Games like SimCity: lay roads, zone land, grow a skyline

Cities: Skylines is the closest modern game to SimCity, and Pocket City 2 is the best pick for a phone. If you just want to build something pretty with no budget, try Townscaper. Roam has short city and colony builders too.

SimCity in short

SimCity was designed by Will Wright and released by Maxis in 1989. You are the mayor: lay roads and power lines, zone land as residential, commercial or industrial, then balance taxes, crime, traffic and pollution as the city grows. Sims move in only when the city works for them.

The series ran through SimCity 2000, 3000 and 4, then a 2013 reboot. SimCity BuildIt, released by EA in 2014, is the free mobile version. It plays more like a production game: factories make materials, and you spend them on new buildings.

City builders like SimCity

Cities: Skylines. Colossal Order's 2015 builder, published by Paradox. Huge maps, deep traffic and a large mod scene. Cities: Skylines II came out in 2023.
Pocket City 2. A 3D city builder for iPhone and Android from Codebrew Games, out since April 2023. One price, and you can walk around your own city.
Townscaper. Oskar Stålberg's calm building toy. Tap to place colorful houses on water and watch the town shape itself. On phones since October 2021.
Frostpunk. 11 bit studios' 2018 survival city builder. One heat generator, a frozen world and hard laws to sign.
SimCity BuildIt. EA's free mobile SimCity. Good for short daily sessions on a phone.

How to grow a city without going broke

Start small and close to the power plant. Zone a few blocks of homes, then shops, and put industry away from houses. Build roads in a grid at first: curved roads look nice but waste space early.

Raise taxes only after the city has spare money and happy residents. When traffic jams start, add a second road out of the busy area before you add more zones.

Roam builder games

Pocket Skyline (Roam). A city builder sim. Start with a power plant and grow a city around it.
Mars Colony (Roam). Pick a site, land and build a home on Mars, in the spirit of Surviving Mars.
Overload Island (Roam). A power-grid builder. Light up every house without blowing the grid.

Play it on Roam

Make your own city builder with Roam

Say what the city is and what can go wrong. Roam builds it playable, and you change the rules by talking.

Try: "city builder on a floating island, every new tower makes it tilt, keep it level, my friends run the next islands"

Create it with Roam See Roam

Questions people ask

Is there a SimCity for mobile?

Yes. SimCity BuildIt is EA's free version for iPhone and Android. Pocket City 2 is a paid alternative.

What is the best game like SimCity?

Cities: Skylines is the usual answer on PC. It has the depth of SimCity 4 with modern traffic and mods.

Who made SimCity?

Will Wright designed it, and Maxis released it in 1989. Maxis later made The Sims.