Published Apr 12, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT
Kyle Gratton is an editor and writer based out of Kansas City. He received a bachelor's degree, dual majoring in English and History with a minor in Film and Media Studies, and has been a senior staff writer and reviewer for Screen Rant's Gaming section since 2021, with roles in editorial, and various freelance projects.
A terminal Midwesterner who graduated from the University of Kansas, Kyle also has knowledge and interest in literature, film, film adaptions of literature, and history.
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City builders are incredibly difficult to get right, especially for indie projects. To succeed, they need deep and complex simulation and management systems, while also being incredibly customizable and intuitive. A newcomer called City Masterplan is stepping up to the plate, and its first impression is very strong.
The reveal trailer for City Masterplan sets the stage for what indie developer and publisher 1:1 Studio is hoping to accomplish. Powered by Unreal Engine 5, City Masterplan hopes to feature larger build areas than its genre cohorts, while also instituting frequently requested city builder features, such as logistics, dynamic weather, and 1:1-scale assets. The reveal trailer is a promising first look at the game, which is "coming soon" to Steam, but it's definitely a tall order for an indie studio's debut project.
City Masterplan’s Reveal Trailer Is Very Impressive
It's a good sign that the City Masterplan developers seem to know what players want out of the city building genre. Snippets of gameplay show everything from landscape terraforming to roadway micromanagement. The latter's apparent focus on realism extends to its art design, with assets scaled to mimic their real-world counterparts. Vehicles and traffic lights, for instance, are realistically sized compared to the humans and buildings they're next to. This is something other city builders have sacrificed for gameplay readability, though it sometimes irks die-hard players.
The trailer teases urban mobility, education, health, and development simulation systems, but 1:1 Studio is still fielding ideas. The City Masterplan account is in the trailer comments asking prospective players, "What's the one thing you've always wanted in a city builder but never got?" There's a clear effort to deliver a game that fans have been hoping for, but actually pulling it off is another matter.
City Builders Are Notoriously Difficult To Get Right
Many genre fans grew up playing SimCity, and while replacements pop up fairly regularly, none seem to quite be a hit. SimCity itself hasn't released a mainline entry since its 2013 soft reboot, simply titled SimCity, became one of the first notorious games-as-a-service disasters. Cities: Skylines has been a more recent favorite, but its sequel was a technical mess upon release, which really killed the momentum of an otherwise robust city planning game.
Even looking at the answers to the aforementioned question from the City Masterplan developers, it's clear that city builder fans all want different things from the genre. One major complaint is that these games often focus too heavily on car-centric, American-style cities – walkable neighborhoods are often impossible with the simulation systems in place. City Masterplan's trailer has already worried some hopeful players by focusing so keenly on "transit" but only showing roads and highways.
There isn't a clear timeline for City Masterplan's release, but most of its major systems appear to be quite far along. We love to see indie devs thriving, and 1:1 Studio has definitely made a strong first impression. It may be an uphill battle in the city builder genre, but here's hoping City Masterplan can pull it off and give a wanting genre what it's been waiting for.
Brand Valve
Original Release Date September 12, 2003
English (US) ·