Last updated on January 16th, 2026 at 07:07 pm
Rebuild – Simulation Game Review
Rebuild is a Simulation/Strategy game from Northway Games Corp., first launched in 17th November 2011.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 255+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Rebuild Stand Out
"I don't wave around non-words like 'unputdownable' often, but Rebuild deserves it." – Touch Arcade (4.5/5)
"Rebuild is a solid, fun, unique and just plain awesome game." – JayIsGames (4.6/5 Best strategy or simulation game of 2011)
GAMEPLAY
Gather survivors of the zombie apocalypse and defend your fort against undead attacks. Reclaim one building at a time and put your survivors to work scavenging for food, building houses, rediscovering technology and of course killing zombies.
Beware of rival gangs, illness, thieves and even riots as you rebuild a city in this post apocalyptic turn based strategy game.
FEATURES
- Unique turn-based strategy gameplay
- Randomly generated cities
- Customizable characters
- 5 levels of difficulty
- 7 endings to discover
- Game Center highscores and achievements
This Simulation game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Rebuild is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 24th December 2020
Recent improvements include:
Fix 1/4 sized screen bug on iPads.
Download & Availability
Rebuild is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We played this game years ago on our computer and was delighted to rediscover it recently. Its an even better experience on mobile than on the computer in our opinion. The game is so immersive and fun and really challenges us to allocate resources properly and invest in people. Highly recommend.
Its easy to learn and play, hard to prevail at the highest difficulty levels but closer to a sandbox experience in the easier settings.
We remember playing this game on flash game websites as a kid. We never was able to get far into it when we were younger, but we found it on the app store and knew we had to download it. Well worth the pocket change we spent on it. The day we downloaded it we had half of the Huge city reclaimed! It was such a nostalgia hit for us and we are so glad the developer made a mobile friendly version. Thank you so much for reminding us of younger days! And a little tip for those struggling for food in winters! (we noticed a lot of people mentioning it) before winter comes use your base to surround (but do NOT reclaim) fields and parks, once you have them surrounded and cleared of zombies you can hunt the squares on repeat to maintain food supplies.
We are a OG player we played the first game then played this on pc but rebuild 2 is better on mobile cause you get more things and turrets no idea the devs never added them to the game on the pc we wish rebuild 1 was on the app store.
Several things that make this game Great! Challenging, Fun and at times frustrating. Fantastic gameplay. The best part of this game is its not a game of micro transactions. As well as the fact it does not collect data of the user. Great Job.
Picked this up YEARS ago for maybe $3, and always come back to it. Fun, challenging, well-balanced, and tons of personality. Best of all, though, the Dev has maintained it fastidiously. A bit simpler than her follow-up (Rebuild 3) but not in a bad way. We still play both. Support this developer.
We get why rebuild 3 requires you to buy, but this not so much, especially since you can play it on pc for free on any game website, so the question is why do we pay to play it. We enjoy rebuild alot and a have completed it multiple times on multiple endings eveb getting all the endings at once, so what is the point in playing a simple game if you have to buy it. Its a waste of money when you can play it on PC for free.
Newest update to support new devices makes the screen tiny on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Please fix.
We downloaded this game because we like turn based strategy games and it blew our mind!!! Its very fun and low key addicting haha.
We find that sometimes we cant find a game entertaining or challenging enough to sit through. Its monotony drives us crazy or the simply isnt enough for our gaming palette. The games that make a lasting impact are really hard to find. For us this is one of our favorites. Just found out they have a rebuild 3! Totally gonna try that one.
This is an amazing game! Totally recommend.
There are very few phone/Kongergate games that we played as much as we would a PS4/PC/XBOX/SWITCH game, and the rebuild franchise is definitely one of them.
Been a fan since they released it.
