City-building tends to have players creating large towns that eventually expand into becoming cities while tending to the needs of their townsfolk. While these games may have a few elements that would suggest it is a survival game, these titles aren't always considered the case.

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However, some city-builders are heavily reliant on the player and their city surviving against harsh weather, or the possible dangers that happen outside their walls. In these cases, gamers are left constantly building and supporting their city through researching improvements to their different structures. Therefore, these are by far the best city-builder survival titles that players have enjoyed.

8 Dawn Of Man

Metascore: 74

Players may commonly think of the industrial revolution when considering the most common city-builder title. However, true survival can only be found through players helping their prehistoric ancestors survive against the dangers of the wilderness in Dawn of Man. Players, in this title, won't have their usual modern tools to rely on and instead must think like cave people to survive the various dangers of that time period.

Part of the danger and survival in Dawn of Man is taking risks, such as sending some of their people to take on a lion, which is sure to give them the materials needed to survive the winter. Players will need to consider this and more when becoming a cave man.

7 New Cycle

Steam Rating: 7/10 (908 Reviews)

• Platform: PC
• Released: 2021-01-23
• Developer: Core Engage
• Genre: Simulation, Strategy

New Cycle is a city-builder title with a heavy focus on survival. In a world that has recently seen an apocalyptic disaster, it is up to the player to build an entirely new city from scratch and see their own work – and their citizens' work – transform the city from humble beginnings to an incredible industrial metropolis.

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It won't always be so inspiring in New Cycle, as the game is sure to challenge players with various natural disasters such as shortages and wildfires, while also battling against the unrest of the people through fast-spreading disease, or a possible refuge crisis.

6 Surviving Mars

Metascore: 76

City-builders explore a wide variety of themes, with players being able to erect their own cities across different periods of time, as well as Sci-fi settings, such as creating the only surviving colony on Mars. Surviving Mars gives players the challenge of creating a bustling city on a planet that appears to only be sand and rock.

In this survival city-builder, players will need to think strategically if they hope to increase their colonies' chance of survival on Mars while also uncovering the mysteries of this mostly undiscovered alien planet. With oxygen being important and various futuristic domes to create, players looking for a survival challenge should consider Surviving Mars.

5 Farthest Frontier

Steam Rating: 9/10 (15,233 Reviews)

• Platform: PC
• Released: 2022-08-09
• Developer: Crate Entertainment
• Genre: Simulation, Strategy

Players looking for a realistic medieval experience should look no further than the challenging city-builder known as Farthest Frontier. Players are given the role in this survival of guiding and protecting the people of the city they are left to build. This includes the usual city-building resources, such as hunting for food, collecting wood, as well as finding other minerals.

However, players will also be expected to help their city's citizens to survive against the deadly weather that hit the frontiers as well as the dangers like neighboring kingdoms or raiders, that will attempt to assault the city's walls.

4 The Wandering Village

Steam Rating: 9/10 (4,302 Reviews)

City-builder titles commonly have the player building one stationary city that will gradually expand throughout their time playing the game as they make progress in different fields of research. However, in this strategic city-builder, players create their Wandering Village on the back of a creature that replicates a mountain known as a colossus. Players will need to work on this symbiotic relationship between their city and this creature if they hope to survive the hostility of the harsh world they adventure across.

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The world they walk through while on the creature's back is filled with all sorts of dangers the villagers will have to survive against, such as poisonous plants and bloodsucking parasites that may harm their living home.

3 Frostpunk

Metascore: 84

Frostpunk prides itself on being truly a societal survival game. This means that players must build their city and society if they hope to live in the horrendously cold environment where the last city on Earth has been built. In this game, heat is one of the most important resources a player can have, as without this, humans wouldn't work, and the population would begin to rapidly die from hypothermia.

Players are forced to make harsh choices in this city-builder survival title, which may even mark the end of their run altoether, when they need to decide against helping the citizens or supporting a newly founded factory.

2 Timberborn

Steam Rating: 10/10 (21,423 Reviews)

Indie titles like Timberborn have shown that even a small team can create a fun yet challenging survival city-builder. In Timberborn, the human species has been long extinct, and, in its place, players create homes for ingenious animals such as beavers.

Players will be expected to survive in various seasons and therefore stockpile the necessary resources that will keep their city afloat during the wet, dry, and polluted months. It's more than just giving the beavers work in Timberborn, as these adorable rodents also require their other needs to be fulfilled through creating various structures.

1 Against The Storm

Metascore: 92

Against the Storm is set in a dark fantasy world that will test the player's survivability against fierce storms and the other dangers that lie away from the borders of their gradually expanding city, known as the Smoldering City.

Unlike many of the other city-builders mentioned, Against the Storm also considers itself to be a roguelike title, and therefore, it encourages players to fail in the hopes of learning from their past mistakes. With various biomes for players to build their city in, there are a wide range of scenarios a player will have to survive against.

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