SimCity™ 4 Deluxe Edition (2010)

Developer: EA - Maxis, Aspyr (Mac)
Publisher: Electronic Arts, Aspyr (Mac)
Genres: Simulation, Strategy
Rating: 4.1 of 5, 9,773 player ratings
Typical playtime: about 11 hours
Where to get it: Steam

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The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A meditative, grounded city-building experience that feels both methodical and expansive as you shape and manage a living metropolis.

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What players say

Players still call this the best city builder of its generation, praising its gritty American-city atmosphere and the ability to link cities into regions with no population cap. But the game crashes often on modern systems, has no auto-save, and requires mods and launch-option tweaks just to run at a decent resolution.

Screenshots

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This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.