The Best City-building Games for IOS iPhone

Update : Craft Lands added at rank #29.
1

Townscaper (2020)

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95
Review score
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PC Windows Mac OS IOS iPhone Xbox Series X Xbox One Android Nintendo Switch

Townscaper is a relaxing and creative town-builder game that lets you design your own picturesque floating towns with ease. With its colorful blocks and shapes that you can mix and match, you can create your dream villages whether you’re fidgeting or multitasking. The absence of missions or objectives allows you to immerse yourself fully in your creative flow and design your perfect idyllic town in no time. Get Townscaper for a soothing and creative gaming experience!


What we like:
  • Simple mechanics
  • Stress-free
  • Perfect for fidgeting
What could be improved:
  • Limited building tools and updates
  • Lack of variety in buildings and structures
  • Unsymmetrical grid pattern
  • No greenery except in enclosed areas
  • Building larger structures can be tedious

  • city-building
  • experimental
  • sandbox
  • building
  • short
  • cute
  • minimalist
  • grid
  • procedural
  • relaxing
  • nature
  • family-friendly
  • stylized
  • colourful

2

Terra Nil (2023)

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81
Review score
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PC Windows Nintendo Switch Mac OS Linux IOS iPhone Android

Restore the environment to its former glory in Terra Nil, a reverse city-builder game that challenges you to rebuild a barren wasteland. Build grasslands, forests, wetlands and more using advanced eco-technology, and leave behind a pristine wilderness for the animals. With procedurally generated landscapes, each playthrough is unique, challenging and unpredictable. Terra Nil offers a peaceful, meditative experience with lush hand-painted environments, relaxing music and ambient soundscape. Immerse yourself in the natural beauty of the ecosystem you've restored with Appreciate mode.


What we like:
  • Relaxing and engrossing gameplay loop
  • Gorgeous and vibrant hand-painted graphics
  • Procedurally generated maps create a unique experience with each playthrough
  • Effortless and straightforward game mechanics
  • Well-balanced difficulty that is not too challenging nor too easy
What could be improved:
  • Limited amount of content for its price
  • Limited replayability

  • city-building
  • relaxing
  • strategy
  • meditative
  • resource-management
  • puzzle
  • isometric

3

Tropico 6 (2019)

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90
Review score
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IOS iPhone Linux Mac OS PC Windows Xbox One

Tropico 6 is a city-building game that offers an engaging mix of elements such as ruling your own island dictatorship, sandbox mode with customizable goals, missions, and easy controller support. You can be a big picture person and make decisions that impact the entire island or get into the minute details of urban planning.


What we like:
  • Engaging mix of elements
  • Sandbox mode with customizable goals
  • Missions
  • Easy controller support:No need for mouse and keyboard or touchscreen
What could be improved:
  • Minor performance issues

  • city-building
  • simulation
  • economy
  • political
  • sandbox
  • management
  • strategy
  • construction
  • military
  • politics

4

Paragon Pioneers (2022)

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90
Review score
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Linux Mac OS PC Windows Android IOS iPhone

Paragon Pioneers is a casual island management game where you build and manage a series of island nations. It offers over 100+ buildings to advance through and has an abstract look and mechanics that make it easy to manage on small screens. It's a stress-free game for casual players.


What we like:
  • Detailed explanations and tutorials
  • No ads or premium currencies
  • Easy to pick up and put down
  • Reminiscent of the Anno series with idle gameplay
  • No inherent time limit
  • Over 100+ buildings to advance through
What could be improved:
  • Long waiting times
  • Lack of a thrilling narrative
  • Game mechanics become increasingly complex
  • Colonization aspect may be troublesome for some players
  • Combat has a limited army size and isn't very interesting

  • idler
  • city-building
  • colony
  • tutorial
  • management
  • base-building
  • building
  • simulation
  • medieval
  • crafting
  • economy
  • top-down
  • relaxing
  • 2d
  • resource-management

5

Pocket City 2 (2023)

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88
Review score
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Mac OS PC Windows IOS iPhone Android

Pocket City 2 is an addictive and satisfying city-building game for you to enjoy on your mobile. Build every aspect of your city including population, happiness, and quality of life. With features like a research tree, tax rates, and detailed stats, you'll enjoy crafting the perfect city for your citizens. The graphics and music complement each other, and the low poly art style is visually appealing. However, replayability is limited due to the lack of online options.


What we like:
  • Addictive and satisfying gameplay
  • Detailed stats and research tree offer valuable insight
  • Tax rates and micromanaging options add depth
  • Minimalistic graphics and music sync well
  • Low poly art style matches game theme
What could be improved:
  • Limited replayability without online options
  • May get boring after reaching level 50
  • Online multiplayer is not available for those who enjoy competitive play
  • Game can be simplistic in comparison to others in the genre
  • No major innovation from its predecessor

  • city-building
  • simulation
  • cartoony
  • 2.5d

6

Frozen City (2022)

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94
Review score
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IOS iPhone Android

Help survivors build their city and fight to survive in a frozen land in Frozen City, a strategy game that keeps you on your toes with decision-making and anticipation. The game is frustrating and rewarding as you build from scratch, facing many decisions and hardships to keep your people alive. Despite needing some fine-tuning, it is a wonderful play for those who love strategy games and want to survive an ice age.


