Games Like Cities: Skylines

Raise a city from the ground up and transform it into a thriving metropolis with the most realistic city builder ever. Push your creativity and problem-solving to build on a scale you've never experienced. With deep simulation and a living economy, this is world-building without limits.

Why similar: City Builder 41.6%, Building 11.6%, Management 7.2%, Simulation 6.8%, Moddable 6.7%

Why You'll Like It: The direct sequel retains the modern zoning, road-building, service management, and traffic-planning sandbox while expanding the scale and simulation detail.

SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition includes the bestselling SimCity 4 and the all-new SimCity 4 Rush Hour Expansion Pack. Create the most massive region of cities ever, with a farming town, bedroom community, high-tech commercial center, and industrial backbone.

Why similar: City Builder 37.3%, Building 13.8%, Management 10%, Economy 9.8%, Sandbox 8.9%

Why You'll Like It: A landmark urban simulation focused on zoning, budgets, transit networks, public utilities, and the interconnected consequences of city planning.

Anno 1800™ – Lead the Industrial Revolution! Welcome to the dawn of the Industrial Age. The path you choose will define your world. Are you an innovator or an exploiter? A conqueror or a liberator? How the world remembers your name is up to you.

Why similar: City Builder 60.2%, Economy 10%, Simulation 7.1%, Strategy 6%, Sandbox 4.5%

Why You'll Like It: Its elaborate production chains, population tiers, logistics, and beautiful expanding cities provide a more economic and historical take on municipal growth.

The classic transport simulation genre has a new gold standard with Transport Fever 2. Discover a whole new world by navigating transport routes through land, water and air. May progress and prosperity find their way!

Why similar: City Builder 34.1%, Management 11.2%, Building 8.9%, Simulation 8.7%, Economy 8.2%

Why You'll Like It: Building efficient road, rail, air, and sea networks to connect growing towns scratches the infrastructure-planning side of Cities: Skylines particularly well.

Build a soviet republic from an impoverished country into a rich industrial superpower in a city builder with intricate production chains and a fully simulated global economy. Manage the lives of your citizens from education to work and party loyalty to criminal activity.

Why similar: City Builder 36.7%, Building 12.1%, Moddable 11.3%, Management 8.9%, Economy 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: It offers an exceptionally detailed city-building simulation where production chains, utilities, transit, housing, and citizen needs all demand careful planning.

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.

Why similar: City Builder 40.3%, Moddable 15.3%, Building 13.5%, Management 9.7%, Sandbox 9.3%

Why You'll Like It: This deep pixel-art city simulator offers extensive zoning, transport construction, utilities, regional development, and a strong modding scene.

El Presidente is back! Prove yourself once again as a feared dictator or peace-loving statesman on the island state of Tropico and shape the fate of your very own banana republic through four distinctive eras.

Why similar: City Builder 52.4%, Economy 10.1%, Management 9.9%, Simulation 7.5%, Building 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: This accessible city builder combines urban expansion, public services, trade, infrastructure, and political management with a humorous island setting.

Foundation is a grid-less, laidback medieval city-building game with a focus on organic development, monument construction and resource management.

Why similar: City Builder 56.3%, Building 8.9%, Management 7%, Simulation 6.5%, Sandbox 6.4%

Why You'll Like It: This relaxed medieval builder emphasizes naturally evolving settlements, modular monuments, production management, and road-free organic layouts.

Highrise City offers a new spin on City Simulations & Tycoon games expanding the economy and resource management aspect. Experience a modern take on the genre enriched with a complex resource based economy system.

Why similar: City Builder 41.5%, Building 11.3%, Sandbox 8.9%, Simulation 7.6%, Economy 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: A modern city builder centered on detailed supply chains, traffic, resource extraction, and the challenges of growing a dense metropolis.

Frostpunk is the first society survival game. As the ruler of the last city on Earth, it is your duty to manage both its citizens and infrastructure. What decisions will you make to ensure your society's survival? What will you do when pushed to breaking point? Who will you become in the process?

Why similar: City Builder 58.2%, Building 10.8%, Resource Management 8.2%, Strategy 5.9%, Management 5.3%

Why You'll Like It: It turns city planning into a tense survival challenge where heat, housing, labor, resources, and difficult civic policies must all be balanced.

