The highest rated Total War game ever, Rome: Total War has to be on anyone’s best Mac strategy games list. With the classic Total War combination of empire building strategy and battle tactics, Rome: Total War allows you to lead one of Rome’s famous families all the way to the top. A strategy game without buildings? I suppose Men of War: Assault squad would be a decent suggestion. It's based in the WW2 period and it's a bit of an old title so you can get it cheap on Steam.
Indeed, it is truly fascinating to build a metropolitan city from the flat ground. It’s more interesting to manage the towns and look after the needs of the citizens residing there and focus on the constant development of the city. These things cannot happen in real life, but it can fulfill with some the city building game genre.
City building games are in wave these days, and new games are coming up on a daily basis with colorful and innovative graphics. You can find a broad range of good city building games, and it would be confusing to narrow down the best ones scanning through their various features. To reduce your burden, we have compiled a list of some of the best city building games for iOS here:
1. SimCity
SimCity is the most popular iOS city building game that comes with an improved version of the game SimCity started in 1989. SimCity lets you follow the footsteps of the mayor who wants to build a beautiful, bustling city where citizens will happily thrive.
The game features high-quality 3D graphics and gives you an opportunity to display your strategic skill into action. You can build the city, create a resource, provide it to the citizens, manage the resources and look after the citizen.
By using the most advanced gaming technology, you can have a real-time building experience on various elements of architectural techniques. With the 360-degree rotation feature, you can have a clear and crisp view of everything inside the city. The game also gives you chances to compete against other SimCity players by conducting the mayor’s contest and hence is the best city building game in the app market for iOS.
2. Forge of Empires
Forge of Empires is a strategy game from Innogames that is available on iOS devices including iPad. It is an award-winning game that takes you back to the time of Stone Age when civilization did not yet begin. The game allows you to travel through thousands of years and be a part of the evolving era.
It starts from Stone Age and allows you to pass through several levels where you have to find out a solution to every problem you encounter. You will get opportunities to make discoveries like our ancestors did and had a positive impact on the society regarding discovering technologies and new things.
It is a compulsive game as it involves finding out cutting-edge technologies and exploring new things on every single level. The gameplay goes through such a scenario that ensures longevity. Hence, once you start playing the game, you will surely come back every day.
Also read: 15 Best iOS Tower Defense Games
3. The Simpson: Tapped Out
You must be surprised to know that, the Simpsons: Tapped Out is one of the most popular downloaded city building games in the Apple Store. With more than 300,000 downloads, it is one of the popular games that have been around for five years.
It is a hot selling mobile game based on America’s favorite TV show The Simpsons, and you can find several video games with the same name as well. It is surprisingly simple and pretty straightforward to play. The theme of the game is to rebuild the Springfield city blew up earlier.
The homer starts with rebuilding the city, bring his fellow Springfield people along with his family to the city. You can crazily rearrange the city and control the life of fellow Springfieldians. The game moves with a unique storyline that includes some interesting situations and twists.
4. Township
Do you want to test your architectural skills? Building epic cities with great architecture and technological power are fun and it gives you an opportunity to display your architectural talents.
However, city building is not just about building a giant city; you can build a countryside that has a peaceful setting. If you want to build a small town where there are animals, paddy fields, and growing crops, then Township by Playrix Games is the game you should try.
Though the game has the characteristics of a city building game, it has the backdrop of a beautiful countryside which makes it as one of the best city building games available in the market. Once the game starts, you have to build the township from the barren ground. It involves growing and harvesting crops, developing facilities for living, collecting and buying animals, trading goods and more.
5. Fallout Shelter
Fallout Shelter is a popular iOS game from Bethesda, and now it is available on Android as well. It has a simple storyline for helping people who are struggling to survive in a place where there are harmful effects of radiation. Your goal is to form a vault or multiple ones so that you can provide shelter to your residents and keep them safe there.
The game involves building multiple resource rooms with each having a specific purpose. The vaults you create need to have a lot of facilities. As more people join you, the rooms will get unlocked. The game is interesting and goes on like that for a long time.
6. City Island 3
What about building a city from scratch? City Island 3 is the 3rd version of a fun and rewarding tycoon game where you can build your city from ground level. It is similar to other tycoon games, but this game allows you to win additional rewards and bonuses by sharing codes with your friends.
