I know you've been waiting for this list. SO much to curate and don't miss all the games I mention at the end too! This is just City Building, want other Strategy, Simulation, and Building games? Watch all the lists in the playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLYVqUDxY6COh7bkuJoBb1koNRX7mAX2yp
Thanks a lot for including Folklands - the demo we release in the February Steam Next Fest will be wildly improved, so thanks for putting us in this list with all the other *amazing* upcoming city builders!
@@Gigi-xr3qs Wow you're still on this after like a week haha. Just for reference, 3 out of 35 games listed are where you build on the back of something, 8.6%. You're just really triggered by this huh? - (Gigi spent many days complaining about this to me and now has come back after a few days to complain about it to someone else on the same video. Either a weird attempt to troll or they're mega triggered and now obsessed with city builders not being what they like)
I am late, but want to say thank you for the obvious effort put into making this video. I've come away feeling I know much more about the genre than I did walking in, and will make good decisions on what to play moving forward. Thank you.
Fabledom is the one i like most among the list :) Pax Augusta is also good, but yes i agree it looks soooo... gloomy. If they brighten up a bit and add some decoration items (fountains, parks, etc) and add some life to the buildings like clothesline, potted plants, and other household items, it would be much better i recently broke myself free from Anno 1800 addiction (gosh that game is so beautiful), and the city is so alive, especially the buildings if you look in the details
Absolutely adore the art style of that Synergy game. Would really love a game like Surviving the Abyss that reviews highly and is well fleshed out, I really like the idea of an underwater city building game with this particular type of eerie moody atmosphere but most I have encountered were unfinished, shallow or lower budget things.
One of the most understandable yet biggest let downs for me with modern city builders is that they usually dont have more than 1 type of culture or architecture. So many city builders are "Europe" only, but Earth of Oryn kinda looks like your architecture and citizens actually changed based on the actual temperature of the map? If thats the case its a brilliant way to do it and i cant wait to play in a desert for 50+ hrs and then move to a forest on my next run
If that's the case it's still gonna be a bit predictable though. If you move to a cold climate your civ is gonna take on a scandinavian (or viking as americans say) inspired look. Warmer climate is gonna be middle eastern looking. I hope they've taken a more creative approach witch the designs
@@meisrerbootit's better than the typical European or western style of architecture. Im tired of that. Go look at indian style, mongol style, indonesian style, etc, game devs And those styles are not random. They build with that style because based on the resources. Obviously you cant find some wooden houses in hot arid desert region. Or you cant find dried mud house in the cold region
I am SO happy I found your video! The city building itch in me has been strong lately and this list is extremely well researched and comprehensive. Thank you 😊
Looking forward to Citadelum. I love those house cut-ins where you can see people inside, using the facilities. Also Ancient Polis, because I'm more of a fan of ancient Greeks than ancient Romans. :p Synergy looks great. That one and Laysara are on my watchlist. I'd already gotten Wandering Village and Farthest Frontier thanks to these videos lol.
Nice overview with objective criticism! I think it would be nice to also have a video of a "loockback" of games that actually released in 2023 and how well they did/do.
Absolutely! I hate how everything on RUclips nowadays is about things to wait for and nothing about things to enjoy right now. Following it leaves no place to actually experiencing joy, instead filling life only with constant endless anticipation of it.
I would love this so much, early access is great for these types of games, but I don't have time to be a tester, I want to know what complete games are actually good.
Synergy looks amazing! The art is very Moebius. Downloading the demo now. Surviving the Abyss and Laysara: Summit Kingdom also stand out due to their distinctive settings. And of course Manor Lords and Frostpunk 2 look incredible. I hope they live up to expectations. A hybrid city builder/base defense that I've been very impressed with is Age of Darkness: Final Stand. Like a blend of They Are Billions + Warcraft 3, it's one the most fun games I've played in recent years. Been playing on and off since it went into EA in late 2021.
After finally playing and completing Frostpunk 2 I will say, it met my expectations. I loved it. It wasn't perfect, but it was overall great experience for me
Wow, what a lot of work you've done compiling this list. The city builders are some of my favorites so I really enjoyed this video. I'm hoping at some point, when they release, you will play some of them on your channel. Thank you, @GamerZakh! BTW, I have been playing The Wandering Village.... there's something about that Onbu that really makes you fall in love with the game. Stray Fawn studios also keeps adding features (biomes) and updating. I recommend it.
As someone who despises graphics over functional gameplay, Folklands looks incredible! And the fact that they're adding steam workshop modding capabilities means that at some base level even if the devs mess up the game will be good and have content that you'll enjoy.
Great list, thank you for making this. I always look forward to this video yearly as its my best source for finding for a new city building game to play. There a few interesting games you mentioned, hopefully they are good. Thnaks again!
