Looking for fun, beautiful and relaxing settlement building game?

[Cikomyr2]

Heya

Currently off playing Fallout 4 survival and Total Warhammer 2, and I think I am in the mood for a more relaxing style of play at the moment.

Something without combat or threats, just a nice economy/society building game. I've looked at Foundation and it sure as heck looked interesting, but maybe there are alternative games not on my radar that the GiantMind could recommend instead?

Thanks!

- Cikomyr

edit: I was looking at the suggested Steam page and came on the following shortlist. If someone would recommend/unrecommend the following, I'd also appreciate!:

- Foundation
- The Universim
- Infraspace
- The Colonists

[factotum]

Cities: Skylines, maybe? The only enemy in that is traffic!

[PhantomFox]

Timberborn is a city builder as beavers

[TaRix]

War For the Overlord's apparently released its "My Pet Dungeon" submode, if internet ads are to be believed.

[thirsting]

Cities:Skylines for mundane modern cities and traffic simulation.

Surviving Mars for Andy Weir style almost-kinda-plausibly-realistic-if-you-squint science fiction colony building.

Neither has enemies, both are deep enough to be interesting (to me at least)

[Cikomyr2]

thanks everyone! I did liked Surviving Mars

[Lacco]

Let's dig into completely different stuff:

Townscaper is surprisingly relaxing, although it only scratches the "beautiful, relaxing" part (it's basically a coloring book but with town-building). There's not too much gameplay involved.

I like also Banished, it has its charm. The graphics are not as polished as the other games, but it's really relaxing and slow-paced.

Ostriv looks pleasant.

Dwarrows is very charming if you can get beyond the limitations. It's more about exploration and the world, but it's defnitely enjoyable.

[J-H]

Factorio is fun, and I find it relaxing. The beauty of it isn't in "pretty trees and lakes" as the pollution inevitably ruins those, but instead in "look at all these moving parts working well together."

[Cikomyr2]

Factorio is fun, and I find it relaxing. The beauty of it isn't in "pretty trees and lakes" as the pollution inevitably ruins those, but instead in "look at all these moving parts working well together."

Oh, I totally already played Factorio from end to end, thanks. And I may go back to Dyson Sphere Program eventually :smallbiggrin:

[J-H]

end to end

You know, you can go back and do it better. Every time always.

I've barely even touched circuit networks.

[Wookieetank]

I'll give a +1 to Banished as well. Its been my go to chill game for a few months now.

For a more puzzlely chill game, there's Mini Motorways. You're building a road network to make sure drivers can get to their destinations in a timely fashion. Super minimalistic graphics, but surprisingly complex game.

[LibraryOgre]

I've been enjoying Aven Colony. There ARE threats, but they're not active combat threats they're "There are plague spores coming, make sure you have enough hospitals" or "these things are gonna come and eat your buildings, so you need enough of this other kind of building to protect your building".

[Cikomyr2]

I've been enjoying Aven Colony. There ARE threats, but they're not active combat threats they're "There are plague spores coming, make sure you have enough hospitals" or "these things are gonna come and eat your buildings, so you need enough of this other kind of building to protect your building".

I think this may be a winner. I looked at it, and it does look pleasant and balanced. Thanks!!

[Cikomyr2]

I've been enjoying Aven Colony. There ARE threats, but they're not active combat threats they're "There are plague spores coming, make sure you have enough hospitals" or "these things are gonna come and eat your buildings, so you need enough of this other kind of building to protect your building".

Double posting to tell you again profuse thanks. The game is very relaxed and generous, yet I still have to put some degree of thought into what I am doing. It stroke the perfect balance between smart and relaxed.

The games are sufficiently short to never feel overattached to a specific settlement.

Setting up an agrarian colony in the mission with minimal mineral proved a fun challenge where I had to target right off the bat if I'd try Kelko Sludge as a substitution for mineral or just aggressively pursue the development of deep mining settlements while my miserable stockpiles dwindled away.

It feel tight, but I could breathe. Like the best pair of jeans.

[LibraryOgre]

Double posting to tell you again profuse thanks. The game is very relaxed and generous, yet I still have to put some degree of thought into what I am doing. It stroke the perfect balance between smart and relaxed.

The games are sufficiently short to never feel overattached to a specific settlement.

