SimCity 4 is one of the most pleasant games I own—I can experience all the splendor of a modern metropolis with a fraction of the nuance, and for the first time in my life, feel what it’s like to drive on American roads that don’t piss me off.
Up-and-coming “hyperrealistic” transit simulator **Subway Builder** offers a terrifying proposition: that same satisfaction in real US cities, assuming I’m up to the challenge.
On its face, the fidelity on offer in Subway Builder is shocking. You can check out the pitch on the game’s website. Real census data is used to populate cities like Chicago and Dallas with realistic commuters, and you’re tasked with getting them to their jobs, homes, and more with as little hassle as possible. Whether people even take the subway depends on a variety of factors, so it’s up to you to ensure the system is accessible and not prone to delays.
There’s a page on Subway Builder’s site that dives into the specifics, explaining:
*”The US census records home and workplace locations. The game generates millions of commuters with homes from that and then uses a distance-based gravity model to assign them all workplaces. This decision is then made based on how long each commute method takes, how much it costs, and the value of their time (different commuters can have different incomes).”*
Even if you can make sense of the city’s geography layout itself, you’ve still got money to worry about. Subway systems are expensive, and the most ideal setup may not be within your budget. These are the sorts of nitty-gritty details city simulators tend to streamline and gloss over to keep the impression of transit management intact while maintaining a broad and varied gameplay experience.
If you’re a very particular kind of transit obsessive, though, Subway Builder seems tailor-made for you.
The game has already started turning heads on social media, with a subreddit nearly 10,000 strong and players taking to X to share stories of their budding obsessions—all before the game even launched a Steam page.
Currently, there are 26 US cities available to play with, but the game’s FAQ section promises there’s more to come—both in and outside of North America.
If you’re intrigued, Subway Builder could be the transit sim you’ve been waiting for.
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/the-sleeper-hit-of-the-fall-might-be-this-mad-lads-hyper-realistic-traffic-management-sim-that-uses-real-census-data-and-a-distance-based-gravity-model-to-produce-millions-of-npc-commuters/