This game is a true classic. Its detailed and such a time killer. If you are iffy about the graphics, then what you see is not what you will get. This is an amazing game, and even better is the (third) Rebuild. The graphics here could use a little work, but that is what the third one is for. Anyway, we cant allow ourselves to give this 4 stars because the saving system isnt very easy. You cannot easily delete save files, so its just going to take up a random one if you want a new game. Unfortunately for us, it took up our main save file. We even tried to go to a test save file which had around 350 survivors in it. We tried to kill all of them (we succeeded, turn on Winter mode and let the starvation occur), but could still not rid of the file. But we really do recommend this game. Its only troubling if you have four saved files. Oh, and also, this game could use a lot more depth. Some of the events are a bit vague, but then again this was definitely changed in the third Rebuild.
Id consider ourselves a critic when it comes to reviewing games. We have high standards, even if it was made for the IOS. This game fell short. It lacks any real depth, and has you reliant on chance for pretty much the whole game. It gets repetitive rather quickly, and we found ourselves getting bored within an hour or two of playing. Its a little different than most games you find, which is nice, but not worth the price. Search elsewhere if you want a game that draws you in and makes you think strategically.
Following the rebuild series you cant be disappointed! Im always looking for good games on the App Store that isnt all about in app purchases and waiting. This is a great one, this and Rebuild 3 are both worth the money you pay. This one makes us think of rebuild 2 more than rebuild, both of which you can play online for free or get on steam, but having the mobile option is great. This one is a bit different from rebuild 3 but it what made us fall in love with the series, the developers work hard and it really pays off, if you have the money and are looking for a really good game, your search is over :).
There are 1,025,109.8 words in the English language, and we can't string any of them together to express how absolutely perfect this game is. Never gets old, different layout every time, and best of all, CHEAP. We don't think 4 bucks is enough to charge for this game, it should be 50! Keep up the good work Sarah and Colin, you're doing good.
We turn into a zombie when we play this game ill play it for hours at a time so vary mind numbing but we can't put down its worse than beer or cigarettes but after 5 years we still play it we need help.
Where is rebuild two it goes from one to three.
We've beaten the game three times through now; it was one of the first games we got when we got our iPhone. An awesome RPG. It's still awesome to the end; like a good book, it's bittersweet to complete the game. You're left longing for more.
We have played this game since it came out and it is worth the money. If you like to play zombie survival games that require strategy, this is the game for you! Have a nice day playing and have fun.
This is awesome. Easy to pick up and play a few turns, then a few more, then just a few more. Really good music. Doesn't kill your battery. And best of all – zero ads and zero 'buy this resource to get anywhere.' You just pay for the game and go have fun. No blood sucking corporate types trying to squeeze $$$ out of you every month. Looking forward to trying Rebuild 3.
We don't normally bother to write reviews, but we love this game. Well made, fun and strategic, multiple ways to win the game (AND you can do all of them in one game if you want), good replayability value. We keep coming back to this game, again and again.
This game gets quite repetitive and we got bored rather quickly. There is not any building to the game, as buildings are already placed and just need to be clears of zombies and reclaimed. We do like that you only pay one time (no in-app purchases) and even though certain actions take multiple "days" to complete, you are in control of how long the days are.
Game itself is okay but the bare minimum additional content has been added from the original computer flash game (which was FREE) not worth money buy a different game.
Once we got to the "seriously hard" level, we realized there is no winning that board. Every step forward towards progress, you are overwhelmed with zombie attacks, food shortages, desertions and so onthree steps backwards. We tried every permutation and yet we cannot not prevail because the creators have cheated the players. Shame on you. Addendum: still a crap game with no improvement after all these years.
99% of survivors are non-white and the continuous use of their terms (example: "those mysoginists!") Aside from that, it's just not that fun. Farming is so bad there is no difference from placing a survivor with a scavenging of 6 from one with 0 even on "a big farm".
We find this game to be absolutely addicting and fun, these gamedevs need to have a bill gates salary and more time to make a second game, we just love the strategy aspect of what to do and where to expand. We made it to the point where is expanded to the edges of the map without the parks and fields taken because they are our main food source, then 7 zombie hoards rose and rekt our hunters which cut off our food supply and killed everyone, 10/10 would have unstable food source again.
