How would you design your house if you could create your dream home with no restrictions in the way? How would you design an entire city? Not only are architecture games a fun and addictive way to do just that, but they also help train your brain to find creative solutions to everyday problems.
There are so many different video games you could be playing, from house building games to games where you can colonize the world. Here’s a list of architecture games that are sure to get the creative juices flowing!
1. SimCity by EA Maxis
SimCity is a video game brought to us by the same company that brought us The Sims series of video games. The open-ended city-building video game allows you to design a city down to the individual shops and houses (who doesn’t love building houses games).
The city is divided into different areas like commercial zones and neighborhoods to help you keep projects organized. Just like the real world, the game’s main goal is to keep its inhabitants satisfied.
2. Minecraft by Mojang
Minecraft is a popular, award-winning video game you may have seen your niece or nephew playing, but it’s seriously fun! In this sandbox-style game, you can create an imaginative oasis from building blocks you gather from the land.
You can mine materials, farm, and even tame wild animals you find while exploring.
The structures you can create in this game vary from simple to complex buildings and cities that mimic reality. Keep in mind though, you’ll need to protect the structures you create from attackers!
3. Prison Architect by Introversion Software
In Prison Architect your role is — you guessed it — a prison architect! In this 2D top-down game, you start by building cells and other prison facilities and then connecting them all together.
You’ll also be responsible for satisfying the needs of your inmates and hiring staff. This game is super fun because a variety of different problems arise throughout your journey, forcing you to be creative in your architectural problem-solving skills.
4. Infra by Loiste Interactive
Infra is truly an interactive experience! In this architectural game, you play as an engineer faced with a crumbling city. You have to solve different mechanical and electrical puzzles to help rebuild the infrastructure.
What makes Infra different from other video games is the cinematic reels that connect you with your character and the reality he lives in. You really feel like it’s you in the dark solving these puzzles by flashlight.
In this world, danger lurks around every corner! So be diligent in your problem-solving and protect yourself, or else the city may crumble right before your very eyes.
5. The Sims by EA Maxis
The predecessor of SimCity, The Sims, is the original architecture game! In this game, you’ll design a family and then place them in either a pre-designed home or a home you design (it’s one of the original building a house games).
The goal is to keep your family happy and to satisfy their needs.
The best part of this game, undeniably, is the house designing. You can create anything from a simple bungalow to a multi-story mansion with a pool and basketball court.
6. Design Home by Glu Mobile
Design Home is a popular mobile game available for both iOS and Android.
This interior design game has a great competitive side—you can design with your favorite real-life brands, enter your designs in challenges, and rate other’s designs within the competition.
The best thing about this game? If you fall in love with a certain piece you can purchase it straight through the app!
7. Cities: Skyline by Colossal Order
Cities: Skyline is one of the most highly regarded city-planning games within the genre.
In this game, you can design every aspect of a city. The player can apply policies to districts, control pollution, manage disease and crime, and even give access to clean water.
You face very little to no unexpected disasters in this game, so you can give your complete attention to your masterpiece. Because of this style of play, Cities: Skylines has inspired real-life projects like a Stockholm transportation system.
8. Block’hood by Plethora Project
Block’hood is an ecology focused building game that focuses on managing resources.
Players combine different kinds of blocks to design buildings, like Legos. Each block draws different natural energies, so the main goal is creating a self-sufficient building without harming the world around it!
The game also introduces different types of challenges to the player like boarding zones, building codes, and circulation problems from within your project.
9. Project Aura by Pixel Quality Games
This building game may be another one that inspires real-life designs sometime soon. In Project Aura, the world is hit by a climate epidemic causing the planet to be completely submerged underwater.
To stay alive, the player will need to build a colony on top of the water. You will be responsible for the colony’s survival, protection, and harmony with the newly formed world around it.
You’ll have to create energy-efficient neighborhoods, food sources like gardens, and communities need to be built under large domes to protect them from the now harmful atmosphere.
The way climate change is escalating, this game has the potential to be a roadmap for future infrastructure.
Architecture Games Everyone Will Love
Whether you’ve never thought about playing an architecture game or are a virtual house-building aficionado, there’s a game out there for everyone!
If you want to build a virtual city, colonize an alien planet, or just practice your architectural, interior and home designing skills, architecture games can even combine all four.
Puzzle games like these help build creative habits within your problem-solving strategies. Refining these skills can help you in real life, at your job, or just solving daily problems like scheduling and maintaining your household.
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