Games in which you need to develop a settlement. The best city planning simulators on PC

Sometimes you don’t want to run around with a gun in some shooter, fight zombies, trying to save your life, solve intricate mysteries in order to achieve some goal. Sometimes you want to relax, use your brain and analytical thinking, and not just your reaction and good speed of pressing the keys.

In this case, they can come to our aid city ​​planning simulators. Usually in toys of this genre you need to build your own metropolis, and then manage all the processes that happen in it. The better you perform the duties of a mayor-builder, the faster your city develops and the higher the quality of life of its population. Usually, there is no global goal in such toys - the construction process itself is your mission.

And who would refuse to feel like the ruler of an entire city, where they can set their own rules?

So for those who want to take the reins and also learn how to create entire megacities from scratch, we have selected the TOP, which includes the best city planning simulators of all time.

10. Banished

Banished is a simulator where you need to build a village

In tenth position was a city planning simulator, which appeared in the public domain 3 years ago. It ended up on the last line of the TOP because in terms of volume and game world he is the smallest. You won't see a huge metropolis here. You must build a village. But this doesn't make the game any worse.

According to the plot, you are given several exiles who must survive in the wilderness. The nature around is beautiful, there are also plenty of resources: from wood to water, animals, etc. So it’s quite possible to start settling in this place.

Your charges can engage in crafts, of which there are already 18 in the game. Here the characters can be farmers, hunters, blacksmiths, doctors, and so on - it all depends on what you tell them to do.

Also, this city-planning simulator does not require a strategic plan - there is no specific spawn pattern necessary resources in certain areas, etc. - everything is random. The most difficult test for a gamer will be winter: this season in the game is really harsh. You will need to sew a lot of warm clothes, and you must also worry about the houses in advance - so that there are a lot of them, and so that there is something to heat them with.

You will also have to remember many details that will decide the fate of your charges.

Even though the toy looks like a small city-planning simulator, it is very complex. And it was created by only one developer - Luke Hodorowicz. And this deserves respect.

9. Empire - Rise of the Middle- Kingdom

Popular series

City planning simulators are sometimes created one of a kind, and sometimes they come out in entire series. Emperior - Rise of the Middle-Kingdom - represents precisely the second type. Its history began almost 25 years ago, and since then we have received ten wonderful game simulators in the series.

Emperior - Rise of the Middle-Kingdom tells about China, namely its Ancient era. And this, you see, does not happen often. The historical basis practically ends there: the surroundings of Ancient China create the necessary atmosphere - the rest is almost identical to other simulators.

In the game, you need to constantly ensure that the city’s residents do not starve, that they constantly work, and that the gods whom the population worships receive their offerings on time and do not get angry.

In addition, in the game you will need to trade, fight if enemies suddenly attack, and also obtain the resources necessary for construction.

8. City Life

City Life is a city planning simulator that is very similar to famous game Sim City 4. Sometimes they can even insult you by calling this project a clone of the above. But no - this is wrong.

Firstly, all city planning simulators are somewhat similar. Secondly, City Life was created by French developers from the Monte Cristo company, and they released a full-fledged and independent thing.

The developers have worked well on the social levels of the population and their roles in the life of the city. So it will be important to monitor the relationships between each group, avoiding conflicts between them. There are also many infrastructure processes that can be run in the game.

Well, how could we do without this - we need to make sure that the entire population is happy without spending a lot of money.

7. CivCity - Rome

Ancient Rome- a popular setting in the genre of city planning simulators

Almost everyone knows about games like Civilization and Stronghold. So, for the sake of creating this game, the developers of both projects began to work together. This is how a city planning simulator appeared, which combines best sides the above games.

From Stronghold CivCity - Rome received huge garths, tasks related to the conduct of battle, as well as external design and location style. But from Civilization we got seven wonders of the world, seventy-five special units, a little more than a hundred buildings, about 70 different technological achievements that can be researched.

And although critics did not greet the new product very warmly, gamers rated this game positively.

6. Caesar

Not all city planning simulators offer huge maps and unlimited city sizes. There are ones like the game on the tenth line, or like this one - Caesar.

