Have a desire to play a city building game. What are my options?

[Bomblord]

Saw a video of some random indie game and it gave me nostalgia for sim city 4 and my simcity.

I own a Switch and PC. The PC would be considered low end (i5-4570 + GTX 1650) the Switch is a Switch. I also have a Wii that's basically exclusively used to rip games so I guess emulating Wii games is an option as well. What are my options and of those options which are good?

 

[DeckardWintermute]

Cities: Skylines - Nintendo Switch Edition for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Game Details

Build Anywhere. Play Everywhere.

www.nintendo.com

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

Animal crossing?

 

[Dan]

Cities Skylines (PC) is your best option imo.

 

[skeezx]

Cities is the standard bearer. but i'm not super huge on the genre these days

 

[5taquitos]

Cities: Skylines is like the only real option for a full-fledged city builder.

 

[Dest]

Cities: Skylines is your game.

 

[Darryl M R]

Cities Skylines sounds like what you are looking for, but I think Animal Crossing is surprising lot of people with how it scratches that "build a place" itch.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Cities Skylines is the purest, though Tropico and Frostpunk might be worth a look.

Your PC would probably struggle with Anno 1800 but some of the earlier ones (like Anno 1404, or Dawn of Discovery as it's called in North America) are still pretty good.

 

[Hieroph]

Wii has Sim City Creator and also other stuff like this.

 

[Gernau Morat Gurgeh]

If you want something more goal driven, the old Caesar/Pharaoh/Emperor games are fantastic, and because of the lovely handrawn graphics still look excellent to this day. I'm replaying Cleopatra right now!

They are all on Gog and Steam, and can be made to run modern widescreen resolutions with some very minor modding.

 

[V has come to]

Cities Skylines is wonderful

 

[Hella]

I always liked Tropico 1 specifically. Being almost 20 years old it should run on anything.

Here is the OST to encourage you:

 

[Forerunner]

Skylines and Anno 1800.

Surviving Mars is also great!

 

[QuinchoOsito]

Anno 1800 is great, Tropico 6 is great, but Cities Skylines has definitely taken the torch from Sim City, so that's probably your best bet. It's also $5.99 right now on Steam, down from $30, so that helps too.

 

[Aaron D.]

Yeah, Skylines is your best bet. The mod scene is out of this world so you might want to stick with PC. Plus the performance on Switch is kinda lacking.

TheoTown on Steam

Build and manage your dream city in this captivating simulation game. Create unique urban landscapes and enjoy compatibility with the mobile versions. Unleash your creativity and shape the metropolis of your dreams.

store.steampowered.com

TheoTown is a great retro option.

Builders of Egypt: Prologue on Steam

Builders of Egypt: Prologue is a city-building economic strategy taking place in the Nile Valley. Immerse yourself in a world full of pyramids, where you will become a part of the ancient world. Create history, be history!

store.steampowered.com

Builders of Egypt is an interesting setting and has a free prologue demo out.

Dawn of Man on Steam

Command a settlement of ancient humans, guide them through the ages in their struggle for survival. Hunt, gather, craft tools, fight, research new techs and face the challenges the environment will throw at you.

store.steampowered.com

Speaking of which people seem to love Dawn of Man.

Surviving Mars on Steam

There will be challenges to overcome. Execute your strategy and improve your colony’s chances of survival while unlocking the mysteries of this alien world. Are you ready? Mars is waiting for you.

store.steampowered.com

And finally going in the complete opposite direction Surviving Mars is an awesome space-age city builder.

 

[Archduke Kong]

If you want something more goal driven, the old Caesar/Pharaoh/Emperor games are fantastic, and because of the lovely handrawn graphics still look excellent to this day. I'm replaying Cleopatra right now!

They are all on Gog and Steam, and can be made to run modern widescreen resolutions with some very minor modding.

Click to shrink...

Came here to suggest Pharoah. It's campaign is HARD but it's a damn good game.

 

[jb1234]

Cities Skylines but only the PC version. The Switch version is a terrible port.

