i love all these little diorama creators that have popped up recently, they make it very easy to create a city that looks good. But they only hold my interest for so long. i’m looking for something with more meat on it. Any recommendations?
as an example, i remember the first time i managed to keep a city of over a million people going in Sim City 4. at this point money was tight, so the building aspect took a back seat to actually managing the city. balancing the budget, fixing congestion, and so on. it was great fun and a very different challenge than i thought i was in for.
most citybuilders these days seem more focused on the building than the older ones. for example, when i got to the point in Cities Skylines where i thought i was entering the “management” phase, i unlocked a building that just removed an aspect of the game. it was like the game thought that planning the electric grid or schools was a chore that got in the way of building a city, and as a reward it removed those chores.
basically, i’m looking for a game where rather than physically growing the city through placing individual buildings, i help the city grow. like transport tycoon, except the city is the focus rather than the interconnections.
a key part of this, i think, is time. a city that is frozen in time and where clicking with a tool just builds things, like C:S or SC2013, doesn’t make for interesting growth. a city designed around historical limitations feels more like something that needs to be managed. a game where buildings and roads take time to complete and modify requires more forethought.
workers and resources comes pretty close but the central planning aspect means that i still need to micromanage the buildings. if it was all about zoning, with special buildings being unlocked by the request system in older sim cities (“x seeks permission to build a stink generator downwind of your residential area”) i would enjoy it more.
A city builder game based on the online urbanist movement to transform existing cities with different transport infrastructure and changes to energy and heating technologies might be interesting. Unfortunately I haven’t seen anything like that so far.
that does indeed sound lovely. like terra nil without the post-apocalypse setting.
IXION
It’s a city builder where your city is a giant space station. It’s cold and dark out there in the void of space, and every resource is hard won. Just satisfying your food needs is a challenge, and the more wear your station accumulates, the harder it is to repair.
i played ixion in early access! it is an interesting blend of genres, and the UI is very original. it didn’t grab me, though i can’t remember why now.
May be try some of the transport/logistics games?
One modern one would be Transport Fever 2, but you could also try Cities in Motion 1. You don’t directly manage the cities in both of these games, but you do have massive impact on city growth dynamics.
One game that I’ve been meaning to try, but haven’t gotten to play beyond the tutorial is A-Train PC Classic. From the reviews, it sounds exactly like what you’re looking for (but with a transport/logistics focus). You build both the transport network and directly engage with the real estate market. Although, the UI is a massive pain.
i do have lots of hours in all the fever games, and i do really like them. but the cities growing, while desired, is basically out of your control. maybe it didn’t come across in my op, but i do like engaging with the city in traditional city builders with aspects like zoning.
a-train is so interesting though. i have wanted to try that for years.