This city building does a good job of demonstrating to the public that you don’t have to worry too much about the plot or every new part series bring huge changes. So, for example, all the games after the second part received light cosmetic improvements, but the game still did not have any fewer fans.

And the reason is that Ancient Rome is so captivating that you don’t want to stop managing your favorite city.

In this toy small map, so once you reach a certain level of development, you will not be able to find a place to create new buildings. You will only monitor the condition of what has already been built. Also a minus was war and sometimes trade.

If you don't pay attention to these three components, you will definitely like the way the Caesar series works: here you can create a religion and have fun with the gods. Gamers also like to manage colonial settlements and so on.

5. Tropica

Tropica: Populate your island

Sometimes city planning simulations deal with topics that are important to society. For example, the game Tropica deals with the Cold War and the relationship between two warring countries: the USA and the USSR.

You will become the ruler of a country on an island located off the coast of Latin America.

This city planning simulator combines politics, economics and construction. There is also a good storyline and an interesting multiplayer mode.

There are also situations that arise from time to time in order to affect the gameplay - they can suddenly change the course of your story.

Initially, you will settle in a vacant lot, which needs to be turned into a busy area. There are few financial resources, so it is necessary to manage them correctly. In some cases, you will build strange shacks - but all this is so that the population at least somehow exists.

You will receive your first profit from the sale of resources, of which you have a lot. Also, the source of income will be the USA or the USSR (depending on which of them you make friends with).

4. Cim City

The first part of the game is already 30 years old!

City planning simulators became famous as a genre thanks to this toy. It appeared about 30 years ago, and gradually won its place on the shelves of gamers of that time. However, the game gained real popularity after the release of part 4 - at that time Sim City 4 had become a very complex strategy with many details. It also had a beautiful visual component.

The game has 3 modes that can be changed - you can even be a god in one of them, with the power to modify any area on which you will later build. You can also send Godzilla against those you don't like or who don't obey orders. And then watch the characters die.

There is a mayor mode in which you will prove yourself as a real owner of the town. You will decide what to install and where, with whom to interact, etc.

3. ANNO

Anno appeared in 1998, and takes fans of the series to the islands in Pacific Ocean. You can trade, establish diplomatic relations with others, and even fight battles - although the game is more focused on the economy and everything connected with it.

Your colonies must be constantly developed in order to capture the islands in the neighborhood - otherwise, at one moment you can look around, and other territories will be occupied. And you will have to huddle in a very limited space on the island.

2. Settlers

This game differs from others in that the units do everything themselves - you just provide them with the required number of buildings that you need, and also give them the required amount of resources.

Economics also plays a huge role - this urban planning simulator is provided “from start to finish” with all the possibilities for economic development in any direction.

1. Stronghold

Stronghold: Build a medieval stronghold!

In this medieval strategy, the main place in the game belongs to the city building, which has many advantages. There are a lot of elements here that cannot be described so easily - they are all part of the development of a medieval settlement. You will have to pay attention to the economic component: build houses, sawmills and quarries, store food, and also protect all this by erecting various fortifications.

So choose a city building simulator and create the metropolis of your dreams!

Build your city and manage it.

With just one computer you can create your own virtual city with a unique storyline. The best construction games put you in charge of creating a city and maintaining all the processes that happen within it. Here's a list of the top 10 city ​​building games for PC.

Note: These games should run fine on most computers, but please check the required requirements before purchasing a specific game. system requirements. Some of them work best on gaming PCs with large RAM and processor power to render graphics and ensure smooth gameplay.

Cities in Motion 2 is a city transport simulator developed by Colossal Order in 2013.

In Cities in Motion 2, players control a public transportation system that provides... transport links between and within cities. Using vehicle controls, players influence how and where they grow and change.

From middle-class housing to business districts, the transit system preserves and supports growth in a variety of areas. Everything in the city must work - and this responsibility lies on the shoulders of the player. Features of "Cities in Motion 2" - alternation of day and night, rush hour and joint and competitive modes games.

Cities in Motion 2's other downloadable content includes Metro Madness, which allows you to create custom subway trains and change schedules. The set includes five new metro trains and the ability to place the subway underground.

