Thriving City: Song on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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In 960 AD, the new Song Dynasty needs you! As magistrate, build a prosperous city from scratch. Develop bustling streets filled with businesses and entertainment, while navigating hidden crises of political strife and foreign invasions. How will you lead through these challenges?
Thriving City: Song is a simulation, city builder and strategy game
developed by White Star Studio
and published by IndieArk.
Released on May 29th 2024 is available on Windows and MacOS
in 2 languages: Simplified Chinese and English.
It has received 2,921 reviews of which 2,373 were positive and 548 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.8 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 18.49€ on Steam, but you can find it for less on Gamivo.
The Steam community has classified Thriving City: Song into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Thriving City: Song through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4590
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 750ti
- Storage: 2 GB available space
MacOS
- OS: MacOS
- Processor: 苹果 M1 或英特尔酷睿 M
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Thriving City: Song is a city-building game that brings players into the role of a newly appointed mayor during the Song Dynasty, set around 960 AD. The game begins with modest ambitions—placing your administrative center and laying out your first few roads—but quickly grows into a complex and rewarding simulation of historical urban management. What stands out immediately is the emphasis on terrain. Land is categorized into barren, standard, and fertile zones, and each type has specific uses: farms must go on fertile ground, while houses and shops thrive elsewhere. This strategic placement of buildings becomes crucial as your city expands and the balance between food production, housing, and commerce becomes more delicate. Management of your population is both accessible and frustrating at times. Instead of assigning individual citizens to jobs, players designate percentages for each workforce role, such as builders, farmers, or craftsmen. It’s a more macro-level approach, but it comes with trade-offs. Workers may shift roles unexpectedly depending on building demand, which can disrupt carefully planned supply chains. Farming and construction, in particular, are vulnerable to these shifts. It's not uncommon for a sudden construction boom to sap your farms of labor, leading to food shortages if you're not paying close attention. The economy in Thriving City: Song requires thoughtful oversight. Taxation alone isn't enough to sustain growth, especially in the early game. To make up the difference, players are encouraged to build commercial districts that attract travelers and generate income through inns, spice shops, and even more morally ambiguous establishments. It’s a clever way to introduce tourism as a viable economic model within a historical framework. However, going overboard with development too early—like dropping a hospital or extra market stalls before your infrastructure is ready—can quickly bankrupt your city. There’s a strong incentive to grow slowly and deliberately, something not all city-builders demand but this game encourages. The visual design is one of the game's strongest assets. It draws on traditional Chinese art for its aesthetic, giving it a distinct and elegant feel. The UI is clean and thematically consistent, and the hand-drawn look of the buildings and characters is charming without being overly ornate. Zooming in reveals delightful little details in the animation, while the music and ambient sounds reinforce the setting beautifully. The inclusion of narrative events tied to real historical moments from the Song Dynasty adds further depth, and the game’s story mode does a good job of giving purpose to your decisions beyond raw survival. However, Thriving City: Song isn’t without its frustrations. One of the most persistent issues is the sluggish pace of population growth. New citizens only arrive after a full in-game year, making it difficult to scale your workforce efficiently. Tasks like building or transporting goods are further slowed by inefficient AI behavior. Workers often haul materials from distant locations in small groups, rather than pooling efforts, which drags down productivity. This can make even basic construction projects feel like logistical nightmares, especially when multiple structures are queued at once. There are also concerns with how the education system and government mechanics are implemented. Schools and official examinations feel underdeveloped. Students sent abroad for exams can fail unpredictably, costing years of in-game investment with little payoff. The randomness of this system doesn’t always feel fair and can make these features more frustrating than rewarding. UI inconsistencies and localization issues, such as untranslated court decisions or misaligned dialogue boxes, occasionally break immersion and remind players that the game is still evolving. Despite its flaws, the game has found a loyal audience. Many players have praised its unique art style, cultural authenticity, and thoughtful mechanics. It draws frequent comparisons to classic games like Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom, but modernizes the formula with smarter systems and a more narrative-driven approach. The economic systems, while at times unforgiving, reward planning and careful growth. With over two thousand mostly positive reviews on Steam, it’s clear that many find the experience satisfying, even in its current early state. In the end, Thriving City: Song is a richly detailed, historically grounded city builder that offers both charm and challenge. It’s a game that rewards patience, deliberate strategy, and an appreciation for its cultural setting. While certain systems need polish and some mechanics lack depth or refinement, the foundation is solid and shows a great deal of promise. For players who enjoy historical simulations and methodical city planning, it provides a fresh and engaging take on the genre. Rating: 7/10
