These Are The 8 Greatest & Best City Builders Of All Time

[@GamerZakh]

As far as I can judge, these are the best that exist. Do you love one I didn't mention? Also, if you want to support the channel, buy games using this GOG referral link: af.gog.com/?as=1715648857 Thank you!

[@milosstamenkovic5941]

Actualy we have new games set in Ancient Rome like Citadelum and Pax Romana and Roman counqest.

[@GamerZakh]

@@milosstamenkovic5941 I know about Citadelum, I was sponsored by them. Also like I say in the video, 1 just released, which is that. Pax Romana isn't released and I even talk about it in the video. Roman Conquest: Rise to Power? That's not a city-builder.

[@milosstamenkovic5941]

@GamerZakh Ok then sorry i thought it was its a base builder right .

[@DBT1007]

you forfor to add banished, dwarf fortress, rimworld. these stuff, are clearly far better than silly against the storm, kingdoms reborn, foundation.

[@GamerZakh]

@@DBT1007 You missed me talking about banished in the video. Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld don't fall under city builder for most people.

[@GeneralProfessor]

Thanks to SimCity 4 I always expect city builders to have a jazz / electronic soundtrack, and when they don't I always feel like something is missing.

[@Gfoot1]

SC4 had an awesome soundtrack. I used it to study to, it works great for staying focused.

[@archerkid02]

Check out the older ones as well! SimCity 3000 jazz also slaps!

[@WarLasso]

SC4 soundtrack is one of the playlists I play Cities Skylines with.

[@Rich4098]

Oh, yeah. It's an urban trope from Hollywood. Nobody plays jazz out in the country. Were in the urban jungle... were we have to dress up and wear cologne to impress the high maintenance ladies...

[@ZzKingz1]

I used to play it on loop during all nighters when I was in architecture school

[@EremiteGames]

We're honored to be a part of this list ♥

[@HoneyPiss]

Against The Storm is the GOAT

[@MrZelegor]

Best game i've played with in a while.

[@xmuflo]

BASED

[@mr.critic]

Caesar III a timeless masterpiece

[@rubahkecil_]

Big shout-out to the Banished 🔥

[@andreastyrberg7556]

I think Banished deserved some video - but I can agree that others are better now - even if it hurts a bit

[@jeffs.6763]

Banished seems to not get the love it deserves.

[@tammo100]

I would still place Pharaoh above C3 Augustus and I like 1404 as much as 1800. Your list is spot on!

[@cristitanase6130]

Pharaoh is by far the best of the best of all Impressions City Builders, and by extension the best city builder ever created. What other city builder allows you to build the Pyramids?!

[@Thomazmllm]

For me, it was Zeus/Posseidon, and Caesar II, but it's very personal indeed

[@lordmortarius538]

It is personal, because everyone finds something different to love about each one. I started with Caesar III and Pharoah, but I fell in love with Zeus/Poseidon, easily my favorites. The music in them is just so soothing, GREAT atmosphere building to just relax and build a great Classical city. The slight silliness they added (like guards being named Hutchippus and Starsichus, and healers named Allergeia and all, made it even more fun and the voice lines too "Build me a pyre, to roast my friends upon!" still make me lol.

[@RadwynAlthor]

Pharaoh was the apex of the series good economy and pyramid wonders were nice and huge efforts.

[@damianjblack]

Pharaoh for me. A long coherent campaign that takes you through authentic Egyptian history, and such immersive gameplay. Plus I love all things Egypt.

[@michakonieczko6875]

Pharaoh is truly a peak of mankind's performance

[@doelbaughman1924]

I'm still playing the old one. I want to finish all the missions before i get new era.

[@xanbell7723]

I credit Caesar 3 with laying the foundation for my love of city building games, I played it for hours as a kid.

[@lauras6762]

Same here! It was my first city builder and I still play it.

[@AusKipper1]

I still remember the first time i got Caesar mad enough to invade, i wasnt ready...

[@SergiuHellDragoonHQ]

This is indeed a great list! I could also add to it Banished and even Zeus & Poseidon Master of Olympus!

[@VrtLupin]

Zeus & Poseidon is awesome

[@Hlodolog]

Caesar III has an awesome story. It could've been forgotten long time ago, replaced by a sequel or just any newer game. But no. Community is not only alive and well, but the game receives brand new updates.

[@ellypsis603]

Caesar 3, been playing this game since 1998, can't stop, won't stop 😂

[@markborsos646]

Anno 1800 devoured two months of my life, I only stopped because my ps5 save got corrupted. I loved every single second of it.

[@jdhlsc169]

One of top favorites too! Loved it! I need to go back and finish. I am soooo close!

[@ThaGamingMisfit]

I was surprised you picked Against the Storm above Banished for best of all time, but I'm happy because of your list AtS is the one I play the most, it's one of those very few games where you feel the love and passion that went into the game. If I let my nostalgia get the upper hand I would go for Caesar 3, but it's been so long that I've played it that I can't call it the best game for me.

