Best Kingdom Building Isekai Manhwa

Key conclusions

• Many isekai manhwa shift the focus from typical adventures to developing communities to prosper.
• Kingdom building stories often center around modern districts, technological advances, and rules.
• The characters in these manhwas develop society by providing health care, infrastructure, and good living conditions.

Isekai are usually known for their powerful heroes, fun adventures, and unique cast of characters. While most tend to play out the same way, some stories prefer a different path. Instead of going on a journey, they develop and cultivate the surrounding area, often adding modern infrastructure and regulations for a prosperous society.

Kingdom building refers to stories that focus on building settlements and communities. Despite the name of this subgenre, most manhwa do not always involve a literal kingdom; not everyone can be a king. Instead, they focus on smaller areas or specific groups of people, especially in modern settings. The sense of progress is incredibly satisfying, which is why these stories are so popular.

1 Apothecary Prince

A Korean doctor is revolutionizing medicine in another world

• Rating MyAnimeList: 6.78
• Published: 2023 to ?
• Genres/topics: Adventure, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• The author: Back-kyung Moon
• Illustrator: Dadaeng

Since many isekai take place in a medieval setting, the focus of the story is often the introduction of a certain technology or information. U Apothecary princea Korean doctor dies and is reborn as Rahiel, the sick prince from the novel he read. With his body unable to perform simple tasks, he can only heal himself with means from the modern world, opening up a health progression system.

While the beginning of the story is mostly focused on restoring his health, Raichiel does go on to set the standard of health for the rest of his kingdom by providing medical care and medicine. This has a small domino effect, providing jobs for the working class as hospitals and clinics need to be built. In his efforts to help people, he accidentally causes other good things to happen.

2 Chitra

Collecting handsome men with God's grace

• Rating MyAnimeList: 6.89
• Published: 2018 to present
• Genres/topics: Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation, Reverse Harem
• The author: Taesung
• Illustrator: Reffe

Shojo manhwa often have protagonists who have to rebuild themselves from scratch, but it's usually through personal affairs. U Chitrathe young woman is reincarnated as a poor countess who has lost everything and is left to die. Using the God of Beauty's gacha system, she is able to recruit people who have excelled throughout history as assistants.

Most characters have a good reason to start developing their land. In this case, Chitra does so as the apostle of the god of beauty. Everything she does is to make the world more beautiful, starting with men. She reforms their bad behavior as well as their appearance. This is in addition to building an army, a stable economy and a good living environment.

3 Solo Glitch Player

Overworked man becomes a lord in his favorite game

• Rating MyAnimeList: N/A
• Published: 2020 to present
• Genres/topics: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Video Games, Isekai
• The author: Cheongcho
• Illustrator: Kimintsev

Characters usually put more effort into their territories because they know something bad will happen in the future. U Solo Glitch Playerthe main character is sent to the world of “Paradise”, a popular VR game, and thanks to his extensive knowledge of the game, he knows how the world will change in the next ten years. To survive the coming war and famine, he must reform himself and the territory.

The action takes place in the game universe, Solo Glitch Player combines game archetypes with traditional isekai. There are not many screens, but the main character can use the glitches of the real game. They are mostly used for his own benefit, but he can use his acquired skills to capture bandits, enforce the law, and make deals. Despite the many clichés, this manhwa is quite entertaining.

4 I woke up like a villain

It's not bad to have money

• Rating MyAnimeList: 6.95
• Published: from 2020 to 2024
• Genres/topics: Action, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• The author: Well, Yuhyun
• Illustrator: Arlg

In the modern era, kingdom building looks a little different. Instead of ruling an entire kingdom, it's usually a business or maybe a gang. In this story, an ordinary office worker is described in the web novel as Choi Yoosung, a side character who only appears at the beginning of the story. In order to survive being used by the protagonist, he begins to rebuild his reputation and becomes self-sufficient.

Unlike other kingdom-building manhwas, Yuseon doesn't make big changes to society, but he steadily creates loyal partners and collaborators, using the novel's knowledge to help other characters grow. It focuses on personal growth for most of the manhwa, and much of the community it creates is seen as a side plot.

5 Tower defense tyrant game

The ultimate gamer survival challenge

• Rating MyAnimeList: 7.75
• Published: 2022 to present
• Genres/topics: Action, Fantasy, Isekai, Military, Reincarnation, Video Games
• The author: Ryueun, Garam
• Illustrator: Gyong

This manhwa is a little different from the others on this list. Rather than creating community, this story is about preserving it. Once a popular streamer was trapped in a popular Tower Defense game called “Defend the Empire”. Taking on the identity of Prince Ash, he soon learns that his decisions have life or death consequences and that his circumstances are no longer a game.

The world game has a gacha model that focuses on gathering strong and unique characters to defend the base, and this is reflected in the overall story as Ash makes connections with many people who will help him. As in those games, he must maintain the resources, infrastructure and morale of his people.

6 Garbage of the count family

One man tries to solve the world's problems in order to live comfortably

• Rating MyAnimeList: 7.82
• Published: 2020 to ?
• Genres/topics: Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• The author: Yu, Ryo Han
• Illustrator: PAN4

As the title suggests, the main character of this manhwa is neither a king nor a prince. Cale Henitus is the Earl's eldest son and a minor villain in the fantasy novel. When the main character is reincarnated as Cale, he is determined not only to survive, but also to live comfortably. However, knowing the plot of the novel, he knows that the world is in trouble. The only way to guarantee his future is to fix everything himself.

Garbage of the count family interesting because most of it has to do with preparing for the building of the kingdom. Only much later did he begin to create his territory and build villages. However, it does mean that the story is full of adventure with fun characters including a couple of shapeshifters and a dragon. This is the best manhwa character collector.

7 My royal awakening

The prince tries to prevent history

• Rating MyAnimeList: 7.58
• Published: from 2020 to 2022
• Genres/topics: drama, historical, reincarnation, time travel
• The author: Goose
• Illustrator: Tae-Hyun Kim

One of the most popular isekai settings is a period of Korean history or somewhere inspired by it. This manhwa follows an ordinary man after he is transferred into the body of Jinseon, the younger brother of Korea's most tyrannical ruler. However, everything is different from what he studied in the textbooks. To prevent his brother from becoming a tyrant, he was going to change history.

Historical manhwas are interesting because the authors often take real events and insert their own ideas and interpretations. While most people in the US won't know the details of Korean history, the manhwa centered around it remains entertaining. This is an example of true kingdom building as Jinseon is a prince and he solves the kingdom's problems to help his brother.

8 The greatest developer

One college student can apply their degree outside of school

• Rating MyAnimeList: 8.75
• Published: 2021 to ?
• Genres/topics: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Isekai, Reincarnation
• The author: Back-kyung Moon
• Illustrator: Hyunsoo Kim

By far the most popular and well-known kingdom builder is the manhwa The greatest developer. One day, a construction student wakes up as Lloyd Fronter, the troubled son of a poor noble family destined to collapse. With his terrible reputation, the main character has no choice but to clean up Lloyd's image and help restore his family's territory.

This manhwa is a great mix of resource management, land progression, and action. Not only does Lloyd have a special status screen that tracks his building skills, but it also helps him practice his aura techniques and swordplay. There aren't many other manhwas that include so many different things and have an incredibly charismatic main character.