*As usual- fantastic work putting this thing together!* Very useful and informative. There's so much stuff coming up! And as always it's funny to have people talk about how strategy games are dying or whatever, just because games like that are not talked about by Sony or Microsoft (although they can slip in something like Age of Empires from time to time) on the 'big' stages, while in reality there are hundreds of titles in the works, span across numerous subgenres. It's always a good time to be a strategy games fan. BTW- just completed the prologue to that penguin game, and have similar feelings. Not a big fan of animal-themed bulders, and penguins are weird. But kinda charming (although sound effects are repeating too much) and there's something super refreshing about that Arctic setting, with snow and crystal-clear blue waters... Plus the game itself seems competent in general.
Thank you! Yeah people still (very antagonistically) come for me for saying there are good games these days. 10 years ago they said "look at 10 years ago it was so good". Today, 10 years later, they say "look at 10 years ago it was so good" lol. People really don't clock that I've made these lists for over a decade.
My hopes is that terraformation games becomes and own genre... Spore (space part) and Terra Nil scratch the itch, but I think that there's much potential for this to be explored
Glad you find that useful! I like putting the devs there so we know who is actually making the game. Publishers often swap devs around. Recent relevant example is I realised the Helldivers 2 devs made the first Magicka but they didn't make Magicka 2.
Thank you for this list!! Super helpful. Also surprised you didn't mention some games that I've seen on other lists like Foundation. Interested in checking out Fabledom and Wandering Village as I'm looking for a cozy city builder :)
Glad you enjoyed it! And I did mention Foundation in the video, there's the 'Long Early Access' section. Does that section cover the games you saw on other lists? I've listed Foundation for years and have many dedicated videos on it. Foundation has also sponsored me in the past. I just have a 3-4 year cutoff date for early access games otherwise the lists are just the same every year. Foundation has been in early access for half a decade, at some point it's no longer an 'upcoming game'. Especially considering Foundation already feels like a full finished game, I think the 'Early Access' label is hurting it more than helping at this point.
I think it is a bad omen if a game is in EA for 3+ years. Usually when a dev decide to publish a game in EA that means they are already running out of money, even worse when they release a dlc for their unfinished product. So I wouldn't hold my breath for the games that was mentioned in the last segment of the video.
The length of EA doesn't mean anything by itself. Balders Gate 3 was in EA for 3 years, and i know many others that were in EA for longer (space engineers, factorio, etc) that turned out great. It depends on so many factors if a long EA is good or bad. A better predictor is their development blog.
Kind of bummed that I keep seeing the same square grid systems in all building games. I’m so done with it. I’m glad manor lords doesn’t have a strict square grid. Ostriv and foundation are also great. It makes it so much more unique and more realistic. City skylines 2 disappointed me aswel. The Roads aren’t grid based but all buildings are made for standard squares so you end up with huge ugly gaps. Hoping for more realistic old European city building games.
It's a preference and lots of people prefer grids. Freeform is tricky to get right too, like you said with CS2, you can't just have curved roads, so it's easier and often more popular to just use grids.
Loved Settlers 1! So many RTS/basebuilding games where you win over AI by cheesing with units. In Settlers 1 you win because your economy/efficirncy is better!
@@RolandTemplar Making and training soldiers IS the ultimate output of your whole economy. If you've managed to reach a point where you "overproduce" soldiers and gold then you've effectively won the game. If achieving the goal of the game is a complaint then it sounds like you've been playing on so easy maps that you didn't need to build up the chain of production properly.
@@perer005 nooo, is good, but in settlers 1, training is just putting soldiers in Castle, instead of spending gold, so battles end attacking enemy castles.against lots of generals, wich make It q chore, BTW, AI never surrender
That's planning to be in early access for at least a year and hasn't started yet, plus is raising funds on Patreon so I'm expecting it to be a long project. I might list it next year if it's shaping up.
Frostpunk is one of my absolute favourite games of all time, and oh boy am I keeping all the fingers and toes that I can crossed that the sequel surpass, or at least lives up to the original. Crate's genre-hopping is very fascinating to me. Grim Dawn is one of the best ARPGs ever made, and Farthest Frontier is a very strong entry in survival city builder genre. I'm stoked to see how the RTS (which is set in the same world as Grim Dawn btw, but before the eponymous grim dawn) And then of course, the strongly rumoured Grim Dawn 2 is very exciting too!
*Thanks GZ I love city building games" Metropolis 1998 looks great! I miss the pixel style I think they looks great and just reminds me of good times! Cities skylines 2 is such shiteee iI can't believe they put that rubbish out!!! so annoyed and disapointed* 💪👍
I played Fabledom. i was really hyped for it (i don't normally do early access) but it wasn't for me. It was far TOO 'relaxed'. It was impossible to lose. There wasn't any challenge or thought required as a player, at all. The biggest challenge was finding the information you wanted. Like where was that building again? that you had placed hours ago and forgotten about... I couldn't get a refund as i had played it for too long by then. It HAS had alot of updates since then... i plan to give it another chance but idk that i can recommend it however.
Hey Zakh! Have you heard of Worshippers of Cthulhu? As a Lovecraft fan, this looks like it could be a really interesting twist on the city building genre.