Setting up an agrarian colony in the mission with minimal mineral proved a fun challenge where I had to target right off the bat if I'd try Kelko Sludge as a substitution for mineral or just aggressively pursue the development of deep mining settlements while my miserable stockpiles dwindled away.

It feel tight, but I could breathe. Like the best pair of jeans.

Kelko sludge is the best.

[Cikomyr2]

Kelko sludge is the best.

Is so slow tho

I prefer to just grow healthy amount of food and trade those for minerals

[Quill]

King of Dragon Pass and the sequel Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind offer a very unique, immersive, and roleplay heavy take on settlement games.

Kingdoms and Castles is very chill with a cute style, and the difficulty level can be easily customized to hit that sweet spot of not too easy and not too hard.

Planetbase on easy difficulty is relaxing, with a lot of opportunities for expansion and tinkering around to find the perfect formula for a colony, and I find the spacescapes simple but pretty.

Buoyancy is still under development, but you can pre-purchase and it looks good, with at least monthly updates.

I thought several Frostpunk scenarios were fun and aesthetically immersive, with a nice amount of roleplay thrown in, but the tone is definitely more harrowing/gripping than relaxing.

[caden_varn]

Let's dig into completely different stuff:

I like also Banished, it has its charm. The graphics are not as polished as the other games, but it's really relaxing and slow-paced.



I'll second or thrid Banished. Patron may also be worth a look - I've only played a bit of the demo, but it seems to be pretty much a straight conversion with prettier graphics. The buildings I have seen all have the same names etc.
I suspect the game play gets a bit more different when you get further in, but I haven't got far enough to tell. May be worth a look at the demo at least.

Islanders may not be exactly what you are looking for, but is fun. You are trying to get enough points to unlock the next phase of each island, & you get positive/negative points depending on the relative locations of your buildings to each other & the scenery (houses like to be near town centres & away from industry for example). Each island is pretty short, and it is isn't real time so you have time to decide your placement

[Blackhawk748]

I'll be weird here and recommend the original Stronghold, which has a nice series of Economic missions that have no or very little combat in them. I've always found them to be relaxing and fun.

[endoperez]

I'll be weird here and recommend the original Stronghold, which has a nice series of Economic missions that have no or very little combat in them. I've always found them to be relaxing and fun.

For me, the original Stronghold is the D&D town simulator from 1993.
https://i.imgur.com/U6I5Rrq.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/T4EqfU4.jpg

You most likely meant the much newer medieval castle / economy simulator game that's only 1 or 2 decades old. :D

[Cikomyr2]

For me, the original Stronghold is the D&D town simulator from 1993.
https://i.imgur.com/U6I5Rrq.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/T4EqfU4.jpg

You most likely meant the much newer medieval castle / economy simulator game that's only 1 or 2 decades old. :D

For me, the original Medieval economy simulator will always be Knights and Merchants

https://images.gog-statics.com/fd28b1e3fcd5177d2de3befb7eda0baca0f28a6c8c45542ba1 87f4a7acfd5bca_product_card_v2_mobile_slider_639.j pg

[LibraryOgre]

For me, the original Stronghold is the D&D town simulator from 1993.

You most likely meant the much newer medieval castle / economy simulator game that's only 1 or 2 decades old. :D

I was playing that last night!

[snowblizz]

"Before We Leave" I found a really nice chill settlement builder/resource management game, can't beat the peeps.


Just general puzzlebuilding I also got hooked on "Dorfromantik" sort of a hex puzzle game matching hexpieces creating a landscape.

[Morgaln]

A few more suggestions:

Cliff Empire: a post-apocalyptic city builder where people come down from orbit to rebuild on huge artificial cliffs after climate made the surface uninhabitable. The main challenge is to get everything you need into comparatively tight space. If you like Aven Colony, you'll probably like that one too.

Imagine Earth: a colony builder where you have to colonize planets and build up those colonies. I've yet to finish the game (currently about halfway through), but I do like it.

Tropico 4: Build up your own caribbean country during the cold war era. Hilarious fun.

Endzone A World Apart: a post-apocalyptic builder where your survivors are starting to rebuild civilization. I've only tried it for a few hours, so this is a catious recommendation.

[GloatingSwine]

"Before We Leave" I found a really nice chill settlement builder/resource management game, can't beat the peeps.


Just general puzzlebuilding I also got hooked on "Dorfromantik" sort of a hex puzzle game matching hexpieces creating a landscape.

