55 games mentioned in this list! If you want to support the channel, buy games using this *GOG* referral link: af.gog.com/?as=1715648857 They have lots of sales... Thanks! Watch all my list videos in the playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLYVqUDxY6COh7bkuJoBb1koNRX7mAX2yp Enjoy!
Aside from the actual process of making the list videos, I know a lot of work goes into keeping tabs on hundreds of different games. Thank you for all of the effort you put into these! 😺
About Ostriv being in "indefinite" development: the dev is Ukrainian, lives in Kharkiv and has had little time to work on Ostriv due to the war. I just hope he's still alive, as Ostriv is a very nice game indeed.
I appreciate these videos so much. I value your opinion very much and you show me a lot of games I'm very interested in. I've bought and enjoyed quite a few after finding them from you.
Thanks very much for including World Turtles, my Solo Dev First Game, in your list! The footage shown here is from over 1.5 years ago, so please check out the newest short trailer (and demo!) with loads of improvements.
Ostriv is a really really good game, already playable in its alpha state. Should be mentioned that the developer is from Kharkiv, Ukraine, hence the delays.
I watch most of these you put out because they are so well done and I like the way you analyze each game... .. but the City Building games list has got to be the most fitting for you to make, so always extra excited for those! :D
Foundation, while taking a long time, is one of the most playable games in the list. I have yet to find any other city builder that can still hold my interest after years of playing it. Purely subjective, of course, but 5 months on this video popped up in my feed, so here's a comment. Enjoyed the video, thanks.
I think I'm most looking forward to Manor Lords from this list. Been following that one for a while and it all sounds so great, but I also fear that the few nuggets of info we get will have my fantasy running wild with too high with expectations. Keeping my fingers crossed. I'm also really happy you included Lixtoco. I'm not sure as to the extent of the project, but I believe it's a personal passion project by one person, whom I follow on Twitter. I love the setting and the style, so I hope it turns into something great. Oh, and the one I somehow hadn't heard of but got me really excited is Laysara: Summit Kingdom. Just the visuals pulled me in, and the details you divulged only increased my interest.
Hey, I tried to finding Lixtoco or any information about it and I couldn't turn up anything. Where could I find the twitter account or maybe a website detailing this game. This one definitely peaked my interest. Cheers!
Workers and Resource: Soviet Republic. It's an enjoyable challenge with extensive complexity and depth, making it probably the hardest city-builder around atm. It is set in an enjoyable and unique milieu (albeit a bit controversial to some?), with the possibility of realistic gameplay from the early 20th century up until modern age. Settlements follow a logical, historically accurate path as to how and why they are settled, opening up for a mixture of dense cities or rural villages. As mentioned, it's been in early access since 2019 and is continuously updated. I don't recall when it's meant to be realised, but seems likely to be sometime like late 2022 or first or second quarter of 2023 (based on it's current progress relative what they have planned). It's such a wonderful gem! I've played thousands of hours of Simcity (the earlier ones), Cities Skylines, Civilization, all the great Sierra games (Zeus, Ceasar, Pharaoh), Anno, The Settlers, Tropico, etc... And this beats them all. Out of the ones you mentioned. I was very pumped by Ymir when it came, but the only online-aspect and all the bugs kinda killed it. Otherwise, Ostriv, Farthest Frontier, Celestial Empire seemed okay.
Can strongly recommend Infraspace - loads of tinkering and logistics related fun, and it is still being very actively supported with weekly dev updates. Settlement Survival, Kingdoms Reborn, Songs of Syx and Farthest Frontier are also very good.
AWESOME video as always, huge city builder fan here and there are lots to be excited about. A lot of the same games as last years upcoming city builders, I was really hoping for a Cities: Skylines 2 reveal this year but that didn't happen. One I'm most hyped for is Manor Lords, which is only being developed by 1 person, which is why its taking such a long time to make. I LOVE The Settlers series, my fav franchise since the old AMIGA days, but this new Settlers is such a huge depart from what makes an actual Settlers game, a Settlers game, its extremely dis-hearting to see the game drift so far away from where they were at in 2019 with the game. The economy side of new Settlers game is pretty much non existent sadly right now and plays like a Age Of Empires game rather then a Settlers game.
Great video again! I liked maaany games on the list! But I LOVED everything about Laysara: Summit Kingdom!! The art, the structures, the idea, everything! I'm really hoping they release it soon and it turns out to be good
Another game that people could like is "agains the storm" wich has survival and roguelike aspects. Sadly is only available in Epic store right now but already has a steam page for a future launch there as well.
I look forward to Spirit & Stone because it seems like a good compromise between the Dwarf Fortress clones and city builders. The former being plagued by too much micro-focus in its building, and the latter by very blocky and samey-looking structures which sort of hampers my ability to immerse into the "city" aspect of city building. I just hope it combines their strengths, and not their weaknesses.
Thanks for the love! I appreciate the fine line between micro focus vs same-samey buildings. First and foremost, the freedom to design and customize buildings and walls and fields and decorations... should hopefully deliver a unique building experience. As for the more core city builder mechanics, we want enough depth to make interesting choices but not overwhelm with a stressful survival experience.
@@SpiritandStoneGame Ahh, thank you for the response! I didn't expect to see the dev themselves. There's one thing I need to mention. Although it's a really basic advice I'm always surprised how many game devs ignore this one... Building template manager. Being able to save/load/copy and maybe even share buildings seriously reduces that micro tedium for those who do not want it. Sharing is probably bit more problematic, but I personally appreciate even a basic template tool.
@@ethical_researcher4754 Heh, you can thank my brother who found this vid and let me know Spirit & Stone was featured! Oh, I don't think that's basic advice at all. There's so much UX to consider with builders - so many systems that need to work well together. There's a few things to balance against with a block-by-block builder... One could say that if the UX to a build a house is TOO laborious, then we've already failed. Another point, is if we're trying to avoid all buildings looking the same - would a template tool go against that goal? What we have on our roadmap currently is better block placement tools. Right now we only support single clicks to place/remove. We want to add obvious tools like lines for roads, 2D boxes for fields. But possibly support 3D boxes, lines with height for walls, rings, etc. Whatever we choose though needs to be intuitive and not intimidating! Stonehearth had a very promising template system... but I found it VERY hard to use successfully! Minecraft had some nice world sculpting mods where you can select then copy/paste big 3d sections of the world. I guess it wouldn't be hard to extend that into some sort of saved 'shape list'... what do you think about that option?
