Lately, I’ve reviewed a lot of titles tagged “city-building” that don’t quite deliver the city-building experience. In my opinion, city-building games are like Manor Lords, the Tropico series, or Cities: Skylines; you physically build a city, building by building, to accommodate your citizens’ needs. They often involve population mechanics and some kind of economic system, a very specific niche I enjoy. While I enjoyed Technotopia, I don’t think it’s a true city-builder.

Technotopia uses the guise of city building to deliver a puzzle game with some light deckbuilding.

In Technotopia, you’re an advanced AI tasked with “building a city” by placing thematically sorted blocks on a grid. Each block represents a city district, must connect to a branching path from the map’s center, and is tied to one of four resources, representing the city’s four ruling communities. Blocks can combine into larger structures when placed strategically and cost a flat amount of one resource, with the price increasing per block placed.

The game ends when you run out of any of the four resources or when the cost of placing a building is more than your total in that resource, putting you over cost. The buildings you are allowed to place are dealt as cards, meaning you must plan your limited district placements without knowing what your next cards might be.

About to hit 0 in your Economic resource pool? Unfortunately, you just drew four Economic cards, meaning the game is essentially over. After running out of resources and getting a game over, the match ends, and you can start a new city.

Along the way, you’ll encounter events that present narrative-based problems and let you choose solutions. For example, the city might face increased crime, and you, the AI, are asked to solve it with solutions offered by different factions. However, these decisions are mostly flavor text for resource rewards, as each choice grants factional currency. No matter what your real decision would be, you kind of just end up picking whatever option gives you more of what you need at that moment.

That said, there are reasons to prioritize one faction over another, even if it leads to an early game over. Specifically, new cards are added to your deck by achieving higher scores with each faction, giving you more options in your next run.

Essentially, Technotopia is about making the best of the cards you’re dealt (literally) to see how many districts you can place and combine before running out of resources and hitting game over. It doesn’t have a population mechanic, a real economy system, or advanced building mechanics. It’s more of a puzzle game, themed around building a metropolis.

If that still sounds appealing, the puzzle itself is definitely engaging. The combination of resource management and deckbuilding creates a delightfully strategic experience.

Technotopia also features a pretty light story about the city’s many factions vying for control of the advanced AI city builder, each attempting to influence the machine into serving their interests. What I particularly enjoyed was its clever pacing alongside gameplay. Story objectives are never harder than regular tasks like building toward a region or playing a particular card. It’s a very non-intrusive way to include a story without forcing interaction. Sometimes, you just want to shut your brain off and play without reading a bunch of stories, and Technotopia gets that.

On top of that, the game uses a wonderful art-deco style, portraying a future imagined in the 1930s–1950s. Technotopia’s distinct style shines in both its 3D-modeled buildings and hand-drawn 2D art, depicting the game’s characters and card portraits.

Pair the game’s art style with its retro sci-fi score and stimulating puzzles, and you have a surprisingly relaxing experience. Technotopia has quickly become my go-to game after a long workday when I want a challenge without the grind of loot or the pressure of PVP.

While not a city-builder, in my opinion, Technotopia is still recommended, though it could better define its target audience. This isn’t Cities: Skylines; it’s a strategically focused puzzle game.

Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Technotopia is available on Steam and GOG.