Hands up everyone who doesn’t love building games! Alright, we didn’t see any hands here, so we can all agree that building games are the best genre of games possible. Whether as a classic city building sim, park simulation or survival setup. And that’s why such a building game sale on Steam is of course always the right thing to do!
But at the end of every Steam Sale you are faced with the same luxury problem: Which game should you get? Which is really worth it? Do you like it in the end or did you just let yourself be blinded by the discount?
We have already put together all the important information and the most worthwhile discounts for you. But in this article we want you some of our personal favorites apart from Anno, Frostpunk and Co. present – all of which are currently available for less than 15 dollars. Have fun browsing!
Townscaper
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You won’t see such beautiful cities as in Townscaper in any travel brochure
Release: 2021 | Developer: Oskar Stålberg | Price & Discount: 3.24 dollars (35 percent reduced)
Geraldine Hohmann: Building games can be incredibly stressful for me. As soon as the disaster music starts playing in Anno 1800, I get high blood pressure straight away. I just want to decorate my port! Why is my warehouse on fire again or my workers going on strike? My city is so pretty to look at and actually I just want to tinker with small details or discover new corners and stories on my island. And that’s exactly why the beautiful building game Townscaper is my absolute dream game.
It offers a unique construction kit in which I watch in almost trance-like states how incredibly tranquil and individual cities are pulled up before my eyes. My only goal: enjoy. And it’s not for nothing that countless Townscaper-inspired games have landed on Steam since the 2021 release – because the concept is just great.
Townscaper
That’s why the unusual building game is so popular on Steam
Jurassic World Evolution
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Jurassic World Evolution – Test video for the Dinopark construction game
Release: July 12, 2018 | Developer: Frontier Developments | Price & Discount: 9 dollars (80 percent reduced)
Steffi Schlottag: I confess, I’m not a construction fan at all. The big exception: Everything that has to do with animals! And I’ve spent more time with Jurassic World Evolution than any building game in recent years. I mean I can build my own dinosaur park in it! With dinosaurs. Just to emphasize that again.
Watching Jurassic Park for the first time when I was six almost certainly left permanent damage – but it also gave me an undying love for all prehistoric creatures. Of course, Jurassic World wasn’t nearly as exciting as the Spielberg original, but I was still excited about the film because we finally get to see a working, modern Jurassic Park in it (at least for the first half hour). And of course I would do it all much better if they would just let me do it!
Jurassic World Evolution lets me do it. The park construction and the incredibly chic dinosaurs are clearly in focus here, the management is pretty simple. Which in turn suits me as a construction noob, I actually got every park in the campaign to five stars. The story is simple but motivating enough. And if things do get boring, you can just let Rexi trudge through the shopping mile.
Another tip for Jurassic fans: The DLC Return to Jurassic Park is also on offer and a must for nostalgics. Here jeep tour, compis and many other features from the first trilogy are in it. You can even change the look of your already built parks to the iconic 1993 design!
more on the subject
Jurassic World Evolution Review – Grab Them All!
Stronghold Warlords
9:36
Stronghold Warlords gets so much new content that the trailer lasts almost 10 minutes
Release: March 9, 2021 | Developer: Firefly Studios | Price & Discount: 7 dollars (80 percent reduced)
Heiko Blade: Yes, we only gave Stronghold Warlords a 72 in testing. And yes, the HD version of the 22-year-old first part of the series is actually still the better game and, at 1.19 dollars in the current sale, costs less than a buttered pretzel.
But maybe you’ve left out the latest offshoot of the legendary castle simulation so far? And for just 7 dollars, Stronghold Warlords is at least worth a look. Because even if the magic of the original is missing here too: Stronghold hasn’t worked as well as it did in Warlords for what feels like ages!
Finally an intuitive wall construction again, finally construction, economy and real-time battles interlock as cleverly as I expect from a stronghold and have missed all these years.