You should check out Ratopia. It's a nice cute city-builder/colony management game. It's got a lot of Craft the World in it, but most people would probably recognize it as an Oxygen Not Included "ripoff" (even though it's not; Ratopia has combat/base defense considerations, and is much simpler mechanically [that's not necessarily a bad thing]).
Settlements Rising looks good but the demo appears to be not working. Oh well. Added a few of these to my wishlist. Do you know any games that are like a city builder/survival type game, but where you have a small group of people, like, say, 4-10? An example would be Stranded: Alien Dawn or even something like Help Will Come Tomorrow or Dead in Vinland (even though they're turn-based).
for me Pioneers of Pagonia is looking like next game. I'm huge Settlers fan - since first part released on 1993 I played every up to Settlers 7. but Manor Lords it also look very nice... we shall see.
im really looking foward to a sim building game pos-apocalypse zombie world, the gameplay is leaning toward Age of empire isometric pov, and has Endzone & State of decay element to it, i find few of em but still need more thing , like flat map, looting site, defending against zombie or raiders, pharmacy building to treat the viruses and wounded npc.
slight correction on Pioneers of Pagonia: it's not from "the developers of the original settlers games". the very first Settlers was made by like 4 or 5 people with the main creator and programmer being Volker Wertich. He was later also heavily involved in the third Settlers game. He and his game game studio Envision were contracted by Ubisoft to create the latest Settler which is now released as New Allies. But due to creative differences their involvement ended in 2020. Basically only 1 person from any of the early Settlers games is around for Pioneers, Volker Wertich.
I think you're on the wrong path with CS2. The mixed reviews are not because of missing features CS1 had (with DLCs), they're mainly negative because of performance issues, bugs, uglyness (like snow, missing river banks, extremely ugly mining or farms), too much American styles even if you're playing in European style, bad and cheating traffic and production simulation, .. this game was and is technically in an Early Access state, it's very unfinished, but they released it as full release. I almost never heard or read of any critics which state CS2 is missing content which were in CS1 DLCs, quite the opposite, the more or less only positive feedback is that CS2 has features which previously only where in DLCs. Also pre release they generated extremely much hype and paid all the popular CS1 influences who hyped without limits and no one said anything about the bad state of the game. This aggressive, manipulative hype-marketing destroyed a lot of trust. So I cannot agree with your argument.
My point was that CS2 was trying to surpass CS1 in scale, scope, detail, and content, and in trying to do that they couldn't also optimise and refine it all in time for the launch. CS1 got all that content and stuff slowly over years, CS2 needed it all immediately in one shot, so they either needed more years or less stuff. But more years would push it too long and less stuff would make a sequel have less reason to exist.
I agree with both, but friendly reminder that the company is paradox AKA featureless basegame with all cool mechanics hidden behind $200+ of dlc throught at least 5 years, if succesful, if not dead and abandoned inmediately
i mean be that as it may, you cant release a cities game without a public traffic simulation, which they did. so i think the internet is right for once. also not the devs fault if paradox pushes the game for q4 revenue numbers.
@@Azmodaii There's a huge difference between "had problems" and "had problems as CS2". CS2 problems are 1000x worse than all of CS1. CS1 was a fully functional game and not a technical and design desaster as CS2. CS1 was a functioning simulation, it had mod support, it had no severe performance issues, it was a completely fine game. CS2 is in inofficial early access and before they fixed the worst they now announced to prioritize DLCs now. If you want to give them more money for they broken game, feel free to.
Hey Zakh, while waiting for the many promising incoming RTS titles and potential Total War usurpers, my interest in city-building games peaked...again. I gave Frostpunk, Aven Colony, Endzone, Northgard, Planetbase, The Colonists, Becastled and to an extent the Stronghold series a try but can barely stick around long enough. I have no particularly good skill or necessary skills regarding to strategic urban planning to even understand this genre at a highly-internalized level. I tried to look for videos and sights in hopes of finding a universal guide to improve at city-building games. It turns out that all I receive was personalized tips for specific games. Not having a good "pop-culture background" knowledge of the genre also made it suffocating as there was a vast sea of these games. The closest experience I got to the genre was the Rebuild series by Northway games, 2D zombie apocalypse turn-based city-planning and survival game. I could use some beginner help and introductory city-builder games ( preferably 3D ones unless some 2D ones are too good to miss out ). Also, can you make a playlist containing compilation videos of city-builders games for each year ? It would be a great assistance to consider branching out into these games. Thank you.
