3. Caesar, Pharaoh, Zeus, Emperor. Gamepressure's top 10 city builders

Spot number three goes to another classic, constituted by four games created by sadly defunct Impressions Games: Cezar, Faraon, Zeus: Pan Olimpu oraz Cesarz: Narodziny Panstwa Srodka (the last of which was also co-developed by BreakAway Games).

All of the mentioned games take us back to ancient times, though each focuses on a slightly different eras and civilizations. In Caesar rule a province in the Roman Empire, in Pharaoh we develop a settlement in the Nile Valley, in Zeus, we build a Greek town, and in Emperor, we establish the Middle Kingdom (aka China).

Some of these games (e.g. Caesar) have spurred their own series that have been popular with players for years, while others have been forgotten over time. What all these games have in common, however, is the multidimensional and complex gameplay mechanics, thanks to which their debuts can easily be considered landmarks in the history of the genre. Here we take care of planning, building infrastructure and catering to various needs of the population.

It's worth noting that a remake of Pharaoh, A New Era, is set for release in 2021. So it will be a great opportunity to remember "how they used to build in the old days."

2. Cities: Skylines

Coming in at number two is one of the newest games in this list, which – considering the dominance of the classics – is an achievement. Moreover, this is definitely not a matter of chance. Cities: Skylines was released in 2015, when players still remembered both the problems and shortcomings of the latest installment of the SimCity series and the colossal tragedy that Cities XXL was.

The production of Colossal Order won the hearts and minds of lots of players, showing there's still plenty of room for great city builders on the market, and that these games can successfully combine relative approachability with quite a formidable level of complexity. The game offers a lot of content (over a dozen huge maps), comes with an editor that lets you create even more of them, and doesn't require constant connection to the Internet. Quite spectacular – for mid-2010s – graphics are also a considerable advantage.

Cities: Skylines is simply great to play. It is a real devourer of free time, and destroyer of left elbow, which sucks you in like a black hole and makes it impossible to stop playing. I mean, you know the drill. "Oh, I'm just 800 people short of next level city." "Ok, just let me rebuild this junction and I'm off to sleep." "Oh, look, I have enough money for another district." "Ok, let me just give them a new bus line." "Oh, it's 4am?"

And one more great piece of information – Cities: Skylines is available in the PC version of Xbox Game Pass service. Just download and play away.

1. Cities: Skylines Review - Farewell SimCity

1. Anno 1800

Well, we have finally reached the number one spot for another long-running series. It's the critically acclaimed Anno series, currently in the hands of the French company Ubisoft. Over the years, it has offered both games set in historical realities (e.g. the most recent installment, Anno 1800), as well as titles more or less successfully depicting the future (eg. Anno 2070 or even Anno 2205).

Somewhat similar to Cities: Skylines, the games in the Anno series combine relative accessibility with extensive and highly satisfying mechanics. Among their unquestionable advantages are also the historical realities, which, in most installments, are rendered in a compelling way, and a cool atmosphere, mostly well-suited to the convention of futurism.

Anno 1800 is particularly notable here, as it's set in the fascinating, history-defining times of the Industrial Revolution. It's a fairly new game (released in April 2019), very enjoyable graphically and actively supported by the developers. Since the release, there have already been several smaller and larger expansions, and the developers do not intend to rest on the proverbial laurels and have already announced three more.

Anno games are among the few long-running city-builder series, and they never go below a certain level of quality.

1. More about the Anno series