1
Squirrel's Pick Squirrel's PickThe best game on this page. If you only try one, try this.
City BuilderEconomyResource Management
Strong Mods Strong ModsA deep, active modding scene extends it past its base content.
$29.99 ~69.3 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 92.9% of 290k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth are city builders where you zone, manage services, and shape growth over time. Cities: Skylines puts the focus squarely on infrastructure, traffic, and physical layout rather than Citystate II's macroeconomic sliders and political systems. It's more stable and better supported, suited to players who want the building and transit-planning half without the policy simulation.
Not for you if you came to Citystate II for immigration policy, inflation, and public debt mechanics rather than road layouts and zoning.
2
City BuilderAdventureRetro
Strong Mods Strong ModsA deep, active modding scene extends it past its base content.
$9.99 ~28.6 hr median no co-op complexity: light 94.5% of 5k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth are city builders where you zone, manage services, and watch systems respond, but Citystate II drills into macroeconomic sliders and political simulation while TheoTown stays a straightforward, pixel-art city sim with community plugins and optional online regions. TheoTown suits players who want the genre's basics done cleanly rather than a policy thesis to wrestle with.
Not for you if you came to Citystate II for its deep economic and political systems, since TheoTown's city management is comparatively shallow and beginner-focused.
3
Hidden Gem Hidden GemLoved by the players who found it, but still under the radar. Budget Pick Budget PickThe best game here for the least money.
City BuilderResource ManagementEconomy
$2.84 ~23 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 89.7% of 2k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth use city-building visuals to deliver something else entirely: Citystate II runs macroeconomic policy under the hood, Urbek runs a placement puzzle with strict adjacency rules and a tech-tree-gated tutorial. Neither lets you freeform zone like a traditional sim. Urbek suits players who want tight, solvable systems over Citystate II's sliders on debt, inflation, and immigration.
Not for you if you want open-ended city design rather than solving fixed building-placement patterns and prerequisite chains.
4
Closest Match Closest MatchThe most similar game to the anchor, by what players say.
City BuilderColony SimImmersive Sim
$29.99 ~22.1 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 77.5% of 1k
The Squirrel's verdictHighrise City shifts the city-builder focus from national debt and immigration rates to production chains, supply and demand, and industrial logistics across mining and manufacturing. Reviews compare it to Anno in a modern city setting — closer to resource-management simulation than political policy. It carries city-builder visuals while making supply-chain optimization the core loop rather than macroeconomic levers. Median playtime is 22 hours; Steam rating is Mostly Positive.
Not for you if you want political and economic policy as the core loop, or frequent crashes make a game unplayable for you.
5
City BuilderExplorationColony Sim
$25.6 ~11 hr median no co-op complexity: light 76.4% of 2k
The Squirrel's verdictMemoriapolis tracks four satisfaction metrics and faction balance across fixed cycles on a single map, making it a structured puzzle rather than an open policy simulation. Where Citystate II gives you adjustable levers over debt, inflation, and immigration, Memoriapolis sets predefined checkpoints you optimize toward. Reviews note that only two metrics meaningfully matter in practice. Released 2025, median playtime 11 hours, Steam rating Mostly Positive.
Not for you if you want emergent strategy or map variety, since the game uses one developer-designed map and fixed cycle checkpoints.
6
City BuilderEconomyResource Management
$1.49 ~12.3 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 58.5% of 2k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth put economic systems ahead of tile-painting: Cities XL runs on supply-and-demand across utilities and inter-city trade rather than Citystate II's macroeconomic sliders, but the city-builder trappings (zoning, large maps, visual growth) are more traditional here. Good fit if you want economic consequence without Citystate II's political-thesis framing. Steam rating sits at Mixed, median playtime 12 hours.
Not for you if you need a game that stays playable as your city scales up, since reviews report severe lag and framerate collapse in larger cities.
7
City BuilderDesign & IllustrationLife Sim
$9.99 ~25.9 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 57.7% of 477
The Squirrel's verdictNewCity shares Citystate II's move away from granular infrastructure management, skipping trash and water micromanagement to focus on city growth through budget and specific systemic lenses instead of pipe-by-pipe simulation. Where Citystate II centers macroeconomics and politics, NewCity centers scale: huge maps with no agent limit, watching a hamlet grow into a metropolis. For players who want the zoomed-out systems focus without the political framing.
Not for you if you need stability — reviews report frequent crashes, lost progress, and lag, and Steam rating sits at Mixed.
8
City BuilderPoliticsPolitical Sim
$29.99 ~12.2 hr median no co-op complexity: moderate 34.1% of 2k
The Squirrel's verdictBoth replace zoning-and-infrastructure city building with council politics: passing edicts, managing a legislature, and steering policy rather than placing roads. Urban Empire trades Citystate II's macroeconomic sliders for direct council votes across historical eras, but reviews describe shallow depth once systems are learned, with one dominant winning strategy. Fits players who want the political-simulator angle over traditional city-builder mechanics.
Not for you if you want the economic depth of adjustable sliders rather than council votes, or need a game with more than one viable strategy.