19 Games Like SimCity
Our collection of games like SimCity features realistic city building games with elements of sandbox and management that are similar to the SimCity franchise.
In the SimCity titles players are tasked with the building and management of a city in an open ended gameplay setting as you chase important milestones. The underlying goal of the various games and their respective game modes is the development of a successful city by ensuring the city has adequate facilities and services to keep residents happy while also being financially stable.
Players are given an abundance of tools to achieve their city building goals with building locations and city services such as health, education, utilities and leisure. In more recent SimCity releases players also have significant control over terrain, allowing them to modify the game world to create even more interesting, exciting and unique cities. This ever increasing depth in tools with each new game has made SimCity the standout choice for sandbox city building fans who want complete freedom.
The city building games like SimCity here offer similar gameplay and features to the SimCity franchise for fans of the city building genre which includes construction, management, open ended objectives and customisable game worlds.
Prison Architect
Maximum security prisons aren’t a common theme for a video game but one that Prison Architect explores in detail with its takes on the management simulation genre as players control a private construction business. With a campaign of several levels that also serve as your tutorial players the majority of gameplay takes place in sandbox setting of prison management. Prison Architect takes place in a top-down 2D environment and clearly draws from a number of classics in the tycoon genre with...[Read Review]
Train Fever
Train Fever explores the business of running a train empire with a simulation adventure that challenges you to build a large scale transport empire across several towns with their own train needs. Using trains and buses you’ll get to craft the service lines and build around the terrain and social requirements within your financial constraints to deliver an appropriate level of services to turn a profit. Born from a crowdfunding campaign Train Fever was released in late 2014 and has since r...[Read Review]
Tropico 4
Tropico 4 stays true to the popular Tropico series formula with an experience that combines city management mechanics alongside political considerations and humour along the way as players attempt to stay in power over the long term. Resulting in an exciting mixture of simulation, construction and management this addition to the franchise developed by Haemimont Games will keep you engaged for hours as you make all manner of decisions and watch the impacts play out. Tropico 4 was originally relea...[Read Review]
Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress is a unique city building experience that has players control their own group of dwarves in a challenge of survival and strategy that incorporates rogue-like elements. Utilising a unique ASCII art style you’ll be tasked with guiding your dwarven settlement throughout a randomly generated world where the unknown awaits you. Available for free across Windows, Mac and Linux Dwarf Fortress combines simulation, strategy, management and adventure into a single title that has grown...[Read Review]
Tropico 3
Continuing the franchises dictator focused gameplay Tropico 3 offers an entire island nation to players to run with ample opportunity to create your own banana republic with unique laws, economy and general design. As the third variation of the Tropico franchise you’ll find familiar construction and management gameplay with a number of enhancements to give you greater control of your nation than past titles and is more in line with the original Tropico rather than the pirate themed Tropico...[Read Review]
Cities: Skylines
Cities: Skylines brings the city building and simulation genre into modern times with an impressive 2015 release offering that brings new challenges and opportunities to keen city planners everywhere. Since this original game release on computer platforms the game has also expanded to various console experiences which are often a rare place for titles within this genre. Alongside this expansion of platforms Cities: Skylines has advanced its available content and challenges with a growing list of...[Read Review]
Dawn of Discovery (Anno 1404)
Dawn of Discovery (Anno 1404 outside of North America) offers city building with an economic focus that is similar to the other titles in the vast Anno franchise. For this addition to the series players will explore an age of medieval and renaissance as you build up a thriving civilisation. Originally launched in 2009 a 2010 Anno 1404: Venice expansion pack expanded content, buildings, quests and introduced multiplayer functionality. The Dawn of Discovery campaign centres around both the west an...[Read Review]
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom is a city building game that focuses on Ancient China and takes the genre away from the modern day by sending players back in time for a different historical city building experience. Released in 2002 it has become one of the cult classics of the city building genre and serves as the sixth in the city building franchise. Not only is the title the first to offer multiplayer gameplay but it is also the first to venture into China with a previous focus on the Rom...[Read Review]
The Settlers Online