Hmm like how to play city-building games in general? I do have thoughts about that but never really put any kind of guide together. Generally all city-builders are systems. It's all small pieces coming together to forms one big machine. I'm experienced with programming, so how I process city-builders is like a program. A series of cause and effect. I do something, then I watch what happens. Something happens, and I do something in response. I don't always have a 'big plan' or end goal or anything like that, because my personal style of working is to tweak as you go and as long as you win it's all good. For me, if the effort is not required, I don't bother with it. That's my version of efficiency. But that's how I work, other people love memorising numbers and min/maxing everything to be perfectly optimised. Others still like to make things the best looking and pretty above all. So you don't have to play one particular style, you can do what you like because there isn't any 'correct' way outside of completing the objectives of the game. If you're just getting into city-builders, I would recommend very structured games with very clear rules and mechanics. Against The Storm is probably a good one. Anno 1800 is also a great one. Not guaranteed you'll be into them but they're both really good games with very clear structure. Anno 1800 also has a story campaign that can bring you through the game.
55:40 Of course you can. And CS2 does have a lot of neat features. The problem with that "game" is that it's basically a pre-alpha disguised as a full priced release. Not to mention the anti-modding/consumer stuff they have done and also attempt to label criticism as "toxic". Shouldn't have scammed people.
What example would you say for a game that dominated a genre for a decade, got tons of DLC and expansions, and then got a sequel that actually surpassed the original on release? I can't really think of a good example, mainly The Sims and CS2 are the ones coming to mind.
I know you've been waiting for this list. SO much to curate and don't miss all the games I mention at the end too! This is just City Building, want other Strategy, Simulation, and Building games? Watch all the lists in the playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLYVqUDxY6COh7bkuJoBb1koNRX7mAX2yp
I’m so shocked you never mentioned Norland. That’s my most anticipated game and has a huge following. It should be getting released in May
@@BrillAngel I got Norland set for a base-building/colony sim list, so a lot of games like that aren't here.
What about Cataclismo? They are Billions-Like Game :)
@@sergej7073 I got that in another list, I also wouldn't put They Are Billions in a city building list.
Thanks a lot for including Folklands - the demo we release in the February Steam Next Fest will be wildly improved, so thanks for putting us in this list with all the other *amazing* upcoming city builders!
It's great how the genre is so big and we have so many options
yeah. I still wish we had a few more modern city builders though...
@@Gigi-xr3qs Wow you're still on this after like a week haha. Just for reference, 3 out of 35 games listed are where you build on the back of something, 8.6%. You're just really triggered by this huh? - (Gigi spent many days complaining about this to me and now has come back after a few days to complain about it to someone else on the same video. Either a weird attempt to troll or they're mega triggered and now obsessed with city builders not being what they like)
Unless you don’t have a pc 🥲
Great to see our Kaiserpunk made it to your list! We'll be closing the demo soon and hopefully you'll take a peek :) !
I am late, but want to say thank you for the obvious effort put into making this video. I've come away feeling I know much more about the genre than I did walking in, and will make good decisions on what to play moving forward. Thank you.
Fabledom is the one i like most among the list :)
Pax Augusta is also good, but yes i agree it looks soooo... gloomy. If they brighten up a bit and add some decoration items (fountains, parks, etc) and add some life to the buildings like clothesline, potted plants, and other household items, it would be much better
i recently broke myself free from Anno 1800 addiction (gosh that game is so beautiful), and the city is so alive, especially the buildings if you look in the details
Same! thinking about getting Fabledom
Fabledom does look very cute and colorful! If u like that style founders fortune is very cute too it was very funny when i tried it 🤭
Pioneers of Pagonia is very fun!!! I used to love The Settlers, and I think it's even better.
Wow, Metropolis 1998 looks like what I secretly hope to find on these lists. It reminds me of Simsville that got canceled, but on a scale of 100,000.
finally, simcity 3000 + sims! i cant wait
*It looks amazing!!! I love pixel games that look like this; I really hope the game play is as good!*
This was also the standout for me ! I looks so cosy, I'm sure I'll feel right at home when this one comes out !
I was thinking the exact same thing
Absolutely adore the art style of that Synergy game. Would really love a game like Surviving the Abyss that reviews highly and is well fleshed out, I really like the idea of an underwater city building game with this particular type of eerie moody atmosphere but most I have encountered were unfinished, shallow or lower budget things.
My favorite series on the channel after Cesar/Pharaoh! And easily the best bulk review series on the internet. Honest opinion, no overhype. Love it.
One of the most understandable yet biggest let downs for me with modern city builders is that they usually dont have more than 1 type of culture or architecture. So many city builders are "Europe" only, but Earth of Oryn kinda looks like your architecture and citizens actually changed based on the actual temperature of the map? If thats the case its a brilliant way to do it and i cant wait to play in a desert for 50+ hrs and then move to a forest on my next run
If that's the case it's still gonna be a bit predictable though. If you move to a cold climate your civ is gonna take on a scandinavian (or viking as americans say) inspired look. Warmer climate is gonna be middle eastern looking. I hope they've taken a more creative approach witch the designs
@@meisrerbootit's better than the typical European or western style of architecture.
Im tired of that.
Go look at indian style, mongol style, indonesian style, etc, game devs
And those styles are not random. They build with that style because based on the resources.
Obviously you cant find some wooden houses in hot arid desert region. Or you cant find dried mud house in the cold region
Great video. Superb quality. Thank you for making these.
