The best fantasy city builders let you enjoy the wonders of infrastructure and keeping your citizens happy, while also indulging your more fantastical ideas. This subgenre of city builders has not only gained more popularity in recent years, but also gained some incredible new entries as well. We’re expecting SteamWorld Build to be a great new game to entice players to check out the best fantasy city builders, but that’s not out yet.
One of the coolest things about this genre is the ways in which each game can be completely different. There are very few hard-and-fast rules about what the best fantasy city builders games should be, and that freedom results in a lot of flexibility and fun. So, without any further ado, let’s get into it.
Best Fantasy City Builders
Alright, a little bit more ado. There are actually a lot more options in this genre than the ones we’ve listed, and our not listing them is mainly due to mixed reviews, or that we’ve not had a chance to play them. Right, that’s genuinely all of the ado. Here are the best fantasy city builders.
Against the Storm
Against the Storm is a roguelike fantasy city builder where you have to try and survive in the face of horrifying rains. You’ll need to lead a collection of different species through constant struggles to try and survive and build your cities as you go.
It’s a pretty challenging game, but the roguelike nature makes each session a little bit shorter than some of the other best fantasy city builders. We also really like the aesthetic, and some of the random events that can occur are unlike anything you’ll find in any other game in this genre.
Timberborn
Timberborn is a fantasy city builder where you play as beavers. That would 100% be the end of this entry and we’re confident you’d end up playing it, but because we’re feeling generous today, we’re going to expand on it anyway.
As beavers, you’re rebuilding the world as you see fit because human beings have ceased to be. You get to make huge wooden structures as you go, and fight back against the corruption that human beings caused to restore the land as you do so. It’s wholesome and wonderful and go and get it.
Dragon Quest Builders 2
You could argue that this isn’t a fantasy city builder, but you do build up places in it, and it is a fantasy game, so we’d argue that you’d be silly for arguing against its inclusion here. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is set within the epic RPG franchise and lets you go out hunting monsters as a team, and also building up different places to save the people within them.
It’s an epic journey that takes you through multiple biomes in order to save the world, and it’s so full of charm that you’ll have to fight really hard not to enjoy it. Playing it with friends only adds to the experience, so make sure you check it out.
Dark Chronicle
Alright, so Dark Chronicle also bends the rules a bit, but we don’t care. Dark Chronicle is the follow-up to Dark Cloud. Both games have you action-RPGing your way through a story to defeat a great evil, and both games also let you build up cities you save as you go.
The way things work here is that you need to find materials to help build buildings, and then also try to follow strict instructions about the kind of things they should be near to maximise the benefits of each settlement. Doing so will get you more loot, and we love loot. They’re incredible games that are a great way to spend some time.
The Wandering Village
The Wandering Village is a city-building game where your city isn’t on the ground as per the norm, but on the back of an absolutely massive wandering creature. Your aim isn’t just to build a city that thrives there, but one that can take advantage of that unique circumstance to work alongside the great beast.
It’s an intensely cool concept that lends itself well to the genre, and also offers some unique challenges. For example, the biome that you’re in changes as the great Onbu journeys around. This means you have to be a bit more prepared to react to sudden changes, and it’s a lot of fun to manage.
