A new indie game that blends the sustained strategy of Cities: Skylines with the roguelike unpredictability of Balatro is available on Steam today. Cities: Skylines has been a city-building staple since 2015, allowing players to build their very own metropolises by zoning districts, building roads, and setting policies like taxes. Its sequel, Cities: Skylines 2, hit Steam in 2023, building on its predecessor with intricate detail and larger playable areas.
Balatro, meanwhile, is the poker roguelike that took the world by storm in 2024. Build a deck, upgrade different hands, and try to achieve the minimum score in each round to unlock new abilities. Garnering popularity and acclaim that even its creator couldn’t foresee, Balatro went on to win many accolades, including Best Indie Game at The Game Awards 2024.
Now, a new city-building roguelike has hit Steam: Combolands blends the two gameplay styles for a fascinating twist on two beloved genres. Developed and published by Crux Games (their first Steam release), it’s out today, August 24, and currently on sale for 20% off its $9.99 price.
In Combolands, you build your own city turn by turn, placing buildings on a pixel art map in order to try and meet a point minimum. Each week, you place a new building with its own score value, aiming to activate synergies between buildings and multiply your score exponentially. You’ll need to time your placement right, as different buildings may have different abilities that only activate after a certain amount of time.
Between turns, you’ll also have opportunities to expand your city council with different officials, each of whom will give you a different type of bonus. As you continue on, you’ll unlock new content by reaching certain milestones that’ll change how the game is played: new buildings, perk-granting guilds, and more.
To reference another recent roguelike, Combolands also has a bit in common with Loop Hero, in its focus on placing different structures strategically to boost your score. As a mini city builder with more cartoonish graphics, Combolands will probably also appeal to fans of Islanders.
Although only a handful of user reviews have been posted on Steam thus far, they’re already pretty positive. One user calls Combolands “such a perfect little game to play a quick little run or two of,” while another who claims to have over 500 hours in Balatro calls it “extremely addictive.”
With all that in mind and a sub-$10 price, Combolands is one to check out this week. That goes double if you’re a fan of Balatro, Cities: Skylines, or other similar games.