 

[Dezzy]

Cities Skylines but only the PC version. The Switch version is a terrible port.

Click to shrink...

I play Cities on the PC with 32GB of RAM, an i7 8700k and a GTX 1080 and my current city runs around 30-40 fps. I can't imagine a Switch version would run well no matter what magic the devs used on it.

Cities: Skylines on PC gets my vote. It's a great game and has lots of DLC to add depth to game if you choose.

 

[super-famicom]

Has anyone mentioned Cities: Skylines yet?

 

[Gnorman]

Cities Skylines but only the PC version. The Switch version is a terrible port.

Click to shrink...

Is it that bad? I thought people were really impressed when it released.

 

[Deleted member 23046]

A carbon copy of Sim City Rush Hour (currently 5$ on Steam) heavily moddable (also for iOS/Android)

TheoTown

TheoTown is a city building game for multiple platforms.

hi.theotown.com

TheoTown on Steam

Build and manage your dream city in this captivating simulation game. Create unique urban landscapes and enjoy compatibility with the mobile versions. Unleash your creativity and shape the metropolis of your dreams.

store.steampowered.com

 

[snail_maze]

If you want something more goal driven, the old Caesar/Pharaoh/Emperor games are fantastic, and because of the lovely handrawn graphics still look excellent to this day. I'm replaying Cleopatra right now!

They are all on Gog and Steam, and can be made to run modern widescreen resolutions with some very minor modding.

Click to shrink...

Pharaoh has been kicking my ass since childhood, are the others in the series also as difficult?

 

[hobblygobbly]

cities skylines is good for creativity and especially with mods you can create very detailed cities

it just lacks very good simulation like with finances, policies, etc. i mean it's there but it's not really that in depth for strategy/challenge

 

[ghostemoji]

Cities Skylines is the best all around option-- PC specifically as the mod scene is what keeps that game compelling and fixes a lot of problems with the simulation itself.

I'm cresting the 200 hour mark with it as we speak. I enjoy building functional, realistic cities and the game continually scratches that itch for me.

Sim City 4 is also still very viable if you do the leg work to get it running on modern PCs. The mod scene for that game is among the most extensive mod scenes I've ever seen and it's still lively to an extent at places like Simtropolis (https://community.simtropolis.com/).

 

[OmegaNeon]

People are gonna motherf***ing kill me if I said Minecraft

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

BTW City Skylines is free on Steam until March 30. So it's a no brainer to try it.

 

[Deleted member 10428]

Maybe not what the OP is looking for but Stronghold is a really awesome castle town builder, you can even choose to play the campaign with focus on economy or fighting.

 

[UnluckyKate]

If you want something more goal driven, the old Caesar/Pharaoh/Emperor games are fantastic, and because of the lovely handrawn graphics still look excellent to this day. I'm replaying Cleopatra right now!

They are all on Gog and Steam, and can be made to run modern widescreen resolutions with some very minor modding.

Click to shrink...

oh god the memories I played Pharao so much

 

[Arttemis]

Pharaoh has been kicking my ass since childhood, are the others in the series also as difficult?

Click to shrink...

I've not played Pharaoh, but I loved Ceasar 2 and 3! It looks damn near identical from the pictures.

 

[Sacrilicious]

Skylines PC is the obvious choice if you want an evolution of SimCity, but there are some other ones worth checking out.

The Tropico series is one I've always liked, smaller scale but consistently fun and full of character. I haven't played the more recent ones but the last ones I played (3 and 4) had pretty low requirements.

The Anno series is also fun, the most recent one I played was 1404 (Dawn of Discovery) and as a previous poster mentioned, should run OK on a lower end PC.

 

[Deleted member 10795]

If you want something more goal driven, the old Caesar/Pharaoh/Emperor games are fantastic, and because of the lovely handrawn graphics still look excellent to this day. I'm replaying Cleopatra right now!

They are all on Gog and Steam, and can be made to run modern widescreen resolutions with some very minor modding.

Click to shrink...