[@GamerZakh]

I do give credit to Banished, and even though mods are great for it, development stopped a long time ago and it's starting to feel old. With all the 'Banished clones' being made, there's just better options in my eyes now. To a lesser extent, I now talk about Banished like SimCity 1. Super important but it has been improved upon at this point.

[@pompulousify]

I'm not really a city builder player (I prefer defense strategy like They Are Billions provides), but there is something about AtS that has me hooked. I've put 40+ hours into it and even though there is a bit of frustration within those hours, I keep coming back for more and that's saying something.

[@qwe5qwe566]

AtS is not a true city builder. I don't like the randomness and rouge features of it and rather fast pace and episodic gameplay. I think the 95% positive reviews are misleading since it mostly measures if the buyer knows what he gets and if the game is not broken. There were many opportunities to try demo or play during fee weekends so many people could try it and simply steer away.

[@GamerZakh]

@@qwe5qwe566 You're going to have to define 'true city builder' because most consider it to be a city builder. Many games have demos and many people get games on deep discounts too.

[@davidhaesler8371]

so pleased u mention Workers and Resources. So addictive when u get past the learning curve really the best toy 😂

[@humorpalanta]

So... when does this larning curve end? I have been playing it since early access release... Logged 800 hours into it and still learning new stuff each time XD

[@oldgalah7425]

Over 3000hrs played since early access, it just never stops stimulating the brain and the workshop now has over 10,000 mods for unlimited creativity.

[@MaitreMechant]

great list, Ceasar 3 was the first city builder I've played 22 years ago, I need to try the augustus mod

[@RingoSkulkin]

I just want to thank you for these videos! I discovered your channel while playing Anno 1404, and your content has been incredibly helpful. It’s refreshing to see a channel focused on simulation games rather than the usual AAA shooters and adventure games that fill up the KZbin discovery page. I’d love to see some videos on other types of sim games too, like transportation or shop management!

[@michaelmacdonell4834]

Motion seconded. Thank you Ringo, and thank you Zakh

[@skalapunk]

I highly recommend all city builder lovers try Workers and Resources. It's so different than other city builders. You fight tooth and nail for every square inch. It's is very challenging and therefore very satisfying to see a properly functioning city. In other city builders, you build something beautiful. In W&R you build something you're proud of.

[@SeiryuTheBlueDragon]

I love the high quality you put in these videos

[@jerrykirchoff8412]

Another great list, Zakh. I really liked your comment that rough games without the pressure will never become a diamond. I like the objectivity the list represents and the transparency. Well done!

[@GamerZakh]

Thank you! I put a lot of my thoughts into this one because it's more my specialty.

[@ivandurchov602]

I have played all of them from your list. My top 3 city builders are: 1. Frostpunk 2. ANNO 1404 3. Against the Storm

[@mxg75]

I wish Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom got the same love that Caesar III did. It was the best of the Impression games as originally released.

[@MrZelegor]

Now this is a list i can't argue with, it's exactly what i was expecting. Against the Storm is my favourite, people should try it out atleast for an hour.

[@firstclaw1]

Great selection. While I still try to get the hang of Timberborn I do appreciate Anno 1800, Cities Skylines a lot. On the survival side I love the drama of Frostpunk and the challenges of Against the Storm. I feel that game deserves all the love it gets and more.

[@Robin.Hollinger85]

I'm so happy to see Timberborn on this list!!! I love that game so much

[@sese182]

Yes I agree it's a dam good game.

[@Gfoot1]

Purely based on nostalgia, my favourite of all time was SimCity on the SNES. I played the absolute Samarkand out of that as a kid

[@m1xxx3r]

i think success of Againt The Storm is partially due to mix of genres, it's not just City builder. It's technically a Roguelite with City builder framework and 4X Strategy game elements

[@rhy8374]

Anno 1800, Cities 1, Tropico 6, and Timberborn are my absolute FAVORITE city builders

[@pico2260]

A really good list. My favorites (according to hours played): C:S, Foundation, Workers&Resources (and Ostriv, but I bought it on GOG). My favorite Tropico is the original one but No.4 is also very good. I loved Anno 1800 "age of sails" part but not later ones. Against the Storm must be a good game but not for me. Still sniffing around Frostpunk. ETA: Frostpunk is on sale ATM (-85%), so I stopped sniffing.

[@isc9114]

Thank you for reminding me that I have Tropico 6 in my Steam library. It's been a long while since I played it. Started in Tropico 3.

[@lordenz1666]

Tropico 3 and 4 are my favorites though, the missions are just cooler than in 6 and it seems like playing a 'dictator' became harder with the new titles. Like finding crime bosses or eliminating them was never worth it bc it just created more rebels.

[@lizaliza8367]

OMG Zakh! Incredible stuff!!!!!! The. Mos sttill reliable youtuber when it comes to city builders? I do have mistakes at times but so much love your games!!! You're the best!!!!

[@toggid]

4 out of 12 games presented made by polish studios. What a great achievement

[@GameDesignThinking]

Frostpunk comes quite as a surprise. I think people in general (understandably) appreciates other aspects of the game, but the pure city-building aspect of it was super innovative, fun, and solved a thousand-year problem of playing city builders in consoles.

