City builders with a twist are my new favorite genre

I’ve drifted away from city builders over the last couple years, probably due to getting a bit bored with Cities: Skylines (it’s a great game but it came out in 2015) and finding survival city builder Frostpunk a bit too taxing to play regularly (I love it, but it’s incredibly brutal).

But it doesn’t take much to rekindle my interest in growing and managing towns and cities, and lording over little buildings and littler citizens. And as much fun as that is, I always appreciate it when there’s some sort of interesting twist along with the familiar city building and management systems.

Like, say, a city building game set on a medieval ringworld?

(Image credit: Ravenscourt)

I have no idea how a medieval ring world can exist. Even with a lot of steampunk tech, it’s hard to imagine the construction of a ring world in space by a society still sailing around in galleons. But who cares? Dice Legacy looks awesome and sounds interesting. It’s a dice-based survival roguelike (and a city builder, somehow) where you spread your realm over (up? around?) the ring world, battling enemy factions, gathering resources, and leveling up your citizens.

Your dice aren’t just for rolling, either: You can dunk them into a forge and combine them into more powerful dice as you try to conquer the procedurally generated ring world. Dice Legacy is due out sometime this year, and I love the way it looks. I’m just curious to learn how it all actually works.

(Image credit: Orthrus Studios)

If you’re looking for a city builder that’s a bit more traditional but still contains a few interesting twists, I’ve played a bit of Distant Kingdoms, which is currently in Early Access. It’s a fantasy city building game where the hope is to someday create a harmonious city where elves, dwarves, orcs, and humans can live side-by-side instead of trying to kill each other.

source: gamezpot.com