Tropico 5 is the fifth installment in the Tropico video game series. The setting and backstory of Tropico 5 are the same as previous games in the series. Players take on the role of the president of a small tropical island. In this role, they govern a small nation through construction, diplomacy, and trade.

Tropico 5 introduces a number of new gameplay features that make it stand out from previous games. This is the first Tropico game to include both cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes for four players. The nation passes through several eras - from the colonial era to our times in the 21st century.

Tropico 5 has two full-fledged expansions: Espionage and Waterborne, which add new missions and buildings on the water.

"SimCity (2013)" is a reboot of the popular city builder series SimCity. It was released in 2013 and is the first game in the SimCity series since SimCity 4.

The backstory of "SimCity (2013)" is almost the same as in other similar simulators. Players try to turn a small town or village into a thriving metropolis. As in previous SimCity games, players divide plots of land into residential, commercial, or industrial development zones. They create roads and transportation systems that connect areas of the city with each other.

Originally released as an online multiplayer game, SimCity (2013) was criticized for bugs upon release and for requiring a persistent online connection to play and save data.

However, following its release, Maxis and Electronic Arts removed the persistent online requirement and updated the game so that it now includes both an offline single-player and multiplayer version. After the bugs and connection issues were resolved, the game was met with mostly positive reviews, but it is no longer a role model.

Anno 2205 is a sci-fi futuristic city where players lead the colonization of the Moon. It is the sixth game in the Anno series created by Blue Byte.

The player becomes a corporate CEO who competes with other corporations to colonize the Moon, build megacities, and develop new technologies to enable humanity to thrive away from Earth.

Anno 2205 includes city management and construction, including housing, infrastructure and economic goods - all of which contribute to the growth of your city and colony. In addition to managing cities on the Moon, players also manage cities on Earth to establish trade routes between cities on different planets to share resources.

The cities in Anno 2205 are much larger than in any of the next five games.

Cities: Skylines is a city building simulator released in 2015 and developed by Colossal Order. The developer has released five expansions for the game.

Cities: Skylines starts with an empty plot of land close to a highway and some money to start building and managing your new city.

Players control almost every aspect of city management. They organize residential, commercial and industrial zones and provide basic services to their growing population. Services start with the basics such as water, electricity and sewerage, but can later be expanded to benefits and amenities that make the population happy.

Cities: Skylines received extremely positive reviews from critics. Detailed and attractive game includes elements such as a transport system, built-in scripts and good modifiability.

To keep players engaged in the game, the following five update packs have been released for Cities: Skylines:

• "Green Cities" (2017) adds the ability to use solar panels on roofs, electric vehicles and other renewable eco-friendly elements.
• "Mass Transit" (2017) adds cable cars, minibuses, ferries, monorails and more.
• Natural Disasters (2016) adds not only disasters themselves, but also services related to disaster response and urban recovery. It also includes in-game radio stations and a scenario editor.
• Snowfall (2016) adds winter and snow-related content, as well as a theme editor for creating different worlds.
• After Dark (2015) introduces night into the game and adds additional buildings such as a casino and a hotel.
• There are also several DLC (downloadable content) packs that can be purchased for Cities: Skylines, including Concerts, European Suburbia, City Radio, Tech Buildings, Relaxation Station and Art Deco.

Planetbase is an indie game that is part strategy, part city building and management. In the game, players control a group of space settlers who are trying to build a colony on a distant planet.

As a settler manager, the player instructs the colonists to build various buildings and structures that will eventually become a self-sufficient environment where they can live and work.

In addition to building, colonists collect energy, water, metal, and food, with the three main needs being water, food, and oxygen.

During gameplay Colonists face potential disasters such as meteorite impacts, sandstorms, and solar flares. They create robots that help perform more tedious and complex tasks.

"Constructor HD" is an HD remake strategy game"Constructor" 1997. You play as a property tycoon who is building an empire by ruining the plans of his rivals.

You'll have to deal with maintenance problems, hippies, serial killers, thugs, killer clowns and crappy workers. Despite these problems, the game does have some funny moments.

