Frostpunk

Frostpunk is among the best overall takes on the survival city builder to date. Its theming and consistency create a powerful narrative through line that binds your actions around the struggle to hold onto humanity in uncertain times. Hope is a qualified good, but you may not always be strong enough (or clever enough) to shelter that flame from the cold.

Frostpunk is a strategy game that doesn’t pull its punches, forcing you to make progressively harder moral decisions on how best to keep your people happy, healthy, and – most importantly – alive. Despite the somewhat odd hunting mechanic, Frostpunk gives you multiple options on how best to gather each of the resources, and in these decisions you help define what kind of leader you are and what kind of settlement you run.

If doom and gloom isn't your thing then Frostpunk won't appeal and you're better off with a less misery-drenched city-builder such as the excellent Cities: Skylines. But if you're a sucker for the punishing post-apocalyptic (and this game can certainly dish it out) then Frostpunk's bleak winter wonderland will keep you hooked, turning you into a horrible, horrible person in the process.