When does BalanCity get good?

Give it 1 hour. In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (31%); after 3h it's 1 in 3 (31%). Only 59% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.

All games

CasualIndieSimulationStrategy

BalanCity

Sep 21, 2016 Steam: Very Positive

Give it 1 hour

Gets good by 1h almost every game dips in hours 2–3

Started playing 59% of owners

Steam reviews 81% positive of 912

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (31%); after 3h it's 1 in 3 (31%).
Only 59% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 926 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 287 reviews: 5.2h for positive, 3.2h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (58.6% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

Story milestones aren't labeled yet; all achievements are listed below.

All achievements (28)

Tutorial Complete Not afraid of being tutored. 100%
Mayor Academy Complete Graduated as a licensed mayor. 65%
Nero Burning Rome Set 50 fires at once on your city 36%
New York, New York Complete New York 23%
Peronism Complete Free Build or Scenario without riots. 22%
Citizen Savior Save 100 fallen citizens 15%
Stacker Master Complete Towered Blocks 14%
Pfannkuchen Complete Berlin 14%
Riot Repressor Stop 30 riots with state violence 13%
5 o'clock achieve Complete London 13%
Beach Lover Completed Rio de Janeiro 13%
Quake Surfing Complete San Francisco 12%
Eiffel Jr. Complete Paris 11%
I want to be a part of BA Complete Buenos Aires 11%
Survived the Night Complete Nightmare 11%
Domo Arigato, Mr. Mayor Complete Tokyo 10%
Go East! Complete Shanghai 9.2%
Sleepless... Complete Seattle 8.0%
Free Build Complete Build all landmarks on Free Build with Disasters set on low or medium. 6.8%
Easy Free Build Complete Build all landmarks on Free Build with any Disaster turned off. 6.7%
Made BalanCity great again Complete Free Build with Don 5.1%
500+ Meters Reach over 500 meters. 4.9%
Third World Utopía Complete Free Build on Shantytown Mode 4.9%
Beat Coulrophobia Complete Free Build with Peppy 4.8%
True Centrism Complete Free Build with Heelaree 4.6%
Hard Free Build Complete Build all landmarks on Free Build with Disasters set on Hard. 4.3%
1000+ Meters Reach over 1000 meters. 4.1%
2000+ Meteres Reach over 2000 meters. 3.9%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-20.