Before We Leave

Before We Leave

I have personally been enjoying this game very much! I appreciate that I don’t need to worry about war or combat, nor must I consider the monetary value of my peoples (ie. slavery). It still can be challenging, and I was pleasantly surprised by the little challenges it throws your way (ex: the gremlins!). The aesthetic is very pleasing, and it isn’t very demanding graphically. I would definitely recommend this! I’ve written out some of my experiences and some tips! ♥

  • The Tutorial -

Doing the tutorial is a good idea and I do recommend it, but the tutorial will take you through pretty much the whole game, or at least deep into the mid-game – this could literally be hours and hours lol. But I would suggest stopping after you have started to explore your second planet., then proceed to your own games.

Real player with 59.2 hrs in game


Read More: Best City Builder Economy Games.


At the time writing this I have little over 10 hours in the game! You tell me what I end up getting to :)

Check out this Let’s Play for More Visual and Audio Experince!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOdcC0ErbSc&list=PLjMDVXkLIQ3772ETUImsVXS_1AwZFdcKw

Before we leave is one the best games I have played in a long time for getting right into the game and understanding what to do. It’s not because it’s easy or simple. It’s because of the amazing job they did with the tutorial system and explaining the basics of the game.

Real player with 31.8 hrs in game

Before We Leave on Steam

Corral

Corral

so you bought some chickens

getting roosters is tricky, but dev has introduced a button fo buy roosters

nav can be clunky but you get used to it.

sometimes the birds hide in your constructed objects.

but it is fun to watch your brood grow as you try to get the best chickens possible.

Some days the ladies are coguettish and the bachelors are limpid and the procreation takes a pause.

Some days the roosters are crowing and going and that’s when the feathers fly.

checkitout.

Real player with 49.9 hrs in game


Read More: Best City Builder Relaxing Games.


EDIT: I would now no longer recommend this game, I haven’t played it in a long time as it has sadly been abandoned by the developer, leaving promised improvements incomplete. It is a shame as I believe this game had real potential had the improvements been implemented and more content added.

I’m really enjoying this game so far, even though it is obviously still in the early stages of development. After several restarts I think I have finally mastered the basics and have figured out how to make my ranch reasonably profitable. I’m slowly but surely getting better equipment and working my way up to more exotic and profitable breeds. There are a few downsides, the controls seem a bit clunky as it can be hard to click exactly where you want to. It could also do with a more in depth tutorial but I’m sure this will all come in time as the dev seems very responsive to ideas on the forum. All in all a good game which I am having a lot of fun playing.

Real player with 33.1 hrs in game

Corral on Steam

Farm Day 2021

Farm Day 2021

This game is not demanding on resources and does not take up much space on your PC. I liked it as I have an old computer. There are a lot of different gameplay elements and interaction functionality. Recommend!

Real player with 11.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best City Builder Building Games.


Great farm and city builder project. Create your own business and start earning money and reputation. This game designed in the cartoon style.

My advice to dev team - please, add steam achievements, your game really needs this feature. Thanks!

Real player with 3.4 hrs in game

Farm Day 2021 on Steam

Model City

Model City

This is a fun “casual” game as described. This is not true city builder game. So when purchasing this game expect it to be very casual. For what you get out of this it pretty good. It runs very smoothly and I like watching the building upgrade. It is worth a try if you like city building games. My only complaint is the price of the game. I find it a tad too high for what you get out of it.

Review at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWILmr5h5do

Real player with 0.5 hrs in game

Once again, steam needs a neutral option for rating games. Is it horrible? No, but I’ve seen more compelling mobile games. I barely feel like I will get my $ worth even though I got it on sale, so it gets a negative rating.

-This is less of a city builder and more like a basic resource-balancing puzzle in the way it functions.

-There is no explanation of what to do or why. You just have to click around until you figure it out, which wasn’t very engaging. It runs smoothly, so if you’re looking for super simple, it might appeal.

Real player with 0.1 hrs in game

Model City on Steam

Fishermen’s Haven

Fishermen’s Haven

Life on a remote island is not as easy as it seems. In Fishermen’s Haven, you have to take care of your people - make sure they have enough to eat, grow and harvest crops, fish using various techniques, or forage for food in the jungle. Remember that the tropical climate is unpredictable - be ready to face nature and tame the elements.

Manage resources, as you will need them to expand your village. Building new houses, tools or boats requires many materials that are scarce on the secluded isle. Be smart and take advantage of trade with foreign merchants who visit your village and sell products that can be crucial for the survival of your people.

Fishermen's Haven on Steam

BalanCity

BalanCity

https://youtu.be/2eXs4xFmztg

Rise to the top or crash and burn, will your city survive your incompetence? How high can you build? Watch your hard work crash down fast. I love this game! It’s simple, clever, creative and lots of fun! You have to build a beautiful city as high as you can while balancing your creation on a platform, which is more difficult than you think. The building items have various shapes and sizes so you need a good stacking strategy.

The game has 10 missions in tutorial style that guides you to build the best city in the 2D world. There are 12 scenario’s where you have to “rebuild” existing cities like New York and Paris, that once completed, will make you “lol” at your work of comical art when you stack certain landmarks in the most crazy ways. I managed to place the statue of liberty on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, while half an island sunk, hilarious :D.

