Best Simulation Games

About Simulation Games

Simulation is a wide umbrella. Life simulations — The Sims, Stardew Valley — model social relationships and daily routines. City builders and management sims — Cities: Skylines, Planet Coaster, Two Point Hospital — challenge you to run complex systems at scale. Vehicle simulations — Microsoft Flight Simulator, Farming Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator 2 — prize authentic recreation of real machinery. Survival simulations — Green Hell, The Long Dark, Subnautica — add danger and resource scarcity. Colony management games — Dwarf Fortress, RimWorld, Oxygen Not Included — simulate populations of individuals with emergent, often surprising results.

Before buying a simulation game, check whether you prefer a relaxed creative mode or a challenge mode with real failure states — most sims offer both, but not all. Also check mod support: the simulation genre has some of the richest modding communities in gaming, and titles like Cities: Skylines and The Sims are dramatically expanded by free community mods available through the Steam Workshop. DLC catalogues in simulation games can be extensive — factor that into your budget when looking at the base game price.

Simulation games often receive years of active development and DLC support, which means the base game can feel incomplete without expansions. The Cities: Skylines DLC catalogue alone runs to hundreds of dollars at full price. GameTheca tracks both the base game and individual DLC prices so you can prioritize the expansions that matter most and buy them on sale rather than at launch.

464 simulation titles tracked — ranked by rating and popularity.