What we like:
  • Challenging decision-making
  • Frustrating and rewarding
  • Events for extra rewards
  • Keeps players on their toes
  • Fun for those who love strategy games
What could be improved:
  • Heroes are game's biggest issue
  • Build order is pretty rigid
  • Gacha mechanics feel in the way
  • Combat is dull auto-battle
  • Too much waiting time

  • survivor
  • city-building
  • team
  • simulation
  • card
  • town
  • font-family
  • farming
  • resource
  • adventure
  • hardcore
  • strategy
  • challenging
  • chess
  • buildings

7

Pocket City (2018)

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96
Review score
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Android IOS iPhone PC Windows Mac OS

Dive into Pocket City, where you're the architect of your own urban masterpiece! Manage, expand, and overcome challenges to ensure your citizens thrive. No ads or wait times, just pure city-building bliss awaits you in this engrossing strategy game.


What we like:
  • No in-app purchases or ads
  • Engaging city management and expansion
  • Challenging events keep gameplay fresh
  • Simple, one-currency system
  • Progressive unlocking of content
What could be improved:
  • Limited building options can be frustrating
  • Some performance issues reported

  • city-building
  • cartoony
  • 2.5d
  • crime

8

Actraiser Renaissance (2021)

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76
Review score
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Android PC Windows IOS iPhone

ActRaiser Renaissance is a video game where you play as God rebuilding human civilization destroyed by evil. With two main parts, simulation and sidescrolling action, guiding and defending your village against monsters is incredibly fun. The challenge ramps up gradually with time, making it addicting. The combat system is competent, with various enemy types, hidden power-ups, and expanded controls. The game is meticulously crafted, genuinely improves on the original game, and maintains the spirit of what made it special. ActRaiser Renaissance is a dark horse to become game of the year and is suitable for players who love simulation and sidescrolling games.


What we like:
  • Fun tower-defense style missions
  • Meticulously crafted simulation and sidescrolling parts
  • Addictive gameplay
  • Great combat system
  • Gradual difficulty ramp-up
What could be improved:
  • The game can be overly easy on normal mode
  • Hard mode is brutally difficult
  • Magic can be overused during boss fights

  • platform
  • city-building
  • remake
  • simulation
  • side-scrolling
  • action
  • boss
  • tower-defense
  • strategy
  • hack-and-slash
  • 2d
  • classic
  • real-time
  • tower
  • rpg

9

Tropical Resort Story (2022)

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98
Review score
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PC Windows IOS iPhone Android Nintendo Switch Playstation 4

In Tropical Resort Story, you get to develop your own lush island full of nature and create the most luxurious resort possible. From building accommodations to discovering great travel packages, you can make your guests' dreams come true. Improve the ocean water quality by adding marine plants and rocks in the ocean, and releasing fish you've caught while fishing. With more tourists visiting your island, you get to open stores and restaurants, and even create new products. This game will keep you hooked on creating your tropical paradise!


What we like:
  • Ability to create immersive natural environment
  • Opportunity to collaborate with business partners
  • Discovering winning combinations of features
  • Colorful and appealing graphics and sound effects
  • Easy to learn and play
What could be improved:
  • Janky handling on desktop
  • Narrow grid range makes building efficiency difficult
  • Limited challenge, low pressure gameplay

  • colony
  • simulation
  • city-building
  • 2d
  • casual
  • nature
  • building
  • pixel
  • cute
  • colourful
  • relaxing
  • fishing

10

Square Valley (2022)

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87
Review score
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Android IOS iPhone

Square Valley is a unique and satisfying city-building puzzle game where you play as the Spirit of the Valley tasked with building lands for your citizens. The game offers a narrative-driven experience with lovely visuals and chill music. Each tile on the board has specific requirements that players need to pay attention to, adding a deep strategic thinking element to the game. Despite the focus on fulfilling requirements rather than building a particular aesthetic, Square Valley puts a creative spin on a tired genre, making it a highly compelling puzzle game that is well worth checking out.


What we like:
  • Deep strategic thinking element
  • Narrative-driven experience
  • Lovely visuals
  • Chill music
  • Satisfying gameplay
What could be improved:
  • No session suspension or save feature
  • Some building features such as walls and rivers are not entirely clear on how to 'paint' them onto the map
  • More focused on fulfilling requirements than building a particular aesthetic

  • tile
  • city-building
  • puzzle
  • sandbox
  • grand-strategy
  • programming
  • board
  • auto-running
  • chapter
  • board-game
  • meditative
  • difficult
  • relaxing
  • zombies
  • real-time

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