The game from Sparkling Society is available for both iPhone and iPad users. In this version, you have the choice to choose a volcano island, a tourist island, a desert or a swamp to build a city. There are a lot more options to unlock. You can build cities or villages or even a large metropolis.
7. Village City
Village City: Island Sim Builder Farm Resident by Sparkling Society is a tycoon stimulation based city building game. You need to build houses for the citizen and build a village from scratch. Once you do things and make your customers happy, you can earn rewards like gold or money from them.
It is an exciting Sim city building game where you can expand your island to build structures in town or beach or anywhere you wish to. You get access to various structures and can choose from the long list including cinemas, eat outs, hotels, offices, etc. It is also possible to engage your friends and share gift codes with them.
8. Paradise Island 2
Paradise Island 2 is the second version of the popular resort building game from Game Insight. In this game, you will be allowed to build an island resort in your own style. It has a catchy eye graphics of over 300 buildings and structures. Although you have to create the resort from scratch, the background of the game gives the vibe of a resort.
Like in any other city building game, you unlock new items once you move to an advanced level. In-app purchases are also available where you can spend money to unlock things faster. Overall, it is a fun game that you can play every day and continue for a long time.
9. Virtual City Playground: Building Tycoon
Virtual City Playground is a sequel to the original version of virtual City which has launched earlier in the Apple Store. The core idea of the game is similar to any other city building game where you get to build a city from scratch, maintain it and make the people living there happy.
In this game, you also have to manage the delivery truck and garages as well. You will have to execute several simple and exciting missions in the game making one of the popular city building game on Apple Store. Overall, the game has a fresh looking design, and it is fun to build a city with the given backdrop.
10. Rebuild
Rebuild is a strategy based building game from the developers Northway Games Corp. The app is selling at $2.99 and is available for both iPhone and iPad users. It is quite different from standard city building games as it is a perfect blend of exploration, danger, and rivalry.
The game is a zombie city build game where you are the leader of a group of survivors who lives in a city that has been ruling by zombies. As the available city blocks are not sufficient enough to accommodate all the people, you need to expand it further.
Throughout the game, you need to explore the city blocks, save the survivors, look for food and other daily supplies and try reclaiming the land. From time to time, you have to defend against the zombie group as well. Rebuild is a unique city building game that is a treat for adventure lovers.
Also read: Best Football Games for iPhone
11. The Battle of Polytopia
The Battle of Polytopia is a classic civilization based game application developed by Midjiwan AB. It has a very bright and distinctive style design with a fun storyline. However, it is strategically challenging and reminds you of other civilization games.
The theme revolves around an encircled situation, where you are stuck up in the small isometric world, and you are the only player surrounded by unknown people. Auto-generated maps are the peculiarity of this game, as it offers upcoming challenges. You have to start with a chosen tribe in a particular city as shown on the map.
With each game, you will get a fresh unit to play with. This game is a challenging one and it entirely based on survival.
12. Townsmen
Townsmen is an iOS game by HandyGames with a medieval time setting. As a player, your mission is to change the given village into a full-fledged empire that is both vast and royal. As with building any city, you have to deal with various challenges like natural calamities and many other issues that arise.
The village cut looking for people who are busy with their daily chores. While building the marketplaces, monuments and beautiful statues, you also have to protect the people from thieves and bandits who pose a constant threat to your development activities.
13. Megapolis
Megapolis is a number one metropolis building game that already has more than 10 million downloads. It gives every player, the opportunity to get the sophisticated city building experience.
You get the full charge of handling finances and building the major infrastructure of the city including railway station, airports, seaports, oil mining, various power plants, etc.
The game has included some very popular real buildings like leaning tower of Pisa and Big Ben’s clock tower. With crisp visuals and graphics depicting real cities, you get a lot to do there, and indeed it is one of the best city building games without any doubt.
14. Build Away
Build Away is a simple iOS game by Futureplay where you have to build a city with the gold you receive. Once you advance with city construction, you will start getting more gold in return.
First, you can start with rusty shacks, and from there you can construct buildings, supermarkets, factories, etc. Depending upon the perfection of the buildings you build, the amount of gold you receive will vary. You have to keep on working hard to advance with your construction project.