[@pixeltaco9782]

yes i was surprised how well it worked on controller since i did not have a pc at the time.

[@LuisEXkingdom]

i must say im at the third minute of this video , i already like it i may return to simcity 4

[@GiavanniGabrieli]

I can't wait for the release of "Manor Lords". I played the demo last year and instantly fell in love with it. It was amazing how detailed everything was.

[@ThaGamingMisfit]

And after 3 hours you notice there isn't much to do. It has a lot of work if it wants to stand out for anything besides the looks.

[@talknight2]

@@ThaGamingMisfit Nah, it took me 20 hours to finish a game and there was plenty of managing to do.

[@qwe5qwe566]

@@ThaGamingMisfit I I agree. It's very overhyped and released very barebones with very slow updates. It will take years to become at least a decent game. Now it's very good looking but empty and shallow game compared to Ostriv and other games in the genre. I think it gets too much attention that is not deserved. Now it only sells on visuals and bunch of promises and borderline false advertising of solo dev story.

[@Perisemiotics]

@@ThaGamingMisfit It's been slowly but steadily adding features and subsystems since its pre EA days. It still feels somewhat incomplete to be honest but at the same time there's enough now to warrant several playthroughs, especially with how fleshed out the combat system is.

[@gabal]

I found out about Ostriv when Manor Lords released in early access and it is really good, especially if you don't enjoy military aspect of Manor Lords. It is a constant challenge and as your city grows so do the problems you must manage. It is really engaging and satisfying and I really like the aesthetics of it.

[@thseed7]

Manor Lords has been very interesting. I love how it looks and hope the full launch comes out in reasonable time. I remember hearing it was a one man project, which in and of itself is incredibly cool, but I also temper expectations on a single person being able to do everything as quickly as we might like.

[@ZenAndPsychedelicHealingCenter]

I would definitely recommend to try the Augustus variant of C3. Thanks for mentioning it.

[@VicEclectica]

It's most likely nostalgia, but no matter what new thing comes, Banished and the Impressions games are the ones I always return to. Big shout out to the modding community - thank you for keeping these games alive - and to content creators that keep playing them.

[@cls3282]

City builders with campaign modes are my absolute favorite. I loved C3 as a kid, and tropico 4 is my favorite of all time because of its incredible campaign mode. The music is ICONIC and it just goes on forever and it really rides that line lf being self aware and silly without going too over the top. Tropico 5 and 6 were such a letdown in comparison. I really loved banished at the time too and its so interesting to see how influential it has been for the games coming out in recent years.

[@peonyeye9253]

actually does what everyone should do in this type of videos. Say the name of the game, says what u do in it in 2 small sentences and move on. Beautifull

[@timeslav3]

Very nice video. Right now I scratch my city builder itch with the remake of Pharaoh, but will definitely try some games from this list.

[@BrianC-h9g]

Simcity snes will ALWAYS hold me mostly for nostalgia. Trading for rent basically with my neighbor growing up.

[@AlexB-vt5xe]

interesting, for me it will probably have to be Caesar III, even though I've played more of those your mentioned, thanks for the effort and upload

[@sackings777]

Augustus has elevated C3 to the top in my opinion. Of the original Impression Games I would rank Zeus and Pharaoh at the top, but they're all incredible.

[@Maxworld1982]

I´m that addicted to Workers and Resources that I even found ways to build cities like in Cities:Skylines, f. exp. building complex highways by using the ground-lift-tool.

[@zsuzsannaschlammer8954]

I've been big on Impression's all city builders, and 20 years later Timberborn is the best thing that happened to me in regards of games :D

[@tharinduwijayasena309]

Great video as always Zakh!. Ostriv deserves a nod : )

[@theoneandonlyboiler]

Great list! I'm only missing Surviving Mars, one of my all time favourites. And while I get the argument for Anno 1800, I personally prefer Anno 1602 and 1503. The later ones just add a lot of unnecessary and tedious balast to the gameplay imo.

[@prototypep4]

Honestly it could have just been left at the Anno series.

[@braize6279]

Farthest Frontier is definitely one of the best city builders if you like the whole "tier building" progression. Starting from a small villiage, to a thriving city. Anno 1800 though, agree, is definitely one of the best out there for sure. There's just so much to do in the game. Can't go wrong with Against the Storm either

[@konakatranya5531]

Glad to see you back with the same great quality. Since I saw the rant vid, I've started to see others talking about "hostory or ancient places, etc. Just like you and S***** tha tyou mentioned. It's a trend to keep am eye on. Now. Back to watching what you've offered!

[@newygreek]

Looking forward to what the ANNO series does with ROME!

[@robinhollinger3531]

Timberborn is my favorite game of all time! Truly a masterpiece full of cool details.

[@CaHgO]

Tropico 6 (and the overall Tropico series) has an AMAZING soundtrack!

[@markhosking1882]

This was a refreshing change from the usual infomercials posing as "best of" reviews. I felt I was viewing a genuine gamers opinions with all the associated credibility. Loved the presentation. As with all opinion pieces there are disagreements. I was surprised by your last choice. I hated Frostpunk. It seemed to me to be a "create your own adventure "game with added city building, but hey, we're all different. Great video. Thank you.

