Cities: Skylines 2 hands you a blank map and near-total control. Roads, zoning, traffic flow, utilities, a living economy that reacts to every choice, and enough scale to build a metropolis of millions. When it clicks, hours vanish. When you have optimized every intersection and filled the map, the itch for another deep builder sets in.
This list covers 15 games that scratch that itch from different directions. Some are pure city sims, some go deep on transport or economy, and a few swap skyscrapers for colonies, zoos, or medieval villages while keeping the same planning-and-optimizing loop that makes Cities: Skylines 2 so easy to lose yourself in.
Quick Comparison: Top 5 Picks
| # | Game | Type | Price | Platforms |
| 1 | Cities: Skylines | City sim | $29.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch |
| 2 | SimCity (2013) | City sim | $19.99 | PC |
| 3 | Transport Fever 2 | Transport sim | $34.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 4 | Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic | Economy sim | $39.99 | PC |
| 5 | Anno 1800 | Economy sim | $59.99 | PC |
1. Cities: Skylines
Why it’s similar
It is the predecessor, so the core is the same: zoning, road networks, public services, and traffic puzzles. After a decade of expansions, many players consider the original the more complete package.
What makes it unique
Eleven years of DLC and a huge Steam Workshop mean nearly unlimited mods and assets. It runs lighter than the sequel too, which makes it the smoother pick on older hardware.
Key features
- Deep zoning and traffic management
- Massive modding and asset library
- Dozens of expansions covering transit, weather, and industry
- Runs well on modest PCs
Price: $29.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
2. SimCity (2013)
Why it’s similar
SimCity is the series that defined the genre Cities: Skylines later took over. You zone districts, manage services, and watch a simulated population respond to your planning.
What makes it unique
It uses smaller, curved city footprints and a region system where neighboring cities share resources. It is more focused and less sprawling than Cities: Skylines 2.
Key features
- Classic zone-based city simulation
- Region play with connected cities
- Detailed service and disaster systems
- The template the whole genre built on
Price: $19.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on the EA app.
3. Transport Fever 2
Why it’s similar
If traffic and logistics were your favorite part of Cities: Skylines 2, Transport Fever 2 makes that the whole game. You connect cities with rail, road, sea, and air to keep goods and people moving.
What makes it unique
The focus is infrastructure over zoning. You do not build residential districts, you build the transport empire that makes cities grow, spanning 1850 to the present day.
Key features
- Rail, road, ship, and air networks
- Detailed logistics and supply routes
- Three continent-spanning campaigns
- 200+ historically modeled vehicles
Price: $34.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
4. Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic
Why it’s similar
This is a city-builder with a fully simulated economy, and it is often named directly as the game filling the gap Cities: Skylines 2 left. You plan production, logistics, and infrastructure down to fine detail.
What makes it unique
It models a planned Soviet economy from the 1960s to the 1990s. You control everything from resource mining to citizen loyalty, with a level of logistical depth few builders attempt.
Key features
- Fully simulated planned economy
- Intricate production and supply chains
- Citizen life cycles from school to work
- Import and export against real currency swings
Price: $39.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam and GOG.
5. Anno 1800
Why it’s similar
Anno 1800 shares Cities: Skylines 2’s love of scale and systems, but built around production and trade. You grow a population while feeding ever more complex supply chains.
What makes it unique
The Industrial Revolution setting adds island-hopping logistics. A single luxury good can require several intermediate products shipped across multiple islands and continents.
Key features
- Multi-tier production networks
- Island-based expansion and trade
- Campaign, sandbox, and multiplayer
- Widely rated the best Anno game
Price: $59.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
6. Tropico 6
Why it’s similar
Tropico 6 keeps the city-building core of Cities: Skylines 2 and adds politics. You lay out a functioning island nation while juggling budgets, services, and citizen approval.
What makes it unique
You rule as a dictator across four eras, balancing factions, elections, and foreign powers. The tone is playful, and archipelago maps let you link islands with bridges and transport.
Key features
- City building plus political management
- Faction and election balancing
- Four historical eras
- Archipelago maps with transport links
Price: $49.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
7. Surviving Mars
Why it’s similar
Surviving Mars applies the same infrastructure planning as Cities: Skylines 2 to a colony. You lay out power, water, and domes, then manage a population that depends on every system working.
What makes it unique
The hostile red planet turns city planning into survival. Oxygen, dust storms, and dome placement replace zoning as your central puzzle.
Key features
- Colony planning under Martian conditions
- Domes that shelter your colonists
- Research tree for survival tech
- Random mystery events per playthrough
Price: $29.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
8. Frostpunk 2
Why it’s similar
Frostpunk 2 scales city-building into district planning and society management, echoing the way Cities: Skylines 2 asks you to balance growth, services, and a population with shifting demands.
What makes it unique
It layers survival and politics on top. The setting is a frozen apocalypse, heat is the resource that keeps people alive, and rival factions fight for control inside a council hall.