Manor Lords is a medieval strategy game featuring in-depth city building, large-scale tactical battles, and complex economic and social simulations. Rule your lands as a medieval lord – the seasons pass, the weather changes, and cities rise and fall.

Why similar: City Builder 32.1%, Moddable 14.4%, Building 12.1%, Management 8.9%, Economy 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: Its organic medieval town layouts, road placement, resource management, and citizen-driven growth deliver a highly tactile city-planning experience.

Return to the remote island nation of Tropico and expand your Dynasty’s reign from the early colonial period to beyond the 21st Century, facing new challenges including advanced trading mechanics, technology and scientific research, as well as cooperative and competitive MULTIPLAYER.

Why similar: City Builder 57.6%, Simulation 9.4%, Sandbox 8.4%, Strategy 7.9%, Economy 6.8%

Why You'll Like It: Its island-city construction, trade systems, service placement, and era-spanning development make it a strong lighter alternative to Skylines.

Urbek is a city building game where you can build your own neighbourhoods: from nightlife district to industrial district. Don't exhaust your natural resources before you have an educated population to build more efficient structures.

Why similar: City Builder 39%, Building 14%, Management 10%, Economy 8.5%, Sandbox 8.2%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on thoughtful zoning and resource dependencies, rewarding carefully planned neighborhoods rather than simple population growth.

Create your own Nation, build cities and bring prosperity to your people. Citystate II is a unique city-builder featuring realistic economics and complex political options. Slums or skyscrapers, experiment and bring about your vision of the ideal society.

Why similar: City Builder 43.5%, Building 13.5%, Economy 10.8%, Management 9.5%, Sandbox 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: A contemporary city-building sandbox with zoning, infrastructure, economics, demographics, and unusually extensive policy control.

Humans are long gone. In a world struck by droughts and toxic waste, will your lumberpunk beavers do any better? A sandbox city-building game featuring ingenious animals, vertical architecture, water physics, and terraforming. Contains high amounts of wood.

Why similar: City Builder 51.7%, Building 14.2%, Management 10.3%, Sandbox 9.4%, Simulation 5.5%

Why You'll Like It: Its distinctive beaver settlements require satisfying long-term planning around water, terrain, districts, automation, and production chains.

Planet Coaster® - the future of coaster park simulation games has arrived! Surprise, delight and thrill incredible crowds as you build your coaster park empire - let your imagination run wild, and share your success with the world.

Why similar: Building 22.7%, City Builder 17.9%, Management 13.9%, Sandbox 11.5%, Simulation 11.3%

Why You'll Like It: Its highly flexible building tools and guest-management simulation make it ideal for players who enjoy Cities: Skylines' creative sandbox side.

In this city-building strategy game, you control a group of exiled travelers who decide to restart their lives in a new land. They have only the clothes on their backs and a cart filled with supplies from their homeland. The townspeople of Banished are your primary resource.

Why similar: City Builder 65.5%, Simulation 7.8%, Sandbox 6.2%, Strategy 5.7%, Building 4.6%

Why You'll Like It: Its demanding village simulation centers on balancing housing, labor, food, stockpiles, and seasonal resources as a settlement expands.

A city builder with simulated citizens, set in a procedurally-generated world map. Grow your kingdom through the eras from a tiny medieval hamlet into a prosperous global empire! Cooperate or compete in real-time with your friends in multiplayer mode.

Why similar: City Builder 61.1%, Management 9.8%, Building 8.2%, Economy 7.5%, Resource Management 4.5%

Why You'll Like It: This approachable city builder combines procedural maps, expanding settlements, production networks, and optional online multiplayer.

Protect and guide your people as you forge a town from untamed wilderness at the edge of the known world. Harvest raw materials, hunt, fish and farm to survive. Produce crafted items to trade, consume, equip and fight with as you battle for your survival against the elements and outside threats.

Why similar: City Builder 45.2%, Building 20.8%, Economy 10.1%, Management 9.7%, Resource Management 6.3%

Why You'll Like It: A detailed settlement builder where layout, trade, farming, public health, and resource logistics shape whether a town thrives.

Build a world for wildlife in Planet Zoo. From the developers of Planet Coaster and Zoo Tycoon comes the ultimate zoo sim. Construct detailed habitats, manage your zoo, and meet authentic living animals who think, feel and explore the world you create around them.

Why similar: City Builder 30.3%, Building 16.1%, Management 14.5%, Sandbox 9.3%, Simulation 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: It combines detailed construction tools, pathing, guest amenities, staff logistics, and financial management in a park-building setting.

