Skip to main content

The best simulator games

In a sea of visceral first-person shooters and RPGs, it’s easy to forget about slower games. Simulation games are all about taking things slow, allowing you to take the role of someone else, fit with all the trials and tribulations that come with that position. Here, we’ve compiled a list of the most immersive and impressive simulation titles available.

Before diving in, it should be noted that all of the titles below are on PC. Even the ones that have been ported to consoles were developed for PC first, with Xbox controller support coming later. Although disappointing for those without a high-powered gaming PC, our picks are best suited for a keyboard and mouse, as you need access to a lot of information very quickly. Additionally, we avoided duplicate entries for any particular style of simulation. For instance, there are a ton of theme park simulators, but we’re only including our favorite. And if you’re looking for flight simulators, we’ve found those, too.

Further reading

Cities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Cities: Skylines released at an interesting time, making its way onto virtual shelves mere months after EA’s disastrous reboot of SimCity. One of the key features of Cities was that you didn’t need an active internet connection, which SimCity required. Although that was enough for city simulation fans to jump ship, it turns out Cities: Skylines is just a better game.

The core of the game is the same, though. You start with a two-by-two-kilometer area where you can start building roads, zoning areas, and constructing buildings. As your city grows, you can buy nearby plots of land, expanding your metropolis. The base of Cities: Skylines has a ton of content, but Paradox, the developer, has supported it with a load of DLC since launch. With everything, you can build casinos, football stadiums, concert venues, and more.

Football Manager 2021

Football Manager 2021

For those uninitiated, Football Manager 2021 looks like a slightly different take on sports games, and as such, is quickly written off. However, it’s extremely popular among core gamers, with players often pouring hundreds of hours into each of the annual releases. In the game, you run a football club (that being soccer in the U.S.).

In addition to seeing games play out, you’ll acquire new players for your team, retire old ones, create complex plays for your team to perform, and negotiate transfers. In short, Football Manager 2021 puts you in the less-realistic shoes of Brad Pitt in Moneyball, though with the European definition of football.

PC Building Simulator

PC Building Simulator
Image used with permission by copyright holder

PC Building Simulator has no right to be as fun as it is. In the main story mode, you play as a repair person for pre-built computers. Each morning, you’ll receive emails with client requests to upgrade their storage, add more powerful hardware, and more. You order the parts, wait for the computer to arrive, make the necessary changes, and collect some cash to build your shop.

Career mode is fun, but PC Building Simulator comes into its own with Free Build. In this mode, you can build the PC you want, with licensed components from AMD, Cooler Master, EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte, and more. Although the game doesn’t fully capture what it’s like to build a PC, it gets close, allowing novices to understand the basics of what needs to be connected where.

Two Point Hospital

Two Point Hospital
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Two Point Hospital is a spiritual successor to 1997’s Theme Hospital. Although the original game was simply a follow-up to a roller coaster simulator titled Theme Park, it quickly became a cult classic with its unique art style and over-the-top scenarios.

Two Point Hospital continues that lineage, just with updated visuals and more mechanics. Your hospital starts with nothing more than a welcome desk. From there, you’re tasked with building bathrooms, intensive care units, offices, and more. As your hospital grows in popularity — which is a strange concept, really — you can hire more respected staff and build more advanced rooms to better serve your patients.

Not For Broadcast

Not For Broadcast
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Not For Broadcast provides a different spin on the often stale simulation genre. Rather than running a hospital, city, or theme park, you take the role of an operator for National Nightly News. Fresh off of cleaning duties, you’re swept into the control room, where a powerful, controlling government attempts to dictate your every move.

The game is currently in Steam Early Access, featuring three full chapters of gameplay (the game should have 10 upon launch). Choices matter in Not For Broadcast, and the stakes are high. That said, developer NotGames balances the pressure with over-the-top satire and ridiculous FMV clips.

Kerbal Space Program

Kerbal Space Program
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Kerbal Space Program is one of the best PC games of all time and should be a staple in any Steam library. You control the space program for an alien race known as Kerbals in the game. For the most part, you’ll be building spaceships, figuring out which components can reach the stars and which can barely get you off the ground.

Once you reach space, you can explore new planets, set up space stations, and use satellites to scan nearby planets. Despite its cutesy aesthetic, Kerbal Space Program may be the densest space simulator available, balancing humor and science to create a game that can transition between mentally compelling and mindlessly fun with ease.

Planet Coaster

Planet Coaster
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Planet Coaster is a re-imagining of the Roller Coaster Tycoon series, developed and published by Frontier Developments, who also created some expansions for Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 and the Thrillville series. If you’re looking for a modern spin on the Roller Coaster Tycoon games, Planet Coaster is for you.

Like the games that preceded it, you can staff your park with janitors, security, and more, as well as build concessions and gift shops for your patrons to browse. The game comes into its own when you start building coasters, however. You’re free to add effects, music, and more, either from the game’s library of assets or from your computer. The community around Planet Coaster is great, too, with some players using the flexibility of the building tools to create jaw-dropping parks and rides.