Yeah, I'll add another reccommendation for Before We Leave. It's a nice calm little agent based build-em-up with lots of fun layers.

If you like puzzlebuilders there's also Islanders, but that doesn't have the nice sense of permanence that a good city builder does, it's more puzzle focused.

[Cikomyr2]

I was watching a video of Banished from MATN and it looked solid but comments said the game is basically never going to get updates, and more comments said mods exploded the game with new features

Anyone here can provide a testimony of the quality of that game?

[veti]

Tropico 4: Build up your own caribbean country during the cold war era. Hilarious fun.

All the Tropico series are worth investigating, but I agree 4 is a solid nomination for the request. There are threats of sorts, but it's more a matter of managing rather than fighting them.

(Personally I still play Tropico 1 from time to time, but the whole vibe is perhaps a bit dated for a new player...)

[Morgaln]

I was watching a video of Banished from MATN and it looked solid but comments said the game is basically never going to get updates, and more comments said mods exploded the game with new features

Anyone here can provide a testimony of the quality of that game?

It's been a few years since I played Banished, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but what I remember is that the game became somewhat boring fairly quickly. All I did was build food production to be able to feed more villagers that would then be put to work to produce even more food. Almost every resource was essential for survival, but once you produced all of them in sufficient quantity, there wasn't much else to do. There wasn't anything to develop towards, no upgrades or unlocks and no ingame tasks to deal with.
The game has a somewhat steep learning curve, as it is fairly demanding in the beginning, but once you learn how to survive the early game, there's not much challenge to it. There are disasters, but the usual way to get around them is "stockpile enough resources and rebuild afterwards," as you can't do much else against things like tornadoes and droughts.

[Wookieetank]

Almost every resource was essential for survival, but once you produced all of them in sufficient quantity, there wasn't much else to do. There wasn't anything to develop towards, no upgrades or unlocks and no ingame tasks to deal with.


The achievements do provide a bit of direction, 100 years of a fully educated population, various population benchmarks, ridiculously long bridges, etc. But its does lean heavily into providing more of a sandbox to make your own goals. Works great as something chill to play while watching a show or movie though.

[Cikomyr2]

A few more suggestions:

Cliff Empire: a post-apocalyptic city builder where people come down from orbit to rebuild on huge artificial cliffs after climate made the surface uninhabitable. The main challenge is to get everything you need into comparatively tight space. If you like Aven Colony, you'll probably like that one too.

Imagine Earth: a colony builder where you have to colonize planets and build up those colonies. I've yet to finish the game (currently about halfway through), but I do like it.

Tropico 4: Build up your own caribbean country during the cold war era. Hilarious fun.

Endzone A World Apart: a post-apocalyptic builder where your survivors are starting to rebuild civilization. I've only tried it for a few hours, so this is a catious recommendation.

Can I ask why Tropico 4 and not 5/6?

[Morgaln]

Can I ask why Tropico 4 and not 5/6?

I haven't played 6 yet, so I can't comment on that. From what I hear, it's similar enough to 5 that you'll probably like either both or neither.

I'd recommend both 4 and 5, but it's usually harder to move backwards in a series than forward, so I'd start with 4 (or right at the beginning with 1 if you want to go the full way)

Personally I enjoyed the characters in 4 more and I didn't like starting as a colony in 5, but that's personal opinion and doesn't affect the gameplay.

You certainly can't do wrong with any of them, so if you prefer to get the one you can find the best deal on, that's also a valid way to choose.

[Cikomyr2]

How about Anno 1800s?

Seems it has the same thematic feel of the early Tropico stages?

[Morgaln]

The last Anno game I played was Anno 1404 so I can't tell you how good 1800 is. It is one of the top tier city builde series out there, so I expect it's pretty good. Judging from the older games, I expect Anno 1800 to be deeper than Tropico. I also assume combat is an intrinsic part of the game that you will have to engage with if you play the campaign.
Part of the appeal of Tropico is the humor of the game, which can be hit or miss depending on how much you enjoy caricatures of personalities from the cold war era. Anno will be completely serious.

[Zekestone]

For me, the original Stronghold is the D&D town simulator from 1993.


You most likely meant the much newer medieval castle / economy simulator game that's only 1 or 2 decades old. :D

Thats a blast from the past. Had so much fun with that - even picked it up on GoG recently for nostalgia's sake.