Real player with 19.6 hrs in game

I like all sorts of building games, so I was looking forward to getting my hands on this one. Unfortunately, I am rather disappointed.

First of all, there is no grid. It makes the game harder, but not in a challenging way, but in a frustrating way. Building blocks are sometimes transformed into different sort of structure when grouped in four (or more), but if a block is a milimetre off, the grouping does not happen.

Secondly, there is no information on weights of buildings and structures, so it takes as little as a power plant set on the wrong side of the platform to throw everything off balance and ruin the level irreversibly, and there is no undo (demolishing the structure does nothing).

Real player with 6.9 hrs in game

BalanCity on Steam

Bloons Monkey City

Bloons Monkey City

Summary: Sim City crossed with tower defense

Multiplayer: Not… exactly?

Completion: 180+ hrs

Cards: No

Cloud: Saves are stored on NinjaKiwi servers

Bloons Monkey City is a hybrid tower defense game and city builder. Bloons have infested the land and the king has ordered you to cleanse them out and reclaim the land.

You start with a randomly generated world and small plot of land under your control with some structures already built. In order to expand, you must conquer territory outside your walls, which will be a tower defense battle. Your army initially only consists of a handful of humble dart monkeys, but as you construct more buildings, you will quickly gain access to a wide variety of monkeys. All the towers in BMC are identical to the ones in Bloons TD5, so if you played that game, you’ll know what to expect here and how to use them. The main difference is that you are limited to how many monkeys you can use based on your structures, and some monkeys can only be unlocked by beating special tiles.

Real player with 252.5 hrs in game

Developer/Publisher: Ninja Kiwi

FREE TO PLAY

There are micro-transactions, but if you are strong of will you can still progress without spending real money. It’s hard to fight the temptation, believe me. There are also 10 DLC packs available ranging in price from $0.99 to 4.99 each. I’ve bought them all.

POSITIVES

Combines the Bloons TD (Tower Defense) games with world building and, in a way, card collecting games. I hope that I’m not being too misleading with that last point. I’ll explain.

THE GAME

Real player with 209.6 hrs in game

Bloons Monkey City on Steam

Tinytopia

Tinytopia

A nice little builder game, not overly complicated so that you have too much resource juggling at once.

‘Cute’ graphics and catchy background music.

The BALANCE levels are a nice distraction from the usual building rules.

HOWEVER . .

Controls can be a bit annoying:

  • Using SPACE+Mouse to move map !

  • Constantly having to select MOVE for every item rather than it being a ‘sticky’ option, when you need to reorganise the town.

  • A snap to grid would be nice so that you can line everything up cleanly (existing snap only works for building stacking/upgrades).

Real player with 22.5 hrs in game

The game play loop is satisfying. Each level has a certain list of criteria that needs to be fulfilled, but it never feels like a grind. The best part of the game, besides building your own personalized little cities, is the building combination mechanic. Each successful combination has a satisfying little sound effect, and the more you progress the more combinations you discover. Without a doubt, one of the most charming projects I’ve come across in a while. I expect to have all of the achievements within the next 5-7 hours of in game time. but I plan to build in the sandbox plenty more after that.

Real player with 22.0 hrs in game

Tinytopia on Steam

Dreamstones

Dreamstones

I recommend Dreamstones on sale to fans of brickbuster games or someone looking for a unique mostly chill game. It is a unique cartoonish brick busting RPG with city builder elements and a lighthearted text narrative driven story, which I completed in ~20 hours. Here is what you need to know:

+Game is mostly chill with its vibe & music when you are not focused on the last stage of a level trying to get the last few required blocks (nightmare cubes)

+As a brick buster, over time there are lots of active and passive abilities that modify stats or cause certain things to happen. It seems the different types of powerup capsules have an equivalent active ability can be earned or unlocked.

Real player with 26.9 hrs in game

6/10

Dreamstones is an interesting take on the genre of brick-breaking games, combining both the “usual Arkanoid gameplay” with RPG elements, that is well done in some ways but also sadly has a considerable number of issues, mainly regarding level design and game design.

The game is fun and manages quite well to combine RPG and brick-breaking elements where you deal with a lot of different bricks, monsters, equip weapons, use skills, level up and a lot more. So far, so good - the game does that much well. The soundtrack is also well done (albeit a bit repetitive) and the game’s graphics are very well done. Also, the game is pretty long (I got 25h total for 100% completion), with new block types and enemies showing up as the game progresses, with a boss battle at the end of each area.

Real player with 25.2 hrs in game

Dreamstones on Steam

LOGistICAL 3

LOGistICAL 3

I simply can’t recommend it because of its really bad UI/UX design, the enormous amounts of bugs and almost complete lack of documentation.

Real player with 101.3 hrs in game

I’ve been playing LOGistICAL on and off for almost two years now. This entry is another really fun one. The series has come a long way since the first entries, which are all still very enjoyable. I recommend you try them all.

Real player with 86.5 hrs in game

LOGistICAL 3 on Steam