The Sims 4

The Sims 4
Image used with permission by copyright holder

We can’t make a list of the best simulator games without talking about The Sims. Rather than putting you in some powerful position as the controller of a city or theme park, The Sims puts you in the role of a person. With your Sim, you can build your home, friends, career, and life in any way you see fit.

The Sims 4 is a casual game through and through, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s the perfect game to relax and experiment with what could be rather than what is. Fit with a bustling community and plenty of vanilla content, The Sims 4 is a massive game that players can pour hundreds of hours into.

Prison Architect

Prison Architect
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Prison Architect puts you in control of a maximum-security prison. Inspired by games like Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper, this game tasks you with managing every aspect of your prison. Of course, you’ll need to create cells and hold areas for prisoners and worry about plumbing, food, and the free-roam regions.

As you progress through the story mode in Prison Architect, you’ll meet five people you need to oversee. They’re all criminals with intricate, fascinating histories that you’ll hear about as you roam the bare concrete halls. All this security has its reasons—you’ll need to guard many different criminals, such as vicious mob bosses and serial killers. After you’ve bulked up your security, you can swap sides and play as a prisoner attempting to escape the walls you yourself created.

Euro Truck Simulator 2

Euro Truck Simulator 2
Image used with permission by copyright holder

With an exceptional 97% rating on Steam, Euro Truck Simulator 2 is one of the most popular games on the market. With a rating that high, you might expect this to become your next favorite simulator game.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a slow burn at the beginning. You might find it a little bare, but if you give it time, you’ll suddenly find yourself invested. Along the way, you get to personalize your truck’s performance and appearance, and construct garages, employ drivers, and even run an entire business.

Farming Simulator 20

Farming Simulator 20
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Somehow, this series of games where you manage a farm has managed to become one of the most popular and bestselling simulator games on the market. Somewhat like a Harvest Moon title, you are in charge of managing a farm where you can grow crops, farm, breed livestock, and sell your products. You are given a simple career mode where your goal is simply to expand and update the basic farm you begin with, with missions added that need to be completed within set time limits.

Starting with Farming Simulator 14, each game has also included a multiplayer mode, allowing teams of farmers to work together to maximize their crops and profits. While not quite as accessible as something like Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley, those who get invested in this title really go all in.

Editors' Recommendations

Jacob Roach
Senior Staff Writer, Computing
Jacob Roach is a writer covering computing and gaming at Digital Trends. After realizing Crysis wouldn't run on a laptop, he…
The best gaming PCs for 2023: Dell, Origin, Lenovo, and more
Lenovo Legion Tower 7i gaming PC sitting on a table.

You don't need to build your own computer to get the best gaming PC. While that still provides the best value, brands like Lenovo, Alienware, Acer, and Origin have gotten fiercely competitive in the past few years, and these companies are producing some of the best gaming desktops you can buy.

Our top pick is Lenovo's Legion Tower 7i Gen 8. It comes with the latest CPU and GPU options from Intel and Nvidia, and it's reasonably priced, especially considering its excellent thermal management. Plus, we have over half a dozen other picks for different budgets and gaming needs that we identified through our extensive collection of desktop reviews.

Read more
Best gaming laptop deals: Save on Alienware, Razer, HP and more
The Corsair Voyager a1600 gaming laptop set up with a monitor and other accessories on a desk.

Many of the best laptops are great for multi-purpose use, but if you’re looking to take on some of the best PC games, you’re going to want to get yourself a gaming laptop. The best gaming laptops offer hardware geared specifically for gameplay action, and many of them offer some savings. That’s certainly the case right now, as there are a lot of gaming laptop deals taking place. Many of the best laptop brands have gaming laptop deals taking place, and the likes of big time gaming brands like Alienware and Razer have models discounted right now as well.
HP Victus 16 — $600, was $900

With the HP Victus 16 you’re getting an incredible gaming laptop. As it’s built for this deal it has specs that are closer to entry-level gaming laptops, but that shouldn’t be any reason to stay away if you’re shopping on a budget. It has a 15.6-inch Full HD display, a 13-generation Intel processor, and 8GB of RAM. It also has a popular mobile graphics card in the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050. The HP Victus 16 comes with Windows 11 preinstalled, and should have you gaming in no time once you get it out of the box.

Read more
The best Xbox Series X games for 2023
Key art for Starfield

After an uneven console cycle with the Xbox One, Microsoft's latest consoles are aimed at getting the ship back on course. The Xbox Series X is a next-generation powerhouse that rivals gaming PCs, while the Xbox Series S is an affordable stopgap for those who are curious about trying new games.

There's no shortage of games to play on either console thanks to Xbox Game Pass, which gives players immediate access to a library of titles old and new. That built-in catalog is an extra value on top of all the new games available on the system that take advantage of its impressive technical specs. When it comes to first-party exclusives, the Series X is still growing. Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 gave a good boost to the console's library following a somewhat sparse first year. More games are also on the way. Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition will bring exclusives like Starfield and the potential addition of all Activision Blizzard games would further bolster that list, but the console's real strength lies in third-party support.

Read more