The developers adopted the atmosphere original game in this remake.

Plenty of players are enjoying the nostalgia these days, but some early adopters have encountered bugs specific to a game whose release date was delayed by months. Developer System 3 releases regular updates to optimize the gaming experience.

Prison Architect gives players the chance to build their own maximum security prison.

You instruct your workers to lay bricks on the first prison block before the prisoners arrive. You are responsible for the construction of the medical area, dining room and dressing room. You decide whether you want an execution chamber or solitary confinement cells.

After you have built everything you need and got guard dogs, you can play as an escaping prisoner yourself - start a riot and dig a tunnel in the general turmoil, or go to the armory and fight your way to freedom with weapons. You will need to figure out how to get out of your own creation.

In Urban Empire, you play as the mayor of a city from one of the four ruling families. This game from Kalypso Media combines city management with political struggle and world-changing events.

You will have to demonstrate your skills in the fight against rivals, while simultaneously contributing to the technological and ideological development of the city. The game begins in the early 1800s and progresses through five eras, each with its own challenges and abilities that the player must master.

Urban Empire is new type games that combine city planning with political intrigue. Expect a lot of quarrels and betrayals. This is not a construction simulator in the traditional sense. Instead of just building a couple of houses, you have to manage almost everything from the city council building.

"Banished" is a unique simulator of its kind. Instead of planning and building potential metropolises, players control a small group of exiled travelers who establish their own settlement. At the beginning of the game, all the Exiles have are the clothes they wear and some basic supplies.

The main resource of the game is newly minted citizens. Players assign each villager a task, such as becoming a fisherman to gather food for a growing population, or a builder who designs homes, schools, and workshops to help citizens in their daily lives.

During the game, wandering travelers, nomads and newborn children join the population of the settlement. However, citizens and workers also age and die.

City building games will definitely be appreciated by strategy fans. If you are more inclined towards creation than destruction, if you want to build your own city, monitor its infrastructure and the mood of citizens - this selection of the most popular city planning simulators is for you. After reading the article, don’t be lazy and take a look at the section, because among them there are many truly worthy representatives of the genre.

Black & White 2

Genre: strategy

Developer: Lionhead Studios

In Black & White 2 you act as a deity who is worshiped by the people. In the process of development, you can direct them to both the side of good and evil.

The embodiment of your power among people is a creature that can appear in the form of a humanoid lion, wolf, monkey or cow. The behavior of a creature depends on your attitude towards it. For example, if you hit a creature that has eaten a stone, it will no longer do so. If you pet it, it will start eating even more stones.

There are four nations in Black & White 2: Greeks, Vikings, Aztecs and Japanese. The player belongs to a Greek tribe. The development strategy will depend on which path you have taken - war or peace. You can capture neighboring settlements by force or develop your own city, improve the standard of living, thereby attracting people from other cities.

Cities Skylines

Genre: strategy, simulator

Developer: Paradox Interactive

In Cities Skylines, the player is asked to become the mayor of a city. You will be provided with a large territory and funds to improve the infrastructure. The main task is to build a huge city with a developed road system, industry, and so on.

The gameplay here is similar to SimCity. We build roads, a sewer system, provide lighting, mark out industrial zones and watch how a small town turns into a huge metropolis.

It is worth noting that with inept management, the opposite picture will be observed: the city will literally drown in garbage, and people will rush to leave this disastrous place.

If you managed to quickly develop the allocated territory, you can purchase some more adjacent land and expand further. As a result, the metropolis can become so huge that you simply don’t remember where it all began and where the starting point remains.

Banished

Genre: strategy

Developer: Shining Rock Software

The player will lead a group of migrants who settled in the taiga wilderness. Banished at first glance is very similar to Settlers, but there is much more realism in it.

For example, if in Settlers you don’t build a bakery and grain farms, nothing terrible will happen, you simply won’t have bread. And if the fields in Banished are not sown, a good half of the settlers will die of hunger in the winter. If you don't build a herbalist's hut, you will watch people die from disease and epidemics.