I am SO happy I found your video! The city building itch in me has been strong lately and this list is extremely well researched and comprehensive. Thank you 😊
Looking forward to Citadelum. I love those house cut-ins where you can see people inside, using the facilities. Also Ancient Polis, because I'm more of a fan of ancient Greeks than ancient Romans. :p Synergy looks great. That one and Laysara are on my watchlist.
I'd already gotten Wandering Village and Farthest Frontier thanks to these videos lol.
Was just looking through games for a list like this thank you!
Ty for putting the steam links in the desc. Makes it easier to find the game
Glad you found it useful! I only don't put the links if I'm hitting the limit on description length.
The list of games and time points on the video is very helpful. Thank you)
Nice overview with objective criticism! I think it would be nice to also have a video of a "loockback" of games that actually released in 2023 and how well they did/do.
Absolutely! I hate how everything on RUclips nowadays is about things to wait for and nothing about things to enjoy right now. Following it leaves no place to actually experiencing joy, instead filling life only with constant endless anticipation of it.
I would love this so much, early access is great for these types of games, but I don't have time to be a tester, I want to know what complete games are actually good.
"objective criticism"
I like these city builder games focused on exploration and discovery, less concerned with micromanagement of resources and military units.
Thanks again! Lots to look forward to this year! I'm really hoping for another "They are Billions" game! Too bad they stopped working on it.
Diplomacy is Not an Option, if you didn't know about it. It's coming along nicely.
Thank you for this video, man. I love it! Now I'll have more games to add to my backlogs.
Synergy looks amazing! The art is very Moebius. Downloading the demo now. Surviving the Abyss and Laysara: Summit Kingdom also stand out due to their distinctive settings. And of course Manor Lords and Frostpunk 2 look incredible. I hope they live up to expectations.
A hybrid city builder/base defense that I've been very impressed with is Age of Darkness: Final Stand. Like a blend of They Are Billions + Warcraft 3, it's one the most fun games I've played in recent years. Been playing on and off since it went into EA in late 2021.
After finally playing and completing Frostpunk 2 I will say, it met my expectations. I loved it. It wasn't perfect, but it was overall great experience for me
Wish there were more multiplayer city builders 😭😭 fell in love recently with Kingdoms Reborn, but burnt through it pretty fast.
Tried Settlements Rising & Folklands. Really enjoyed both. Love finding Indie gems. Both have got potential :)
Wow, what a lot of work you've done compiling this list. The city builders are some of my favorites so I really enjoyed this video. I'm hoping at some point, when they release, you will play some of them on your channel. Thank you, @GamerZakh! BTW, I have been playing The Wandering Village.... there's something about that Onbu that really makes you fall in love with the game. Stray Fawn studios also keeps adding features (biomes) and updating. I recommend it.
Glad you enjoyed it! I never have enough time to play all the games I want, if it was up to me I'd play all of them.
Pax Augusta is truly a project of passion following closely to actual historical sites and customs etc. Attention to historical details is amazing.
As always, excellent video! Thanks to you, I'm always ready for the new strats, new RPGs and the like! Kudos)
Synergy looks incredible, looking forward to it as much as Frostpunk 2. That art style is based on the work of Moebius.
No Wild West Builder games? I'm sick of all the Medieval ones, and want my Wild West expansion to be developed. 👍👍🤠 10⭐
As someone who despises graphics over functional gameplay, Folklands looks incredible! And the fact that they're adding steam workshop modding capabilities means that at some base level even if the devs mess up the game will be good and have content that you'll enjoy.
Great list, thank you for making this. I always look forward to this video yearly as its my best source for finding for a new city building game to play. There a few interesting games you mentioned, hopefully they are good. Thnaks again!
Good video and I like most of the city builder games introduced in the video. Thanks for sharing.
a great list again as always! i want to mention Norland, not many people speaking about it, but im really waiting that game!
the biggest issue with surviving the abyss was they were going to abandon it but a huge backlash from the community made them try and finish it
Lovely video, thank you! Tons of games, lots of info and actual effort put in - not just a list with names or a non/AI-narrated video.
You make the best "Upcoming *genre*" vids, thank you!
Thanks! I put a lot of thought and work into making them.
@@GamerZakh it shows! And is appreciated!
I'm looking forward to seeing how Pioneers of Pagonia develops! I hope it turns out great!
Well, the combat is crappy, but can be solved with updates
That's a lot of games -- thanks for putting that together. A lot of those look kind of 1999. But that seems to be popular atm.
*As usual- fantastic work putting this thing together!* Very useful and informative. There's so much stuff coming up!
And as always it's funny to have people talk about how strategy games are dying or whatever, just because games like that are not talked about by Sony or Microsoft (although they can slip in something like Age of Empires from time to time) on the 'big' stages, while in reality there are hundreds of titles in the works, span across numerous subgenres.
It's always a good time to be a strategy games fan.