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Rise as mayor, build a bustling city, and keep everyone fed—until bandits, drought, and imperial taxes make you wish you were a wandering poet instead. Expand wisely, govern fairly, and pray the emperor doesn’t send an edict that ruins everything. 8/10, would hoard rice again. 🌾🏯📜 Follow my curator page for more dynastic dilemmas, poetic plagues, and emperors with very expensive tastes! 🏯📖✨ [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42602807-Osiris-Reviews/] https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42602807-Osiris-Reviews/
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If you are english player, I would say the language is serviceable and not the worst i have ever seen. However, as always the text overflow might trigger you a little bit. On the gameplay itself, I only played the story mode which is a controlled environment that has locked features in each of the stages. I would say this game is not bad and has the potential to be one of my favourite city builder game with chinese culture twist. The learning curve is not that steep but I would really like they explained more about the priority setting and jobs. That system is a little bit clunky but not game breaking. I would recommend this game to be bought during sales unless you like this type of game a lot.
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I really liked this game and will continue to play it, for the past few days it's been a way for me to relax after work. There are a lot of main story chapters that you can go through each with their own challenges which are very interesting. But theres also the endless mode with many maps to customise and play however you want, you can go peaceful or just different constraints. The artwork is incredibly cute and beautiful, sometimes when im not building something I just watch the little guys doing things. The music is also great, makes the game so much more immersive. I wouldn't say its the most complex but neither it is the easiest city builders and i've played a few, but its the right kind of challenge if you choose to do so, have an army, have raids, or just try to figure out what your people's needs are. Since's a rather indie game, the only downside I guess it's that there are not too many articles or guides for it, besides a handful of people that took their own time to do them, which can make you feel a bit upset, but if you just give it a little chance, you will definitely figure out how to solve things. I feel it's a game that shows developers put love into it. Overall it's a 10/10 for me because I've enjoyed it so much.
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The best Chinese city-building game ever! Absolutely love the graphics, and it's fantastic that I can play it on my Mac. It's often difficult for Mac users to find great games, but this one is top-notch. Totally obsessed—love, love it!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Thriving City: Song is currently priced at 18.49€ on Steam.
Thriving City: Song is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 18.49€ on Steam.
Thriving City: Song received 2,373 positive votes out of a total of 2,921 achieving a rating of 7.84.
😊
Thriving City: Song was developed by White Star Studio and published by IndieArk.
Thriving City: Song is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Thriving City: Song is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
Thriving City: Song is not playable on Linux.
Thriving City: Song is a single-player game.
There is a DLC available for Thriving City: Song. Explore additional content available for Thriving City: Song on Steam.
Thriving City: Song is fully integrated with Steam Workshop. Visit Steam Workshop.
Thriving City: Song does not support Steam Remote Play.
Thriving City: Song is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Thriving City: Song.
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 13 September 2025 07:08 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 10 September 2025 08:21 |
| Steam price | 14 September 2025 12:47 |
| Steam reviews | 12 September 2025 23:53 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Thriving City: Song, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Thriving City: Song
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Thriving City: Song concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Thriving City: Song compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
30
Developer
White Star Studio
Publisher
IndieArk
Release
29 May 2024
Platforms
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