With Cities Skylines 2 struggling to find its feet amid a host of early problems, now feels like a good time to revisit the series that preceded it. EA’s 2013 soft-reboot that was essentially SimCity 5 landed to widespread negative reactions, opening the door for Colossal Order to step in as the go-to realistic city-building simulation. But prior to that fall, the series had long been the epochal city builder, and if you missed it at the time or fancy revisiting it, you can get the best of them all, SimCity 4, at a big discount right now.
There are arguments to be made for every entry in the series, but for me, SimCity 4 is the pick of the pack, and quite possibly the best city-building game ever made. It builds on the fundamentals of all the games that laid the groundwork before it and adds even more besides, giving you the power to create vast, bustling hubs of activity and then tear it all down again at your whim.
Boasting a satisfyingly realistic art style and a huge variety of designs to choose from, SimCity 4 lets you not only build one giant, sprawling metropolis, but make multiple cities and link them together with a transport network to trade resources and see how each affects the growth and prosperity of those around it.
Start from nothing and build out a thriving hub of industry and culture, filled with schools, universities, airports, stadiums, and more. Adapt the land to your needs and organize your water and sanitation pipes, power lines, traffic infrastructure, and all the police, fire, and medical support your city requires to succeed. You can even interact with your sims directly and take control to drive around town, or import character designs from The Sims.
While the mayor mode is the format you’ll probably spend the most time in, SimCity 4 also allows you to switch into god mode. There, you have full freedom to terraform and sculpt the land as you desire, or even spawn and control huge, sweeping disasters such as tornadoes, meteors, or a rampaging robot dinosaur. After all, sometimes knocking things down can be even more fun than building them – just remember to save first.
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition is 75% off on Steam and GOG until Monday May 13. That means you can expect to pay just $4.99 (£3.99 via GOG or £4.49 via Steam) for your copy. It includes both the base game and the Rush Hour expansion pack. Simply click the button below to take advantage of the discount.
Alternatively, subscribers to PC Game Pass can access SimCity 4 through the included EA Play service at no additional cost. Perhaps one day we’ll see EA return to the series, but for now, this is a game that’s still well worth your time.
If you can’t get enough of sorting out all those nitty-gritty little details, here are the best management games on PC. We’ve also picked out the best free Steam games worth your time right now, if you’re in the mood for something new that you won’t have to pay for.
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