[@GamerZakh]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. And in my attempt to be objective I often list games that even I don't really like, so just because I list something it doesn't mean I personally enjoy it. I have my experience and opinions, then I combine it with data and consensus in the bigger picture. Frostpunk 1 was fun for me but the main point is that it's over half a decade old and still in the top 5 most played city builders in the world. 95% Overwhelmingly Positive recent reviews on Steam too, it's actually the second highest rated game in the list. To include or exclude any game I need to balance reasons and even if I wanted to exclude Frostpunk it'd be hard to justify.

[@markhosking1882]

@@GamerZakh I wasn't suggesting you drop Frostpunk from your list. I know it is popular and I tried to "get it", but it wasn't for me. I guess "surprised" was the wrong word, but I was trying to convey my reaction. I was enjoying the video. making mental notes as to what I might buy next and anticipating the last rated game. If you had included it earlier I wouldn't have had that feeling of disappointment, because somehow the last choice feels important. This is absolutely not a criticism of your choices. You do you. I really enjoyed the video, but I did cry out "Oh no, not Frostpunk" at the end" because we are all different and I guessed there may be others out there who disliked Frostpunk. A minority obviously ;) Keep up the good work. I have subscribed and liked.

[@GamerZakh]

@@markhosking1882 Ah yeah I get it, sorry I wasn't super clear either, I was just sort of explaining the curation process. Thanks!

[@xxGytis15xx]

this is a great list!

[@Alan_Edwards]

I have watched so many of these "best city builder" videos and the one that continues to draw my eye is Timberborn. I might have to finally pull the string. I was a bit surprised Medival Dynasty did not make the list, but then again I got a little bored with that one when it was in EA. Time for some beaver action. It's in my Wishlist to hopefully to catch on a discount. Well done sir !!

[@GamerZakh]

Thanks! I don't really count Medieval Dynasty as a city-building game. It's a colony sim/survival game more than anything. Generally city-builders are viewed from above, camera POV is part of genre classification and generally population size separates colony sims from city builders.

[@Alan_Edwards]

@@GamerZakhGood points

[@noneofyourbusiness7965]

Frostpunk got me back into the genre, the atmosphere is incredible.

[@IlyaYatsevich]

If you talk about early access also, you should mention Ostriv. It has really deep production and economical simulation. (Of course, games listed in video are great, I've been playing a lot in most of them)

[@borgessa3]

I thought Pharaoh would be on the list, to be fair I haven't played many of these, ANY of these games, except Pharaoh and Cleopatra, which I absolutely loved and completed, thanks to your guide. I found the warring a little difficult/tedious at times, which is why i needed your help. Thanks.

[@Trimalcus]

Pharaoh is better than legacy Caesar 3. Don't know about modded version Augustus

[@Winnetou17]

It's difficult to say. Caesar 3 started the trend and it's a very good game in it's own right, even the original one. I mean, despite its flaws and limitations, it's still a very nicely polished game that is very fun and immersive. And as such, it's culturally very important and it has a soft spot for A LOT of people (myself included) Pharaoh expanded on what Caesar 3 had and it's better on almost all aspects, including having a bigger scope. It has its downsides too (I haven't played in years, but back in the day I remember that several missions had the wonder/monument building taking gigantic amounts of time that were becoming boring and tedious to go through). It's also the only one that's as immersive (or even more some would claim) as Caesar 3. It also has a soft spot for A LOT of people. Frankly I cannot tell which is more loved between Caesar 3 and Pharaoh. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes down to personal preference of whether you like more egyptians or romans. With Julius, you can play Caesar 3 with many quality of life improvements (roadblocks, no more sprite limits, other bugs fixed, modern resolutions, up to 500% speed, 60 FPS (up from 30 I think) for smoother animations, better logistics with more options for warehouses and I'm sure I'm forgetting some others). Then Augustus built on that to have mods with more content and extra rules. I think that being the trendsetter and having Augustus (read: mods and evolution in general) is what pushed Caesar 3 to being selected.

[@kurtmooreca]

Awesome vid, couple of games suggested ive not played yet (Timberborn, Farthest Frontier), everything else is in my Steam List and Ive played the crap out of them all. Just to comment on some of the early access stuff. Foundation is AWESOME. The organic growth of the city/kingdom just puts it in this special tier that other games can't sit in. Once you learn how to manipulate the population using buildings etc, you can make incredibly nice looking towns. Kingdoms Reborn is lowkey one of the best "empire builders" Ive ever played, it can go from very easy to very hard depending on how you start out, and even if you are sitting pretty, a population boom can cause your city to just fail. Its a lot of fun. I'd like to add one I think you missed but it just entered early access recently. Memoria Polis. It is a organic style city build/resource management simulator....that also involve factions and "politicing" kind of like Frostpunks systems, basically you are building an Empire to stand the test of time, as you play through various ages of civilization. Ive had a blast with it so far, granted it is very early and does have some crash/bugginess, the core gameplay of it is actually very enjoyable though. Keep this one on your radar.