@@SpiritandStoneGame Yeah. That sounds like a decent solution. Just something to save time the common elements such as parks/gates etc... And maybe carry over my favorite creations through multiple playthroughs. As for the laboriousness vs originality, I tend to think this: Tools that exist to save time do not directly lead to reduced creativity; those who follow a vision will simply integrate such tools to achieve it quicker. But that's just my opinion. My UX skill may be horrid lol.
@@ethical_researcher4754 Hmm, great thoughts, I like the way you said that... I'll take your feedback and think about it deeply! UX is not a science in my opinion, takes experimentation, iteration and playtesting. Hopefully you like what we come up with! We're around in discord if you have any more thoughts to share! :)
I am always for the relaxing builder. After a standard playthrough I like to turn the violence off if I can and go building something that is visually pleasing to me.
Workers and Resources is doing a lot of development and the game has a ton of features every year. The fact they never abandoned development is fascinating.
Thank you for this list, I really appreciate the fact that you commented on some of the game’s musics, that is a very important factor for me as I am one of those people who likes city building games when they are relaxed and calm, and what music plays on the background, the variety of music that plays etc., is very important for me.
Appreciate all of the work you've put into reviewing these games. I think I'm mostly interested in Pharoah a New Era, The Wandering Village and Terra Nil. I lean toward more chill games, but do like the challenge of occassional military invasions as in the Impressions Games which are still my favorite.
Thank you so much Zakh this is my favorite of your lists every year as City builders are my favorite games (though I play a lot of others). I hate combat and disasters in my city builders that I don't control - I don't want them destroyed by anyone but me :) I also can't stand timers in city builders. All that said I also have a tendency to try out all city builders just to see what might be new and unique. Several of these games are already on my wish list and I'm sure I'll add more as I go through the video in more detail (this is the one I rewatch multiple times each year). That said -- the one I'm waiting for was not on your list and really isn't reliably rumored but what I want is Cities Skylines 2 though I am happy for a DLC.
I doubt a Skylines sequel any time soon. It just got another DLC and Paradox rarely rushes to do sequels. Victoria 3 is just coming out after like 12 years haha.
@@GamerZakh Cities skylines REALLY needs a sequel. And the main reason is that the game was made for older processors with a few cores. It gets extremely slow, sluggish when your population gets too high (for me it becomes unplayable) especially if you have mods.
@@Xerxesjc28 Yeah I'd be down for a sequel 100% it's just I don't think Paradox would do it until Cities Skylines 1 stops making so much money. They wouldn't kill their existing cash cow so quick. Checking player numbers, the concurrent players on Steam today are more than double what is was in 2015/2016, and the average players is the highest it's ever been outside of the spikes for DLC releases.
Zakh - I'm at a loss. These are all really promising! The way you said "..between good, and evil" in the Thrive piece had bits of cereal going everywhere!
The Wandering Village and Gord are high on my list. I hadn't heard of Abyssal or Aquatico, but I enjoyed base building in Subnautica, so they could be fun.
Thank you for the list! For now I've added these into my wishlist/followlist thanks to your coverage: - Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown - Spirit & Stone - Abyssals - Aquatico - Mossfield Origins Some of the ones in the list are already in my wish/follow lists, or I'd prefer to wait a little longer for more information. (Maybe in your next list in future? 😉) Anyway, I think I'd probably look forward to Farthest Frontier and Frostpunk 2 the most? I've played many hours of InfraSpace for now and it really has a very interesting traffic management mechanism (which I did not really explore deeply enough, unfortunately.. =X ). The gameplay is mostly good, but I felt manpower management can use some more improvements (beyond setting task priorities). There're also several QoLs that if added, would really improve gameplay. With regards to your final question at the end of the video (not about eternal early access, since that's asked in the last video, but still shown on screen somehow 🤣), I think it's same for me, a mix of chill and stress. Having to keep up with resource supply to maintain a population ensures that cities are not just build-and-forget, and also acts as good resource-sinks. Nevertheless, with resource sinks, city-builder games would then have to introduce plausible ways to improve production/supply of resources/goods. I'd probably not like the stress of natural disasters or unpreventable random events because RNGs might be the worst factor to contend with. Coupled with their often catastrophic destructive capabilities, they can undo hours of efforts and planning. Luckily most of them usually allow toggling on/off. Meanwhile other stressors like fires, medical emergencies, etc where city services are required, while possibly still unpredictable and random, I feel such factors are more reasonable additions and introduces variation into an otherwise monotonous city layout. 😀
Oh thanks for answering the question, I have no idea how the wrong question is on screen lol. I'm pretty sure I triple checked that before rendering, maybe the software rendered the wrong text source for some weird reason.
The three I see being great are Frost punk2, Gord, and Laysara: summit kingdom. Also looking forward to synergy, abyssal and flood land. Eternal early access is a bit annoying but it’s not a deal breaker for me.
I think it was the last list of city builders that introduced me to Kingdoms Reborn, and it has been a ton of fun so far (only about 30hours in so far, I was convinced to get it only recently). I'm kind of new to the genre, but Frostpunk got me into it recently, and your lists, once again, are an absolute joy and a great help for me in finding more fascinating games in this new, interesting and fund genre for me. So, thank you for the video!
Thank you for the list! Lately I am more interested in games with, how to say it, "painting or drawing style" graphics, so Synergy looks interesting. As for Laysara I like the Tibetan style architecture. P.S. Also Alien Horison
hi Zach, I would love more of your commentary in these videos than the developers' descriptions of games; anyway great list, added so many more to my wishlist!
Thanks! One or two sentences are descriptions of the game but it's not always the developer's description, I script everything myself based on research. It's just facts are facts, so can't really word them much different. After that it's my opinion, which is also one or two sentences. Hard to have more than that without speculating a lot because often the games aren't even playable yet.
