Building games – it is something for players driven by creativity and craving to vent their limitless imagination. If you are looking for such games for PC, you will definitely find something for yourself here.
Imagine that you can build whatever you want and at what times you want. Own world, base, home, city, and even the entire civilization, or extremely technologically advanced machines. Something small or monumental. In creative video games, sky is the limit! If you already feel this inventive call but still don’t know what to go for, don’t worry. We are here to offer you the best builder games for your personal computer.
On this list, you will find realistic simulators, proven classics, games with survival elements, as well as multiplayer house building and free-to-play titles. Let’s go!
| Game | Released date | Developer | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Stronghold Crusader HD | 2002-07-31 | FireFly Studios |
 | Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition | 2015-07-29 | Mojang Studios |
 | Cities: Skylines | 2015-03-10 | Colossal Order Ltd. |
 | Pharaoh + Cleopatra | 1999-10-31 | Impressions Games |
 | Surviving Mars | 2018-03-15 | Haemimont Games |
 | No Man's Sky | 2016-08-12 | Hello Games |
 | RollerCoaster Tycoon: Deluxe | 1999-03-31 | Chris Sawyer Productions |
 | Banished | 2014-02-18 | Shining Rock Software LLC |
 | Tropico 6 | 2018 | Limbic Entertainment |
 | Don't Starve Together | 2016-04-21 | Klei Entertainment |
 | Planet Zoo | 2019-11-05 | Frontier Developments |
 | Sid Meier's Civilization VI | 2016-10-20 | Aspyr (Mac, Linux) |
Stronghold Crusader
| Genre | Simulation |
| Release | 2002-07-31 |
| Developer | FireFly Studios |
The iconic strategy game from Firefly Studios. You will not only build your mighty kingdom but also have to defend it and take over the lands of your neighbors. And all this in the merciless sands of the desert and during the crusades to the Holy Land.
Lead your army and take care of your people. Play in a campaign, standalone scenario, or multiplayer with your friends. A lot of excitements and multitasking fun await you, as your enemies will include characters known from the previous edition of the game and completely new figures as well. Build a castle, circle it with a wall and a moat, set traps, and cover all sides with your army. Build a church, hire mercenaries, create farms, produce flour and beer, and make sure your citizens don’t run out of anything. It is a perfect game for anyone who wants to get creative both in building and on the battlefield.
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Trove
| Genre | RPG, crafting |
| Release | 2015-07-09 |
| Developer | Trion Worlds |
A free-to-play MMO proposition from Trion Worlds, also responsible for creating the epic RIFT video game. In Trove, the open world is generated randomly, and you can move your wonderful home between worlds without any limitations!
Enter the world of many worlds, go on adventures, meet other players and build. Each land is a different ecosystem, therefore, various resources to acquire. And you will have a lot of exploration and exciting battles with monsters in the dungeons to do. You can go on adventures both alone or with a team. Play as you like! A significant part of all the fun is house building, which will allow you to create your base, home, and in later stages more and more impressive structures. You will need some raw materials and a knack for crafting for that, but this is what it is all about, right?
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Minecraft
| Genre | Action |
| Release | 2013-11-19 |
| Developer | Mojang Studios |
The most famous building game in the world for PC. If you haven’t heard of it by now, that probably means that you were in a coma or born yesterday. So the best is ahead! You can make up for all of this right now.
Minecraft is a game where absolutely everything is made of cubes. Including the sky, plants, animals, and yourself as well. It is an extremely addictive proposition in which you explore an enormous world and look for resources to set up your first base. Depending on the game mode you choose, you can build and then fight monsters at night to defend your belongings. Or you can just enjoy a game where there are no threats at all. Your main task will be mining resources, from which you can build larger and larger structures and even entire metropolises. You can even create stuff from lava! Your imagination is the only limitation here. Minecraft already has a large fan community, and some servers cover entire civilizations that have been in development for years.
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Cities: Skylines
| Genre | Economy |
| Release | 2015-03-10 |
| Developer | Colossal Order Ltd. |
It is a strategic city-builder from Colossal Order, in which the main goal is successful economic gameplay and creating a functioning city from scratch. Would you like to design your own metropolis? Cities: Skylines will meet your expectations.
This game is only possible in single-player mode. Your task is to build a city where you will have to take care of even the smallest detail for everything to run smoothly. This includes the construction of residential, commercial, service, and industrial buildings, but also the creation of an efficient communication network. Create entire districts, plan public transport, take care of the garbage disposal and transport of goods, plan education, and secure safety. And all this with proper planning of investments and financial flow. In Cities: Skylines, you will learn all about city management.
