Games Like Cities: Skylines II

Cities: Skylines is a modern take on the classic city simulation. The game introduces new game play elements to realize the thrill and hardships of creating and maintaining a real city whilst expanding on some well-established tropes of the city building experience.

Why similar: City Builder 41.1%, Building 11.6%, Management 7.5%, Simulation 7%, Economy 6.8%

Why You'll Like It: It is the closest match on Steam, offering modern road planning, zoning, public services, traffic headaches, and a huge sandbox city-building loop.

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 30.4%, Building 13.5%, Economy 13.3%, Sandbox 10.7%, Management 10.4%

Why You'll Like It: This classic still nails the same core fantasy of shaping a city through zoning, utilities, transit, taxation, and long-term urban 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 24.7%, Transportation 13.9% ★, Management 10.2%, Economy 9.9%, Simulation 8.4%

Why You'll Like It: While centered on transport networks, its city growth, infrastructure planning, and living economy strongly overlap with the traffic-management side of Cities: Skylines II.

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 30%, Building 12.2%, Economy 11.9%, Sandbox 9.6%, Management 9.5%

Why You'll Like It: If you like deep simulation and realistic infrastructure chains, this is one of the few city-builders that rivals Cities: Skylines II in systemic complexity.

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 36%, Building 11.8%, Sandbox 11.3%, Economy 10.3%, Simulation 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: It blends large-scale city building with heavier production-chain and economic management, making it a great fit for players who want more simulation under the hood.

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 35.2%, Economy 14.5%, Building 13.2%, Management 9.8%, Sandbox 9%

Why You'll Like It: This is a strong match if you want city building plus deeper economic, political, and policy systems layered over urban expansion.

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 46.5%, Building 8.9%, Economy 8.6%, Sandbox 7.8%, Management 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: Its organic, roadless medieval growth scratches the same sandbox city-design itch while emphasizing population needs and layered settlement expansion.

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 50.7%, Economy 14%, Simulation 8%, Strategy 5.6%, Sandbox 5.5%

Why You'll Like It: It leans more into logistics and production chains, but the satisfaction of planning efficient, beautiful, thriving cities is very similar.

The Regional City Builder: Let's Build Something New.

Why similar: City Builder 39.2%, Building 12.6%, Management 11.8%, Simulation 10.2%, Economy 8.3%

Why You'll Like It: It is a modern indie take on the SimCity-style formula with zoning, taxes, services, and traffic-focused urban management.

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 33.3%, Building 14.3%, Economy 12.1%, Management 10.9%, Sandbox 10.3%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on building interlocking neighborhoods and urban systems, giving you a more organic but still city-planning-heavy alternative.

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 34.4%, Building 14%, Moddable 12.8% ★, Sandbox 11.8%, Management 10.7%

Why You'll Like It: Despite its retro look, it captures the same satisfying loop of zoning districts, managing utilities, solving traffic, and growing a dense city.

Sweet Transit is a unique city builder where the railway is king. Build and automate the dream supply chain for your citizens, giving them all they need to expand quaint villages into bustling cities. Progress from steam power to diesel and beyond in this advanced train-driven experience.

Why similar: City Builder 23.9%, Transportation 11.9% ★, Economy 10.2%, Building 10.2%, Moddable 9.5% ★

Why You'll Like It: It turns the transport-planning part of city building into the main event, connecting towns, industry, and growth through carefully designed rail networks.

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 47.5%, Building 16.1%, Sandbox 12.9%, Management 12.4%, Simulation 6.9%

Why You'll Like It: This is an excellent systems-driven builder for players who enjoy infrastructure, resource flow, district planning, and watching a city evolve around those constraints.

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 26.7%, Building 12%, Economy 11.9%, Moddable 11.4% ★, Sandbox 9.6%

Why You'll Like It: Its realistic town layout, supply chains, and attention to how settlements function make it appealing if you enjoy the grounded simulation side of Cities: Skylines II.