@@GamerZakh ooooh, okay, that makes sense, thought it was more of the developers' comments! and yeah, you're right it's difficult to just predict what direction the game heads in; I just love your commentary on stuff and your insight is always interesting and refreshing, so that's why I wrote that! also, honestly, would love some predictions or your wishes for the game development :D cheers!
I just want a city builder like banished, but with more fantasy D&D atmosphere. Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, Humans, Gnomes, and Orcs/Goblins/Kobalds. Just building their towns is so enjoyable. being able to build these civilizations and build them up to trade with others would be so fun. Plus there's so much to take from D&D or Warhammer 40K would make it so easy to reference and create something with a similar vibe but with a peaceful and fun creative vision in mind.
I don't like stress at all, but I need some challenge to not be bored. Guess I want complex enough systems but no outside pressure, so when I do everything right it works like a clock, but when I make a mistake it all falls apart, but due to my mistake and not because raiders/blizzard/whatever. Plagues or other things that are a consequence of my inaction are a fair game tho.
Not gonna lie, I saw that Terra Nil game's look and immediately went and got the Demo. I really like how that one looks and it makes me think of these old puzzle game things whose titles I forgot.
I get hyped about RTSs and City Building games like no other type of games. Last thing I was really really hyped about was Age of Empires 4 and it turned out to be phenomenal.
Since you've put so many "end of 2022" releases in the video, I'm surprised that neither Against the Storm nor IXION made the cut. Against the Storm is a roguelite city builder where you have to carefully choose which buildings you will be able to build each game as you will only be able to choose from a few out of a larger pool and need to make sure your selections will be adequate to meet your settlement's needs. You also have to react to events hiding in the forest as you expand your city out. Its been in early access on Epic for about a year now and I got to do some beta testing for them. Its a phenomenally good game with 20+ difficulties ranging from relaxing to hard core gamer. They are planning on taking it out of early access and releasing t to Steam in Q4. I don't really know much about IXION other than the demo that was available during a Steam Game Fair a few months back. Gameplay didn't seem overly complicated, but resources looked like they could run tight. Having a space station that moves through space and will have to adapt to each system it moves to seems interesting and I think the game will be more complicated that what was shown in the demo. Steam claims it will be released in November.
I didn't put so many end of 2022 games in the video. 1 in the main list is estimated to be by the end of this year but I'm expecting it to be delayed to next year. In the bonus section, the games meant to release by 2022 were meant to have released already, so they're already delayed and should be out by now. Because they're already delayed, they are likely to continue to be delayed into 2023. Against the Storm and Ixion are not late, they're scheduled for this year and are on track to release this year, giving a more specific release window or date. I have listed Against the Storm before and have a dedicated video on it too, I know of it. And I'm aware of Ixion as well, but its stated to be releasing very specifically on the 16th of November 2022, so it's very clearly not a 2023 game.
This was a fantastic video that I enjoyed to a great extend! Thank you very much for helping my with your work to keep an overview over all releases in one of my most favorite Genres! Thanks!
I do love city building and also survival city builders have a spot in my heart, but I'd wish for more games that include campaigns or at least quests/missions. I am not a big fan of indefinitely ongoing cities/maps. If there is the option, fine, but campaigns just give you set goals and a sense of achievement, that I personally miss in most survival city builders. Great video, as always. And I think Manor Lords is also my favourite from this list which I also have wishlisted on steam
I hope Spirit & Stone is up your alley then. It's whole premise is to be a chill, non threatening building experience (kind of like playing with lego sets as a kid) - where the fish bowl of a village reacts to your design changes & castle layouts - we have a long way to go... but that's the vision anyway!
wow that battle scene from song of syx looks epic, even with the blocky graphics, as long as its not a hodgepodge of units just ghosting into one another like in RTW2. Going to pick it up. Thanks Zakh!
I've played the Terra Nil demo several times and love it, can't wait for the full game to be released! But Universim still tops my list, I love it as an awesome city builder which gives you so many options and how it keeps evolving! I personally prefer the relaxed city builders, I hate having to build up ARMIES to protect myself. I hate having buildings destroyed just to have to rebuild them while trying to defend myself. ENOUGH STRESSFUL GAMES, I WANT TO CHILL!!! I love building cities, not colonies to defend. I would love to see more evolving city games like Universim (I'm sorry I can't get enough of it, if you haven't played it check it out... it doesn't get the justice it deserves!).
Thank you very much for your excellent list of new city building games. Very helpfull and very organized. Have to check out the games in Detail and let you know which one I prefer.
I really like your lists and commentary. I'm quite interested in Wandering Village and Farthest Frontier. I can't wait for Synergy, Manor Lords, and Frostpunk 2!
Abyssals looks pretty cool, I will be wanting to try that one, as does Aquatico! Something different! Alien Horizon seems interesting. Infraspace seems like it has some interesting features but I dont really like the aesthetics.. now Complex Sky looks really neat! Terra Nil, based on the demo, is going to be good and I cant wait to get it. Home Wind looks like it will be interesting too. iT kind of reminds me of Dorfromantik, but a city builder. Crossed with Final Fantasy aesthetics! Laysara seems like it will be challenging, but I love the look and style of it. Same witj World Turtles, but the Wandering Village looks even more amazing. My favorite Settlers game is... Settlers of Catan ;)
Hi @Alyssin Williams. World Turtles developer here. Thanks for the kind words. I also like Settlers of Catan * a lot*, but also really loved Settlers 2 back in the day. World Turtles plays somewhat like Settlers 2, especially the start. PS. I've also become friends with The Wandering Village's team lead, and they're doing great - so happy for them.
Great list of city building games! It will be interesting to play most of them. I'm only on number 13, and I already have a couple of potentials, like "Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown", and "Aquatico". Time to continue watching the rest of the video. Greetings from Osijek (Croatia). :)
Ostriv is delayed because of the war in Ukraine but the game is quite playable and enjoyable in my opinion. Kingdoms Reborn has a card system that took some getting used to but once I did I don't mind it , likeable game so far.
@@SonesBen Haha don't worry, I get real mixed up too making these lists. I tend to spend a lot of time fixing things to have them all right in the final video.
