Steam Next Fest gives us our best chance ever to check out all the city builders headed our way.
The city builder genre has never been healthier, and not only are there more new city builders coming out than ever before, but there’s an amazing diversity on display: urban builders, survival builders, strategy builders, roguelikes, puzzle games, and even cozy, no-stress city builders.
Best of all you can play so many of these upcoming city builders this week during Steam Next Fest. In fact, there are so many free city builder demos that you can actually play three new ones every single day for the next week and not run out. Amazing! To help all of you aspiring mayors out, I’ve collected a heaping truckload of city builder demos below you can play this week.
Airborne Empire
I’ve already put a few hours into Airbone Empire, so you’ve got some catching up to do. The sequel to Airborne Kingdom features a bigger world to explore, lots of aerial combat, and so many quests the lead designer jokingly worried the game was almost too big.
Beyond These Stars
Why not build a city in space? Beyond These Stars takes place on the back of a giant space whale slowly swimming through the void. Build supply chains, encounter alien societies, and travel the galaxy while carefully balancing the ecosystem of the gentle giant you’re living on.
Citadelum
Strategy city builder Citadelum takes you back to Ancient Rome to grow your settlement from a tiny camp to a city so resplendent it would please the gods. That’s no exaggeration: towering gods will visit your city to walk the streets and help, or perhaps hinder, your efforts.
Kaiserpunk
Kaiserpunk blends city building with grand strategy in an alt-history setting where World War 1 and 2 are basically just one big, unending conflict. Grow and manage your city’s production chains and the supply lines that keep your armies stocked during the greater global conflict.
Ark of Charon
Another city builder where you’re expanding atop a living creature, the settlement you construct in Ark of Charon serves as a mobile fortress. The walking tree you build on is the sapling of a sacred World Tree which is traveling through a perilous realm. Gather, build, and keep the sapling safe from relentless attacks.
Goblin Camp
You’ve heard of Dwarf Fortress, but now it’s time for the goblins to do some building. Construct and manage a thriving settlement, survive harsh winters, and protect your tribe from disasters both natural and supernatural in Goblin Camp.
Super Fantasy Kingdom
I love how city building can crossover into so many different genres, and that includes roguelikes. Build your city while engaging in some frenetic Vampire Survivors-like action as you battle mobs of monsters swarming your castle in Super Fantasy Kingdom.
More city builder demos
Those seven city builders are just the start, though. There are even more city builder demos to try this week during Steam Next Fest. Lots more!
Gourdlets
The adorable and stress-free sandbox builder is back with a new demo. Create a little island town and watch your blobby little citizens move in and enjoy it.
Hollywood Animal
An unusual entry, for sure: you’re managing a show business empire but also building Hollywood itself and guiding it through “decades of creative achievements” as well as “tough choices and unpleasant compromises.”
Technotopia
A city builder card game where you’re an AI trying to build and balance the perfect futuristic society. “Build districts, meet the needs of diverse communities and maintain the delicate balance between factions vying for control over you!”
Republic of Pirates
Pirates can’t spend all their time at sea, right? Establish and grow a pirate settlement with a resource-based economy, while engaging in real-time naval combat with your rivals and exploring the Caribbean.
Pax Augusta
A strategy city builder set in Ancient Rome. “Build flourishing cities and look after your citizens. Earn gold with production and trade of goods and build impressive monuments.”
Humanica
A survival city builder set in ancient times, where you manage and grow a small Stone Age tribe while battling against other settlements. “Experience the journey from sticks and stones to iron tools and windmills!”
Lunar City Builder
Build and manage a city on the moon while meeting the needs of your moon-citizens. Plus, you can walk around inside the city yourself, visit shops, and talk to every single person living there.
Even more city builder demos!
(Image credit: Irox Games)
If that’s not enough, don’t worry, there are somehow still even more city builder demos for you to check out this week:
⛏️ EcoGnomix: Manage a city in the surface world while delving deep for underground resources in this roguelike builder.
💀 Endzone 2: Lead humanity to a new start in the bleak badlands of the post-apocalypse in this challenging survival colony sim.
🎂 Chocolate Factory: Build your own sprawling sweet manufacturing business, like Willy Wonka meets Satisfactory.
🙏 Fata Deum: There’s some strong Black & White vibes as you oversee a settlement and compete with other gods for influence.
🧩 Townframe: In an interesting twist on the genre, you recreate cities from people’s memories in this chill puzzle game.
🚗 Go-Go Town: You’re the mayor of this adorable but rundown little city, charged with giving it new life and a healthy tourist trade.
🧝♀️ Elven City Simulator: Build and manage a colony of elves living in a mystical forest while protecting them against the encroaching darkness.
About Post Author