A dark fantasy city builder where you must rebuild civilization in the face of apocalyptic rains. As the Queen’s Viceroy, lead humans, beavers, lizards, foxes, and harpies to reclaim the wilderness and secure a future for civilization's last survivors.

Why similar: City Builder 32.6%, Moddable 13.8%, Building 12.4%, Management 9%, Economy 8.3%

Why You'll Like It: It blends city-building fundamentals with varied maps and production challenges, making each compact settlement an engaging planning puzzle.

Project Highrise is a skyscraper construction and management sim...

Why similar: Building 25.8%, Management 22.5%, City Builder 14.3%, Simulation 14%, Strategy 7.7%

Why You'll Like It: Instead of a whole city, it lets you plan and operate a dense vertical urban complex with tenants, services, finances, and infrastructure.

Endzone is a post-apocalyptic survival city builder, where you start a new civilization with a group of people after an ecological disaster. Build them a new home and ensure their survival in a shattered world, threatened by constant radiation, toxic rain, sandstorms and droughts.

Why similar: City Builder 61.9%, Building 8.7%, Simulation 6.5%, Strategy 6%, Management 4.8%

Why You'll Like It: This post-apocalyptic builder emphasizes water, food, radiation, infrastructure, and citizen survival while rebuilding a functioning town.

In this city-building game, you will lead a group of survivors in their search for a new home. Manipulate the landscape, manage limited supplies, plant crops, hunt wildlife, gather resources, and develop trade routes to build a bustling and unique town.

Why similar: City Builder 49.3%, Building 16.2%, Management 10.6%, Sandbox 7%, Simulation 5.7%

Why You'll Like It: It provides a broad, approachable settlement-management loop of farming, industry, trade, housing, and technological development.

Build the park of a lifetime and rediscover the critically acclaimed rollercoaster simulation bestseller. Feel the thrill of a genre-defining classic, complete with two huge expansion packs.

Why similar: City Builder 38.7%, Building 17.3%, Management 14.8%, Sandbox 8.9%, Simulation 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: A classic management sandbox built around designing an attractive, efficient park while balancing paths, rides, guests, and finances.

Ostriv is a city-building game that puts you in a role of a governor of an 18th century Ukrainian town to challenge your creative skills and management abilities.

Why similar: City Builder 43.8%, Building 12.3%, Management 9.3%, Economy 7.6%, Sandbox 7.3%

Why You'll Like It: A meticulous historical city builder with flexible construction, realistic labor systems, local trade, and organic town development.

The legendary city-builder returns! Lead the creation of one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever seen in this HD remake with modernized UI. Build monuments, manage your population and explore 4,000 years of history through over a hundred hours of gameplay.

Why similar: City Builder 48.2%, Building 15.3%, Management 11%, Economy 9.5%, Simulation 6.7%

Why You'll Like It: This classic-style city builder revolves around road-connected services, housing evolution, monument construction, trade, and resource management.

SteamWorld Build is a casual city-building and dungeon-management cross-over set in the SteamWorld Universe, where you build and manage a town on a dying planet. You'll need to balance resources, construction, and exploration to its depths to ensure your town's survival and eventual escape.

Why similar: City Builder 43.4%, Building 12.5%, Economy 11.1%, Management 10.3%, Sandbox 7.8%

Why You'll Like It: A streamlined but charming city builder combining surface-town planning with mining, production chains, trade, and citizen needs.

Songs of Syx is a fantasy city-builder with vast battles simulating thousands of citizens and soldiers. Start off as a small village and build, scheme, and fight your way towards a mighty empire. The mechanics are deep and true to life, where tiny events can spiral into the collapse of kingdoms.

Why similar: City Builder 41.3%, Moddable 15.2%, Building 13.6%, Sandbox 9.2%, Economy 8.9%

Why You'll Like It: It supports enormous settlements with intricate population, economy, logistics, construction, and regional expansion systems.

The world is changing and Tropico is moving with the times - geographical powers rise and fall and the world market is dominated by new players with new demands and offers - and you, as El Presidente, face a whole new set of challenges.

Why similar: City Builder 56.8%, Management 9.8%, Simulation 7.9%, Sandbox 5.2%, Strategy 5.1%

Build an idyllic 19th century Mediterranean town and help it flourish into a prosperous city. Freely place and customise each element to create the perfect home for your growing population in this cozy city builder from the creators of Station to Station.