Thank you for the video Zakh ! Really love your videos and the format you chose, you're doing an amazing work :) As usual, I can't wait for your strategy video. I'm hyped for Aquatico. (I really don't know about abyssals, it looks like it will be maybe a bit too simplistic?) Laysara looks pretty interesting. World turtles is a game which got me interested because of the discworld which I love, it's lacking the 4 elephants but at least we get the great A'Tuin ! Not convinced about gameplay though. The wandering village is also a game I will take for sure, after seeing your gameplay video, I was pretty excited. Really on the fence about Settlers, the second one was still the best, loved that you replayed it not so long ago. Feels like this one is not going to be as fun right now. Gord looks interesting but I don't know if it will be really good. Finally, you didn't talk about it but Against the Storm still looks like a pretty cool city builder, still planned for 2022, pretty hyped for that one too. (or maybe you place it in strategy? Kinda both)
@@GamerZakh Yes, I remember you did, but isn't against the storm going be released in early access? Just like the wandering village releasing on the 14th of of setpember.
@@mesarthim640 There's no indication that it's going to be early access on the Steam page, so it's being labelled as a full release. I go with what the devs put, if it's incorrect then the devs should fix their labelling.
Hi @Mesarthim. I'm the solo dev of World Turtles. It's been about 6 months since the last demo was released. I've been working full time on the game and a lot of content has been added. I'm updating the demo around middle January. Please give it a play through then :) PS. I actually contacted Rhianna Pratchett just to be safe, but she's fine with me using the age-old world on a turtle setting. Maybe the elephants can be a DLC!
Abyssal looks interesting. Mossfield Origins also looks interesting. I want Terra Nil played that one as the demo I liked it. I also saw Summit Kingdom as well that one seems interesting too. Celestial Empire reminds me of Emperor of the Middle Kingdom and I loved that one definitely keep an eye on it. Manor Lords as well looks really good just hope it turns out as good as it is showing. I will of course get Frostpunk 2 as well 1 was great! I forgot to add how impressed by all your gaming videos, thanks for the hard work.
I really like your lists, as they give a great and quick overview. I'm not particullarly keen on survival city building games, so I can just skip them ;) btw. some more links would be nice, especially on the additional games. I had a hard time finding infos on Lixtoco, there seems to be only the devs twitter account (and i found two websites literally ripping of this video, it seems just an algorithm transcribing what you said into a wall of text).
I agree, I really enjoyed Frostpunk for what it is... but sometimes I just want to sit and build and grow without worrying about failing at the end. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older and have more stress in my life - but for Spirit & Stone we just want something we can sit and play and fiddle with, without worrying much about the stress of playing 'perfectly'.
55 games mentioned in this list! If you want to support the channel, buy games using this *GOG* referral link: af.gog.com/?as=1715648857 They have lots of sales... Thanks! Watch all my list videos in the playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLYVqUDxY6COh7bkuJoBb1koNRX7mAX2yp Enjoy!
Aside from the actual process of making the list videos, I know a lot of work goes into keeping tabs on hundreds of different games. Thank you for all of the effort you put into these! 😺
Love these lists!
I'd like to add one, my game Kainga: Seeds of Civilization comes out in 1.0 this November! :D
About Ostriv being in "indefinite" development: the dev is Ukrainian, lives in Kharkiv and has had little time to work on Ostriv due to the war. I just hope he's still alive, as Ostriv is a very nice game indeed.
I'd recommend Microtown to the list
I appreciate these videos so much. I value your opinion very much and you show me a lot of games I'm very interested in. I've bought and enjoyed quite a few after finding them from you.
Hi! Solo dev of Vertical Kingdom here! Thank you for featuring it!. It helps a lot! and means a lot to me! You are amazing. Thank you again so much.
Keep up the great work, Farlight Games Industry! I can't wait to see what you come up with next. 😺
Hey! The game is looking fun, all the best with development!
Thanks very much for including World Turtles, my Solo Dev First Game, in your list! The footage shown here is from over 1.5 years ago, so please check out the newest short trailer (and demo!) with loads of improvements.
Game's looking good so far, all the best with development!
@@GamerZakh Thanks. I'm progressing very nicely now that so much of "groundwork systems" has been completed and iterated many times :)
It's looking pretty cool.
@@katlicks Thanks. I hope I can add enough to make it "work"!
damn you made that alone ? good luck man !
Ostriv is a really really good game, already playable in its alpha state.
Should be mentioned that the developer is from Kharkiv, Ukraine, hence the delays.
I was going to post the exact same thing!
I watch most of these you put out because they are so well done and I like the way you analyze each game...
.. but the City Building games list has got to be the most fitting for you to make, so always extra excited for those! :D
It is my favourite genre, I'm glad you're enjoying them!
Foundation, while taking a long time, is one of the most playable games in the list. I have yet to find any other city builder that can still hold my interest after years of playing it. Purely subjective, of course, but 5 months on this video popped up in my feed, so here's a comment. Enjoyed the video, thanks.
Hi Zakh! I was really excited to find Nova Patria on this list. Thanks for your interest and for bringing attention to our game!
Hey! I just really liked the idea so thought I'd include it. All the best with development!
I think I'm most looking forward to Manor Lords from this list. Been following that one for a while and it all sounds so great, but I also fear that the few nuggets of info we get will have my fantasy running wild with too high with expectations. Keeping my fingers crossed.
I'm also really happy you included Lixtoco. I'm not sure as to the extent of the project, but I believe it's a personal passion project by one person, whom I follow on Twitter. I love the setting and the style, so I hope it turns into something great.
Oh, and the one I somehow hadn't heard of but got me really excited is Laysara: Summit Kingdom. Just the visuals pulled me in, and the details you divulged only increased my interest.
Hey, I tried to finding Lixtoco or any information about it and I couldn't turn up anything. Where could I find the twitter account or maybe a website detailing this game. This one definitely peaked my interest. Cheers!
I agree that Farthest Frontier has the chillest music.
Laysara looks amazing
Zakh is back. City builders rejoice! Thanks for the heads up buddy!
Workers and Resource: Soviet Republic. It's an enjoyable challenge with extensive complexity and depth, making it probably the hardest city-builder around atm. It is set in an enjoyable and unique milieu (albeit a bit controversial to some?), with the possibility of realistic gameplay from the early 20th century up until modern age. Settlements follow a logical, historically accurate path as to how and why they are settled, opening up for a mixture of dense cities or rural villages.