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Fallout Shelter
| Genre | Simulation |
| Release | 2015-06-14 |
| Developer | Bethesda Games Studios, Behaviour Interactive |
A strategic version of the post-apocalyptic Fallout series in which the main goal is not to travel through the wasteland but to create a haven for survivors. It is a completely free-to-play game with no micropayments included.
The post-apocalyptic reality can be ruthless and cruel, but you know how to keep the inhabitants of the shelter safe. Expand the vault, create new rooms and provide survivors with a pleasant life. Make them want to reproduce and work. Each new activity will increase their life satisfaction. And thus – everything will run smoothly. However, this is still Fallout, so there will be no lack of external threats. Equip your heroes with the appropriate equipment and experience, and they will certainly be able to resist the invaders’ attack.
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The Sims 4
| Genre | Simulation |
| Release | 2014-09-04 |
| Developer | Maxis |
The most famous life simulator on the planet Earth. The gameplay in The Sims 4 knows practically no limits. The Sims are the games where you can build your own house, create characters, take care of the lives of the citizens, influence their social life, personal development, and much more.
Unlike the previous installments of the title, in The Sims 4, the player has a great tool for building new rooms. You can bring your Sims’ family into a ready-made house, but you can also rebuild it or build an entirely new one raising it from scratch. There are also new possibilities when it comes to decorating apartments. Unique furniture packs in the DLCs will let you give all rooms a whole new character and let your imagination run wild like never before.
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Pharaoh + Cleopatra
| Genre | Simulation |
| Release | 1999-10-31 |
| Developer | Impressions Games, BreakAway Games |
A classic strategy game in which you are the ruler of a small village to expand it over the coming years and become the leader of the entire empire. Travel back to ancient Egypt and enjoy the rich resources of the Nile River.
This city builder will surprise you for sure! It is a construction of a metropolis, but still in the exciting times of ancient Egypt. And that means angry gods, plague epidemics, and food shortages. Create a working communication network, introduce sea transport, buy the necessary goods and sell your stuff. Maintain a balance between aesthetics and functionality and provide your residents with satisfying jobs. Complete the tasks assigned to you in the campaign and climb the career ladder. Build impressive monuments, pyramids, and temples for the gods. Your actions will be accompanied by the whims of the Nile River, the floods of which will determine the coming harvest and the success of the entire mission. Pharaoh and Cleopatra are games where you can really play god!
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Surviving Mars
| Genre | Simulation |
| Release | 2018-03-15 |
| Developer | Haemimont Games |
We still have some time before Elon Musk begins colonizing Mars, but you can prepare well now. In this strategic city builder for PC, you can manage the establishment of a civilization on the red planet yourself!
In Surviving Mars, you literally begin the colonization process from scratch. Your first task is to choose an agency that will only start sending the first equipment and rovers to the red planet. When living conditions for the first human missions will be ready, only then will you begin the proper process of colony expansion. Collect and produce essential resources, monitor the condition of machines, predict malfunctions, observe the physical and mental state of the inhabitants, and bring in new colonists. Make the new civilization self-sufficient and make its inhabitants happy and willing to expand the entire project. The future of all mankind depends on you!
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No Man's Sky
| Genre | Adventure |
| Release | 2016-08-12 |
| Developer | Hello Games |
This game equals freedom. In No Man’s Sky, you begin the adventure of a lifetime where exploration, action, and creating a new world are just the beginning of the story. And you will find yourself in the very center of it.
While controlling a spaceship, you will travel through a procedurally generated galaxy. This means that your trip will be as one-of-a-kind and as special as possible. As you progress to the center of the universe, you will stumble upon an infinity of planets, worlds, and possibilities. Some will be an obstacle, while others may turn out to be quite a friendly place to live. Mine resources or buy them from merchants. Craft new equipment and necessary items. Build your own base, which will be your safe haven, and equip it as you like. And it is all just a very exciting start because you will also be completing missions, fighting, and trying to survive.
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RollerCoaster Tycoon: Deluxe
| Genre | Economy |
| Release | 1999-03-31 |
| Developer | Chris Sawyer Productions |
A piece of strategic economic game in which you will provide people with what they want the most – fun! And is there anything more fun than building an amusement park? There is not.
Roller Coaster Tycoon is a game that has not lost even a bit of its unique charm since 1999. Become the owner of a top-class amusement park and equip it however you want. Build enormous roller coasters, plan a paths network, build food booths and decorate it all with stunning park trees, fountains, and benches. Make your guests experience romantic moments on the merry-go-round or leave the haunted house terrified as never before. Change the terrain and build ready-made attractions or create them yourself. There are many hours of satisfying gameplay ahead of you that will never get boring. Your park – your fun!