[@metlov]

I love less known Cliff Empire. Definitely recommend this one to everyone. Don’t get confused by its simplistic look. It’s a pretty refined game with many cool features.

[@pixeltaco9782]

i've played a few of these, or a game on series, but also some cool new ones to check out. that soviet one looks great

[@antonioauto1407]

I love banished, I never tough it was outdated, I played to nowdays, but I love the recomendations, I will try them out.

[@Rich4098]

That's a darn good list. I can't believe I've played most of them. Who the heck has time for all that?

[@ravenroc1784]

This is a great list thank you! I loved tropico pirates Cove. I don't think many played that I have never seen it anywhere on you tube. Anno 1503 is my fav. I guess I love the underdogs so to speak.

[@addictedfoolgamer1970]

Tropical pirates cove was in a category of its own. Just so much fun!

[@mrjblacc85]

I think Urbek City builder deserves an honorable mention, it's a minimalist graphic puzzle take on city building that is quite interesting

[@GamerZakh]

It's good, I've played that on the channel before and featured it in my general city-builder lists. It's just being super strict with the genre definition, Urbek leans a bit too hard into the puzzle game territory. I already have people telling me that games like Caesar 3 and Against the Storm are "not city-builders", so I can't stretch the definition further than this for this particular list.

[@mrjblacc85]

Sure, fair enough

[@alyssalu8800]

A personal favorite, but not well known one is Lords and Villeins. That and Tropico 6 are my favorites.

[@Toshiro_Mifune]

at some point i'm gonna play every single Anno ever released, been on my bucket list for a while.

[@Jayce_TheAce]

Thanks for the list! We need a legit cyberpunk city builder.

[@Toshiro_Mifune]

check out Dytopika, looks beautiful, maybe it's exactly what you wanted.

[@ImzelM]

I am here to support Foundation, even if they are taking time to complete it, the developers are making a really interesting game

[@Jordanblobby]

Xbox player so don't have access to alot of city builders, Anno 1800 & cities skylines (and it's DLCs) are my favourite but Xbox games I also like that aren't on this list; Fabledom, the social class system works abit like anno 1800, some survival elements in winter, alot of moral decision making. just an all round fun good on the eye city builder. Dawn of man; survival city builder, early stages of humans, quite difficult to start with. But really fun and challenging especially on tougher difficulties Steam world build; add on to steam world dig series incredibly fun, involves mining for resources while building your city on land. Really quirky and quite funny. Not overly challenging but super fun.

[@indarklove6850]

Very Nice!!

[@jordancaleb5790]

Thanks for the list im suprised Cities Skylines 1 is still played more than 2. I was playing Anno 1404 when 1800 came out, even watching people playing Anno 1800, i didn't believe I would like it more than 1404, until i played 1800😊, now i only play 1800 haha, but 1404 is definitely still great just leaves me desiring so much of what was added in 1800

[@dieManu77]

I loved Caesar 3 and Pharao too ❤

[@ambeegaming76]

Shut the front door! Anno coming out with a new one I missed that announcement so excited!

[@Thomazmllm]

Lovely list, I agreed with most of it... and seeing it reminded me how much I love and play these kinda games =))) For me, the best sierra/impression/bullfrog are Caesar II, Zeus and Children of the Nile :D And, in the Tropico series, the first one (for nostalgia) and the 4 (for gameplay!) I missed an Ostriv mention

[@GamerZakh]

Thanks! I've talked about Ostriv for a decade. Although it's commendable, for obvious reasons it's taking a very long time in development and I don't see it crossing into the 'best' category in the foreseeable future. Maybe more down the line yes, but after 10 years it's literally still in Alpha. In 5 years I could make another list like this and it's likely that Ostriv would still only be a bonus mention as I don't see it fully releasing by then.

[@Thomazmllm]

@@GamerZakh yes, as frequent in this kinda "always in EA" games, I guess Ostriv is in continuing building state, altought I think now it's getting ready for a 1.0 launch (the dev showed another game he's working too), but the war in Ucraine affected the developer... It's very hard indeed to choose from this multitude of games (and kinda hard to pinpoint the exact "city" status of some xD) Thanks for your work and curation! =))

[@Winnetou17]

@@Thomazmllm I really like Ostriv, I love the immersive-ness it has, with it's non-grid layouts, the detailed building and attention to detail in general. But it's still not finished enough to be put in a "best of all time" list. Also, you mentioned that the dev said he's working on another game ? Where ? Which one ? I'm only checking the ostriv blog and there's no mention there (understandibly so), just that Alpha 6 will come late January 2025. I'm getting a bit worried that if he's working on another game, then probably he's getting bored of Ostriv and might not get the game to its full (ish) potential :(

[@sgcray7297]

First of all great list. I have played most of these games for years. I can still play Caesar 3 for days. Although technically not a city builder, I feel like Capitalism 2 / Capitalism Lab would resonate with people that like these games. Also Banished seems to be missing from this list. Finally Dungeon Keeper 2, keep going back to that as well.

[@GamerZakh]

@@sgcray7297 Thanks! I talk about Banished in the video but I figure other games have surpassed it. I'd probably still specifically list it if I did a top 15.