15. Dungeon Village
Dungeon Village is a stimulation kin of city building game from Kairosoft Co.Ltd. The game lets you build a fantasy RPG township and send the heroes there to battle the tiny monsters trying to invade the town. There will be multiple heroes, and once a hero moves in, the player can recruit the protagonist, for quests like clearing the dungeons and cleaning up the outbreaks caused by monsters.
All the heroes’ works for making the town better. As more heroes join you, you need to offer the best equipment and make them, remove the quests. It is a very simple game that is a little too easy to play.
Conclusion
We have tried to highlight the best city building games for iOS that are capable of giving you a memorable gaming experience. The list of city building game can go on and on as there are bundles of games available in different categories. Hopefully, this round-up article helped you get familiarized with some of the best games in the genre.
Dan is a web developer, a digital nomad, and a lifelong Apple fan. At iPhonebyte, his job is to help you get the most out of your iOS and Mac devices. Read the story about him and the website here.
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This is a comprehensive index of city-building games, sorted chronologically. Information regarding date of release, developer, platform, setting and notability is provided when available. The table can be sorted by clicking on the small boxes next to the column headings.
City Builder Games For Mac
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List[edit]
Real Time Strategy Games Mac
Year | Game | Developer | Setting | Platform | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1969 | The Sumer Game | Richard Merrill | Historical | MAIN | |
1975 | Hamurabi | David H. Ahl | Historical | MAIN | Expanded version of The Sumer Game. Published later as part of BASIC Computer Games. |
1978 | Santa Paravia en Fiumaccio | Historical | MAIN | ||
1981 | Kingdom (Also known as Yellow River Kingdom)[1] | David Allen[2] | Historical | BBC | A conversion of the game 'Hamurabi', it was included as part of welcome package to BBC Microcomputers. |
1982 | Utopia | Don Daglow | Contemporary | AQUA, INT | |
1989 | SimCity | Maxis, Nintendo EAD, Babaroga | Contemporary | AMI, ARC, BBC, C64, CDTV, CPC, DESQ, DOS, EPOC32, FMT, GBA, iPod, LIN, MAC, MOBI (iPhone, JAVAME, SYB), NeWS, OS2, PC98, SNES, ST, Tk, UNIX, VC, WIN, XO1, X11, ZX | First title in the series. |
1990 | ActRaiser | Quintet | Fantasy | MOBI, SNES, VC | Hybrid with side-scrolling platform game. |
1990 | Moonbase | Wesson | Sci-fi | AMI, DOS | |
1991 | Utopia: The Creation of a Nation | Celestial | Sci-fi | AMI, DOS, SNES, ST | |
1992 | Caesar | Impressions | Historical | AMI, DOS, ST | First title in the series. |
1993 | Stronghold | Stormfront | Fantasy | DOS | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
1993 | SimCity 2000 | Maxis, Full Fat | Contemporary | AMI, DOS, GBA, MAC, N64, PS1, PSP, SAT, SNES | Sequel to SimCity. |
1993 | Lunar Command | Wesson | Sci-fi | DOS | Updated version of Moonbase. |
1993 | The Settlers (a.k.a. Serf City: Life is Feudal) | Blue Byte | Fantasy | AMI, DOS | First title in the series. |
1994 | Outpost | Sierra | Sci-fi | MAC, WIN3X | Sci-fi version of SimCity. |
1995 | SimIsle: Missions in the Rainforest | Intelligent | Contemporary | DOS, MAC, WIN3X | |
1995 | SimTown | Maxis | Contemporary | MAC, WIN, WIN3X | |
1995 | Caesar II | Impressions | Historical | MAC, WIN | Sequel to Caesar. |
1996 | Afterlife | LucasArts | Fantasy | DOS, MAC, WIN9X | |
1996 | Holiday Island | Sunflowers | Contemporary | WIN9X | |
1996 | Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | DOS, DS, MAC | Sequel to The Settlers. Nintendo DS port was released in 2007. |
1996 | Settlers II Mission CD, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | DOS | Expansion to The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici. |
1997 | Constructor | System 3 | Contemporary | PS1, WIN | |
