Best Value City Builder Games Under $20
The City Builder games on Steam games under $20 that deliver the most playtime per dollar: median reviewer hours divided by current price.
All Indie Action Adventure Simulation RPG Strategy Co-op Open World Story Rich Casual Funny Survival Difficult Pixel Graphics PvP Horror Anime Puzzle Rogue-like Relaxing Turn-Based Strategy Local Co-Op Psychological Horror Hack and Slash Platformer MMO RTS Immersive Sim Post-apocalyptic Action Roguelike City Builder Life Sim Zombies Sports Racing Survival Horror Stealth Bullet Hell Dungeon Crawler Visual Novel JRPG Deckbuilding Grand Strategy Cyberpunk Tower Defense Clicker Fighting Open World Survival Craft Boomer Shooter Colony Sim Farming Sim Cozy Auto Battler Cooking Twin Stick Shooter Metroidvania 4X Souls-like Dating Sim MMORPG
By price
Price divided by median reviewer playtime — how much you pay per hour of gameplay. Lower is better. Reviewers tend to sink more hours in than the average owner, so treat this as an optimistic estimate. Free games are excluded because there's no price to divide by.
- 1Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete$0.02/1hr48h87.07%89.49%
- 2RollerCoaster Tycoon: Deluxe$0.05/1hr33h89.33%94.31%
- 3The Guild II Renaissance$0.05/1hr55h84.68%83.51%
- 4Sid Meier’s Civilization VI$0.06/1hr105h86.22%86.17%
- 5Stronghold Crusader HD (2012)$0.06/1hr34h93.72%97.48%
- 6Rise of Nations: Extended Edition$0.08/1hr63h91.01%94.68%
- 7The Lost Village$0.08/1hr72h81.84%71.20%
- 8Kingdom Two Crowns$0.09/1hr22h89.18%90.18%
- 9Stronghold HD (2012)$0.10/1hr12h90.76%95.53%
- 10Two Point Campus$0.10/1hr31h86.38%87.84%
- 11Frostpunk$0.10/1hr30h92.23%92.74%
- 12Kenshi$0.10/1hr118h94.77%95.59%
- 13Against the Storm$0.11/1hr82h92.49%94.44%
- 14Space Haven$0.11/1hr89h85.49%85.76%
- 15Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic$0.12/1hr86h89.58%91.18%
- 16Craft The World$0.12/1hr38h87.43%88.40%
- 17Dyson Sphere Program$0.12/1hr129h96.21%97.42%
- 18Airport CEO$0.13/1hr50h84.21%83.05%
- 19Tropico 4$0.14/1hr32h88.83%91.69%
- 20Tavern Master$0.14/1hr21h89.14%92.12%
- 21Anno 1404 - History Edition$0.15/1hr31h84.45%82.43%
- 22Banished$0.15/1hr46h89.45%90.43%
- 23SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition$0.15/1hr33h83.72%82.25%
- 24Cities: Skylines$0.16/1hr56h92.71%92.86%
- 25RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: Triple Thrill Pack$0.16/1hr15h86.83%89.64%
- 26Occupy Mars: The Game$0.17/1hr91h81.24%69.78%
- 27ContractVille$0.17/1hr19h82.94%80.85%
- 28Transport Fever 2$0.18/1hr34h89.12%90.32%
- 29Planetbase$0.18/1hr41h82.42%79.78%
- 30Endzone - A World Apart$0.19/1hr11h80.93%76.70%
- 31Construction Simulator$0.19/1hr13h82.55%80.75%
- 32Stronghold 2: Steam Edition$0.19/1hr19h86.88%88.79%
- 33Smalland: Survive the Wilds$0.20/1hr35h83.35%81.61%
- 34Age of Empires II (Retired)$0.20/1hr99h94.89%95.83%
- 35Knights of Honor II: Sovereign$0.21/1hr54h82.34%77.23%
- 36Train Simulator Classic$0.22/1hr28h75.14%71.73%
- 37Stronghold: Definitive Edition$0.22/1hr20h85.87%86.53%
- 38Settlement Survival$0.23/1hr22h85.12%85.04%
- 39Cataclismo$0.23/1hr39h86.28%88.80%
- 40Tropico 5$0.23/1hr30h81.33%78.67%