[@fhsa7239]

Farthest frontier is one of the best games that is coming out. Real fun

[@Liednard]

Lol I played all these games but 1 ^^ (The Russian city builder, it's on my list though) Would definitively recommend Against the Storm to both city-builders and colony-survivor games. Because the game is both, and is more one genre or the other depending on your difficulty settings :) You can also play custom games to really match your style. Thanks Zakh, very nice vid :)

[@perracheposte1752]

Love your propositions. IXION is maybe missing. ;) It's a fabulous game.

[@lordmortarius538]

I was surprised that Surviving Mars was not on the list. It's an amazing city/colony builder with tons of ways to play it, lots of great mods (Silva's even got rolled into an official DLC for the game with even more improvements), and a bangin soundtrack just like in Skylines (which has a Mars Radio station too :) )

[@buttonasas]

Great picks, even greater commentary. Hearing why these games either stand the test of time or quickly rose above the rest is exactly what I love hearing you talk about. I've tried most of these games and, I must say, I never realised how diverse they really are. Cities: Skylines is just an entry point to a vast selection - and, even though it's the most popular, C:S kind of sucks, in my opinion. It's not that it lacks anything - quite the opposite, it has too much! In fact, it feels like some parts of it are just to fill in features that would be relevant for a real city; emphasis on "fill" - it's *filler.* What I really love about all the other games is how crazy they get, *focusing* on a few aspects to the best degree. I'll comment more in replies about specifics. But first, I'd like to highlight 2 recent games. They're very out there but I think they're similar enough to include in the same "city builder" bucket - after all, they do revolve around making inhabitants prosperous by addressing their needs. - Factory Town: as the name suggests, it's a factory game... with very toy-like inhabitants that honestly feel more like bots than people. Zero immersion but hey, the actual gameplay loop of getting more autonomous bo... ahem, people, by supplying more varied and more highly-valued needs in _any_ order, it always feels like you're making progress in a world where nothing is threatening you and every corner feels so polished that I don't think I ever felt _frustrated_ playing it - quite a breath of fresh air, considering most city builders. It's like "mindless fun" without the "mindless" part. - Terra Nil: once marketed as a "reverse factory game", it's very moody and thematic but, as all games I play, I particularly like the gameplay as well - it's a quite simple progression where you're only really transmuting tiles from one kind to another, using nearby catalysts, like some sort of bio-alche-artifice-mancer, but it's a very good system and it _feels_ great, especially as the world comes alive. Since this year's update to the animal system, it does feel like a proper city builder in the sense that you provide a sort of "amenities" to various inhabitants - just in rather short levels. Oh but the levels are great and keep building up one step at a time introducing more trickery or taking away things you took for granted and replacing them with other systems... sometimes in the middle of a level! Zakh's video doesn't feature this year's transformative update but shows the gist of Terra Nil quite well. I love the new "recycling when out of resources" setting: allows you to play on the most challenging difficulty with the most forgiving safety net - best of both worlds. I'm not just mentioning Factory Town and Terra Nil - I truly believe they deserve top 5 among these games. They are stretching what a "city builder" is a little bit but I wouldn't put them in any other box. Speaking of other categories, I also have a lot of transport tycoon, automation and strategy game recommendations for some other time...

[@buttonasas]

*Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic* Do not underestimate this game - it goes _hard!_ From the resource chains having branches to the intricate, yet minimal, transport systems, to the highlight of them all: construction being an industry. We all have played that game where you make money to build more buildings that make more money and then resources are no longer a problem - you're just maximizing the city. Workers & Resources has a lot of settings relating to difficulty (that can be changed mid-game!) and the most interesting by far is the "always build from resources" option - this suddenly makes money a very obscure resource only used at a customs house and pivots to every single building, utility, pipe and street being built by construction workers over many months using refined resources delivered by trucks and set in place by dumpers, pavers, rollers, cranes, using the hands of workers walking to the build site, others delivered by bus from a city centre and other foreign workers paid to enter your nation for work. Really, I'm just scratching the surface of what that single setting entails. ...unfortunately, the game is also clunky and inflexible across the table. Interacting with the overly rigid road and building placement system (god forbid you've made an _intersection_ - now nothing else but roads can touch it) proved too frustrating for me to bare with it... after enjoying it for like 40 hours :'D In short, I think it's an absolute gem but I wouldn't exactly recommend playing it, weirdly enough.

[@buttonasas]

*Anno 1800* Really solid. It's extremely resource-oriented and cuts out a lot of city planning, like transport within an island is barely a factor and you can mostly place anything anywhere and nothing can ever clash - only boost each other (which is fun, not going to lie!) Trade between islands, however, completely reinvigorates the city building - as you progress through implicit technology tiers, your people require goods that only some islands have the capacity for so you either need to expand and connect up other islands, or you have to hope your diplomatic trade routes with other factions can help you, OR you can acquire rare items that allow island access to those rare goods (only for crops; usually at lower efficiency) The inhabitants are a bit lifeless and mostly just consume goods and poop out money but the theme, visual design, friendly faces representing each building, dynamic events (mostly pleasant surprises!), and all of the campaign really spice it up to feel like a place with real people.