For those who are especially thrifty, not everything is so smooth either. Even if you sow the entire settlement with wheat, this is not a guarantee of food security. Any crop failure and people are doomed to starvation.

Due to such nuances, there is no universal development strategy in the game, so you will have to constantly solve many problems, both large and small.

Cities XL 2012

Genre:

Developer: Focus Home Interactive

The gameplay of the game is based on the construction of a city with the goal of turning it into a real metropolis. To do this, you need to establish profitable production, trade, roads, and much more. It is also noteworthy that you can manage several cities at once.

The development of the city strongly depends on its geographical location: being located near a large body of water is an excellent chance to boost the fishing industry, in the desert area there is little water, but there is plenty of oil, and the mountainous area with picturesque landscapes is perfect for the tourism business. If you wish, you can purchase scarce goods in a neighboring city.

Business is business, and you shouldn’t forget about the needs of people. Transport network, electricity, work, drinking water, entertainment, shops, schools, hospitals, factories - all this is now your headache.

City Life

Genre: strategy, city planning simulator

Developer: Monte Cristo

City Life is, as they say, a classic of the genre. We are building a metropolis and solving pressing economic problems. If you are good at this, welcome to new and more complex maps.

Building one map can take several tens of hours, because at your disposal is not just a piece of land, but a huge area of ​​rough terrain, including fields, forests, rivers, seas and even islands.

As the city develops, social conflicts will often arise. The population is heterogeneous and consists of different social groups with their own contradictions, which of course you will resolve. How to reconcile ordinary workers and the elite? As a real urban planner, you will have to deal with such issues.

Tropico 5

Genre: strategy

Developer: Haemimont Games

In Tropico 5, you lead a small colony that belongs to the Empire. Since you are in a dependent position, you need not only to monitor the state of affairs of the people, but also to please the leaders in every possible way for the time being.

The player's powers are limited by time, which can be extended by completing instructions from royal family, leading the Empire. This could be the export of raw materials, goods, exploration of new territories, search for minerals.

Of course, you can ignore such instructions and ignore them. But at the initial stage of the game it is better not to do this, since you won’t have to wait long for punishment. One landing of an expeditionary force will quickly cool your ardor and force you to submit. But when you gain strength and enlist the support of the population, you can declare independence.

SimCity

Genre: strategy, simulator

Developer: Maxis

This is perhaps the most famous series of urban planning simulators. The player becomes the mayor, whose task is to develop a plot of 2x2 kilometers, establish production, provide everyone with housing, decent education and healthcare, goods and entertainment.

Of course, you need to start with the roads. A good transport system will help avoid traffic jams and provide fast travel goods. You also need to mark out the blocks and determine where the industrial areas, and where are the residential ones?

Many already constructed buildings can be improved. For example, what to do if a small hospital can no longer cope with the influx of patients due to population growth. The improvement will allow it to be expanded to a regional clinic.

The game also has multiplayer, which adds variety to the gameplay and encourages players to interact mutually.

Settlers 7

Genre: strategy

Developer: Firefly Studios

Stronghold is a real-time strategy game where you will build and capture castles. The game is quite complex and you, as a leader, will have to pay attention to the extraction of resources, the mood of the people, the defense of the castle, and food.

The most important factor is the popularity of the leader. As it grows, so does the number of employees. If popularity is low, workers will begin to flee, production will begin to decline. Popularity can be increased by increasing the diet, reducing taxes, and building temples.

However, all this can also have the opposite effect - you may simply not have enough money for defense and your entire happy population will be slaughtered during an attack on the castle. So here you need to look for some kind of balance and proceed from the current situation: if you see a rapidly growing opponent’s army, the people will have to be patient.

Caesar 4

Genre: strategy

Developer: Titled Mill Entertainment

The player will become a Roman governor. He receives at his disposal a plot of land and a certain amount of money that will need to be invested wisely.

Proper city planning is a very important factor in building an effective economic system. It is necessary to correctly mark out industrial and residential areas, organize the production of goods, lay roads, and at the same time monitor the mood of the people.

If ordinary people lack something, expect riots and population outflow. The decline in production and economic collapse will not take long.

