City Block Builder Arrives in Steam Early Access Next Week

Written by Brandon Hofer on August 04, 2022

News: After many years of development and delays thanks to Covid, City Block Builder is finally ready for you to try out beginning August 9th.

Tentworks Interactive has announced that its multi-business management game, City Block Builder, is coming to Steam Early Access on August 9th. To commemorate this milestone, Tentworks has released a new trailer showing how the game has progressed during development.

City Block Builder is a mashup of deep tycoon management games with large-scale city building elements. Set in Los Angeles during the 1950s, the game puts you in the shoes of a young, budding entrepreneur who is determined to build their own business empire. Fresh off the victory of WWII, Los Angeles is the pop culture capital of the world. With the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, designer shops, and the finest cuisine money can buy, all under a canopy of clear blue skies, the City of Angels represents the “American Dream” at its most ideal.

As the owner of several establishments, it’s up to you to make every decision, both large and small, about how your enterprise operates. Choose which tiles, wallpapers, and furniture to decorate with. Set the cuisines and menu items for your restaurant. Hire and fire staff. Nobody said building an empire was going to be easy.

The full version of City Block Builder will allow you to erect all manner of trades from cinema theatres, to bowling alleys, to jazz clubs, to drive-in theaters, parlors and more. This Early Access launch focuses entirely on the restaurant building portion of the game, but new businesses will be added as free updates between now and the full launch. A future update will add cinemas, allowing you to decide what movies to show and when, as well as the Story/Campaign Mode.

City Block Builder lets you micromanage each business down to every detail, from its layout, to its lighting, to ensuring the entrance makes optimal use of foot traffic in your bustling borough. City Block Builder encourages players to find creative solutions to complex problems. Setting up the L.A.’s entertainment hub has never been so immersive.

Each detail of City Block Builder is brought to life through hand-drawn art paying homage to the incredible culture of the era. Movies, posters, comic books, and advertisements capture the look and feel of the 1950s with their bold, technicolor palette, dapper outfits, and neat slogans. Even the foliage has been extensively researched to be accurate to the time, changing dynamically with the seasons.

While City Block Builder’s campaign mode will take you from rags to riches as you micro and macro manage each monetary decision, there will also be a Sandbox Mode offering full freedom to create the Los Angeles of your dreams with no expense spared. Every decision you make will set you on a different path giving different players varying outcomes.

“We recognize the wait for City Block Builder was much delayed due to Covid hitting India, where most of our team is based, hard. So we really appreciate your patience in waiting for this to hit Early Access,” said Jay Basani, CEO of Tentworks Interactive. “We’d rather release a good game late than a bad game on time, so we’re thrilled to finally have a consumer build that’s ready for primetime. More features - including additional business - will follow in the months to come, but the current Early Access version is one we’re proud of and think fans of tycoon management games and city building sims will surely get a kick out of!”

Check out the trailer below and then tell us what you think. Are you interested in City Block Builder?