Summary
- Castle-building games like Stronghold offer players a creative outlet to construct impressive fortresses and structures.
- Games like Castle Constructor and Valheim provide players with intuitive building tools and a focus on defending their creations from enemies.
- While some castle-building games lean more towards creative freedom, others, such as Diplomacy Is Not An Option, focus on strategic construction and defense.
There are plenty of games that let players stretch their creative wings, giving them the tools to create buildings, contraptions, and even entire levels. Creative games like Minecraft, level creators such as Halo’s Forge mode, and the construction simulation of games like RimWorld allow players to construct buildings, which has proven to be a strong core gameplay loop.
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Although players can build castles in games like Minecraft, these more creative-focused games often lack gameplay loops that center on castle-building. While many of these games contain strong mechanics for building castles in a way that affects the gameplay, some are more focused on creative freedom.
Updated by Harry Ted Sprinks on December 24, 2024: Castle-building games are a relatively underserved market in the world of PC gaming, even though they’re relatively popular. However, the successful release of both Stronghold: Definitive Edition and Cataclismo shows that there’s still a need for good castle-building experiences, so much so that people will still happily purchase a game that’s over twenty years old. Furthermore, the substantial success of the recently-released Tiny Glade has shown a clear want and need for expressive castle-building games.
1
Castle Story
A Voxel-Based Castle Builder
- Platform(s): PC
- Released: 2017
- Developer(s): Sauropod Studio
- Genre: Strategy
This voxel-based castle builder has players building and defending castles while managing their denizens. Castle Story combines its castle building with strategic gameplay, tasking players with micro-managing their small colony of workers.
Although Castle Story may not have lived up to its potential, its castle-building mechanics remain competent, revolving heavily around interactions with the user interface. While this system can be tedious at times, it allows for a great deal of freedom.
2
Castle Flipper
A First-Person Building Game With A Great Sense Of Scale
- Platform(s): PC
- Released: 2021
- Developer(s): Pyramid Games
- Genre: Building
As its title may suggest, Castle Flipper plays very similarly to games like House Flipper, but with a medieval theme. While castles aren’t the only thing players will be building and repairing, Castle Flipper allows players to build large, impressive castles.
The first-person perspective and large 3D environments make Castle Flipper particularly immersive and give the buildings a great sense of scale. While Castle Flipper may be a little rough around the edges, it gives players a great deal of freedom to build impressive fortresses.
3
Castle Constructor
Build Castles Out Of Modular Pieces
- Platform(s): PC
- Released: 2024
- Developer(s): Sisyphean Games
- Genre: Tower Defense
This 3D indie tower defense game has players building castles out of modular pieces and defending them from a variety of enemies and medieval siege weapons. The modular system makes building castles easy, allowing players to focus on the best strategy without fighting against the user interface.
Castle Constructor features several campaign levels for players to progress through, learning new technology along the way. While this is the main way to play, Castle Constructor also features an endless mode and a creative sandbox, giving it a great deal of replay value.
4
Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition
An RTS With An Emphasis On Base-Building
- Released
-
November 14, 2019
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
This classic real-time strategy game has aged tremendously well, thanks in part to its 2019 definitive edition, which helped bring the game to modern audiences. Like many real-time strategy games, Age Of Empires 2 features base-building. However, AoE 2 arguably features more depth in this department than the average RTS.
Age Of Empires 2 focuses on many things other than building castles. However, the game’s variety of factions to control and buildings to construct give players a lot of freedom when it comes to base-building.
5
Valheim
A Survival-Crafting Game About Building Viking Strongholds
- Released
-
February 2, 2021
- Developer(s)
-
Iron Gate AB
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
This tough-as-nails multiplayer survival game takes on a Viking theme and focuses its gameplay on exploration, combat, and building. With a strong fan-base and dedicated developers, Valheim remains a relatively safe bet for fans of survival games.
Valheim’s building tools are incredibly intuitive and merge with the survival gameplay perfectly, allowing players to get creative as they explore and gain access to more resources. The potential for complex and large-scale castles in the world of Valheim can be seen in the community. YouTube alone is heavily populated with complex and large-scale castles built by dedicated players. Although Valheim is one of the most well-received castle-building games, its focus on exploration and combat makes its gameplay less centered around castle-building than others.
6
Becastled
Building And Defending From Fantasy Sieges
City Builder
Tower Defense
- Released
-
February 8, 2021
This base defense game is all about building and defending a castle from waves of enemies in a fantasy setting. The game features increasingly difficult sieges to defend from, resource management, and light RTS elements that help to add a layer of depth to the game.
Becastled features a cartoon visual style and centers itself around building castles, resulting in a focused experience. It’s also somewhat more simplistic than other castle-building titles, providing an experience that’s perhaps more accessible to beginners.
7
V Rising
A Survival Game About Building Gothic Castles
- Released
-
May 17, 2022
- Developer(s)
-
Stunlock Studios
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
This open-world top-down survival game puts players in the role of a vampire attempting to take down a variety of increasingly challenging bosses in fluid, fast-paced combat. Outside of combat, players gather resources and slowly construct a Gothic castle to call home.
V Rising began as an Early Access title and has since lived up to its full potential with its 1.0 release. Though V Rising features plenty of combat, the game’s customization options when it comes to building a base allow players to easily construct menacing, looming Gothic castles.
8
Diplomacy Is Not An Option
Defend Against Hordes Of Physics-Simulated Enemies
Diplomacy Is Not An Option
- Released
-
February 9, 2022
Diplomacy Is Not An Option tasks players with building and defending a sprawling castle from waves of enemies. Diplomacy Is Not An Option is arguably one of the best castle-building base defense games thanks to its well-crafted minimalist art style and truly massive hordes of physics-simulated enemies, as well as its intuitive building mechanics.
