A city-builder game is a simulation of the work of a city planner. Players will design and build a city, selecting where buildings go, balancing resources, keeping track of the citizens, and dealing with all the elements that go into the expansion of a city.

Usually viewed from a top-down angle, most modern city-building games are about creating and sustaining a city. From an empty map, the player will decide what buildings are needed and where to put them. They’ll be responsible for providing a working city that the AI people will be happy to live in.

Cities require infrastructure. Players will be asked to provide things like power stations, roads, housing, water, and sewage. Each of these has pluses and negatives to consider. A power station is an essential element for all cities, but people will not want to live near them as they’re considered ugly and polluting. The type of housing has a powerful effect on the morale of the citizens. Cheap and cramped housing might be economically viable to produce, but not everyone will be happy to live in it.

Among other elements players will need to consider is the cost of their design. Everything from the cost of the buildings to the maintenance and additional expansion has to be considered. Economics also impacts the citizens, who will need jobs so they can contribute to the city’s running and growth.

Social issues will also have to be pondered. Have you created a city where the people have enough green areas to congregate and enjoy? Are there slums or no-go areas? Is there enough police and fire brigade coverage to ensure a safe and happy population? A city design is often in constant flux, as resolving one issue could impact another one elsewhere.

Because some of these elements are abstract concepts, city-building games will typically have multiple UI views that show you how the city is working. Modern simulations are capable of showing individual citizens and how happy they are while also displaying potential issues like broken power lines, pollution, and more. There’s a lot to balance in a city builder game, but that’s part of the fun of it.

Though very rare, there have been multiplayer city-builder PC games that allowed players to build cities on the same map. The gameplay encourages the city builders to cooperate and set up trade between cities. For example, if one city had a surplus of oil, it could be sold to another city at a profit.

Yes. Most city-building games ask the player to build up the entire city from the first building. There are scenarios that will let players take over a badly planned city to fix it and make it work, which is a different kind of challenge but can also be a lot of fun.

It depends on the scenario. City-builder games have many moving parts and will require intense concentration when played optimally. However, there are games that don’t require the player to do much more than place some buildings down and watch things work. They can be quite relaxing.

There are both. Modern city builders generally dominate the landscape, but there’s more than one type. Medieval city-building games exist, as do fantasy ones, sci-fi future ones, and more. You can find any theme of city-building game you like, all with unique challenges, like building a city in a post-apocalyptic setting.