This is an absolutely amazing game that is very fun to play. It allows you to give gear to characters and have them become better at their skills over time. One thing that people were complaining about was that they were unable to stay alive during the winter, and we have a simple solution. Don't reclaim the parks and fields, because in the winter they will give a steady supply of food and with a little bit of scavenging you can survive the winter. If you do reclaim a park or field eventually the city people will just build something on top of it, so DONT reclaim it. Also make sure that you don't have way to many people, each field will supply food for about ten people.
One time it was winter and we were running out of food. Some weirdos with a cart of meat came by and sold it for super cheap. The whole time they were giggling to each other. We didn't care, we were running out of food! Next week, they come back. Sell us some more meat. They kept on giggling to each other. On the third week somebody figured out the meat was human flesh. We had to decide if we should tell everyone what they were putting into their mouths, or to stay silent. Whether they would starve or lose their humanity. We chose to keep quiet. The next week, they came back. This time we quickly denied their offer. After 3 days we finally ran out of food. Without the meat cart, our town was going to starve. But the cart never came back. What would you have chosen.
The game is a amazing game the only thing we don't like is that rebuild 3 could be a while before it hits the market.
This game is amazing and we hope new things come from sara.
We've played this game for a long time, can't wait for a second one to be released on the App Store.
Look we know your making games on PC But come back on IOS and UPDATE This game PLZ.
This game is an all around good experience. Winter is NOT too hard at all. You are SUPPOSED to make decisions, some of which can cost you some people, it isn't supposed to by a total fly by, and we think it's well balanced. Once you know how this game works, it becomes very easy, but still enjoyable.
We love the game because you have a group and its hard to find food and other things we think the game could have more stuff happen when we play we wait for something to happen and Something to give the Survivors a back story and we can change there clothes but IT IS THE BEST GAME EVER.
This game is a lot of fun and we were sad to see it end (well, we ended it since we did not want to build another city). It was a unique experience and very unlike any game we have ever played. We would have liked there to have been more choices which would have consequences on your community but we still thought the creator did a nice job.
We've had this game for a long long time now and we always come back and play it and find new small little fun features. We love Sarah Northway's (the developer) games and we hope she sees this. We absolutely adore the rebuild series and cannot wait for rebuild 3 gangs of deadsville. One thing we hope she does is add more forests in rebuild 3 or please figure our SOME WAY to survive in winter! We dominated the game with 600 food in the first time, but after winter happened we lost it all before it ended and all 20 citizens (all Lvl 10 on everything) died from malnutrition. Please fix that feature. But nevertheless, still deserves a five stars. (And yes we scavenged during winter).
Is to easy we beat the game in 1 day we wish we were more harder but it's still a good game and fun to so we give we a 5 stare rate.
It mixes elements from the first and second game free on PC but this is awesome.
Interesting survival strategy and exploration. We're hooked after one game.
We've always wanted a game that puts you in charge of surviving the zombie apocalypse, this is it! One of the best iOS games that we have played.
We had a lot of fun playing this. Surprisingly addictive. Love the multiple endings. It's a simple strategy game. Would love to see it developed and expanded a little more. We would definitely buy "Rebuild2". We played this game a ton, then deleted it a year or so ago. We're loading it back on today. We missed it. Thanks for creating this.
We love it but we just realized it's free on the computer.
Buy rebuild 3 gangs of deadville on steam, your welcome.
Best survival zombie game on the iPhone. Gotta try it out. Need a new one to come out already.
We had a great time playing this. Its a great survival strategy game and we can't wait for rebuild 2.
Good but where's the second one? We know it's in development.
If you like zombie game this is your game it is worth the cash also play it on the computer it's better PLAY THE NEW GAME REBUILD GANGS OF DEADSVILLE.
We love it but needs a lot more content if you can't fix a few bugs for us and btw it crashes some times.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 3.26
- Size: 63.89 MB
- iOS: 9.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
- Developer: Northway Games Corp.
Last updated: 24th December 2020 | Genre: Simulation, Strategy | Developer: Northway Games Corp.