Games Like Citystate Metropolis

Citystate Metropolis is a city-builder with grid-less zoning tools and procedurally generated buildings. The simulation is powered by a crowd-based model that can handle populations exceeding one million.

The city planning tools can create neighborhoods of all types and shapes by allowing total control over building footprints, setbacks, floor counts and parking spaces. Beyond creativity and aesthetics, plans and regulations are also the very drivers of the city’s growth, its socioeconomic profile; and thus, how the city looks and feels. Build simple and cheap to decrease housing costs and foster social mobility. Build fancy and eco-friendly to increase land value and attract foreign investors.

Experiment to find the perfect balance between form and function. Expand the city at your own pace and set your own goals. There are countless ways to manage a city-state, countless ways to grow a small town into a true Metropolis.

Creative: The Architect

Height, width, colors, and shapes of all residential, commercial, industrial, and service buildings can be designed  from the ground up. Along with a choice of 40 road types and a park editor, Citystate Metropolis grants total creative freedom.

Pragmatic: The Governor

Cheap and unregulated to quicken growth or restricted and gentrified to boost tax revenue? Whether the governor’s end goal is to build an eco-friendly haven, a capitalist powerhouse, or a work of art, the budget needs to be balanced, taxes have to be collected and hard decisions will have to be made.

Limitless: The World Builder

The map editor can create thousands of highly realistic terrains through an innovative approach blending real-world data and procedural generation. The dynamic water simulation allows the creation of rivers and lakes. A drag of the mouse is all it takes to adjust forest density or terrain steepness across the entire map.

The crowd-based simulation (as opposed to agent-based) enables realistic population numbers. What’s more, the city can accurately model the consequences of building regulations and city policies on its inhabitants. Income disparity, gentrification, urban decay, and other socioeconomic factors haven’t been brushed off and are front and center in the city’s development.

Inspired by the city builders of the early 2000s, Citystate Metropolis proposes an innovative alternative. Built upon a seemingly simple framework, the game forges a practical and meaningful link between creative tools and simulation systems. Here, the mayor doesn’t manage production lines; he creates the conditions for growth and development.