Townscaper allows players to finally build the diorama of their dreams. It's perfect for folks who love helping their children with diorama school projects, or find building LEGOs therapeutic. It's a simple game where players just click on empty spaces, and out come the buildings or platforms for them to customize.
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It's like being an architectural major's deity of choice — literally creating structurally sound townscapes out of nothing. In an industry where power fantasies, killing, and destruction are the norm, getting to build something is a lovely change of scenery. Truth be told, everyone probably needs more games like Townscaper. With that in mind, these other titles should do the trick for folks looking for more games in that vein.
8 Dorfromantik
- Release date: March 25, 2021
- Available platforms: Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch
Dorfromatik is one of the most recent titles here, and players can think of it as a cross between Townscaper and Civilization. Gamers get to plop down hexagonal tiles each representing a type of landscape. Put enough of them in compatible order, and players get a functioning and ever-expanding village with its own open spaces, in case the dairy factory needs grass.
Unlike Townscaper, though, Dorfromatik gives players a sense of progression as some tiles are locked behind certain progress milestones. Quests are also available, making it more like a puzzle game where players solve some of their town's shortcomings. The best way to describe it is that if Townscaper is a bucket of LEGOs, then Dorfromatik is a jigsaw puzzle.
7 Wonderbox
- Release date: March 26, 2021
- Available platforms: iOS, tvOS, Macintosh operating systems
It seems March 2021 was a productive month for creative and chill video games, as Wonderbox was also released around that time. It's primarily a fantasy adventure game, but players actually get to create their own adventure instances or game worlds. They can then share it with others and peruse some of the other players' adventures.
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Creating an adventure starts with crafting the landscape, and many players will find Wonderbox to be well-equipped for that venture. The only downside is that it's limited to Apple devices for now. If players have iPhones though, they can check it out there.
6 Old Man's Journey
- Release date: May 17, 2017
- Available platforms: PlayStation 4, iOS, Android, Microsoft Windows, macOS
Before Townscaper was even released, games that love their pastel-colored locales and nostalgic atmosphere straight out of Instagram filters had already been done masterfully. Old Man's Journey is a shining example of this notion.
It's a calming tale of an old man who leaves his home for some soul-searching. Players can then help him in his journey by reshaping landscapes. This is not unlike Townscaper when they're building houses and platforms.
5 Cloud Gardens
- Release date: September 9, 2020
- Available platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, Macintosh operating systems, Xbox One
One doesn't usually expect a post-apocalyptic game to be relaxing, but Cloud Gardens managed it with flying colors. This managerial sim is all about teaching the players the value of resilience in a somberly tranquil wasteland of a former civilization.
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How do they do that? By planting, of course. Players choose to drape moss, orchids, or other kinds of vegetation over the crumbling remains of cities. In a sense, they're beautifying the world again, and rebirthing the ecosystems that perished during the apocalypse.
4 Atlas Architect
- Release date: April 27, 2021
- Available platforms: Microsoft Windows
Forget about making puny buildings. In Atlas Architect, players build the earth and shape it as they see fit. Initially, everyone is given a vast expanse of water or seas. Players can then start populating that blue void with some lush greens and rugged greys.
Afterward, they can put a literal kingdom that's reminiscent of Disney World in the lands that they built. Feudalism has never been this fun and creative. To that end, Atlas Architect is probably the most similar title here when compared with Townscaper.
3 Kingdoms And Castles
- Release date: July 20, 2017
- Available platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Classic Mac OS
For those looking for something more challenging than building houses and platforms of different colors, Kingdoms and Castles actually threatens players with a game over screen. It's a medieval fantasy city-builder where the cute graphics hide a hardcore facade.
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Over time, as players expand their fiefdom into a kingdom, progressively deadlier threats will assail their borders until dragons start seeing their town squares as target practice. Economics and city planning thus play an important role here, and creativity more or less takes a backseat.
2 Super Build
- Release date: August 31, 2019
- Available platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS
Super Build is similar to Kingdoms and Castles, except its easy and peaceful mode is mandatory. This game won't stress players out with unnecessary threats to their creations, internal or external. It's a relaxing medieval city builder with no goals, no objectives, and no pressure.
Players just build their own medieval nation as they see fit. Want to build a suboptimal hamlet with more focus on aesthetics than practicality? Super Build is the perfect game for that. It also helps that players can start monumental projects such as pyramid-sized tombs and many other marvels of human history.
1 Islanders
- Release date: April 9, 2019
- Available platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S
Islanders offers a great balance between strategy and minimalism in building simulators. It is a city-builder and there is a chance of failing, but given how simple the game's mechanics are, players usually won't find much pressure in this game.
Players are free to build any building they like without resource restrictions but their building pool is limited depending on the landscape. That means they will still have to strategically pick good spots for certain buildings where they can balance out style and functionality.
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