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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 2026-10-23. Rankings update as data changes.

indielist tracks 49 city builder indie games on Steam, holding 1,065,603 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 RimWorld with 210,586 reviews. Figures are tracked by indielist; sales numbers are estimates that each expand into their full formula.

The ranking

  1. RimWorld · 210,586 reviews · 98% positive · 2018
  2. Factorio · 196,758 reviews · 98% positive · 2020
  3. Kenshi · 99,170 reviews · 96% positive · 2018
  4. Dyson Sphere Program · 83,815 reviews · 97% positive · 2021
  5. Prison Architect · 63,262 reviews · 89% positive · 2015
  6. Banished · 37,944 reviews · 90% positive · 2014
  7. Stacklands · 29,436 reviews · 96% positive · 2022
  8. Dorfromantik · 27,514 reviews · 96% positive · 2022
  9. Transport Fever 2 · 27,285 reviews · 90% positive · 2019
  10. Two Point Hospital · 26,729 reviews · 92% positive · 2018
  11. Foundation · 23,334 reviews · 87% positive · 2025
  12. Thronefall · 23,197 reviews · 96% positive · 2024
  13. Townscaper · 20,116 reviews · 95% positive · 2021
  14. Dawn of Man · 17,149 reviews · 87% positive · 2019
  15. Going Medieval · 17,104 reviews · 89% positive · 2026
  16. IXION · 15,423 reviews · 79% positive · 2022
  17. Captain of Industry · 11,171 reviews · 90% positive · 2022
  18. Space Haven · 10,382 reviews · 86% positive · 2026
  19. Planetbase · 9,591 reviews · 80% positive · 2015
  20. Project Hospital · 8,448 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.