City builder games, like Cities: Skylines and other large-scale management games, have had a huge impact on gamers. It can feel empowering and challenging to face the puzzles that come from expanding and keeping massive swathes of citizens happy. For many players, though, this large scale can detract from some of the charm and intimacy that comes with being in charge of a smaller group of townspeople, and while building towering skyscrapers can be incredible, sometimes building a cozier town that can provide for its people's every need can be a more heart-warming experience.

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Here are some of the best smaller-scale town-building games, where players have a chance to get hands-on with their people, places, and passions, without have to sweat over the more intricate details of a full-blow city-building game.

7 Flotsam

Drifters, Recycling In A Water World

• Platforms: PC, Mac OS X
• Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Developer: Pajama Llama Games

In Flotsam, players take control of a floating town, reminiscent of Waterworld, in a post-apocalyptic setting. Each of the 'drifters' who live in the settlement and work to keep things running have different quirks, likes, and dislikes and are more skilled in some activities than others. They will be diving into the water to collect driftwood, floating plastic rubbish, and eventually, even collecting technology from before the world flooded.

The player's town will develop, starting with a mad rush to ensure they have a distillery so that they can provide fresh water, and eventually letting them sail around the remnants of the world on their little town. The variety of locations and the consistent progression, paired with the emphasis on recycling and the vibrant art-style, make for a pleasant little voyage.

6 Havendock

Be A Part Of Your Island Of Innovation

• Platforms: PC, Mac OS X, Linux
• Release Date: April 20, 2023
• Developer: YYZ Productions

Another game set on the ocean, Havendock sees players slowly building structures on the water and collecting resources that flow past in the current. The player takes on a character and can wander around their town as it expands and explodes into a busy little hub.

Technology can advance quite far in the game, but getting people what they need and want is still the main focus, even when worker robots and an experimental cooperative mode join the fray. With additions like diving, farming, and befriending birds, Havendock becomes a go-to cozy game for sitting on the water and caring for some townsfolk.

5 Rimworld

Surviving And Thriving On An Alien World

While town-builders are expected to be slow-paced, charming games, Rimworld is tense and brutal. Three characters crash-land on a strange planet and have to cobble together the pieces they need for survival in a hostile world. While more characters can be recruited, they can also be sold into slavery and enemies can be recruited instead.

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Interpersonal relationships will be made and broken during play, and any moment of calm farming could be shattered by the arrival of rabid animals, ancient robots, or an enemy tribe. Technology can reach incredible levels, and when a player's settlement is filled with clones with bionic limbs who are constantly falling out with each other, they will undoubtedly both love and hate their town.

4 Dorfromantik

Sleepy Puzzler With Scenic Charm

For a change of pace, Dorfromantik plays more like a board game or a particularly enticing puzzle. The meaning of the title refers to the romantic view that people have of villages and quaint towns, and the slow tile-placing gameplay lends itself well to the serene visuals and beautiful landscapes that will be created during a playthrough. Players must join tiles to complete quests, forming sets of forests, rivers, and houses.

Special tiles, like mills, will need to be connected to huge numbers of fields, and it could quickly feel like players will run out of space. The music is calm, and the stunning art direction makes every playthrough a patient breeze as more and more tiles unlock. Although it can feel a little more impersonal compared to other games on this list, it is a tranquil game that invites players to slow down and enjoy the view.

3 Frostpunk

High-stakes Management In A Frozen Wasteland

A much more political and human survival sim, Frostpunk puts players in control of survivors in an icy wasteland. The game's smaller scale pairs well with the harsher conditions and sees players forced to make difficult decisions. For example, will they make child labor legal to have more workers?

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Making too many controversial decisions will decrease people's hope and increase discontent, and if either reaches their limit, the town will collapse. The gritty steampunk visuals reinforce the bitter cold of having to establish order and enforce the player's will on their people as they prepare for the big chill that threatens to wipe them out.

2 Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Cutesy Creation With Vibrant Villagers

It will come as no surprise to lovers of the genre that Animal Crossing: New Horizons appears on this list. Nintendo's town builder begins with a scrappy scavenger chopping down trees for fruit and wood and finding new blueprints to make new furniture and decorations, but it quickly becomes a lavish life of luxury. As the island's mayor, players decide on the villagers who can stay and the esthetics of the village and their home.

Cutesy friends and requests for players to hunt across the island keep them engaged over the days of playtime. The changes to the scenery over different times of day, and even different seasons, make this a game that is hard to put down. Showing off gardens and intricately positioned fences to friends has never felt so good.

1 Factory Town

Industrializing A New Landscape

• Platforms: PC, Mac OS X
• Release Date: March 12, 2019
• Developer: 82apps

While it runs the risk of becoming complex and chaotic, Factory Town tasks players with providing everything for their people. For starters, they will need access to water, but as the name implies, the town will quickly become an industrial hub. Loggers are felling trees to collect wood that will be turned first into paper and then books that are shipped to schools to let villagers earn research points.

The lush green grass of the terrain will quickly become dense with villagers running cooked fish to the store for other villagers to buy, while conveyors overhead ship coal to the forges where pickaxes are made. Checking on supply and demand for certain products is crucial to keeping the people happy and keeping the town running smoothly.

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