The Android version does come with in-app purchases like production boosts and premium landmarks, but they’re far from invasive. Balancing all of that against an increasingly crowded plot and a growing list of financial constraints is no mean feat. Growth means keeping your citizens happy, and you’ll need to ensure they’ve got not just the essentials covered, but also good education, jobs, and fulfillment from culture, religion, and sports.
It’s easy enough to build a basic town and get it running, but the complexity kicks in when you want to elevate your sleepy town into a thriving metropolis. Things start simply enough, with you plotting out basic city districts and hooking them up with power, water, and transport. This city builder sits comfortably between casual city-building games like Pocket City 2 and fully-fledged simulations like the upcoming Cities: Skylines 2. It marries it with more detailed pixel art that you can zoom right into to reveal delicate flowers growing on bushes and cars cruising the streets. It takes the slightly muted palette and dimetric layout of the retro Maxis games. TheoTown almost feels like a sequel to classic SimCity, both in look and in-game action and play.
Purchase details: Free-to-play with in-app purchases Scratch beneath TheoTown’s nostalgic, SimCity-inspired look, and you’ll find a city builder with the kind of depth that’s otherwise hard to find on mobile.