Why similar: City Builder 49%, Building 13.7%, Management 8.2%, Economy 7.8%, Sandbox 7%

Only the world’s most ruthless Warden can contain the world’s most ruthless inmates. Design and develop your personalized penitentiary in Prison Architect.

Why similar: City Builder 32.4%, Building 15.1%, Management 10.1%, Moddable 9.9%, Sandbox 9.4%

Subway Builder is a hyperrealistic transit simulation game. Build a new subway system from the ground up while dealing with real-world constraints and costs. Craft the subway system your city deserves.

Why similar: City Builder 40.8%, Building 13.1%, Management 9.5%, Simulation 9.5%, Strategy 7.1%

Build and customise thrilling roller coasters and incredible water slides, manage the ultimate theme park experience, and share your epic creations. Are you ready to ride the wave?

Why similar: City Builder 36.7%, Building 16.5%, Sandbox 11.1%, Simulation 10.2%, Economy 8.7%

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.

Why similar: City Builder 45.3%, Building 10.3%, Simulation 8.1%, Economy 7.7%, Management 6.7%

Design, build, and manage the world’s largest and most diverse cities in Cities XXL. Bigger and better than ever before with a more powerful game engine and new interface, become the mayor of your very own sprawling metropolis.

Why similar: City Builder 45.1%, Building 12.6%, Economy 8.4%, Management 7.8%, Moddable 7.2%

Build cities, shape a world.Cities XL Platinum lets you design, build and link up cities of all shapes and sizes around the Cities XL planet!Build more impressive cities than ever before! Cities XL Platinum offers a huge variety of over 1,000 buildings and constructions (including 50 brand new structures), that you can freely place on...

Why similar: City Builder 62.9%, Simulation 12.5%, Management 7.3%, Sandbox 6.6%, Strategy 4%

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum combines the excitement of rollercoasters with the fun of a great strategy simulation. RCT3 Platinum combines the roller coaster theme park fun of the Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 with included expansion packs Soaked! and Wild! Now enjoy more options than ever.

Why similar: Management 20%, Building 19.9%, Simulation 14.2%, Sandbox 13.8%, City Builder 8.4%

Build your society of the future, colonize islands, and create sprawling megacities with multitudes of buildings, vehicles, and resources to manage.

Why similar: City Builder 61.3%, Strategy 7.9%, Economy 6.6%, Simulation 6.3%, Building 5.4%

Smart City Plan is a modern old-school style city builder game: Plan zones, roads, public transport like trains, trams, buses, subways and even the hypertube. Set taxes and policies and implement smart city technologies.

Why similar: City Builder 33%, Building 11.6%, Simulation 9.5%, Management 7.3%, Sandbox 6.8%

From barren land to towering metropolis, every decision you make shapes the destiny of your city. Industrial flow, global trade, surging land values, and growing wealth, offers deep management gameplay, perfect for players who love strategic city-building and economic simulation.

Why similar: City Builder 46.2%, Building 16.4%, Economy 11.6%, Sandbox 9.9%, Simulation 8.9%

Expand your empire, advance your culture and go head-to-head against history’s greatest leaders. Will your civilization stand the test of time?

Why similar: City Builder 45.4%, Strategy 16.8%, Building 9.9%, Moddable 9%, Simulation 7.7%

Build & Manage Your Airport. An International Hub or a Regional Masterpiece -- it's up to you. Buy more land to scale out, or escalators to scale up with MULTIPLE FLOORS. You're in full control in this modern business management tycoon!

Why similar: City Builder 39.9%, Building 14.5%, Management 11.1%, Economy 10.6%, Sandbox 8.9%

Mini Motorways is a strategy simulation game about designing the road map for a growing city. Build a traffic network, one road at a time, to create a bustling metropolis. Redesign your roads and place your motorways to get everyone where they need to go. How long can you keep the city moving?

Why similar: City Builder 29.7%, Management 18.7%, Simulation 15.4%, Building 14.9%, Strategy 12%

Advanced city simulator with minimalist "Paint" graphics. Build complex intersections, edit traffic rules, and solve traffic jams without melting your PC.

Why similar: City Builder 48%, Simulation 12.9%, Building 11.5%, Sandbox 11.1%, Moddable 8%

Build and manage an international airport!