BTW- just completed the prologue to that penguin game, and have similar feelings. Not a big fan of animal-themed bulders, and penguins are weird. But kinda charming (although sound effects are repeating too much) and there's something super refreshing about that Arctic setting, with snow and crystal-clear blue waters...
Plus the game itself seems competent in general.
Thank you! Yeah people still (very antagonistically) come for me for saying there are good games these days. 10 years ago they said "look at 10 years ago it was so good". Today, 10 years later, they say "look at 10 years ago it was so good" lol. People really don't clock that I've made these lists for over a decade.
Underrated review seriously. Really enjoyed your classic humour 😊.
My hopes is that terraformation games becomes and own genre... Spore (space part) and Terra Nil scratch the itch, but I think that there's much potential for this to be explored
Thank you for puttin the game company down under, then I know for a fact FARTHEST FRONTIER will be something to have my eyes on! Superb company
Glad you find that useful! I like putting the devs there so we know who is actually making the game. Publishers often swap devs around. Recent relevant example is I realised the Helldivers 2 devs made the first Magicka but they didn't make Magicka 2.
Thank you for this list!! Super helpful. Also surprised you didn't mention some games that I've seen on other lists like Foundation.
Interested in checking out Fabledom and Wandering Village as I'm looking for a cozy city builder :)
Glad you enjoyed it! And I did mention Foundation in the video, there's the 'Long Early Access' section. Does that section cover the games you saw on other lists? I've listed Foundation for years and have many dedicated videos on it. Foundation has also sponsored me in the past. I just have a 3-4 year cutoff date for early access games otherwise the lists are just the same every year. Foundation has been in early access for half a decade, at some point it's no longer an 'upcoming game'. Especially considering Foundation already feels like a full finished game, I think the 'Early Access' label is hurting it more than helping at this point.
I know we're all supposed to think about the Roman empire three times a day or something, but why does no one ever put you in charge of Carthage?
Fantastic list, kudos!
Great work as always love seeing your vids.
Thank you!
Great list as always!
Thanks!
I think it is a bad omen if a game is in EA for 3+ years. Usually when a dev decide to publish a game in EA that means they are already running out of money, even worse when they release a dlc for their unfinished product. So I wouldn't hold my breath for the games that was mentioned in the last segment of the video.
The length of EA doesn't mean anything by itself. Balders Gate 3 was in EA for 3 years, and i know many others that were in EA for longer (space engineers, factorio, etc) that turned out great. It depends on so many factors if a long EA is good or bad. A better predictor is their development blog.
Soviet Republic in EA for 5 years and it's better than %99 percent of the fully released city builders.
@@darkforest4789 Absolutely, really enjoy that game!
thanks a lot for your lists videos :) they help me a lot in finding new games :) you have no clue how many games I have because of your videos :D
I'm glad you find them useful!
@@GamerZakh i most certainly do, not sure how my wallet feels about it though :D
Kind of bummed that I keep seeing the same square grid systems in all building games. I’m so done with it. I’m glad manor lords doesn’t have a strict square grid. Ostriv and foundation are also great. It makes it so much more unique and more realistic. City skylines 2 disappointed me aswel. The Roads aren’t grid based but all buildings are made for standard squares so you end up with huge ugly gaps. Hoping for more realistic old European city building games.
It's a preference and lots of people prefer grids. Freeform is tricky to get right too, like you said with CS2, you can't just have curved roads, so it's easier and often more popular to just use grids.
Again a very satisfying presentation of upcoming games, thats why I follow GamerZakh
I sure do hope World turtles has plenty of pratchett references
I’ve been chasing that high from Banished, but I’ve never quite gotten there.
Huge number of awesome games before us. Most hyped for New Cycle and Kaiserpunk myself
Loved Settlers 1! So many RTS/basebuilding games where you win over AI by cheesing with units. In Settlers 1 you win because your economy/efficirncy is better!
The original settlers? More like u win if u overpriduce weapons to make soldiers and wait to be trained and raise morale
@@RolandTemplar Making and training soldiers IS the ultimate output of your whole economy. If you've managed to reach a point where you "overproduce" soldiers and gold then you've effectively won the game. If achieving the goal of the game is a complaint then it sounds like you've been playing on so easy maps that you didn't need to build up the chain of production properly.
@@perer005 nooo, is good, but in settlers 1, training is just putting soldiers in Castle, instead of spending gold, so battles end attacking enemy castles.against lots of generals, wich make It q chore, BTW, AI never surrender
Frostpunk 2 looks like what I had hoped to get out of Whiteout Survival on iOS, I'll have to check that one out! 👌🏼
Something about Folklands I find very appealing, maybe it's the old school graphic feel or simplicity. Looks interesting!
A well put together list ...as always enjoyed watching.............(penguins)....next flamingos 😂
I've really been enjoying Synergy, it's a very chill game once you figure out how to keep up your food and water supply.
Thank you for the video!
I only hope they will keep the same narrator for Endzone 2.
Love the list! I've been looking for a Zeus: Master of Olympus vibes.