As mentioned, it's been in early access since 2019 and is continuously updated. I don't recall when it's meant to be realised, but seems likely to be sometime like late 2022 or first or second quarter of 2023 (based on it's current progress relative what they have planned). It's such a wonderful gem! I've played thousands of hours of Simcity (the earlier ones), Cities Skylines, Civilization, all the great Sierra games (Zeus, Ceasar, Pharaoh), Anno, The Settlers, Tropico, etc... And this beats them all.
Out of the ones you mentioned. I was very pumped by Ymir when it came, but the only online-aspect and all the bugs kinda killed it. Otherwise, Ostriv, Farthest Frontier, Celestial Empire seemed okay.
Can strongly recommend Infraspace - loads of tinkering and logistics related fun, and it is still being very actively supported with weekly dev updates. Settlement Survival, Kingdoms Reborn, Songs of Syx and Farthest Frontier are also very good.
AWESOME video as always, huge city builder fan here and there are lots to be excited about. A lot of the same games as last years upcoming city builders, I was really hoping for a Cities: Skylines 2 reveal this year but that didn't happen. One I'm most hyped for is Manor Lords, which is only being developed by 1 person, which is why its taking such a long time to make. I LOVE The Settlers series, my fav franchise since the old AMIGA days, but this new Settlers is such a huge depart from what makes an actual Settlers game, a Settlers game, its extremely dis-hearting to see the game drift so far away from where they were at in 2019 with the game. The economy side of new Settlers game is pretty much non existent sadly right now and plays like a Age Of Empires game rather then a Settlers game.
Added Synergy, Abyssals, Mossfil Origins, Terra Nil, Laysara, Dream Engines, Land of the Vikings, Gord & Manor Lords to my Steam wishlist.
Glad I could help you find new ones!
Paused this video and played though the entire Terra Nil demo... It was so pretty, super relaxing and really fun. I'm SO excited for thisgame
I think Frostpunk 2 is a good bet, I believe that 11 bit studios can deliver something akin to the first game. I'm also looking forward to Laysara!
let's hope it has more longevity than the first one...
Great video again! I liked maaany games on the list!
But I LOVED everything about Laysara: Summit Kingdom!! The art, the structures, the idea, everything! I'm really hoping they release it soon and it turns out to be good
Another game that people could like is "agains the storm" wich has survival and roguelike aspects.
Sadly is only available in Epic store right now but already has a steam page for a future launch there as well.
I've listed that one before, right now it's set for a Q4 2022 full release including on Steam, so not an upcoming game for 2023 at the moment.
I look forward to Spirit & Stone because it seems like a good compromise between the Dwarf Fortress clones and city builders. The former being plagued by too much micro-focus in its building, and the latter by very blocky and samey-looking structures which sort of hampers my ability to immerse into the "city" aspect of city building. I just hope it combines their strengths, and not their weaknesses.
Thanks for the love! I appreciate the fine line between micro focus vs same-samey buildings. First and foremost, the freedom to design and customize buildings and walls and fields and decorations... should hopefully deliver a unique building experience. As for the more core city builder mechanics, we want enough depth to make interesting choices but not overwhelm with a stressful survival experience.
@@SpiritandStoneGame Ahh, thank you for the response! I didn't expect to see the dev themselves. There's one thing I need to mention. Although it's a really basic advice I'm always surprised how many game devs ignore this one... Building template manager. Being able to save/load/copy and maybe even share buildings seriously reduces that micro tedium for those who do not want it. Sharing is probably bit more problematic, but I personally appreciate even a basic template tool.
@@ethical_researcher4754 Heh, you can thank my brother who found this vid and let me know Spirit & Stone was featured!
Oh, I don't think that's basic advice at all. There's so much UX to consider with builders - so many systems that need to work well together. There's a few things to balance against with a block-by-block builder... One could say that if the UX to a build a house is TOO laborious, then we've already failed. Another point, is if we're trying to avoid all buildings looking the same - would a template tool go against that goal? What we have on our roadmap currently is better block placement tools. Right now we only support single clicks to place/remove. We want to add obvious tools like lines for roads, 2D boxes for fields. But possibly support 3D boxes, lines with height for walls, rings, etc. Whatever we choose though needs to be intuitive and not intimidating!
Stonehearth had a very promising template system... but I found it VERY hard to use successfully!
Minecraft had some nice world sculpting mods where you can select then copy/paste big 3d sections of the world. I guess it wouldn't be hard to extend that into some sort of saved 'shape list'... what do you think about that option?
@@SpiritandStoneGame Yeah. That sounds like a decent solution. Just something to save time the common elements such as parks/gates etc... And maybe carry over my favorite creations through multiple playthroughs.
As for the laboriousness vs originality, I tend to think this: Tools that exist to save time do not directly lead to reduced creativity; those who follow a vision will simply integrate such tools to achieve it quicker.
But that's just my opinion. My UX skill may be horrid lol.
@@ethical_researcher4754 Hmm, great thoughts, I like the way you said that... I'll take your feedback and think about it deeply! UX is not a science in my opinion, takes experimentation, iteration and playtesting. Hopefully you like what we come up with! We're around in discord if you have any more thoughts to share! :)
Oh yeah, my favourite lister making a list of my favourite genre!
My favorite content from Zakh! I sometimes chew through such videos for weeks as I am getting more info in games I am interested. Nice overview!
Thanks! I'm glad you find them useful.
16. Laysara Summit kingdowms looks amazing. hope it has good quality gameplay to back it up
Oah, great year lotta of promissing games.....
Ymir is in my heart
I am always for the relaxing builder. After a standard playthrough I like to turn the violence off if I can and go building something that is visually pleasing to me.
In World Turtles your goal is to help the AI become strong enough to eventually help you with your big space projects.
Workers and Resources is doing a lot of development and the game has a ton of features every year. The fact they never abandoned development is fascinating.
Thank you for this list, I really appreciate the fact that you commented on some of the game’s musics, that is a very important factor for me as I am one of those people who likes city building games when they are relaxed and calm, and what music plays on the background, the variety of music that plays etc., is very important for me.