Why similar: City Builder 25.9%, Moddable 16.7%, Building 12.2%, Management 10%, Economy 7.7%

An exciting new city-management/puzzle game about buildings and the city they inhabit. You must grow your city to a bustling metropolitan centre with an array of shops, offices, entertainment facilities and amenities, to help your buildings thrive; or risk them being demolished forever.

Why similar: City Builder 46.3%, Building 14.8%, Management 13.5%, Economy 12.1%, Strategy 6%

Curate and manage incredible museums! Explore to discover amazing artifacts. Design and refine the layout, keep staff happy, guests entertained, donations plentiful… and children off the exhibits

Why similar: City Builder 40.3%, Building 16.7%, Management 9.3%, Sandbox 9.1%, Simulation 9.1%

Build, manage, and expand your own lucrative parking enterprise in this management sim. Parking World puts the power to build your perfect parking garage at your fingertips while solving everybody else's parking problems in unique narrative scenarios or without any objectives in freeplay mode.

Why similar: City Builder 30.3%, Building 14.4%, Management 10.4%, Economy 9.6%, Sandbox 8.1%

Manage transportation for commuters in four of the world's greatest cities - Vienna, Helsinki, Berlin, and Amsterdam

Why similar: City Builder 37.6%, Simulation 19.2%, Management 17.6%, Economy 8.5%, Sandbox 6%

A city-building game with a unique twist—step inside and experience your city firsthand! Plan roads, zones, and infrastructure while growing your economy, managing resources, and unlocking special buildings. Host events, build mega projects, and watch your city thrive in a dynamic world.

Why similar: City Builder 51.1%, Sandbox 11.7%, Economy 11.6%, Building 9.7%, Strategy 6.5%

Block’hood is a neighborhood-building simulator that celebrates the diversity and experimentation of cities and the unique ecosystems within them. Budding city planners will have access to 200+ building blocks to combine and to create unique neighborhoods and discover the implications of their designs.

Why similar: City Builder 59.3%, Building 11.1%, Sandbox 11%, Simulation 10.2%, Strategy 4.9%

Transport Fever is a railroad-focused tycoon game. Players start in 1850 and build up a thriving transport company. As an emerging transport tycoon, the player constructs stations, airports, harbors and makes money by connecting areas requiring transport services. Build up your own Empire!

Why similar: City Builder 36%, Building 13.7%, Management 9.8%, Economy 9.6%, Sandbox 9%

Shape the Roman Empire in this genre-defining strategic builder game. Build cities while expanding your influence through Roman provinces. Govern using your economic prowess, diplomatic skills, or military might.

Why similar: City Builder 44.6%, Building 12.7%, Economy 9.2%, Sandbox 8.8%, Simulation 7.8%

Place yourself at the heart of the Jurassic franchise and build your own Jurassic World. Bioengineer dinosaurs that think, feel and react intelligently to the world around them and face threats posed by espionage, breakouts and devastating tropical storms in an uncertain world where life always finds a way.

Why similar: City Builder 25.3%, Building 24%, Management 14.6%, Simulation 9.9%, Sandbox 9.8%

Road to your City is a city building and management game with a heavy emphasis on football. Slipping into the role of mayor, you are tasked with establishing a successful football club and developing it from grassroots to world class powerhouse.

Why similar: City Builder 50.1%, Simulation 11.4%, Building 10%, Management 7.7%, Sandbox 6.9%

One of the best games from acclaimed Tycoon series, with well designed gameplay mechanics, appealing graphics, and really high re-playability value. There’s no limit to what you can create so design and build the most thrilling roller coaster the world has ever seen!

Why similar: Management 24.1%, Simulation 17.7%, Building 16.6%, Sandbox 14.4%, City Builder 12.3%

SimCity 3000 Unlimited brings you the classic strategy gaming of SimCity 3000 with all-new scenarios that open up a whole world of city planning and building possibilities! The thrills of the classic SimCity 3000 are here again!

Why similar: City Builder 71.4%, Simulation 16.9%, Strategy 9%, Singleplayer 1.5%, Casual 1.2%

Factorio is a game about building and creating automated factories to produce items of increasing complexity, within an infinite 2D world. Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious structures, and finally protect it from the creatures who don't really like you.

Why similar: City Builder 24.2%, Sandbox 15.6%, Building 13%, Resource Management 12.9%, Moddable 12.5%