44:00 I think Synergy is based in Alejandro Jodorowsky's art style, but no idea if the artist is involved at all with the game.
is there any game that's trying to be spiritual successor to the Black & White games?
Only one unfortunately, it's called Fata Deum but it's pretty indie.
Love these lists.
Thanks!
Anno + Sid Mier's Pirates? Hell yeaaaah!
The First Explorers could do with a shout out too. Another Settlers style game.
That's planning to be in early access for at least a year and hasn't started yet, plus is raising funds on Patreon so I'm expecting it to be a long project. I might list it next year if it's shaping up.
@@GamerZakh It was more of an info share really. No one really knows of its existence.
@@ULTRAWIDE. I'll check it out!
4 added to wishlist, thanks!
Glad you found some new ones!
Looks like this year we will get some nice Gems to play , Happy Gaming everyone 💞✌😊🖖
Frostpunk is one of my absolute favourite games of all time, and oh boy am I keeping all the fingers and toes that I can crossed that the sequel surpass, or at least lives up to the original.
Crate's genre-hopping is very fascinating to me. Grim Dawn is one of the best ARPGs ever made, and Farthest Frontier is a very strong entry in survival city builder genre. I'm stoked to see how the RTS (which is set in the same world as Grim Dawn btw, but before the eponymous grim dawn) And then of course, the strongly rumoured Grim Dawn 2 is very exciting too!
*Thanks GZ I love city building games" Metropolis 1998 looks great! I miss the pixel style I think they looks great and just reminds me of good times! Cities skylines 2 is such shiteee iI can't believe they put that rubbish out!!! so annoyed and disapointed* 💪👍
I played Fabledom. i was really hyped for it (i don't normally do early access) but it wasn't for me. It was far TOO 'relaxed'. It was impossible to lose. There wasn't any challenge or thought required as a player, at all. The biggest challenge was finding the information you wanted. Like where was that building again? that you had placed hours ago and forgotten about... I couldn't get a refund as i had played it for too long by then. It HAS had alot of updates since then... i plan to give it another chance but idk that i can recommend it however.
No one reviews city building games better than Gamer Zakh. Thank you
That's really kind of you to say, I'm glad you find it useful!
Thanks a lot!
Hey Zakh! Have you heard of Worshippers of Cthulhu? As a Lovecraft fan, this looks like it could be a really interesting twist on the city building genre.
I have seen it pop up. Bit of a surprise announcement but I think it's releasing into early access, so I'll be able to cover it moving forward.
Some of these are amazing. I hope some come to switch as I love these games while traveling and unfortunately there isn't many currently.
Honorable mention Of Life and Land is fun
Thanks for the informative vid
You should check out Ratopia. It's a nice cute city-builder/colony management game. It's got a lot of Craft the World in it, but most people would probably recognize it as an Oxygen Not Included "ripoff" (even though it's not; Ratopia has combat/base defense considerations, and is much simpler mechanically [that's not necessarily a bad thing]).
Synergy and Laysara seem the more interesting to me. ofc Frostpunk 2 is a no-brainer given how amazingly the first one has been received.
Settlements Rising feels like it's also partly inspired by Knights and Merchants
Earth of oryn looks beautiful
Settlements Rising looks good but the demo appears to be not working. Oh well. Added a few of these to my wishlist.
Do you know any games that are like a city builder/survival type game, but where you have a small group of people, like, say, 4-10? An example would be Stranded: Alien Dawn or even something like Help Will Come Tomorrow or Dead in Vinland (even though they're turn-based).
The first game, is the real settlers new allies? At least the original idea?
for me Pioneers of Pagonia is looking like next game. I'm huge Settlers fan - since first part released on 1993 I played every up to Settlers 7.
but Manor Lords it also look very nice... we shall see.
You said "Caesar 3"! That is my absolute fave city building game. If you liked that game, youd like CivCity: Rome.
Also Vikings City Builder looks good.
Beyond these Stars, is a direct sequel to their earlier game.
Yes I mention it.
im really looking foward to a sim building game pos-apocalypse zombie world, the gameplay is leaning toward Age of empire isometric pov, and has Endzone & State of decay element to it, i find few of em but still need more thing , like flat map, looting site, defending against zombie or raiders, pharmacy building to treat the viruses and wounded npc.
slight correction on Pioneers of Pagonia:
it's not from "the developers of the original settlers games". the very first Settlers was made by like 4 or 5 people with the main creator and programmer being Volker Wertich.
He was later also heavily involved in the third Settlers game. He and his game game studio Envision were contracted by Ubisoft to create the latest Settler which is now released as New Allies. But due to creative differences their involvement ended in 2020.
Basically only 1 person from any of the early Settlers games is around for Pioneers, Volker Wertich.
So, he is only a consultor
@@RolandTemplar On Settlers:New Allies, yes.
For Pioneers he's head of developement
Thank you~!
