Summary
The city-building genre is vast and saturated, with many titles of varying degrees of quality being released every year. These games can vary in scale, with standouttitles such asCities: SkylinesandTimberbornoffering more expansive experiences than indie titles likeAgainst The Storm.
Smaller titles, however,such as the aforementionedAgainst The Storm, tend to give players control of a large village/small town. These games tend to focus on protecting one central location and managing a small population, generally making them more accessible. Not every game with town management mechanics is a city-builder; however, open-world crafting games such asTerrariaalso allow players to build and manage towns in a fantasy environment.
8Settlemoon
An Idle Town-Builder With A Quiet Atmosphere
This quirky, atmospheric indie idle game features a colorful, pixel-art aesthetic and an ethereal soundtrack that offers a dense atmosphere. The game is centered around building, expanding, and managing a fantasy town, beginning with a humble inn.
Settlemoonhas no fail states, simply tasking players with slowly building up their town, attracting visitors, and beating bosses.Settlemoonisn’t the most complex game, and its user-interface leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s a worthwhile experience for fans of idle games.
7Luckitown
A Yahtzee-Inspired Town-Builder With Tower Defense Mechanics
Developed by the Sokpop Collective,Luckitownis a quirky combination of tower defense and base-building. The game tasks players with strategically placing new buildings, casting spells, and carefully managing their actions to defend their town.
Another unique mechanic ofLuckitownis its focus onYahtzeegameplay, with much of the gameplay revolving around rolling dice. Each face of the die grants players a unique resource, which players can then use to place more buildings and cast more spells.
This unique rogue-like deck-builder tasks players with building and defending a fantasy town populated by rats.Ratropolisfocuses its gameplay on deck-building and base defense but constantly asks players to manage their money carefully.
As a result, success inRatropolismostly boils down to keeping a careful balance of economic and military gains. Placing the right buildings at the right time while simultaneously keeping a steady income can be challenging, butRatropolisis rarely too harsh on the player. Furthermore, players will have to strategically manage their deck if they are to successfully defend their town.
This combination of town-builder and colony-sim tasks players with building and expanding a humble settlement on the back of a giant, nomadic creature. The relationship between the player’s town and the creature itself plays an important role inThe Wandering Village, but players will also have tomanage their productionefficiently.
Players are also tasked with managing the limited space on the creature’s back, efficiently planning the layout of their town to optimize production.The Wandering Village’sunique premise and small scale results in an overall experience that’s remarkably cozy, though it is currently in Early Access at the time of writing.
4Clickyland
An Incremental Clicker Game About Building And Defending Towns
In keeping with many of the Sokpop Collective’s games,Clickylandis a decidedly minimalist experience. However, its uniqueincremental gameplay mechanicsand village/town building systems are consistently engaging. Furthermore, the game’s rogue-lite progression system ensures players are always progressing, reducing potential frustrations.
The goal ofClickylandis to survive for one hundred days, defending the town’s central castle from waves of enemies.Clickylandis unique for its clicker-game mechanics, giving players a limited number of clicks each day to carry out a variety of important tasks.
Thisopen-world crafting gameis notorious for its relaxing atmosphere and abundance of things to do, providing a sandbox experience that encourages exploration and creativity. Unlike games in the city-builder genre,Terrariagives players control of their own character and allows them to freely explore its world.
However, part of what makesTerrariastand out from similar titles are its elements of town-building. Attracting NPCs and providing them with a home is an important part ofTerraria’s gameplay, as well as its progression.
2Stacklands
A One-Of-A-Kind Game With A Small Scope
Stacklandsis much smaller in scope than traditional city-buildersand management games, often giving off the impression of building and managing a small village. However, as players progress through the game, their little village can soon begin to blossom into a functioning fantasy town.
The fantastical elements ofStacklandsare also minimal, but the game does feature hallmarks of the fantasy genre with enemies such as goblins, among other quirky creatures. Players build and manage their little town with unique, card-based mechanics that have players stacking cards on top of one another to trigger unique effects. This results in a one-of-a-kind experience that rewards experimentation.
Thisindie city-buildertasks players with building and managing a variety of small-scale fantasy towns.Against The Stormfeatures a stylish aesthetic reminiscent of games such asWarcraft 3and a rogue-lite structure that allows it to stand out in a heavily saturated genre.
The population of each town inAgainst The Stormfeatures a variety of fantastical races and takes place in a unique, fantastical setting. The game’s harsh world can make the management of each settlement a tough task, butAgainst The Storm’suse of rogue-lite progression makes it a fairly forgiving experience.