I'm glad you enjoyed it and found it useful.
Appreciate all of the work you've put into reviewing these games. I think I'm mostly interested in Pharoah a New Era, The Wandering Village and Terra Nil. I lean toward more chill games, but do like the challenge of occassional military invasions as in the Impressions Games which are still my favorite.
Thank you!
Ones that look particularly interesting to me:
* Complex Sky
* Farthest Frontier
Farthest Frontier looks absolutely beautiful, and gameplay shows promise.
All respect and appreciation for all the developers of these games. And to you my brother Zakh for keeping us up to date.
Thanks Zac! Really appreciate your descriptive and calm approach.
I really enjoyed the visuals of Synergy, hope it will make it!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
"All I have to say is Manor Lords had better be good." PREACH!
Thank you so much Zakh this is my favorite of your lists every year as City builders are my favorite games (though I play a lot of others). I hate combat and disasters in my city builders that I don't control - I don't want them destroyed by anyone but me :) I also can't stand timers in city builders. All that said I also have a tendency to try out all city builders just to see what might be new and unique. Several of these games are already on my wish list and I'm sure I'll add more as I go through the video in more detail (this is the one I rewatch multiple times each year). That said -- the one I'm waiting for was not on your list and really isn't reliably rumored but what I want is Cities Skylines 2 though I am happy for a DLC.
I doubt a Skylines sequel any time soon. It just got another DLC and Paradox rarely rushes to do sequels. Victoria 3 is just coming out after like 12 years haha.
@@GamerZakh Cities skylines REALLY needs a sequel. And the main reason is that the game was made for older processors with a few cores. It gets extremely slow, sluggish when your population gets too high (for me it becomes unplayable) especially if you have mods.
@@Xerxesjc28 Yeah I'd be down for a sequel 100% it's just I don't think Paradox would do it until Cities Skylines 1 stops making so much money. They wouldn't kill their existing cash cow so quick. Checking player numbers, the concurrent players on Steam today are more than double what is was in 2015/2016, and the average players is the highest it's ever been outside of the spikes for DLC releases.
This is incredible Zach thanks !
Zakh - I'm at a loss.
These are all really promising!
The way you said "..between good, and evil" in the Thrive piece had bits of cereal going everywhere!
Laysara looks super cool! I hope that comes out well
I love Ostriv and Foundation. They're early access but it doesn't matter, they are great to play, with plenty to do. I would recommend them to anyone.
Interesting list. Some look fun. Others looked boring. Hope the fun ones make it out alive.
Many good games coming, is good to see showcase here. Congratulations and thank you.
These game list videos is a must watch every year to keep me up to date. Keep them up Zakh, they are very appriciated!
Thanks! I'm really glad you find them useful.
I love this videos Zakh, when I'm bored and looking for something new I always come to your chanel and look some of these.
Thanks! I'm glad I can help you find some new games.
Thank you for featuring our game LakeSide!
But the release date might be sooner than you think ;)
That's good to hear! I've been waiting for the full version.
O wow. Frostpunk 2 being inspired by Mortal Engines is a awesome idea!
I love the variety of these offerings!
Thank you for the video my friend. These videos couldn't be more helpful in finding reasons to kill time and relax (most times lol)
Glad you enjoyed it and found some new stuff!
woh Synergy gives me a big Enki Bilal vibe, the art style looks quite appealing
It's in the style of one of the greatest artists in history, Jean Giraud AKA Moebius.
The Wandering Village and Gord are high on my list. I hadn't heard of Abyssal or Aquatico, but I enjoyed base building in Subnautica, so they could be fun.
Thank you for the list! For now I've added these into my wishlist/followlist thanks to your coverage:
- Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown
- Spirit & Stone
- Abyssals
- Aquatico
- Mossfield Origins
Some of the ones in the list are already in my wish/follow lists, or I'd prefer to wait a little longer for more information. (Maybe in your next list in future? 😉)
Anyway, I think I'd probably look forward to Farthest Frontier and Frostpunk 2 the most?
I've played many hours of InfraSpace for now and it really has a very interesting traffic management mechanism (which I did not really explore deeply enough, unfortunately.. =X ). The gameplay is mostly good, but I felt manpower management can use some more improvements (beyond setting task priorities). There're also several QoLs that if added, would really improve gameplay.
With regards to your final question at the end of the video (not about eternal early access, since that's asked in the last video, but still shown on screen somehow 🤣), I think it's same for me, a mix of chill and stress. Having to keep up with resource supply to maintain a population ensures that cities are not just build-and-forget, and also acts as good resource-sinks. Nevertheless, with resource sinks, city-builder games would then have to introduce plausible ways to improve production/supply of resources/goods. I'd probably not like the stress of natural disasters or unpreventable random events because RNGs might be the worst factor to contend with. Coupled with their often catastrophic destructive capabilities, they can undo hours of efforts and planning. Luckily most of them usually allow toggling on/off. Meanwhile other stressors like fires, medical emergencies, etc where city services are required, while possibly still unpredictable and random, I feel such factors are more reasonable additions and introduces variation into an otherwise monotonous city layout. 😀
Oh thanks for answering the question, I have no idea how the wrong question is on screen lol. I'm pretty sure I triple checked that before rendering, maybe the software rendered the wrong text source for some weird reason.
The three I see being great are Frost punk2, Gord, and Laysara: summit kingdom. Also looking forward to synergy, abyssal and flood land. Eternal early access is a bit annoying but it’s not a deal breaker for me.
I think it was the last list of city builders that introduced me to Kingdoms Reborn, and it has been a ton of fun so far (only about 30hours in so far, I was convinced to get it only recently). I'm kind of new to the genre, but Frostpunk got me into it recently, and your lists, once again, are an absolute joy and a great help for me in finding more fascinating games in this new, interesting and fund genre for me. So, thank you for the video!
Nova Patria sounds awesome. Romans in the New World and we can found different cities?!? Awesome!
Thank you for the list!
Lately I am more interested in games with, how to say it, "painting or drawing style" graphics, so Synergy looks interesting.
As for Laysara I like the Tibetan style architecture.
P.S. Also Alien Horison
Excellent vid as always Zakh... happy Malaysia Day ya!!...