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 43.6%, Economy 14%, Management 10.6%, Simulation 8.2%, Sandbox 7.4%

Why You'll Like It: It offers city-scale construction, transport, economy management, and service balancing, but with a stronger political layer and a lighter tone.

Develop, expand, and advance your city in a society survival game set 30 years after an apocalyptic blizzard ravaged Earth. In Frostpunk 2, you face not only the perils of never-ending winter, but also the powerful factions that watch your every step inside the Council Hall.

Why similar: City Builder 64.4%, Resource Management 10.7%, Strategy 8.2%, Management 6.5%, Simulation 6.4%

Why You'll Like It: It is a more dramatic, survival-heavy city-builder, but it shares the tension of scaling a city while balancing infrastructure, economy, and citizen needs.

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 35.1%, Building 12.1%, Economy 10.3%, Management 9.6%, Sandbox 8.7%

Why You'll Like It: This highly detailed settlement sim emphasizes realistic production, housing, labor, and town layout in a way that rewards thoughtful planning.

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 24.6%, Transportation 11.8% ★, Building 11.2%, Economy 10.9%, Sandbox 9%

Why You'll Like It: Like its sequel, it focuses on transport infrastructure and the way well-designed networks shape regional growth and city development.

Design and run your own railroads for the real world. Solve global transportation dilemmas. Unleash your inner railway engineer and transit policy manager.

Why similar: City Builder 23.2%, Transportation 16.6% ★, Economy 13.5%, Building 12.7%, Management 10.6%

Why You'll Like It: If your favorite part of Cities: Skylines II is designing transit that actually works, this transport sim goes extremely deep on that specific fantasy.

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 51.4%, Management 10.7%, Economy 10.5%, Building 8.4%, Resource Management 4.8%

Why You'll Like It: It mixes city building, economy management, and expansion in a way that appeals to players who enjoy watching a settlement become a self-sustaining urban machine.

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 40.8%, Building 16.1%, Management 11.1%, Sandbox 9%, Economy 8.6%

Why You'll Like It: Its focus on population needs, services, production, and settlement layout makes it a good fit for players who enjoy optimization-heavy builders.

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 57.4%, Simulation 9%, Sandbox 8%, Strategy 5.6%, Economy 4.9%

Why You'll Like It: It is less urban and more survival-focused, but the appeal of building a functioning settlement through careful resource and population management is very similar.

Don the coat of a clever entrepreneur, take over a small railway company in the early 1800s and turn your steam engines into the workhorses of the economy. Grow your company into the largest railway company of the continent and outsmart your competitors.

Why similar: City Builder 23.5%, Transportation 14.6% ★, Economy 12.1%, Building 11.3%, Management 10.4%

Why You'll Like It: This is a good adjacent pick for players who enjoy the economy-and-infrastructure side of city building more than zoning itself.

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 54.4%, Building 9.3%, Simulation 7.6%, Sandbox 6.1%, Strategy 5.9%

Why You'll Like It: This is another strong systems-first builder where city growth depends on carefully balancing infrastructure, resources, and long-term planning.

Cities in Motion 2 is the sequel to the popular mass transit simulation game Cities in Motion. Build, manage and lead your transportation network to provide cities with their ever changing needs. CIM2 introduces new features including multiplayer game modes, day and night cycles, timetables and dynamic cities.

Why similar: City Builder 27.3%, Transportation 18.4% ★, Simulation 13.5%, Management 12.6%, Sandbox 8.4%

Why You'll Like It: It zooms in on public transport management inside a growing city, making it a natural recommendation for players obsessed with buses, metros, and traffic flow.

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

Why similar: City Builder 26.9%, Simulation 18.3%, Management 16.2%, Transportation 12.8% ★, Economy 10.1%

Why You'll Like It: It is narrower than a full city-builder, but it captures the satisfaction of solving urban mobility problems inside a living city.

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 29.6%, Building 16%, Sandbox 13.2%, Economy 11.3%, Simulation 10.5%

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 41.3%, Building 15.4%, Economy 13.5%, Management 11.9%, Simulation 7.5%

Why You'll Like It: It is a classic-style city-builder focused on balancing housing, labor, services, trade, and urban expansion across a growing settlement.