Not only do you need to pay attention to internal problems, but there are also external ones. The city may be subject to raids by barbarians, so the army must always be ready.

To the delight of all strategy lovers, we are publishing another TOP, this time dedicated to such a rather narrow topic as urban planning simulators or city building strategies!

10. Banished

Tenth place was taken by a relatively recently released construction simulator. In a sense, the game can be called the smallest city planning simulator in our TOP. After all, we are not dealing with a city, but rather with a village.

You control a group of exiled settlers who are starting to... new life in the picturesque taiga wilderness. There are 18 different crafts in the game, from farming and hunting to... blacksmithing, teaching and healing.

There is no universal strategy in the game; the number and ratio of resources on the maps is generated randomly. Surviving cold winters is one of the main and most difficult tasks for a player. To keep the settlers warm, your tailors will have to sew a lot of clothes, and your builders will have to build houses and prepare firewood.

You also have to constantly keep in mind many small details and nuances that determine whether your settlement will survive or die.

Although the game ranks last, it is an excellent example of a fairly complex simulator, especially considering the fact that it was made by one person - programmer Luke Hodorowicz. Although the gameplay Banishd Over time it begins to become boring, you will definitely experience the pleasure of another winter you have experienced.

9. Emperior – Rise of the Middle-Kingdom

One of the representatives of the so-called city building series, which began back in 1993. Since then, ten games have been released, including expansions.

"Emperor: Dawn of Heaven"- is the only representative of the series covering the territory ancient China, which is already interesting.

However, the rest of the difference between "Emperor" and the rest of the strategies in the series are not so great - we make sure that the residents are well-fed and employed, and the gods are satisfied with alms.

You will also have to deal with the production of resources and trade, as well as manage the defense in the event of an attack by invaders.

8. City Life

A game that is quite often compared to the well-known Sim City 4, and not just compare, but even call him the offensive word “clone”. However, this is not entirely true.

Development French company Monte Cristo, although it repeats the concept of other games in the city-planning simulator genre, is an absolutely independent project.

In addition to the presence of a branched social system socio-cultural groups and relationships between them, City Life can offer players a standard set of production infrastructure tasks. As always, we will have to satisfy the whims and needs of citizens while trying not to empty the city's treasury ahead of time.

In general, this is another entertainment for more than one evening for lovers of construction and management.

7. CivCity – Rome

Imagine what could happen if the authors of the cult Civilization and no less cult Stronghold will team up to create a crossover between Stronghold And Civilization.

So, from Stronghold the game got the surroundings, the scale of the maps and the choice of military or peaceful missions. Inheritance from Civilization CivCity wonders of the world and a whole palette of features, including 75 unique units, 115 buildings and 70 technologies available for research.

And although the game did not receive solid ratings, many still liked the idea of ​​such a mix.

6. Caesar

Another series of games in the style of city building. Third Caesar is an excellent example of how a game series, having squeezed the most out of a concept, is content with only cosmetic changes. At the same time, it cannot be said that the game turned out to be mediocre - on the contrary, despite many shortcomings, the feeling of managing an ancient Roman city is incredible.

One of the disadvantages of the game is the small size of the map - with certain moment There is simply nowhere to build, all that remains is to observe the stagnation of the city and improve the attractiveness of already attractive areas. The second disadvantage is the military component, although on some maps it is the threat of invasion that forces you to completely reconsider the course of development of the settlement. Finally, trade was not always adequate.

The rest of the game is simply awesome. Here you have both religion with blessings and curses of powerful gods, many resources, goods and buildings. After all, where else will we be entrusted with the management of the Roman colonies, entrusted with the mission of making a city worthy of Caesar out of a deserted plain?

The fourth part of the game came out more impressive in terms of graphics, but the features remained the same.

5. Tropica

According to the plot, the player takes control of a small island state somewhere in Latin America. Everything happens during the height of the Cold War.

The game has economic, political and urban planning components, as well as interesting companies and multiplayer.

The addition of innovations such as random events that influence the course of events and additional industry sectors gave the series the opportunity to breathe new life into the series.

