Summary
City builders are renowned for being a genre where the player’s imagination is left to run wild. If it can be done in a way that is efficient and optimized, then it can be done in no time. Some city builders are, of course,harder than others, and with that difficulty comes constraints, but for many, this a genre to sit back and relax with.
But why does the fun have to end? While some strategy games have set dates or end goals, others can feasibly go on forever. Whetherit’s fresh playersor city builder veterans looking for something to sink their teeth into, here are a few city builders with no end in sight.
For players who don’t want city building to be a hair-grayingly stressful experience,Dorfromantikmight be the game they’re looking for. This title is a cozy tile-matching puzzle game, where the puzzle comes together to double as an idyllic, relatively simple city builder. The game can be surprisingly intense at times,but beginners don’t have to beintimidated, just take it slow and enjoy the serene, rural towns being put together.
There’s no real end game inDorfromantik. Justcontinue to expand a sprawling townstead at one with the idyllic countryside around it, completing quests along the way to earn more resources for more tiles.
Dwarf Fortressdoesn’t just give players a city to build. It gives players an entire world, an entire history, centuries of political developments across a procedurally generated continent, the rise and fall of empires, and then asks them to build a city within that world. Dwarves need food mead and shelter to survive, they need engagement activity and purpose too, and the player needs to make a mountain home that can accommodate all these needs while continuing to grow, pushing further downwards for more minerals to acquire that can be turned into precious works of art, tools, jewelry, or encrusted on just about anything.
The game only ends once players feel they’ve created the perfect mountain home - which, spoiler, will be never - but once theupcoming adventure modegives players an opportunity to explore their world from an entirely new perspective.
Frostpunkhas risen to the surface of discussion once again after the release of thesmash hitFrostpunk 2, and rightfully so. This is a title that’s all about making the player make hard decisions. How many concessions for survival can be made while still calling oneself human? What things is the player, as the Captain, willing to do to survive in this bitter, frozen world? And once the citizens in the City have learned to adapt, there’s another pressing question to ask: what happens next?
Frostpunk’s scenarios are all about framing the challenge of keeping this city alive against the cold in different ways. The challenge has specific goals that need to be met, and this usually means that the game has to end. ButFrostpunk’sendless mode does exactly what it says on the tin, and provides three distinct, unending modes for the ambitious or masochistic city-builder to undertake in perpetuity.
There are many important features that work inTimberborn’sfavor, making it one of the most promising titles currently available for early access. The first is that beavers are adorable and amazing. There’s also an incredibly robust industry-focused city builder here,with water physicsthat plays a central role in how effective the city is. Automation, production, and interestingly, for a title in this genre, vertical growth is what players will be focusing on in this game.
Timberbornreally only asks players to keep building and exploring the differences between the two factions available. There are goals to set and challenges to beat, but the game only ends when the player says so.
Against the Stormis an interesting title in that it’s built with endlessness in mind. Like a lot of roguelite and roguelike titles, this is a game where death - and coming back from it - are integral parts of gameplay. It’s expected that the storm will claim a few villages as players continue their task of exponential settlement for the Scorched Queen. Even if, in the end, the expedition and all settlements are gone, the game continues, with any gathered resources being put to the next expedition.
Like a lot of fantasy city builders, there’s a lot of room for imagination and roleplay here, especially with the variety of classic and more unique fantasy races available for the player to build up their village with. Each race has unique benefits to give their settlement which makes surviving the unending storm a little bit easier. It’s a bleak but immensely gripping title, perfect for anyone looking to keep up their city building forever.
