SimCity
Shares rank 2 of 21 city builder games by recommenders
Classic city builder people recommend for its addictive, charming sandbox play, with the earlier versions favored. Critics say the 2013 launch failed under load and had tiny plots.
Classic city builder people recommend for its addictive, charming sandbox play, with the earlier versions favored. Critics say the 2013 launch failed under load and had tiny plots.
32 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 63%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Pioneering sandbox simulation game
“ever since I was young and playing with SimCity and cellular automata”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Microcosm Industries: simulation toys and software microcosms” “Simcity was the first sandbox simulation game I played”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “The Life and Times of Maxis, Part 1: SimEverything” “Sim City was a fantastic simulation from the stand point of a game”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: SimCity, but with Permits” - Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2”
Original version considered best
“but the first version is still by far the best”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “OpenCiv3: Open-source, cross-platform reimagining of Civilization III” “The original SimCity was perfection”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Art of Roads in Games” “I thought I'd been hurt too many times (CS:2, SC2013, [..])”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2” - Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Flashpoint Archive – Over 200k web games and animations preserved”
Simple, fast, addictive gameplay
“I loved the fast play style that was possible, also in other games, civilization 1, simcity 1”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Amiga Graphics” “the actual gameplay was quite simple and efficient to use”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” “playability wise I found the first one the most addictive”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Flashpoint Archive – Over 200k web games and animations preserved” - Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Disastrous 2013 launch and server failures
“the tiny plots of SimCity 2013 was a bigger turnoff than anything else in its disastrous launch”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “SimCity 3k in 4k” “when it finally came out it was a completely underwhelming”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “The Cities Skylines Paradox: how the sequel stumbled” “to great disaster as the online stuff failed under load”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Postgres Postmaster does not scale” - Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Ubisoft cancels six games including Prince of Persia and closes studios”
- Comment from 31 Mar 2026 on Hacker News
- Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “OpenCiv3: Open-source, cross-platform reimagining of Civilization III”
- Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “City building games have a Soul Problem pt.2”
Heavy traffic and car-centric design
“I hated all the heavy traffic in SimCity”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “AI Is a Harsh Mistress” “failed to properly showcase how ugly car-centric cities actually are”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)” “Simcity famously has no visible parking whatsoever”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Art of Roads in Games” Unrealistic, ideologically skewed city model
“have been made deliberately unrealistic in ways that favour North American style cities”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Art of Roads in Games” “It's unintentional propaganda for the crappy ways we build our cities.”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Art of Roads in Games” “SimCity already distorts reality in an ideological way”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Art of Roads in Games”
Other city builder games people recommend
The four most recommended other city builder games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SimCity 3000 | 23 | 2 | 92% | 5 | — | Approved |
| SimCityThis page | 20 | 12 | 63% | 9 | — | — |
| SimCity 2000 | 20 | 7 | 74% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Cities: Skylines | 20 | 18 | 53% | 9 | — | — |
| Microlandia | 20 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 42 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“And simcity, to some extent”
“Sim City was a fantastic simulation from the stand point of a game”
“the classic versions of SimCity provide exactly that”
“its gameplay actually had challenges to overcome with real decisions to make”
“As someone who grew up with SimCity (DOS)”
“I thought I'd been hurt too many times (CS:2, SC2013, [..])”
“I think it still has infinitely more charm than Skylines.”
“SimCity felt like a toybox buzzing with life and charm”
“I remember old tile-based games (like SimCity or Transport Tycoon)”
“you wont own the game or the hardware”
“the slow pace was super cozy to let play in the background”
“I hated all the heavy traffic in SimCity”
“Many of the best games - Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Starcraft, Simcity - all automate their background tedium”
“Its enormously better than any of the sim cities, especially the last one.”
“ever since I was young and playing with SimCity and cellular automata”
“the higher-resolution graphics were very legible”
“Simcity was the first sandbox simulation game I played”
“SimCity grabbed me harder than any game had ever grabbed me before”
“it always felt weird, like I was handling things I wouldn't expect to handle”
“the actual gameplay was quite simple and efficient to use”
“the tiny plots of SimCity 2013 was a bigger turnoff than anything else in its disastrous launch”
“I loved the fast play style that was possible, also in other games, civilization 1, simcity 1”
“terrible flops ala SimCity disaster of 2013”
“failed to properly showcase how ugly car-centric cities actually are”
“The most intersting and fun thing in SimCity was always having to upgrade your storage.”
“how interesting, fun and even informative they can be”
“playability wise I found the first one the most addictive”
“the open source license from EA requires using "Micropolis" rather than "SimCity" (which is EA's trademark)”
“have been made deliberately unrealistic in ways that favour North American style cities”
“SimCity already distorts reality in an ideological way”
“It's unintentional propaganda for the crappy ways we build our cities.”
“Simcity famously has no visible parking whatsoever”
“The original SimCity was perfection”
“but the first version is still by far the best”
“It's hard to describe how much EA shit the bed with SimCity”
“to great disaster as the online stuff failed under load”
“There are few bigger fumbles than the EA SimCity fiasco.”
“it was an integral part of managing housing supply and employment”
“when it finally came out it was a completely underwhelming”
“I really miss these building games that used an isometric grid”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.