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Diplomacy Is Not An Option allows players to build defenses and even armies to control via light RTS mechanics. Furthermore, the game also features an entire spell system that can provide powerful advantages to the player in their most dire moments. Diplomacy Is Not An Option constantly throws huge amounts of enemies at the player’s castle, making it less focused on creativity and much more focused on strategic construction.
9
Foundation
A Gridless Medieval City-Builder
- Released
-
February 1, 2019
Foundation is a relaxing city-builder that’s relatively typical in its design. However, the overall experience is elevated by a focus on resource management and a grid-less construction system that allows players a great degree of creative freedom. This system is particularly freeing for those that enjoy placing objects exactly where they want them, resulting in an experience that’s immediately less stressful than similar titles.
Because of Foundation’s laid-back nature, players are given more freedom to focus on the city-building aspects of the game, rather than worrying about constant threats looming over their growing city. Furthermore, Foundation also features a variety of difficulty modes and even a creative mode for those that just want to build in peace.
10
Going Medieval
A Medieval Colony-Sim
Going Medieval
This colony-sim plays very similarly to RimWorld but takes place in a medieval setting. The game gives players easy-to-use tools to build a variety of strongholds amid an untamed wilderness, attempting to keep their villagers safe and happy while defending against vicious raids.
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Going Medieval is very much a colony-sim, but includes heavy elements of base defense as well. In order to succeed, players will need to be strategic with the placement of traps and defenses, all while maintaining the infrastructure of their colony. While certainly engaging, this aspect establishes Going Medieval as a more strategic experience than a creative one.
11
Kingdoms And Castles
A City-Builder About Building And Defending Castles
- Released
-
July 20, 2017
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Strong
This medieval-fantasy city-builder tasks players with building and defending a castled town from Viking raids and dragon attacks, each posing their own unique threats. Featuring a cartoon visual style and an intuitive grid-based building system, Kingdoms And Castles allows players to defend their villagers from these threats by building a variety of structures.
However, infrastructure is perhaps the most important defense in Kingdoms And Castles; a happy city is necessary for mounting an optimal defense, and players will also need to be strategic with the placement of their battlements and towers. Some defenses are even affected by the height of the battlement they’re placed on, making the castle building aspect of the game a truly strategic process.
12
Minecraft
A Game Of Creative Freedom
- Platform(s)
-
3DS
, Android
, iOS
, Nintendo Switch
, Nintendo Wii U
, PC
, PlayStation 3
, PlayStation 4
, PS Vita
, Xbox One
, Xbox 360 - Released
-
November 18, 2011
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
Minecraft is, at its heart, a survival-crafting game with a focus on mining and building. However, the sheer number of tools and materials that Minecraft offers both in and out of its designated Creative Mode allows players an unprecedented amount of freedom.
This freedom allows players to essentially build whatever they can imagine, so long as it can be made out of blocks. Over the years of Minecraft’s development, players have honed their skills and mastered the game’s tools to such a degree that they’re able to build extremely impressive structures. However, even for the average player, building a simple stone castle is still perfectly possible, albeit not the game’s focus.
13
Stronghold
A Classic Castle-Builder
Stronghold
- Platform(s)
-
Microsoft Windows
- Released
-
May 9, 2021
This retro RTS game was released back in 2001 and defines itself as a “castle simulator,” allowing players to design and build sprawling castle complexes. Though it’s an older title, Stronghold has managed to stand the test of time thanks to a timeless art-style and well-crafted gameplay. In fact, it could be argued that building strongholds and defending them from large armies has never managed to live up to the standards Stronghold set all those years ago.
Although Stronghold features a full campaign with some great missions to complete, its economic campaign allows players to relax as they design and build castles in a combat-free environment. The game features a revered HD version on the Steam storefront, and a definitive edition was released on November 7, 2023.
14
Cataclismo
A Gloomy, Granular Base Defense Game
Strategy
Simulation
City Builder
- Released
-
July 22, 2024
- Developer(s)
-
Digital Sun
Cataclismo is a combination of real-time strategy, tower defense, and base-building. The game tasks players with building castles piece by piece using a modular system inspired by LEGO, a truly intuitive design that maintains accessibility while allowing for deep strategy and tactics. The desperate battles of Cataclismo are back-dropped by a somber world and an art style that balances gloom with cartoonish visuals, providing an eerie atmosphere as players defend their growing castle from waves of enemies.
Featuring a single-player campaign, a skirmish mode, and a highly replayable challenge mode, Cataclismo already boasts tremendous replay value. Furthermore, the game also features a map editor that allows players to build and share their own skirmish maps. Overall, Cataclismo is a castle-building base-defense game with a great sense of atmosphere and high replay value.
15
Tiny Glade
A Cozy Sandbox About Castle Dioramas
Tiny Glade
- Released
-
September 23, 2024
- Developer(s)
-
Pounce Light
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Fair
Similar to the wholly serene Townscaper, Tiny Glad is a casual and cozy game that features no combat and/or goals of any kind, instead focusing its efforts on true creativity and sandbox play. Immediately apparent is Tiny Glade’s wonderful art direction, which borders on endearing, elevating the overall experience and resulting in gameplay that is truly satisfying.
The tranquil mood and dense atmosphere of Tiny Glade also play a tremendous part in the experience. However, it’s the fantastical visuals and tactile controls that make the moment-to-moment gameplay so satisfying. Combined with the soothing color palette, low stakes, and lush environments, Tiny Glade is able to offer a tranquil sandbox in which to build with few limitations.
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