Your construction begins with an empty plain and almost zero plot. At first there will only be enough money for the most necessary things for the country, and even the people will have to live in makeshift shacks for some time.

You can earn money by selling valuable natural resources left and right and receiving handouts from the USSR or the USA, depending on which country you politically support. Over time, tourism and infrastructure will be possible.

Recently released Tropico 5, offering many innovations and a modern graphics engine.

4. Cim City

A representative of perhaps the most famous series in the urban simulator genre, which determined its high place in this TOP. It was Sim City, released by Maxis in 1989, that shaped the classic look of city-planning simulators and a number of mechanics that later became standard.

The fourth part brought true success to the game. The game turned out to be a rather complex and detailed strategy with very sketchy but nice graphics.

You have three modes to choose from, including god mode, which allows you to transform a selected area of ​​the region where a city will later be built. This mode also allows players to create natural disasters, such as a volcanic eruption and several others. Even in the first games in the series, players were amused by the opportunity to send a gadzilla or an earthquake to an unwanted city and watch how everything collapses and dies.

In the mayor's mode, planning, construction and management of the city are carried out. The construction of roads, streets, subway lines, bus stops, railway stations. You will also have to deal with the exchange of resources with neighboring cities, garbage removal, medicine, and so on.

However, the fifth part of the game came out damp and in many ways did not live up to the expectations of fans.

3. ANNO

The first game in the series called Anno 1602 was published back in 1998 / The series also includes Anno 1503, Anno 1701, Anno 1004, Anno 2070.

The first game in the series takes place in modern times. The construction of colonies and resource management on an archipelago of small islands of the new world is under your control.

There is the opportunity to conduct research, trade, diplomacy, but the game is largely focused on the economic component, and you won’t have to fight much there. But you will have to constantly increase your income and expand to neighboring islands. What did you expect? Enemies are not asleep, and the faster your colony reaches a certain population level, the more opportunities and unique tasks will open up for you.

These and other features made the game memorable and unlike other representatives of the genre, which allowed Anno acquire an army of loyal fans and pave the way for playing the now popular online game.

The latest part of the game, which moved online and became completely free, uses the concept of the classic first part. But thanks to the Internet, the possibilities of the game have increased - now players can play trade wars among themselves, compete in the level of development of their colonies and much more.

The game is now completely free and you can play it directly in your browser. More about the game Anno Online read my review.

2. Settlers

In the second part of the most popular series of city-planning simulators, the authors polished the gameplay and greatly improved the graphics compared to the debut project, which was released many years earlier.

The game created a sensation thanks to several innovative gameplay elements. Units don't need to be told what to do. Instead, the player's task is to provide required quantity buildings and resources.

Needless to say, the economic model in Settlers is many times more detailed and deeper than that of other representatives of the genre, providing multi-level production chains made with German pedantry. The Settlers game even marked the beginning of the so-called economic strategy German school. It also includes "Anno" And "Patrician".

All this, as well as multiplayer battles, make this meditation strategy worthy of your attention and will guarantee her a place in the hall of heroes of fame.

Read more about the game Settlers Online in my review.

1.Stronghold

In addition to the obvious military component, an important part in the games of the series Stronghold is the economy and the balance of many factors. So popularity is very important in the game. The higher the settlers' trust in you, the faster the number of peasants increases. When popularity drops below half, your residents begin to run away, and there is no one to work in the fields. Popularity can be increased by reducing taxes, expanding the diet, and building temples and taverns.

Almost all of these actions have at the same time a negative effect - emptying the treasury, barns, and even drunkenness, which reduces labor productivity. Of course, you can always build a gallows and other visual structures to motivate the population to work better and faster. But then the popularity will fall, so a dilemma arises that can be solved in various ways.

But still, the game is not about that, but about the garden and defense. Troops can take up positions on towers and move along walls, firing at the enemy below.

The player can also organize a fire or epidemic in the enemy’s country. Thus, we have at our disposal the widest arsenal of tactical and strategic possibilities. How to achieve victory is up to you!

Not long ago, following modern trends, Stronghold has moved online, becoming free-to-play. Read more about this game in my review.