1998 | Anno 1602: Creation of a New World | Max | Historical | WIN9X | First title in the series. Hybrid with RTS elements. |
1998 | Settlers III, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN9X | Sequel to The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici. |
1998 | Caesar III | Impressions | Historical | MAC, WIN9X, Not | Sequel to Caesar II. |
1999 | Lincity | Various | Contemporary | CROSS | Open source clone of Sim City. |
1999 | Pharaoh | Impressions | Historical | WIN9X | |
1999 | SimCity 3000 | Maxis | Contemporary | DS, iPhone, LIN, MAC, WIN | Sequel to SimCity 2000. |
2000 | Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile | Impressions | Historical | WIN9X | Expansion to Pharaoh. |
2000 | Master of Olympus: Zeus | Impressions | Fantasy | WIN | |
2000 | SimCity 64 | HAL | Contemporary | N64 | Spin-off of the SimCity series. |
2000 | SimCity 3000 Unlimited | Maxis | Contemporary | LIN, WIN | Re-release of SimCity 3000. |
2000 | StarPeace | Oceanus | Sci-fi | WIN | MMOG. |
2001 | StarTopia | Mucky Foot | Sci-fi | WIN | |
2001 | Mobility | Glamus | Contemporary | WIN, LIN | |
2001 | Master of Atlantis: Poseidon | Impressions | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to Master of Olympus: Zeus. |
2001 | Tropico | PopTop | Contemporary | MAC, OSX, WIN, WIN9X | |
2001 | Stronghold | Firefly Studios | Fantasy | WIN | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2001 | Settlers IV, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Sequel to The Settlers III. |
2002 | Metropolismania | Media Factory | Contemporary | PS2 | First title in the series. |
2002 | Tropico: Paradise Island | BreakAway | Contemporary | WIN, WIN9X | Expansion to Tropico. |
2002 | Moonbase Commander | Humongous | Sci-fi | WIN | |
2002 | Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom | BreakAway, Impressions | Historical | WIN | |
2003 | SimCity 4 | Maxis | Contemporary | OSX, WIN | Sequel to SimCity 3000. |
2003 | SimCity 4: Rush Hour | Maxis | Contemporary | OSX, WIN | Expansion to SimCity 4. |
2003 | Anno 1503: The New World | Max | Historical | WIN9X, WIN | Sequel to Anno 1602: Creation of a New World. Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2003 | Tropico 2: Pirate Cove | Frog City | Historical | OSX, WIN | |
2003 | Anno 1503: Treasures, Monsters and Pirates | Max | Historical | WIN | Expansion to Anno 1503: The New World. |
2004 | Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile | Tilted Mill | Historical | WIN | |
2004 | Outpost Kaloki X | NinjaBee | Sci-fi | WIN, X360 | |
2005 | Settlers: Heritage of Kings, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Sequel to The Settlers IV. |
2005 | Medieval Lords: Build, Defend, Expand | Monte Cristo | Historical | WIN | |
2005 | Stronghold 2 | Firefly Studios | Fantasy | WIN | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2005 | Settlers: Heritage of Kings - Expansion Disk, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to The Settlers: Heritage of Kings. |
2005 | Settlers: Heritage of Kings - Legends Expansion Disk, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to The Settlers: Heritage of Kings. |
2006 | CivCity: Rome | Firefly, Firaxis | Historical | WIN | |
2006 | Caesar IV | Tilted Mill | Historical | WIN | Sequel to Caesar III. |
2006 | Tycoon City: New York | Deep Red | Contemporary | WIN | |
2006 | Dwarf Fortress | Bay 12 Games | Fantasy | WIN, LIN, MAC | |
2006 | City Life | Monte Cristo | Contemporary | WIN | |
2006 | Anno 1701 | Related | Historical | DS, WIN | Sequel to Anno 1503: The New World Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2006 | Glory of the Roman Empire | Haemimont | Historical | WIN | |
2006 | Settlers II 10th Anniversary, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Remake of The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici. |
2007 | Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery | Keen | Historical | DS | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2007 | Settlers: Rise of an Empire, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Sequel to The Settlers: Heritage of Kings. |