- 41Northgard: Definitive Edition$0.24/1hr42h85.24%85.25%
- 42Ratopia$0.24/1hr69h86.02%87.74%
- 43Let's School$0.24/1hr29h88.40%92.70%
- 44Stronghold Crusader 2$0.24/1hr16h76.98%72.45%
- 45Per Aspera$0.24/1hr31h81.79%75.91%
- 46Kingdoms and Castles$0.25/1hr40h91.54%93.57%
- 47Empires of the Undergrowth$0.25/1hr36h91.19%94.36%
- 48Cossacks 3$0.25/1hr27h83.39%82.28%
- 49Kingdoms Reborn$0.25/1hr63h87.75%90.38%
- 50Planet Zoo$0.26/1hr51h90.45%90.98%
- 51HUMANKIND$0.27/1hr47h73.27%69.14%
- 52Bellwright$0.27/1hr73h81.77%80.20%
- 53Anno 2205$0.27/1hr22h79.32%70.11%
- 54Songs of Syx$0.28/1hr67h89.55%94.25%
- 55OpenTTD$0.29/1hr19h91.13%94.62%
- 56A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA$0.29/1hr28h76.44%70.57%
- 57Surviving the Aftermath$0.29/1hr26h80.54%70.47%
- 58Yog-Sothoth’s Yard$0.29/1hr26h90.44%94.23%
- 59Anno 1800$0.30/1hr51h82.27%81.37%
- 60Two Point Hospital$0.30/1hr25h90.46%91.97%
- 61Terra Nil$0.30/1hr21h86.26%87.48%
- 62Project Hospital$0.31/1hr33h86.98%88.89%
- 63Colony Survival$0.32/1hr59h88.47%92.11%
- 64Clanfolk$0.32/1hr47h86.39%91.61%
- 65Tropico 6$0.32/1hr37h87.08%87.73%
- 66Diplomacy is Not an Option$0.33/1hr36h85.39%85.55%
- 67Norland$0.33/1hr45h83.36%81.63%
- 68Dawn of Man$0.34/1hr37h86.22%86.80%
- 69Mad Games Tycoon 2$0.35/1hr42h88.99%93.86%
- 70IXION$0.36/1hr29h81.09%78.79%
- 71Parkitect$0.36/1hr33h89.22%94.18%
- 72Jurassic World Evolution$0.38/1hr30h87.09%87.44%
- 73Fabledom$0.39/1hr19h85.18%85.17%
- 74Sengoku Dynasty$0.39/1hr35h80.59%74.75%
- 75TheoTown$0.40/1hr19h87.65%94.69%
- 76Pharaoh: A New Era$0.40/1hr24h81.61%74.99%
- 77Farthest Frontier$0.41/1hr43h85.79%86.02%
- 78Prison Architect$0.41/1hr18h87.54%87.86%
- 79Mini Motorways$0.42/1hr19h93.05%96.26%
- 80Age of Empires: Definitive Edition$0.43/1hr31h84.63%84.29%
- 81Gladiator Guild Manager$0.43/1hr11h83.99%81.07%
- 82Infection Free Zone$0.45/1hr39h82.25%80.67%
- 83Thronefall$0.46/1hr17h92.88%96.13%
- 84Planet Coaster$0.46/1hr24h90.58%91.32%
- 85Heart of the Machine$0.47/1hr22h86.29%91.51%
- 86Gourdlets$0.48/1hr5h85.72%92.33%
- 87Kingdom Eighties$0.49/1hr7h82.72%75.34%
- 88Jurassic World Evolution 2$0.50/1hr36h89.44%90.35%
- 89Planet Coaster 2$0.51/1hr39h78.74%74.36%
- 90The Universim$0.51/1hr29h82.23%79.46%
- 91Cardboard Town$0.53/1hr8h84.64%79.76%
- 92Border Pioneer$0.53/1hr13h85.90%86.53%
- 93Havendock$0.53/1hr11h84.02%79.26%
- 94Academia : School Simulator$0.54/1hr9h84.87%83.88%
- 95Ancestors Legacy$0.55/1hr9h82.29%78.96%
- 96Flotsam$0.56/1hr22h83.67%81.11%
- 97下一站江湖Ⅱ$0.57/1hr35h78.85%72.17%
- 98The Infected$0.57/1hr17h84.73%84.09%
- 99TerraScape$0.57/1hr13h86.30%88.61%
- 100The Wandering Village$0.58/1hr26h88.62%91.97%
How the math works: we sample each game’s Steam reviewers, take the median of their total recorded playtime (lifetime hours, not hours at the time of review), and divide it by the game’s current price in your selected currency. Reviewers usually sink more hours in than the average owner, so the numbers run generous. Free games aren’t listed because there’s no price to divide by, and a game needs playtime data from at least 20 reviewers before it qualifies. All prices are Steam’s own regional prices, never exchange-rate conversions.