'

Available on: PC - Steam, Epic Games Store

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