[@buttonasas]

*Against The Storm* My personal favourite, _by far!_ It's hard to describe - nothing compares to it. It has city builder elements with a major colony sim flavor, it has roguelike elements like drafting and "runs", it has a metagame with unlocks and progression - but none of that would be sufficient for me to like this game. (also, yeah, that's probably why it's not for everyone - it's a mix of genres) What I really love is how intertwined it is. The resource system is next level - you have anywhere from 2 to 3x3x5 = 45 ways to make a single type of good, depending on the alternatives and substitutes you choose to craft it from. It's not "production chains", it's a whole production _net_ that you can tug and pull in so many directions. Except you don't have the full "net" available: you start only being able to gather limited raw stock and produce building materials, and then, as you explore the forest and satisfy your people and the queen (her orders are ever changing), you unlock more and more parts of the net - one "blueprint" at a time, unlocking 3 wildly different recipes for you (for example, a Bakery can only make Biscuits, Pottery and Pie... hope you have Flour to bake with!), filling in more and more of the "net" while sustaining yourself with various temporary solutions. In fact, it's all quite temporary - as soon as you're self-sufficient and provide what your people need, you just win and move on to the next challenge (...or stay, nobody's rushing you - but the fun ends here: you've bootstrapped the settlement successfully and it doesn't need you to function anymore) The result of this is that no "run"/settlement is the same - you're always playing a different game as the rules are never exactly the same. 400 hours later, I'm eager to try something new and I know I will find it here.

[@buttonasas]

I don't have a paragraph for Frostpunk (it's what it says on the box) but I also really liked it :'D

[@booksnphilosophy]

Timely video - finally beat Caesar III yesterday! So many restarts on the last level. 😬 Might have to try something new.

[@johnson7472]

Foundation amazing game. I keep going back to it!

[@gorillafacewastaken]

Hyped for Anno 117 Pax Romana!!! 😮😮❤

[@luisfbjunqueira5837]

thank you the list!

[@defmedia85]

Zakh are you ready for the internet to tell you YOUR list of PERSONAL choices is incorrect :D

[@GamerZakh]

I'm always ready for that lol

[@Islacrusez]

Tbf they’re not his favourites, they’re THE best of ALL TIME.

[@GamerZakh]

@@Islacrusez And I'm prepared for that too, because although all curated lists have subjective elements, I use a lot of objective indicators when curating too. Playercount, sales numbers, review scores, user tags, modding situation, etc. I give reasons why I chose these 8 games through the video, and some argue against the objective points too. For example, Manor Lords being the 4th most played city builder in the world, I have people saying "the community has woken up and realised it's a terrible game" when it's still literally in the top 5 city builders in the world. You can name a game that you think deserves to be in the list instead of these top 8, and I have objective and subjective reasons why it's not. To disagree with the subjective point, you have to be just as subjective. To disagree with the objective point, sometimes it's being silly or it goes back to just feelings. Like you can say Cities Skylines is 'boring, soulless, pointless', but a decade after release and it's still the most played city builder in the world. To say it shouldn't be in the list doesn't make sense considering what the list is about.

[@Islacrusez]

@@GamerZakhI can also say that Anno is a buggy mess with an AI-upscaled cover image (or perhaps upscaled by an employee that doesn’t get paid nearly enough). The first time I played it the campaign broke and dumped me into a full armed conflict without unlocking the relevant building options, and the second time it locked up prior to unlocking basically any buildings making it entirely unplayable. Or you can look at the background image in the steam library and see if there’s anything up with the text. Looks like maybe AI upscaling to me, but could also be a woefully underpaid employee. Best of all time it really shouldn’t be. An older Anno may have been a better pick, but I wouldn’t know. I’d also question your Soviet Republic pick but far more tongue in cheek. It’s a hell of a game but it’s a decent citybuilder without everything turned on, and with everything turned on it’s barely a citybuilder at all - it’s a logistics game. Probably the best one there is. While it did knock CS2 off my wishlist, it actually eliminated several games from the logistics and transport genre off my list. And I’d put C3 and Pharaoh in there as a single item, they’re functionally alike and both very good. Mostly pulling your leg though. These top x lists can be very pretentious, especially if they have a spicy pick, but hey it drives engagement. You’ve got some solid picks and even the ones I’ve not played I at least recognise. If anything the biggest failing of the list (apart from Anno, zing!) is that it didn’t bring anything new to my attention.

[@GamerZakh]

@@Islacrusez Haha well it's only half about my experience, the rest is more objective. Right this second, Anno 1800 is the 5th most played city builder in the world half a decade after its release. Part of the longest running city building series, a solid 8/10 or higher based on various ratings, top 5 most played. Your personal experience is understandable, but it's not enough to override all that. As for C3 and Pharaoh, it's why I talk about the entire Impressions series in the video. However, there is no Julius or Augustus equivalent for Pharaoh. Also, a number of game breaking bugs plagues Pharaoh. Caesar 3's game breaking bugs have now been fixed by the community. To note, Caesar 3 and Pharaoh weren't even made by the same people. After C3, most of the team left and founded Firefly Studios, Pharaoh was made by a completely different group. And these are the best in the world, of course if you're a city-building aficionado you'll already know them. If you want unknown stuff, watch upcoming or underrated lists. Best of lists aren't going to be hidden gems, the best games don't fly under the radar. Only people without radars miss them. Having said that, I made a 'best of 2024' city builder list that rules out everything older. You might find something new in there.

