Best Value City Builder Games Under $5
The City Builder games on Steam games under $5 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%
- 4Stronghold Crusader HD (2012)$0.06/1hr34h93.72%97.48%
- 5Rise of Nations: Extended Edition$0.08/1hr63h91.01%94.68%
- 6Kingdom Two Crowns$0.09/1hr22h89.18%90.18%
- 7Stronghold HD (2012)$0.10/1hr12h90.76%95.53%
- 8Two Point Campus$0.10/1hr31h86.38%87.84%
- 9Frostpunk$0.10/1hr30h92.23%92.74%
- 10Craft The World$0.12/1hr38h87.43%88.40%
- 11Tropico 4$0.14/1hr32h88.83%91.69%
- 12Tavern Master$0.14/1hr21h89.14%92.12%
- 13Anno 1404 - History Edition$0.15/1hr31h84.45%82.43%
- 14SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition$0.15/1hr33h83.72%82.25%
- 15RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: Triple Thrill Pack$0.16/1hr15h86.83%89.64%
- 16ContractVille$0.17/1hr19h82.94%80.85%
- 17Endzone - A World Apart$0.19/1hr11h80.93%76.70%
- 18Construction Simulator$0.19/1hr13h82.55%80.75%
- 19Stronghold 2: Steam Edition$0.19/1hr19h86.88%88.79%
- 20Stronghold: Definitive Edition$0.22/1hr20h85.87%86.53%
- 21Settlement Survival$0.23/1hr22h85.12%85.04%
- 22Stronghold Crusader 2$0.24/1hr16h76.98%72.45%
- 23Gladiator Guild Manager$0.43/1hr11h83.99%81.07%
- 24Gourdlets$0.48/1hr5h85.72%92.33%
- 25Kingdom Eighties$0.49/1hr7h82.72%75.34%
- 26Cardboard Town$0.53/1hr8h84.64%79.76%
- 27Academia : School Simulator$0.54/1hr9h84.87%83.88%
- 28Minami Lane$0.67/1hr4h90.09%97.35%
- 29Townscaper$0.70/1hr3h92.09%95.28%
- 30SUMMERHOUSE$0.78/1hr3h86.46%92.98%
- 31Dystopika$1.25/1hr3h87.25%95.75%
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.