Key features
- Large-scale district building
- Faction politics and law-making
- Post-apocalyptic frozen survival
- Story campaign plus endless sandbox
Price: $44.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
9. Timberborn
Why it’s similar
Timberborn is a colony builder driven by layout, resource chains, and long-term planning, the same skills Cities: Skylines 2 rewards. You design districts and automate production for the long haul.
What makes it unique
You lead lumberpunk beavers and manage 3D water physics. Building dams and reservoirs to survive recurring droughts gives it a planning hook no city sim has.
Key features
- 3D water physics, dams, and terraforming
- Two beaver factions with unique tech
- Vertical architecture to save space
- Drought cycles that reward planning
Price: $34.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
10. Planet Zoo
Why it’s similar
Planet Zoo shares Cities: Skylines 2’s detailed building tools and management systems. You design layouts, route paths and guests, and keep a complex operation running smoothly.
What makes it unique
You build a zoo instead of a city, with incredibly deep animal habitat and terrain tools. It leans into creativity and free-form construction more than raw simulation.
Key features
- Detailed habitat and terrain building
- Guest, staff, and finance management
- Deep piece-by-piece construction tools
- Huge community sharing scene
Price: $44.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
11. Manor Lords
Why it’s similar
Manor Lords brings the same careful growth and supply-chain balance to a medieval setting. You expand a settlement organically while keeping resources and population in check.
What makes it unique
It adds real-time tactical battles and obsessive historical detail. Town building sits alongside Total War-style combat, which no modern city sim attempts.
Key features
- Gridless medieval town building
- Detailed production chains
- Real-time tactical battles
- Seasonal survival pressure
Price: $39.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
12. Foundation
Why it’s similar
Foundation offers the same free-form building freedom fans love in Cities: Skylines 2, minus the grid. Villages sprawl naturally as you place zones and grow your economy.
What makes it unique
It is a relaxed medieval sandbox with a unique monument-building system. There is no combat, so the focus stays on watching an organic town take shape.
Key features
- Gridless organic placement
- Monument construction for landmarks
- Zone-based resource gathering
- Sandbox-first, low-pressure pacing
Price: $34.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam and GOG.
13. Farthest Frontier
Why it’s similar
Farthest Frontier pairs town building with the resource and service planning that anchors Cities: Skylines 2. You grow a settlement, manage food and health, and expand carefully.
What makes it unique
It adds survival systems Cities: Skylines 2 skips. Villagers get sick from bad water, crops need rotation, and raiders test your walls.
Key features
- Deep food, health, and farming systems
- 16 raw materials and 190+ buildings
- Raider defense and walls
- From the makers of Grim Dawn
Price: $34.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam and GOG.
14. Banished
Why it’s similar
Banished distills city management to the essentials that Cities: Skylines 2 builds on: population, resources, and keeping a settlement alive through lean times.
What makes it unique
It is small, isolated, and unforgiving. There is no trade rescue and no combat, just a fragile village where one bad winter can end everything.
Key features
- Isolated settlement survival
- Seasonal food and firewood balancing
- Health and population management
- No combat, pure resource pressure
Price: $19.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam and GOG.
15. Kingdoms and Castles
Why it’s similar
Kingdoms and Castles is a lighter city-builder with the same grow-a-town loop as Cities: Skylines 2. You keep citizens fed and happy while your kingdom expands.
What makes it unique
It is quick to learn and low-pressure, with a charming low-poly style. Viking raids and dragon attacks add just enough threat without deep simulation.
Key features
- Simple, approachable city building
- Viking raids and dragon attacks
- Castle walls and defense
- Budget-friendly price
Price: $14.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam and GOG.
Full Comparison Table
| # | Game | Type | Price | Platforms |
| 1 | Cities: Skylines | City sim | $29.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch |
| 2 | SimCity (2013) | City sim | $19.99 | PC |
| 3 | Transport Fever 2 | Transport sim | $34.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 4 | Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic | Economy sim | $39.99 | PC |
| 5 | Anno 1800 | Economy sim | $59.99 | PC |
| 6 | Tropico 6 | Political sim | $49.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 7 | Surviving Mars | Colony sim | $29.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 8 | Frostpunk 2 | Survival sim | $44.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 9 | Timberborn | Colony sim | $34.99 | PC |
| 10 | Planet Zoo | Management sim | $44.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 11 | Manor Lords | Medieval builder | $39.99 | PC |
| 12 | Foundation | Medieval builder | $34.99 | PC |
| 13 | Farthest Frontier | Survival builder | $34.99 | PC |
| 14 | Banished | Survival builder | $19.99 | PC |
| 15 | Kingdoms and Castles | City builder | $14.99 | PC |
Conclusion
If it was pure city simulation you wanted, start with Cities: Skylines, SimCity, and Workers & Resources. They deliver the same zoning, services, and traffic depth that makes Cities: Skylines 2 tick.
If the systems and economy pulled you in, Anno 1800, Transport Fever 2, and Tropico 6 reward planners who love a complex machine. And if you are open to a change of scenery, Surviving Mars, Planet Zoo, and Manor Lords take that build-and-optimize loop somewhere new. Any of these 15 will keep your inner city planner busy well into 2026.
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