RPGs and city-building games generally occupy wildly different niches. However, crossovers between the two have become increasingly common over the years. And really, what’s not to love about it? Maintaining immersive control over a character within an engrossing story is even better when you have the ability to build their home from the ground up, if not an entire town.
It is easy to find an RPG or a city-building game, but it can be challenging to find a game that truly satisfies both elements for a player. Luckily, there are plenty of games out there that seem to balance these niches extraordinarily well.
Updated December 16, 2021 by Allison Stalberg: From Pathfinder: Kingmaker to Darkest Dungeon, there are still plenty of RPGs that let their players customize entire towns and/or cities. From base building to city builders, the list has been expanding as both more games come out and old games are revisited by curious gamers. It goes to show that deep inside many players is an architect wishing to go wild.
20 Fallout 4
The town/base-building aspect of Fallout 4 was new to the popular post-apocalyptic franchise. Bethesda took a risk at trying something new, but it turned out to be one of the most well-loved parts of the RPG.
The town building aspect gave players a greater reason to collect junk so that they could convert it into furniture, generators, weapons, and walls for the settlements they maintained. While, like most Bethesda games, there were a lot of glitches, players still loved these mechanics and could build more than ever with the addition of mods.
19 Dragon Quest Builders
A spin-off series with two titles, Dragon Quest Builders has the player take the role of the lone builder in a land that has forgotten how to make things. The game tasks the protagonist with reconstructing cities, defending those cities against monsters, and even curing plagues.
The RPG gives players a huge amount of freedom with how the cities can be designed. They can build apartment complexes and assign NPCs their own rooms as well as design shops and gardens.
18 Dark Cloud
Also known as Dark Chronicles, the RPG Dark Cloud and its sequel follow young protagonists on a fantasy quest to save the world. At the same time, they are rebuilding towns that are affected by the evil that is on the loose.
In the first game, players actually collect parts of the towns piece by piece by exploring dungeons. Every town piece has a single rule about how it should be placed. While there are many ways to rebuild these towns, the rules that come with the pieces make the rebuilding have a puzzle element to it.
17 Legends Of Ellaria
Released recently in April 2021, Legends of Ellaria has mixed reviews so far on Steam. The game combines a ton of video game genres such as role-playing, real-time strategy, city building, sandbox, action, and adventure.
Most reviews have said this game has promise but still needs a lot of work. Since the game strives to do a lot, it is a little lacking in the role-playing department.
16 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Set in the Pathfinder fantasy universe, this game’s entire goal is to make your own kingdom while exploring and conquering the Stolen Lands. The gameplay was inspired by titles like Fallout 1 and 2 as well as Baldur’s Gate. The kingdom made by the player is a reflection of their choices throughout the RPG.
The game has been out on Steam since 2018 and has gotten mostly positive reviews. The negatives are bugs and high difficulty while the positives are in the story, characters, and plenty of options to make every game different.
15 Regions Of Ruin
This 2D side-scrolling game that came out in 2018 has all the typical RPG traits: battle, quests, open-world exploration, and skill trees. However, it also has a lot of town building. In fact, part of the goal of the game is to save the dwarven race from extinction.
Players must rescue and recruit dwaves to join their town and send NPCs out to collect resources to further expand the town as well.
14 Azure Dreams
Azure Dreams is a JRPG from the late 90s, so it was released on consoles like the original Playstation. A Gameboy Color remake was made but that remake took out both the dating and building elements.
Much of the game is focused on exploring a tower, defeating monsters, and collecting loot. However, the player can also collect money add buildings to a town. This can add mini-games, love interests, and faster ways to collect money.
13 Littlewood
This adorable game came out in August 2020 and is all about what happens after the hero saves the world. The peaceful RPG title is all about rebuilding and healing after an adventure has already occurred. That means rebuilding the town, making friends, collecting items, and crafting.
The Steam reviews for Littlewood are overall very positive.
12 The Suikoden Series
This series is a little old, with its first game released in 1995. They have been on the PS2, Sega Saturn, original PlayStation, the Nintendo DS, GBA, PSP, and Windows. A big part of the gameplay in the series is turning monster-infested areas into bustling communities after clearing it out.
The more characters recruited in the games, the bigger the towns get and the more they change. In terms of which game has the best town design, most players agree on it being the second and fifth title.