I think you're on the wrong path with CS2. The mixed reviews are not because of missing features CS1 had (with DLCs), they're mainly negative because of performance issues, bugs, uglyness (like snow, missing river banks, extremely ugly mining or farms), too much American styles even if you're playing in European style, bad and cheating traffic and production simulation, .. this game was and is technically in an Early Access state, it's very unfinished, but they released it as full release. I almost never heard or read of any critics which state CS2 is missing content which were in CS1 DLCs, quite the opposite, the more or less only positive feedback is that CS2 has features which previously only where in DLCs. Also pre release they generated extremely much hype and paid all the popular CS1 influences who hyped without limits and no one said anything about the bad state of the game. This aggressive, manipulative hype-marketing destroyed a lot of trust. So I cannot agree with your argument.
My point was that CS2 was trying to surpass CS1 in scale, scope, detail, and content, and in trying to do that they couldn't also optimise and refine it all in time for the launch. CS1 got all that content and stuff slowly over years, CS2 needed it all immediately in one shot, so they either needed more years or less stuff. But more years would push it too long and less stuff would make a sequel have less reason to exist.
I agree with both, but friendly reminder that the company is paradox AKA featureless basegame with all cool mechanics hidden behind $200+ of dlc throught at least 5 years, if succesful, if not dead and abandoned inmediately
i mean be that as it may, you cant release a cities game without a public traffic simulation, which they did. so i think the internet is right for once. also not the devs fault if paradox pushes the game for q4 revenue numbers.
Cs1 had problems on launch too for a while. They’ll salvage it
@@Azmodaii There's a huge difference between "had problems" and "had problems as CS2". CS2 problems are 1000x worse than all of CS1. CS1 was a fully functional game and not a technical and design desaster as CS2. CS1 was a functioning simulation, it had mod support, it had no severe performance issues, it was a completely fine game. CS2 is in inofficial early access and before they fixed the worst they now announced to prioritize DLCs now. If you want to give them more money for they broken game, feel free to.
Metropolis 1998 braught instantly Transport Tycoon vibes. 😁
Great video!
Thanks!
Still waiting for Kenshi 2, or another game like it. Still one of the best games I've ever played, even if it isn't strictly a city builder.
I just started playing foundation yesterday and couldn’t recommend it more
I think the whale in space is a reference to a doctor who episode
Could be refrences to the kinkori in Spelljammer but I'm betting on them being Pratchett fans.
Viking city builder looks like a hackfraud type of game tbh
Hey Zakh, while waiting for the many promising incoming RTS titles and potential Total War usurpers, my interest in city-building games peaked...again. I gave Frostpunk, Aven Colony, Endzone, Northgard, Planetbase, The Colonists, Becastled and to an extent the Stronghold series a try but can barely stick around long enough. I have no particularly good skill or necessary skills regarding to strategic urban planning to even understand this genre at a highly-internalized level. I tried to look for videos and sights in hopes of finding a universal guide to improve at city-building games. It turns out that all I receive was personalized tips for specific games. Not having a good "pop-culture background" knowledge of the genre also made it suffocating as there was a vast sea of these games. The closest experience I got to the genre was the Rebuild series by Northway games, 2D zombie apocalypse turn-based city-planning and survival game. I could use some beginner help and introductory city-builder games ( preferably 3D ones unless some 2D ones are too good to miss out ). Also, can you make a playlist containing compilation videos of city-builders games for each year ? It would be a great assistance to consider branching out into these games. Thank you.
Hmm like how to play city-building games in general? I do have thoughts about that but never really put any kind of guide together. Generally all city-builders are systems. It's all small pieces coming together to forms one big machine. I'm experienced with programming, so how I process city-builders is like a program. A series of cause and effect. I do something, then I watch what happens. Something happens, and I do something in response. I don't always have a 'big plan' or end goal or anything like that, because my personal style of working is to tweak as you go and as long as you win it's all good. For me, if the effort is not required, I don't bother with it. That's my version of efficiency.
But that's how I work, other people love memorising numbers and min/maxing everything to be perfectly optimised. Others still like to make things the best looking and pretty above all. So you don't have to play one particular style, you can do what you like because there isn't any 'correct' way outside of completing the objectives of the game.
If you're just getting into city-builders, I would recommend very structured games with very clear rules and mechanics. Against The Storm is probably a good one. Anno 1800 is also a great one. Not guaranteed you'll be into them but they're both really good games with very clear structure. Anno 1800 also has a story campaign that can bring you through the game.
Ostriv is a really good one that I absolutely loved. Still in development but there's an Alpha release
55:40 Of course you can.
And CS2 does have a lot of neat features.
The problem with that "game" is that it's basically a pre-alpha disguised as a full priced release.
Not to mention the anti-modding/consumer stuff they have done and also attempt to label criticism as "toxic". Shouldn't have scammed people.
What example would you say for a game that dominated a genre for a decade, got tons of DLC and expansions, and then got a sequel that actually surpassed the original on release? I can't really think of a good example, mainly The Sims and CS2 are the ones coming to mind.