Thank you! Happy Malaysia Day!
I LOVE everything I've seen about Manor Lords. I really hope it comes through its development.
hi Zach, I would love more of your commentary in these videos than the developers' descriptions of games; anyway great list, added so many more to my wishlist!
Thanks! One or two sentences are descriptions of the game but it's not always the developer's description, I script everything myself based on research. It's just facts are facts, so can't really word them much different. After that it's my opinion, which is also one or two sentences. Hard to have more than that without speculating a lot because often the games aren't even playable yet.
@@GamerZakh ooooh, okay, that makes sense, thought it was more of the developers' comments! and yeah, you're right it's difficult to just predict what direction the game heads in; I just love your commentary on stuff and your insight is always interesting and refreshing, so that's why I wrote that! also, honestly, would love some predictions or your wishes for the game development :D cheers!
I just want a city builder like banished, but with more fantasy D&D atmosphere.
Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, Humans, Gnomes, and Orcs/Goblins/Kobalds. Just building their towns is so enjoyable. being able to build these civilizations and build them up to trade with others would be so fun. Plus there's so much to take from D&D or Warhammer 40K would make it so easy to reference and create something with a similar vibe but with a peaceful and fun creative vision in mind.
Terra Nil is a tricky little bastard.and looks lovely. Its a Terraforming puzzlegame... with depth. very relaxing
I don't like stress at all, but I need some challenge to not be bored. Guess I want complex enough systems but no outside pressure, so when I do everything right it works like a clock, but when I make a mistake it all falls apart, but due to my mistake and not because raiders/blizzard/whatever.
Plagues or other things that are a consequence of my inaction are a fair game tho.
Love all your upcoming lists! Nice structured and entertaining!
Not gonna lie, I saw that Terra Nil game's look and immediately went and got the Demo. I really like how that one looks and it makes me think of these old puzzle game things whose titles I forgot.
Glad I could help you find a new one!
I get hyped about RTSs and City Building games like no other type of games. Last thing I was really really hyped about was Age of Empires 4 and it turned out to be phenomenal.
Since you've put so many "end of 2022" releases in the video, I'm surprised that neither Against the Storm nor IXION made the cut. Against the Storm is a roguelite city builder where you have to carefully choose which buildings you will be able to build each game as you will only be able to choose from a few out of a larger pool and need to make sure your selections will be adequate to meet your settlement's needs. You also have to react to events hiding in the forest as you expand your city out. Its been in early access on Epic for about a year now and I got to do some beta testing for them. Its a phenomenally good game with 20+ difficulties ranging from relaxing to hard core gamer. They are planning on taking it out of early access and releasing t to Steam in Q4. I don't really know much about IXION other than the demo that was available during a Steam Game Fair a few months back. Gameplay didn't seem overly complicated, but resources looked like they could run tight. Having a space station that moves through space and will have to adapt to each system it moves to seems interesting and I think the game will be more complicated that what was shown in the demo. Steam claims it will be released in November.
I didn't put so many end of 2022 games in the video. 1 in the main list is estimated to be by the end of this year but I'm expecting it to be delayed to next year.
In the bonus section, the games meant to release by 2022 were meant to have released already, so they're already delayed and should be out by now. Because they're already delayed, they are likely to continue to be delayed into 2023.
Against the Storm and Ixion are not late, they're scheduled for this year and are on track to release this year, giving a more specific release window or date. I have listed Against the Storm before and have a dedicated video on it too, I know of it. And I'm aware of Ixion as well, but its stated to be releasing very specifically on the 16th of November 2022, so it's very clearly not a 2023 game.
i was gonna asked where's Cities Skylines II, but then looked back at the date of the video. Thanks for sharing
This was a fantastic video that I enjoyed to a great extend! Thank you very much for helping my with your work to keep an overview over all releases in one of my most favorite Genres! Thanks!
Synergi, Abyssals, Laysara, Farthest Frontier, Land of the vikings, The settlers(already pre-ordered 😀) Floodland
I'm looking forward to Abyssals because it's a new take on Surviving Mars, and GORD because it seems to combine two types of games that I enjoy.
As always great work! Added a few titles to my wishlist. A lot of good stuff is coming our way in the next couple of years. Thanks for making these!
Thank you! I'm glad I could help you find some new ones.
Some of the ones on the list look great!
Thanks Zakh, thrilling list.
Synergy is pretty intersting. And many more I didn't hear about.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah I'm hoping Synergy turns out good, it looks like a sci-fi Impressions game.
Can't wait for some of these!
I do love city building and also survival city builders have a spot in my heart, but I'd wish for more games that include campaigns or at least quests/missions. I am not a big fan of indefinitely ongoing cities/maps. If there is the option, fine, but campaigns just give you set goals and a sense of achievement, that I personally miss in most survival city builders.
Great video, as always. And I think Manor Lords is also my favourite from this list which I also have wishlisted on steam
Very excited for this list. I'm glad it's a genre getting attention
Chill fun city builders are my thing. Off to look at other lists. Nice one as always.
I hope Spirit & Stone is up your alley then. It's whole premise is to be a chill, non threatening building experience (kind of like playing with lego sets as a kid) - where the fish bowl of a village reacts to your design changes & castle layouts - we have a long way to go... but that's the vision anyway!
@@SpiritandStoneGame I've wishlisted the game. Looks like it could be something I'm into, depending on how it progresses. Good luck with development!
@@tombulous Thanks for the wishlist! I hope to make you happy with the result! :)
@@tombulous Thanks! We'll be hard at work! :) I appreciate the interest, it keeps us fueled
Awesome video zakh
Thanks!
About to play Home Wind early access, thanks for the tip!
Glad I could help you find it!
wow that battle scene from song of syx looks epic, even with the blocky graphics, as long as its not a hodgepodge of units just ghosting into one another like in RTW2. Going to pick it up.
Thanks Zakh!
I've played Moons of Ardan. and love it an space city builder starring axolotls.
This is most definitely the gold standard for upcoming lists always look forward to these.
Thank you! I always try my best.
Your lists always make me grow my wishlist a bunch
I've played the Terra Nil demo several times and love it, can't wait for the full game to be released! But Universim still tops my list, I love it as an awesome city builder which gives you so many options and how it keeps evolving!