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Banished
| Genre | Economy |
| Release | 2014-02-18 |
| Developer | Shining Rock Software LLC |
It is a survival strategy game with RTS elements where literally everything will be against you. If you are looking for a challenge and unlimited development possibilities for your settlement – this is something just for you.
Lead a group of outcasts and find a new place for them to live. Equipped with only a few people and a small number of resources, you will have to plan everything well so that your population does not die out at the very beginning. As the game progresses, start collecting resources, trade them, produce food and build houses that will survive any conditions. Develop your settlement and make its population grow and the people happy. However, you need to control your resource consumption and land use wisely because every action has consequences here. If you manage it well, your settlement will last for many generations.
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Tropico 6
| Genre | Simulation |
| Release | 2018 |
| Developer | Limbic Entertainment |
Build your own banana republic! No matter what the price. In Tropico 6, you are El Presidente, and even the dirtiest move will not take your power away.
The whole archipelago of sunny islands has just fallen into your hands, and your task is to manage it as you like. First of all, build a beautiful palace from which you will rule everything and everyone. Take care of the inhabitants and create for them the city they dreamed of or have had their worst nightmares about. Build a transport network between the islands, steal technology from other countries, and do whatever it takes to win the support of the people. Even at the expense of forced oppression. After all, no one compares to the magnificent El Presidente.
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Don't Starve Together
| Genre | Economy |
| Release | 2016-04-21 |
| Developer | Klei Entertainment |
Do you want to build something of your own in the scenery of your worst nightmares? Welcome to Don’t Starve Together. The only game from Klei Entertainment that will make you laugh and scare you at the same time.
It is a multiplayer version of the sandbox game from 2013. You can fight for survival both in solo gameplay or multiplayer with friends or players from around the world. There is only one goal – to survive. To make it happen, you need to build a base that will provide you with possibilities and supplies for more than a day. To settle down in one place for good, you must first obtain the necessary resources and keep creating better and better inventions. In the base, you can sleep, cook, store raw materials and plan further trips to the wilderness. But expect more than pure fun – in the meantime, literally everything will try to kill you.
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Planet Zoo
| Genre | Simulation |
| Release | 2019-11-05 |
| Developer | Frontier Developments |
A fantastic proposition for anyone who enjoys animal care games. Or just like animals. The strategic game from Frontier Developments will make you sink into the world of wildlife for good.
Your task is to run a zoo. The fun doesn’t stop here because to get it right, you have to work really hard. Build areas for animals, and design the entire park to attract as many visitors as possible. Take care of decor so that the park can earn for itself. However, animals are very tender beings, and any, even the smallest, mistake can make them feel unhappy. Make your park the perfect home for them, where they will feel as comfortable as the visitors themselves. It is an excellent game for children who can learn the secrets of the animal world.
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Sid Meier's Civilization VI
| Genre | Economy |
| Release | 2016-10-20 |
| Developer | Aspyr (Mac, Linux) |
An ultimate installment of the iconic series of strategy titles from Firaxis Games. Proven mechanics joined forces with new improvements and the implementation of suggestions from faithful players. Play Civilization 6 and dominate the world!
Choose your civilization and lead it through thousands of years towards a bright future. The pace and nature of its development will depend on your decisions. Build cities where you will invest in education, military, industrial and technological development. Create buildings that will allow you to produce new inventions and bring the entire civilization to a higher level of development. Work out the strategic placement of cities that will allow you to defend and attack most effectively. Build relationships with your neighbors that will lead to cooperation or conflict. The history of this world depends entirely on you!
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Building titles are not just quick games where you can build your own house or two. These are games that engage a lot because you are actually putting a piece of yourself into the virtual world. You feel satisfied with what you have built and how it works. Especially that each of these games is a challenge. In terms of a complex economy, war strategies, or even struggling with the vagaries of the weather or the moods of the citizens themselves. There are many outside factors, and you control them all wonderfully.
If that is not enough, building games for PC are perhaps the best educational and recreational force. Not only for kids but also adults. Strategy development is fantastic for improving critical thinking, and visualizing past or future realities contributes to understanding history and its consequences. Economics teaches financial management and understanding the basics of politics. And cooperation in MMO improves communication skills. Crises help to deal with any sudden situations in actual life, and real-time strategies support multitasking. Plus, you can create your own world and stuff and have fun while doing it. Anything more to add here? If you don’t know what to play, and you are looking for PC games with meaningful content – choose from the best builder games.