Games like Cities: Skylines II
Discover new adventures that match what you love.
Base BuildingSimulationStrategySingle Player
The city builder that simulates every citizen's commute: Skylines II models economy, land value and traffic agent by agent, at a scale no rival attempts. A rocky launch, years of patches, and still the deepest modern city canvas on PC.
Similar-game research
From Cities: Skylines II, we've picked six city builders that each take the genre in a different direction. Whether you want a lighter classic, intricate supply chains, or ethical survival, this guide helps you find your next favorite. Every title expands the simulation in its own way, offering fresh challenges and unique pleasures.
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Cities: Skylines
StrategySandboxSimulationPublic similarity
- Why it's similar
- Stepping back from the sequel that models every agent, you'll immediately recognize the same hands-on road drawing and traffic watching—just lighter and less CPU-hungry.
- Choose it when
- Mayors who want a stable, mod-rich tool to slowly craft a city, without chasing the newest simulation fidelity.
- But
- The sequel simulates each citizen's economy and commute individually, while the original captures the same urban energy with simpler systems, trading depth for a decade of Workshop assets and DLC to rebuild your hometown.
Anno 1404 - History Edition
Base BuildingStrategyAtmosphericPublic similarity
- Why it's similar
- Here too you're running a settlement of many buildings, but the look shifts from modern metropolis to an Orient-Occident Renaissance port city, with cathedral spires instead of skyscrapers.
- Choose it when
- Players who enjoy the arithmetic of supply and watching complex chains click, rather than just drawing roads and zoning blocks.
- But
- Where the sequel has you zone districts and set policies, Anno 1404 makes you manage precise need-chains—from spice in the East to processing in the West—that culminate in coronation treasures.
Tropico 5
Base BuildingStrategySimulationPublic similarity
- Why it's similar
- You still build and manage a dense settlement, but your role shifts from a faceless planner to a Caribbean dictator, rigging elections and wooing superpowers under the tropical sun.
- Choose it when
- Players who want power games and a satirical eye on governance alongside building, rather than pure urban efficiency.
- But
- The sequel is all about infrastructure and traffic, whereas Tropico 5 puts politics at the core—you construct buildings and also win votes, manage foreign powers, and stash cash offshore.
Anno 2205™
Base BuildingStrategySimulationPublic similarity
- Why it's similar
- Again you start from empty ground to erect industrial facilities, but you're directing not one city but multiple modular platforms across temperate zones, arctic mines, and lunar bases, all tied by shared logistics.
- Choose it when
- Players who love building sprawling factories, plotting planetary supply chains, and trying a futuristic style, rather than those focused on city streets and commutes.
- But
- Anno 2205 swaps zoning and roads for modular buildings, civic management for corporate operations, and traffic simulation for logistics webs—and your expansion reaches the Moon.
Dawn of Man
Base BuildingSurvivalStrategyPublic similarity
- Why it's similar
- You also watch a settlement grow step by step, but here it starts from crude Stone Age camps, managing hunters, gatherers, and first fields rather than modern citizens and subways.
- Choose it when
- Players fascinated by technological progression and prehistoric survival, who want city building's earliest form, not modern urban complexity.
- But
- After skyscrapers and power grids, Dawn of Man drops you at civilization's dawn—your concerns are surviving winter after mammoth hunts and raising megaliths, with survival pressure weighing on every resource choice.
Broader alternatives you might enjoy
Shortlists for these games
Each of these has a researched page of its own.