Been meaning to grab Pharaoh for a while but held off because I've been struggling to find any definitive answers on how well (or if at all) it runs at 21:9. How minor is the modding if you don't mind me asking?

 

[QisTopTier]

I had the itch too OP and I didnt even realize I owned cities skylines already from some humble bundle ages ago so... lucky me I guess?

 

[Deleted member 23850]

Animal crossing?

Click to shrink...

THat's one crappy city.

 

[Rover]

Save 65% on Citystate on Steam

Create a 21st century micro-nation and experiment with economic and political ideals. Futuristic skyscrapers or spreading slums, the Nation relies on your economic and city planning skills.

store.steampowered.com

I've always been interested in this one because of the gameplay is focused more on your city's politics and economy.

 

[Brandino]

I think Sim City 4 is also on Steam, maybe Orgin too

 

[Dphex]

Cities: Skylines is the only valid option these days

or maybe the Tropico series

 

[Gernau Morat Gurgeh]

Been meaning to grab Pharaoh for a while but held off because I've been struggling to find any definitive answers on how well (or if at all) it runs at 21:9. How minor is the modding if you don't mind me asking?

Click to shrink...

You download a single file from PCGamingWiki and place it in your install directory. Run it, give the resolution you want when prompted and it will fix the games exe to run in that resolution. Works on the other classic Impressions citybuilders as well, although alt tabbing can be dodgy - It normally works, but save before you tab out just in case.

 

[Acu]

Imperivm Civitas is my go-to for historic city builders.
And yes, I dare to say it is better than Pharaoh.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

GOG has a sale right now, with some games like Sim City 4, 2000, Pharaoh, Cleopatra and many other city builders.

 

[Gernau Morat Gurgeh]

Oh and the latest Tropico game is really bloody good as well

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

If you want something more goal driven, the old Caesar/Pharaoh/Emperor games are fantastic, and because of the lovely handrawn graphics still look excellent to this day. I'm replaying Cleopatra right now!

They are all on Gog and Steam, and can be made to run modern widescreen resolutions with some very minor modding.

Click to shrink...

I love these games. This is a great recommendation.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

I like Banished, and it has a pretty solid mod community, so fairly expandable.

 

[Deleted member 29660]

Cities: Skylines is what SimCity should be currently.

It's the defacto choice and the best.

 

[QuixoticNeutral]

If you ever liked the transport/electricity/plumbing element of building the utilities and infrastructure for a city, Factorio is currently the king and it isn't even close. It's not really a city sim, but it is by far the most complete extrapolation of the large-scale systems management that Maxis was going for across their whole portfoilo in their prime.

I can vouch for SimCity 4 as something that feels current year on year, and which was updated for compatibility with modern displays/platforms not long ago. Most players who have stuck around this long consider the Network Addon Mod essential, but I'd get into it in its official state first, up to the point that you find the weirdness/brokenness of the original transport simulation exasperating to deal with. NAM adds a significant suite of options for roads and rails (and therefore the overall aesthetics of your city) while cleaning up the simulation side, but installing it right away is like diving into the deep, deep end. Best to ease oneself into it gradually.

 

[Deleted member 10795]

You download a single file from PCGamingWiki and place it in your install directory. Run it, give the resolution you want when prompted and it will fix the games exe to run in that resolution. Works on the other classic Impressions citybuilders as well, although alt tabbing can be dodgy - It normally works, but save before you tab out just in case.

Click to shrink...

Brilliant, thank you.

 

[Mercador]

Cities Skyline is the easy winner. Your PC can easily handled it. Sometimes, SimCity is on sale but don't even bother, unless you are totally clueless of the genre.

 

[johancruijff]

If you don't want modern cities check Dawn of Man for the prehistoric era and Banished for late medieval era.
Oh yes Anno too, 1404&1800 >>> 2070 for me though

 

[Rodrigues solitaire]

Anno 1800 the GOAT.

Hell Anno 2070 and 1404 are GOAT too.

 

[Gernau Morat Gurgeh]

Brilliant, thank you.

Click to shrink...

No problem. Such a fantastic series, and you can run them on a potato these days.