In addition, developer Firefly has maintained the game in an exemplary manner over the past two years and added a lot of free content. These include a completely new single-player mode with skirmish trains and lots of additional multiplayer maps. In addition, there are now four cards for relaxed free building, on which I can tinker with my dream castle without stress.
Of course, all this still doesn’t make Stronghold Warlords an unrestricted build-up RTS recommendation. The campaign lacks atmosphere and the AI lacks ingenuity. And the big new Warlords feature was simply a snap idea that is more annoying than enriching the actually indestructible gameplay. For one or the other siege battle in between, Stronghold Warlords is more than good. And there isn’t that much better competition in this construction game segment. Unfortunately.
Stronghold Warlords
Guide: tips for economy, combat and diplomacy
Valheim
14:52
Valheim in the test – why is the survival game so successful?
Release: 2021 | Developer: Iron Gate | Price & Discount: 13.99 dollars (30 percent discount)
Phil Elsner: Of course, Valheim is not a classic building game from the top view, in which I have to manage production chains or set up infrastructure for the residents. Despite its survival focus, Valheim can still be seen as a building game in many respects – because here I can live out the fantasy of my own Viking village down to the last detail!
At the beginning I build myself a spartan wooden shed in front of which my campfire glows. But with every new resource I discover on my expeditions, the building options keep growing. And seldom have I been more proud of an achievement in a game than when I finally stood in front of my magnificent fortress: moat, a wall of stones, mighty halls in torchlight, the throne in the middle, plus a cooking area and a fully developed one Wrought.
Valheim even turned me into a real farmer. And I usually only play action titles and online shooters! But here I am suddenly raising bees to make my mead for long trips to the mountains. Or I grow carrots to make invigorating stews, which I desperately need in battle. Right now is the perfect time to join Valheim – because the big Mistlands expansion provides even more variety when exploring, fighting and of course when building.
Valheim
All tips, tricks and guides for the survival game at a glance
Prison Architect
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Prison Architect – Test video: In the best prison in the world
Release: 2015 | Developer: Double Eleven | Price & Discount: 6.24 dollars (75 percent)
Fabiano Uslenghi: If I really want to relax, I just go to prison. Well, not in reality now, even if Landsberg is around the corner. No, I’m much more building my own in Prison Architect. This at first glance so inconspicuous building game is one of my trinity of long-running building blocks, right next to Anno 1800 and Planet Zoo. For some reason, it relaxes me immensely when I casually put up concrete walls and stomp cells out of the ground in which anything from petty criminals to public enemies can be held. Just thinking about which route the inmates have to take, what objects I should put in their cells and also whether I should encircle the inner courtyard with snipers often entertains me for hours.
Prison Architect is also ideal for doing a little something else on the side. Even if the prisoners rebel, it never puts me under any pressure. Sometimes I comfortably watch bloody revolts break out while spooning a pudding. That’s just the magic of Prison Architect. It feels serious and you should take the administration seriously, but at the same time you somehow never feel completely stressed out. When the rum runs out in Anno, I’m more irritable than when ten serial killers run away from me in Prison Architect.
Maybe doesn’t say anything good about me either. But that’s not the point. Just play this game, get some rest and build your own feel-good penitentiary.
Islanders
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Islanders – Trailer shows minimalist city building
Release: 2019| Developer: Coat Sink, GrizzlyGames, Stage Clear Studios | Price & Discount: 2.99 dollars (40 percent)
Tilmann beer: Islanders is a small, relaxed building game with a fairly simple, but still pretty look. You don’t have to achieve any special goals here or satisfy your residents, you just have to score enough points with the skillful placement of building sets to be allowed to continue building on your current island.
If you have collected enough points, you can set off on an expedition to the next island and continue building there. If, on the other hand, you just want to build a pretty city and don’t care about high scores, you can build cities of your own liking endlessly in a creative mode.
As the low price suggests, Islanders is a nice casual game that you can invest in for a few minutes or several hours at a time, depending on your mood. Despite the rather simple basic idea, it is sometimes quite challenging to achieve the necessary number of points with the buildings. But since there is no time pressure, the game is still relaxing.
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