The Settlers Online (The Settlers Online: Castle Empire) is a free to play browser based strategy game that utilises familiar mechanics from the core Settlers franchise. The result is a mixture of popular modern strategy games and the MMO strategy genre. The Settlers Online offers an accessible challenge which features a familiar gameplay loop of building a sprawling city, raiding bandits, achieving objectives and in time gaining levels that unlock additional content to expand your strategy opti...[Read Review]
From Dust
From Dust combines a number of genres incorporating strategy, building and god games into one with players helping their own tribe of humans through the challenges that they face. From Dust was published by Ubisoft in July 2011 for the Xbox 360 and was followed by Windows and PlayStation 3 a few months later, along with Xbox One backwards compatibility. From Dust was briefly made available on the Google Chrome store in 2012 although this version has since been discontinued. Set in a world where ...[Read Review]
Banished
Banished joins the ranks of the city build genre with a 2014 release that takes it into a unique medieval setting where you’ll build from humble beginnings into a thriving economic powerhouse. Banished opts not to throw abundance of resources at players either and instead looks to force players into resource scarcity so that every decision is one of balance as you try to survive and with some luck, thrive. Banished starts you off with your own community of outcasts who have come together a...[Read Review]
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire is a real time strategy game that features a 4X style of gameplay with additional elements of city building that combine to create a diverse economic challenge. Released in 2007 Rise of an Empire is the sixth in the long running and popular series of The Settlers and seeks to bring together many of the different elements that the series has explored into a pinnacle adventure. Most notably this comes across in a reduction of overall combat and simplifying the core ...[Read Review]
Startopia
Startopia is the brain child of several former Bullfrog employees which has players taking control of several space stations as you attempt to create a thriving space hub for the galaxy to visit. Released in 2001 the game features similar humour filled gameplay of games previously developed by Bullfrog such as Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital. Startopia takes place in a universe that has recently been devastated by war on an intergalactic scale which has left the galaxy mostly barren and in des...[Read Review]
Anno 2070
Anno 2070 released in 2011 and is the fifth game in this growing franchise of economic management titles that tests your strategic decision making in a futuristic game setting. Like the other Anno games you’ll find a blended mixture of gameplay that borderlines the popular real time strategy genre and the planning of city building titles. Taking place in the near future of 2070 global warming has taken hold and as a result melted ice caps that have unleashed a torrent of floods on coastal ...[Read Review]
Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile
Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile is one of the older city building games in the strategy management genre and was released in 2004. Serving as part of the city building series of games that includes Caesar, Pharaoh, Zeus and and Emperor the game has a similar focus on a historical location with ancient Egypt at your fingertips. Children of the Nile was developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment with an expansion pack (Children of the Nile: Alexandria) and online free to play spin-off (Nile Onli...[Read Review]
Tropico 5
Tropico 5 continues the legacy of the series with a management and construction simulation game centred on city building and management with a humorous twist layered on top. While this addition to the well known franchise doesn’t step out of the Tropico formula too much it does find that balance of offering just enough new content to get old fans excited without moving away from the gameplay and style you’ve come to love to date. One of the greatest additions to the Tropico franchise with the re...[Read Review]
Caesar IV
Caesar IV is a city building, combat and trade experience that takes place in an ancient Roman setting and in turn allows players to try their hand at recreating one of the most well known ancient civilisations of Earth. Developed by Titled Mill Entertainment and released in 2006 for Windows the game is one of many released in the city building genre by this developer and obviously the fourth in the Caesar franchise. With other titles including the likes of Children of the Nile and SimCity Socie...[Read Review]
Anno 1701 (1701 A.D.)
Anno 1701 (1701 A.D.) mixes strategy and city building together to create an economical focused experience like the Anno titles before it. Part of the popular Anno franchise Anno 1701 offers a blend of familiar and new challenges for players to overcome on PC with a related spin-off title for the Nintendo DS known as Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery. Focused on the real world timeframe of the 18th century players are challenged to explore the recently discovered new world and colonise it by using al...[Read Review]
Project Highrise
Could you build a functional and stylish skyscraper in the middle of your local downtown area? The opportunity is now yours with Project Highrise a game that is all about combining the likes of design, architecture, management and tycoon into a single game experience. Offering the usual range of tutorials, scenarios and sandbox modes for management fans you’ll have multiple ways to approach Project Highrise gameplay while also ensuring good long term play time can be achieved. Regardless o...[Read Review]
