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indielist (beta)

The best city builder indie games, ranked by reviews

5 min read for players

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Data report Built from live indielist data on 2026-09-07. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 49 city builder indie games on Steam, holding 1,107,275 reviews at an average of 87% positive. This list ranks them by Steam review count, the most reliable public sales proxy, with a white-box sales estimate behind every title. The most reviewed is Factorio with 234,322 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. Factorio · 234,322 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  2. RimWorld · 208,289 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
  3. Kenshi · 98,181 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
  4. Dyson Sphere Program · 83,444 reviews · 97% positive · 2021
  5. Prison Architect · 60,109 reviews · 89% positive · 2015
  6. Banished · 43,322 reviews · 90% positive · 2014
  7. Transport Fever 2 · 32,556 reviews · 90% positive · 2019
  8. Stacklands · 29,197 reviews · 96% positive · 2022
  9. Dorfromantik · 27,404 reviews · 96% positive · 2022
  10. Two Point Hospital · 26,621 reviews · 92% positive · 2018
  11. Foundation · 24,203 reviews · 87% positive · 2025
  12. Thronefall · 22,927 reviews · 96% positive · 2024
  13. Townscaper · 20,069 reviews · 95% positive · 2021
  14. IXION · 17,692 reviews · 79% positive · 2022
  15. Dawn of Man · 17,080 reviews · 87% positive · 2019
  16. Going Medieval · 16,994 reviews · 89% positive · 2026
  17. Captain of Industry · 11,538 reviews · 90% positive · 2022
  18. Space Haven · 11,109 reviews · 86% positive · 2026
  19. Planetbase · 9,552 reviews · 80% positive · 2015
  20. Project Hospital · 8,372 reviews · 89% positive · 2018

How this list is built

Games are ranked by Steam review count, the most reliable public proxy for sales when actual figures are private. Each title links to its indielist page, where the white-box sales estimate expands into the full Boxleiter formula, so you can audit the number rather than trust a black box. Review counts come from Steam; sales figures are estimates, not official sales data.

Want the underlying estimate for your own game? Try the sales estimator, or browse the full game directory.