[@bluebear57]

I remember I was super disappointed with sc4 when it first came out. Glad it’s got a great modding community and is still alive.

[@cmcc3721]

Workers and resources is head and shoulders above every other title in that clip

[@mbdragon1234]

Good one Zakh!!!!!!🤩

[@Tclans]

Not much of a city builder. But love watching your videos on it non the less. Absolutely commenting for the algorithm 🫶🏼

[@GamerZakh]

@@Tclans Hey thanks!

[@Bobywan75]

I love Frostpunk, Anno 1800 and the Zeus/Pharaoh games, I have hundreds of hours on them. Apparently Frostpunk 2 is quite different, which is quite a bummer.

[@dovl4]

Great video, Zakh, as always! I have a suggestion: when presenting a game, could you show real gameplay footage instead of just random clips? Especially since these are your favorite games, it would be great to see you play, so we can get a feel for the UI and gameplay. Thanks!

[@snowieken]

Zeus Master of Olympus was my first experience with city builders and a true epiphany for me. I understand your point about Caesar 3, taking longevity in mind, but I can't look past it when thinking about best of all time.

[@GamerZakh]

I totally understand. I mentioned that I used to call Pharaoh or Emperor the 'best' one, but personally I just liked Caesar 3 way more than those. If I was calculating merits Pharaoh beat base Caesar 3 easy, so I couldn't really justify calling C3 the best. But it was the one I enjoyed the most by far. Me labelling Augustus the best now, it's also based on me trying to be objective.

[@mikebobihov]

You remember SimCity but not a word about the Settlers series? I know under current Ubisoft the series is kinda DOA but back then there were awesome Settlers games that people deserve to know and remember.

[@GamerZakh]

@@mikebobihov I'm being strict on the definition of the genre here, many don't consider Settlers as a city-builder. You don't really build houses for citizens to live in and the primary objective is conquering land. Outside of this, I talk about not just Settlers but Pioneers of Pagonia a lot.

[@ThaGamingMisfit]

Also the most recent Settlers game is a pile of manure, so that makes it hard to put it on any list.

[@talknight2]

Settlers is a lot more of an RTS than a city builder.

[@christ587]

I loved playing Settlers 2 as a kid.

[@Sawubona2007]

Firstly, Manor Lords is amazing. Secondly, no best city building list can exclude Pharaoh + Cleopatra. P + C as well as Emperor are superlative.

[@Gortrok]

For me, Zeus is the best city builder of all time, hands down.

[@GamerZakh]

I talk about the whole Impressions series in the video. I say Pharaoh used to be the 'best', Augustus has overtaken that in my eyes.

[@m1xxx3r]

wdym? Cleopatra, Pharaoh, Emperor and Zeus were all mentioned in Caesars panel as a part of Impressions Games legacy, if You want to pick either one of them then more than half of this list would be just Impressions games

[@SuperSajuuk]

@@GamerZakh ehhhh, I dunno. I've been keeping on top of the discussions in the discord, and it feels like Augustus has a problem with "too much content" in it, and also being too balanced towards the hard-core players of the game. I would say Pharaoh is still the better game for being just hard enough for most players, but not so extremely hard that casual or average players can't complete the game on the balanced difficulty level. Pharaoh is the more "complete" game out of all four of them, excluding any modding on Caesar 3 (since the Augustus project is unrepresentative imo: I would say a modern C3 experience is that of Julius since it fixes bugs without changing the original mechanics), mainly because Zeus is an extremely simplistic game and Emperor has all sorts of random bugs and isn't particularly balanced. C3 is also balanced to just one difficulty level and has various issues that are well known. Pharaoh is the most replayable out of all the games for me.

[@GamerZakh]

@@SuperSajuuk Sure it's just in my eyes. I just can't replay Pharaoh on Very Hard anymore because of the wild military balance. Plus the 'dancer glitch' made a lot of my runs unfun. I still have Pharaoh as a close second to Augustus.

[@Perisemiotics]

_Surviving Mars_ and _Endzone_ have unique settings, I've enjoyed those as well.

[@alabanzai]

Pharaoh, Sim City 2000, and Tropico 1 are at the top of my list, probably due to nostalgia. I like that for your list you considered the ongoing community updates, rather than just old favorites. I'm a little resistant to some of the recent games being called "survival city builders". For me, banished and frostpunk are solidly in builder category (relative placement of the buildings matters a lot) but others play more like tower defense games in that there is too much combat, like defense building and unit micro. IMO a city builder should still be fun to play even on maps without combat, like the impressions, simcity, tropico games.

[@user-mx9oh8ng8s]

Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom Not bad also

[@GamerZakh]

Yeah I talk about it in the video

[@TigerWon]

Cities skylines is my all time favorite game.