Create and customize cities in Nebuchadnezzar, a classic isometric city-builder where careful planning and define your rise as a ruler in ancient Mesopotamia.

Why similar: City Builder 34.9%, Building 12.9%, Economy 12.8%, Sandbox 10.7%, Management 9.4%

Why You'll Like It: This historical city-builder emphasizes housing layout, services, production chains, and efficient district planning in a way that feels satisfyingly familiar.

It’s the year 1850, and there are great times ahead! Establish a transport company and be its manager. Build infrastructure such as railways and stations, purchase transportation vehicles and manage lines. Fulfill the people’s needs and watch cities evolve dynamically.

Why similar: City Builder 20.7%, Economy 15%, Management 13.4%, Simulation 13.4%, Sandbox 8.5%

Why You'll Like It: Its blend of transit planning and organically expanding towns makes it an older but relevant alternative for infrastructure-minded city-builder fans.

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 20.6%, City Builder 13.6%, Management 13.5%, Sandbox 12.8%, Simulation 11.3%

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 49.3%, Building 14.2%, Economy 11.1%, Management 8.3%, Simulation 5.9%

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 23.8%, Building 14.8%, Management 14.1%, Sandbox 10.6%, Economy 10.1%

Build and manage an international airport!

Why similar: City Builder 19.3%, Moddable 12% ★, Building 10.9%, Transportation 10.1% ★, Economy 9.6%

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 36.5%, Building 12.7%, Economy 12.4%, Sandbox 11%, Simulation 8.6%

Build your own Jurassic World. Nurture generations of dinosaurs with the series debut of juveniles, create and manage sprawling prehistoric parks around the globe, and let your imagination roar with powerful new creative options.

Why similar: City Builder 32.8%, Sandbox 12.8%, Economy 11.3%, Simulation 10.8%, Management 10.3%

In Rail Route, you will design, construct, upgrade, and automate your railway network in one of the many maps based on real-life cities worldwide. Dispatch the trains to make the traffic flow and the network grow!

Why similar: City Builder 25.3%, Building 13.7%, Economy 13%, Transportation 10.7% ★, Sandbox 10.5%

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 32.9%, Economy 14.5%, Building 14.3%, Management 11.6%, Sandbox 10.8%

Build an industrial empire on a remote island. Mine resources, reshape terrain with excavators, grow food, construct factories, lay train tracks, and trade with the outside world. Research 100+ technologies to advance from basic metal smelting all the way to nuclear power and space flight.

Why similar: City Builder 22.5%, Economy 16.7%, Building 12.8%, Resource Management 12%, Management 12%

Build your own bus depot from scratch and create your personal bus routes in City Bus Manager. Play in your own hometown or any famous city in the world with real map data. Buy buses, maintain them, take care of your staff and lead your bus company to become the #1 in town!

Why similar: Economy 27.8%, Management 22.9%, Simulation 17.7%, Sandbox 13.9%, Strategy 6.1%

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 20.3%, Transportation 16.5% ★, Management 15.9%, Simulation 13.8%, Building 12.2%

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 37.9%, Building 12.7%, Economy 11.8%, Management 8.4%, Simulation 7.9%

City Tales is a medieval city builder, allowing you to unleash your creativity and shape vast cities that break outside a traditional grid. Plan each district for your citizens needs and aid your companions in their tales, creating a city to be proud of!

Why similar: City Builder 37.6%, Building 16.8%, Economy 14.9%, Management 10.7%, Simulation 9.3%

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 56.1%, Simulation 14.6%, Sandbox 8.5%, Management 8.3%, Strategy 3.9%

Endzone 2 is a post-apocalyptic survival colony builder, where you embark to secure humanity's survival after a cataclysmic disaster. Discover and repopulate the last habitable grounds, while the survival of your people hinges on your wits, foresight, and resilience in a harsh and unforgiving world.