2007 | Anno 1701: The Curse of the Dragon | Related | Historical | DS | Expansion to Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2007 | SimCity Societies | Tilted Mill | Contemporary | MOBI, WIN | Spin-off of the SimCity series. |
2007 | Settlers II: 10th Anniversary - The Vikings, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to The Settlers II 10th Anniversary. |
2008 | A Kingdom for Keflings | Ninja Bee | Fantasy | X360 | |
2008 | Micropolis | Don Hopkins | Contemporary | CROSS | Open source version of SimCity. |
2008 | SimCity DS 2 | Contemporary | DS | . | |
2008 | SimCity Societies: Destinations | Tilted Mill | Contemporary | WIN | Expansion to SimCity Societies. |
2008 | Hinterland | Tilted Mill | Fantasy | WIN | Hybrid with RPG elements |
2008 | Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King | Square Enix | Fantasy | Wii | Hybrid with RPG elements |
2008 | Settlers: Rise of an Empire - The Eastern Realm, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | WIN | Expansion to The Settlers: Rise of an Empire. |
2008 | Imperium Romanum | Haemimont | Historical | WIN | Sequel to Glory of the Roman Empire. |
2009 | Grand Ages: Rome | Haemimont | Historical | WIN | Sequel to Imperium Romanum. |
2009 | Anno 1404 | Related, Ubisoft, Blue Byte | Historical | WIN, OSX, DS, Wii | Sequel to Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery. Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2009 | Tropico 3 | Haemimont Games | Contemporary | OSX, WIN, X360 | Successor to Tropico. |
2009 | Cities XL | Monte Cristo | Contemporary | WIN | |
2009 | OpenCity | Duong-Khang Nguyen | Contemporary | CROSS | Open source. A development version is available. |
2010 | Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, The | Blue Byte | Fantasy | OSX, WIN | Sequel to The Settlers: Rise of an Empire. |
2010 | A World of Keflings | Ninja Bee | Fantasy | X360 | |
2010 | Cities XL 2011 | Focus Home Interactive | Contemporary | WIN | |
2011 | Anno 2070 | Related Designs | Sci-fi | WIN | |
2011 | Tropico 4 | Haemimont Games | Contemporary | WIN, X360, OSX | |
2011 | Cities XL 2012 | Focus Home Interactive | Contemporary | WIN | |
2011 | Stronghold 3 | Firefly Studios | Fantasy | WIN, OSX, LIN | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2013 | SimCity | Maxis | Contemporary | WIN, OSX | Relaunch of Simcity Series. |
2014 | Banished | Shining Rock Software | Historical | WIN | |
2014 | Tropico 5 | Haemimont Games | Contemporary | WIN, OSX, LIN, X360, PS4[3] | |
2014 | Stronghold Crusader 2 | Firefly Studios | Fantasy | WIN | Hybrid with RTS elements. |
2014 | Clockwork Empires | Gaslamp Games | Fantasy | WIN | |
2015 | Cities: Skylines | Colossal Order | Contemporary | WIN, OSX, LIN, PS4, XOne, NSW | Based on the engine used for Cities in Motion 2 |
2015 | Cities XXL | Focus Home Interactive | Contemporary | WIN | |
2015 | Anno 2205 | Blue Byte | Sci-Fi | WIN | Sequel to Anno 2070 |
2018 | Frostpunk | 11 bit studios | Sci-Fi | WIN | |
2019 | Dawn of Man | Madruga Works | Historical | WIN, OSX | Prehistoric city builder that takes place from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age. |
2019 | Tropico 6 | Limbic Entertainment | Contemporary | WIN, OSX, LIN, PS4, XOne | |
2019 | Islanders | Grizzly Games | Fantasy | WIN, OSX, LIN | Casual city builder with low-poly aesthetic |
2019 | Anno 1800 | Blue Byte | Historical | WIN | |
2020 | Builders of Egypt | Strategy Labs | Historical | WIN | Ancient Egypt city builder that will take place from the birth of Egyptian Civilization to the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Cleopatra's death. |
See also[edit]
City Building Strategy Games Mac Games
References[edit]
Mac Strategy Games
- ^'Welcome for BBC Micro (1981) - MobyGames'. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
- ^http://bbc.nvg.org/doc/Welcome.pdf
- ^'9 Ways To Dictate Like A Pro In Tropico 5 on PS4'. Retrieved 2 October 2016.