I personally prefer the relaxed city builders, I hate having to build up ARMIES to protect myself. I hate having buildings destroyed just to have to rebuild them while trying to defend myself. ENOUGH STRESSFUL GAMES, I WANT TO CHILL!!! I love building cities, not colonies to defend. I would love to see more evolving city games like Universim (I'm sorry I can't get enough of it, if you haven't played it check it out... it doesn't get the justice it deserves!).
Thank you very much for your excellent list of new city building games. Very helpfull and very organized. Have to check out the games in Detail and let you know which one I prefer.
Thanks! I'm glad you found it useful.
Really keen for Gord and Land of the Vikings. Been playing a lot of Farthest Frontier.
I really like your lists and commentary. I'm quite interested in Wandering Village and Farthest Frontier. I can't wait for Synergy, Manor Lords, and Frostpunk 2!
Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying them.
As usual, an interesting and very complete video !
Abyssals looks pretty cool, I will be wanting to try that one, as does Aquatico! Something different!
Alien Horizon seems interesting. Infraspace seems like it has some interesting features but I dont really like the aesthetics.. now Complex Sky looks really neat! Terra Nil, based on the demo, is going to be good and I cant wait to get it. Home Wind looks like it will be interesting too. iT kind of reminds me of Dorfromantik, but a city builder. Crossed with Final Fantasy aesthetics! Laysara seems like it will be challenging, but I love the look and style of it. Same witj World Turtles, but the Wandering Village looks even more amazing. My favorite Settlers game is... Settlers of Catan ;)
Hi @Alyssin Williams. World Turtles developer here. Thanks for the kind words. I also like Settlers of Catan * a lot*, but also really loved Settlers 2 back in the day. World Turtles plays somewhat like Settlers 2, especially the start. PS. I've also become friends with The Wandering Village's team lead, and they're doing great - so happy for them.
Great list of city building games! It will be interesting to play most of them. I'm only on number 13, and I already have a couple of potentials, like "Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown", and "Aquatico". Time to continue watching the rest of the video. Greetings from Osijek (Croatia). :)
Thank you! I'm glad I can help you find some new ones.
4, 13, 16, 18?, 19, 20, 29. One or two of those could be good.
Complex Sky looks like the only game I would play out of these 😄
Kudos, well made, commentary and all 👍
Thank you!
*Great stuff again! I love city building games! really like the look of the pixel ones! I do miss the good old days lol* 💪👍
Pax Augusta has all my hype. There's no release date yet, but from what can be seen in Steam, it seems to be Caesar 3 and 4 on steroids.
Ostriv is delayed because of the war in Ukraine but the game is quite playable and enjoyable in my opinion. Kingdoms Reborn has a card system that took some getting used to but once I did I don't mind it , likeable game so far.
I'm surprised that Against the Storm isn't on the list. It' supposed to be leaving early access by the end of the year and getting a Steam release.
Yeah that's it, it's releasing by the end of the year, so it's not an upcoming game in 2023. I listed it last year.
Doh! [forehead slap]
@@SonesBen Haha don't worry, I get real mixed up too making these lists. I tend to spend a lot of time fixing things to have them all right in the final video.
Thank you for the video Zakh ! Really love your videos and the format you chose, you're doing an amazing work :) As usual, I can't wait for your strategy video.
I'm hyped for Aquatico. (I really don't know about abyssals, it looks like it will be maybe a bit too simplistic?)
Laysara looks pretty interesting.
World turtles is a game which got me interested because of the discworld which I love, it's lacking the 4 elephants but at least we get the great A'Tuin ! Not convinced about gameplay though.
The wandering village is also a game I will take for sure, after seeing your gameplay video, I was pretty excited.
Really on the fence about Settlers, the second one was still the best, loved that you replayed it not so long ago. Feels like this one is not going to be as fun right now.
Gord looks interesting but I don't know if it will be really good.
Finally, you didn't talk about it but Against the Storm still looks like a pretty cool city builder, still planned for 2022, pretty hyped for that one too. (or maybe you place it in strategy? Kinda both)
Thank you! Against the Storm is 2022, that's why it isn't here as this is a 2023 list. I listed it last year though.
@@GamerZakh Yes, I remember you did, but isn't against the storm going be released in early access? Just like the wandering village releasing on the 14th of of setpember.
@@mesarthim640 There's no indication that it's going to be early access on the Steam page, so it's being labelled as a full release. I go with what the devs put, if it's incorrect then the devs should fix their labelling.
@@GamerZakh I hope you're right. We see so many early access everywhere, I don't even know what a full release is anymore !
Hi @Mesarthim. I'm the solo dev of World Turtles. It's been about 6 months since the last demo was released. I've been working full time on the game and a lot of content has been added. I'm updating the demo around middle January. Please give it a play through then :) PS. I actually contacted Rhianna Pratchett just to be safe, but she's fine with me using the age-old world on a turtle setting. Maybe the elephants can be a DLC!
Abyssal looks interesting. Mossfield Origins also looks interesting. I want Terra Nil played that one as the demo I liked it. I also saw Summit Kingdom as well that one seems interesting too. Celestial Empire reminds me of Emperor of the Middle Kingdom and I loved that one definitely keep an eye on it. Manor Lords as well looks really good just hope it turns out as good as it is showing. I will of course get Frostpunk 2 as well 1 was great! I forgot to add how impressed by all your gaming videos, thanks for the hard work.
Good list with many new interesting titles, thanks!
I'm glad you liked it!
I really like your lists, as they give a great and quick overview. I'm not particullarly keen on survival city building games, so I can just skip them ;)
btw. some more links would be nice, especially on the additional games. I had a hard time finding infos on Lixtoco, there seems to be only the devs twitter account (and i found two websites literally ripping of this video, it seems just an algorithm transcribing what you said into a wall of text).
I agree, I really enjoyed Frostpunk for what it is... but sometimes I just want to sit and build and grow without worrying about failing at the end. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older and have more stress in my life - but for Spirit & Stone we just want something we can sit and play and fiddle with, without worrying much about the stress of playing 'perfectly'.
Thanks as always !
Glad you enjoyed it!
Always appreciated!