11 Kenshi
This sandbox RPG is quite open-ended, allowing players to really stick to what they want to do rather than be committed to a linear story. Players have compared playing the game to having a bunch of action figures and playing with them. The only limit is your own imagination.
Along with that, there can be a lot of city and town building involved. Players can make a base, build a store, buy property, and upgrade what is built.
10 Hammerhelm
Hammerhelm shares a love of dwarves with Region of Ruin. Players create their own dwarf character and are tasked with building a town while also doing the typical RPG tropes such as completing quests, fighting monsters, and taking a leadership role with the townspeople. The story is pretty cool, as the dwarf character was banished from their homeland for believing they can build above ground.
It is important to know that this game is in early access, so it is not yet considered complete. Developers hoped to release the full game in 2020, but like many other projects planned for 2020, this title’s release got pushed back.
9 Breath Of Fire 2
Breath of Fire 2 is another old title that first came out in 1994 for the SNES and then later for the GBA. It took place about 500 years after the first game and had the new feature of town-building. Players could populate villagers with various characters found throughout the game and could live in certain houses with certain jobs.
Today, the game is accessible in the Nintendo Switch SNES games library, and it is worth a look at since it got great reviews back in its day.
8 Aurora Dusk: Steam Age
This title is much like Legends of Ellaria in terms of combining many genres, but it has more positive Steam reviews. It combines strategy, role-playing, simulation, sandbox, and survival elements.
The players must build a city, creating barracks, schools, ramparts, gardens, and more. In fact, there are over 60 buildings to make and 27 resources to plant.
7 Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King
In this RPG title, players take the role of a ruler of a (at-first) barren kingdom. With the power of a crystal, the ruler can build homes, questboards, schools, and shops meant to entice people to come live in the kingdom.
Once the kingdom is up and running, citizens can become adventurers and the player can send them out on quests to bring back resources and/or fend off monsters. While this game is heavier in town building than its RPG element, the players town has ranks much like an RPG character leveling system. The heroes sent out also have different stats that can be upgraded with weapons and equipment.
6 Darkest Dungeon
Released in 2016, Darkest Dungeon is both an RPG and dungeon crawler. There is a hub town in the base game where buildings can be upgraded and the two DLCs add ruined districts to the town that you can spend resources on to rebuild and get benefits from.
The buildings and their upgrades can offer powerful improvements to the collected adventurers, giving them more ways to reduce stress and upgrading weapons and abilities. The rebuilding of the town also has a small roleplaying element, since you play as the ruined estate inheritor. So rebuilding is not just making numbers go up, but narratively restoring your ancestral home.
5 Ni No Kuni 2
While known as an action role-playing game, Ni No Kuni does let players build their own kingdom. This is not accessible immediately though, as players will need to get to Chapter 4 to get to the building content.
But once players get to that point, the kingdom building aspect is a delight. Citizens can be recruited through side quests, stores and facilities can be built, and citizens can have jobs at the various places built.
4 Hinterland
Released back in 2008, Hinterland is an RPG that utilizes strategic base building. The fantasy world map is randomized with different resources and enemies. The game was created by some of the same developers as well-known city building games like Nile, Caesar IV, and SimCity Societies.
The RPG element really shines in the old-school point-and-click combat and the classes characters can take on.
3 Ark: Survival Evolved
At its heart, Ark is a survival game. It can be played either as a single-player venture or with friends as a sort of MMO. The game’s RPG elements are not narrative but in the progression elements and the open-world freedom players have to decide their goals for themselves.
The building element is a major part of the game. Some players make farms and/or mansions while friends go as far as to make their own towns and cities.
2 Xenoblade Chronicles 3D
Town building in Xenoblade Chronicles 3D is completely optional but rewarding. The town is built up by collecting materials and inviting NCPs to migrate to the town. The player can choose which areas to develop such as housing, nature, and merchants.
There are many Xenoblade Chronicles titles, but it is the 3DS port one that is known for this town building mechanic. The game came out in 2015
1 Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning
Harvest Moon is a farm simulator RPG series. Players slowly build their farms, level up their relationships with the townspeople, marry, and partake in annual festivities.
One of the titles, however, is about building an entire town while also taking care of your farm. Each new building invites more characters to the town and more possible ways to make money. The game, A New Beginning, was only on the Nintendo 3DS.
