City-building games are often centered around creativity and strategy, but what if you want more than sandbox play? Luckily, there are plenty ofstrategy gamesthat have a solid narrative, as well. Whether it’s surviving a frozen apocalypse or rebuilding society after collapse, narrative-driven city-builders add emotional weight and clear goals to your gameplay.
These stories often have branching choices and rich world-building, making them a bit more than just ‘building yet another city.’ Here are some city-building games with strong narrative aspects that will keep you playing.
Frostpunkcombines city-building with survival and moral decision-making in a frozen, post-apocalyptic world. You must manage dwindling resources and make tough decisions to help keep your society alive. There are several story-driven scenarios in the game, and each has its own unique objectives.
Whether you’re choosing to enforce brutal laws or embrace hope, the consequences of your actions shape the city and its people. The main campaign focuses on building the last city on Earth, which adds some emotional depth to every decision. You’re doing more than just deciding what to build.
In Banished, you’re in charge of a group of exiles seeking a second chance at life. The game has no scripted story, but it tells a powerful tale through its systems. Your settlers will struggle to survive against the elements and diseases, with plenty of successes and tragedies thrown in. It’s a quiet, slower city-building experience where your decisions directly impact the people you’re trying to care for.
With no money system, your only currencies are labor and resources, making long-term planning essential. While not story-driven in the traditional sense, Banished excels at emergent storytelling and emotional engagement.
6Pharaoh: A New Era
A full remake of a true classic, Pharaoh: A New Era guides you through Ancient Egyptian history via a rich campaign. There are over 50 missions, where you’ll build iconic cities across several eras of Egyptian history, constructing pyramids and facing plagues.
The campaign structure is very clear and features a strong narrative. It helps you learn game mechanics and progresses you through Egypt’s history. It isn’t just a city-building game, but an educational journey through Egypt’s development, too.
Anno 1800 is set during the Industrial Revolution and combines city-building with trade mechanics, all wrapped up in anarrative campaign. You’ll step into the shoes of a disgraced aristocrat rebuilding their family legacy while navigating political intrigue and industrial growth. The story mode introduces characters with their own ambitions and alliances, which will evolve as you expand.
The campaign also translates well into sandbox play, where you’ll continue building after your story is over. You’ll spend your time balancing complicated logistics and enjoying the beautiful visuals. Trade plays heavily in the game, making it a bit different from other city-builders on this list. It’s exceptionally heavy in logistics, though it’s still a city-builder at heart.
Tropico 6 casts you as El Presidente, the (sometimes corrupt) ruler of a Caribbean island. The campaign is packed with tongue-in-cheek political satire and missions that reflect real-world issues (often through a humorous lens). You’ll rig elections and export pineapples, while all of your decisions impact the island’s development.
Each mission features different islands and objectives, creating a somewhat loose storyline. This game is an exotic mix of city-building and economics with a good dash of humor thrown in.
Set on an alien world, Aven Colony tasks you with building a thriving city while uncovering the planet’s secrets. The game’s campaign mode introduces various biomes, environmental challenges, and alien phenomena, all tied together with a storyline about human colonization.
You’ll have to manage oxygen levels and defend against alien spores that constantly threaten your colony, while balancing resources at the same time. The characters are voiced, and there are structured missions, making the story a big part of the game overall. It’s great for fans of science fiction who want a strategic city-building experience.
In Surviving Mars, you lead a mission to colonize the Red Planet. Beyond city-building andsurvival mechanics, the game features “Mysteries,” which are story-based arcs that gradually expand as you progress. The narratives range from alien artifacts to rogue AIs and offer meaningful choices that directly impact your game.
The game blends procedural gameplay with authored events, creating a hybrid of emergent and structured storytelling. Managing life support, scientific research, and psychological health are just as important as infrastructure. This game manages to make every colony feel unique, providing plenty of replayability.
This roguelike city-builder puts resource management with a dark fantasy storyline. You’re a royal viceroy trying to rebuild civilization in a world plagued by eternal storms. Each settlement is temporary, lasting only until the storm returns, but progress persists through a central meta-campaign.
Along the way, you’ll uncover lore that will progress the story along and provide some insight into your environment. Narrative snippets help propel the narrative onwards, too. There are plenty of choices and challenges you’ll have to face, though this game is procedurally generated enough to make it replayable.