Why similar: City Builder 34.1%, Building 13%, Economy 12.4%, Sandbox 11.6%, Management 8.2%

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 40.2%, Economy 11.3%, Building 10.9%, Simulation 9.5%, Management 7.6%

Create an extrasolar efficiency utopia from scratch! In this sci-fi city builder you need to start mining operations, plan production, and lay down transportation routes to ensure a smooth supply chain.

Why similar: City Builder 27.4%, Transportation 13.1% ★, Building 10.9%, Economy 10.6%, Sandbox 8.8%

Kingdoms and Castles is a city-building simulation game about growing a kingdom from a tiny hamlet to a sprawling city and imposing castle. Make trade agreements, alliance, and war with neighboring AI controlled kingdoms. Each villager and resource is individually simulated.

Why similar: City Builder 51.9%, Building 13.9%, Sandbox 8.5%, Simulation 5.8%, Strategy 5%

Voxel Tycoon — a management sim set in the infinite voxel world. Mine resources and process them into goods on your custom factories. Set up supply chains and passenger routes with a huge fleet of trains, trucks, and buses, and turn small towns into prosperous megacities with a thriving economy!

Why similar: Transportation 16.5% ★, City Builder 15.1%, Economy 13%, Management 11.5%, Building 10.3%

In Memoriapolis, you're not just building a city, you're shaping a living, evolving civilization. Travel through five major eras, from Antiquity to the Industrial Revolution. Leave your mark on history by navigating the power struggles between rival factions.

Why similar: City Builder 49.3%, Building 17.5%, Management 13.2%, Simulation 7%, Resource Management 6.5%

Establish a home for your industrious mice under the oppressive paw of your cat overlords in this city builder featuring complex simulations, intricate production chains, and the age-old rivalry between cat and mouse.

Why similar: City Builder 27.6%, Building 12%, Economy 11.7%, Moddable 10.6% ★, Sandbox 9.6%

Step into the shoes of a hotel owner as you design, build, and manage grand hotels around the world. Juggle demanding guests, frantic logistics, and plenty of unexpected surprises in Hotel Architect; the ultimate hotel construction and tycoon management game!

Why similar: City Builder 31.7%, Building 14.3%, Economy 13.7%, Management 11.3%, Sandbox 11.3%

Jurassic World Evolution 2 is the much-anticipated sequel to Frontier’s highly successful Jurassic World Evolution. This bold new era in the Jurassic World Evolution game franchise builds upon the ground-breaking and immersive 2018 management simulation.

Why similar: City Builder 23.4%, Building 19.1%, Management 13.4%, Sandbox 13%, Economy 9.4%

Park Beyond is a theme park simulation game that gives you the freedom to create and manage the Parks of your Dreams! Whether you love to manage finances and visitor experience, or just create fun and cozy parks, the game has something in store just for you!

Why similar: Building 20.2%, Management 16.6%, Sandbox 15.1%, City Builder 14.3%, Simulation 12.1%

The award-winning sci-fi city builder is back - remastered, expanded and even more stunning. Colonize Mars and survive the process, from exploration and infrastructure to welcoming colonists and achieving long-term stability. Are you ready? Mars is waiting.

Why similar: City Builder 32.3%, Economy 11.8%, Building 11.4%, Moddable 10% ★, Management 8.5%

The glory of Rome is at your fingertips in this city-building game where you must appease the gods, enact laws, and develop complex supply chains to meet the needs of your citizens.

Why similar: City Builder 27.6%, Building 12%, Economy 11.8%, Moddable 10.5% ★, Sandbox 9.5%

Ancient Cities is a realistic, survival city builder in an immersive procedural environment. Lead the fate of your tribe through ancient times!

Why similar: City Builder 38%, Moddable 10.8% ★, Economy 9.5%, Building 8.4%, Management 8.3%

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: Building 23%, City Builder 20%, Management 14.8%, Sandbox 11.5%, Simulation 10.3%

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 39.9%, Building 17%, Economy 16.6%, Sandbox 12.6%, Simulation 10.2%