Simulation games replicate activities, be they mundane or fantastical, in ways that action or strategy games do not. Sims tend to fixate on involved, highly specialized undertakings, and making said activities as realistic and immersive as possible. With sims, the journey is just as important as the goal; it’s not just about catching fish, for example, but how you catch them that matters.
The games that fall under the simulation umbrella are broad and varied. Sims can be sports games, massive sci-fi fantasy games, bizarre niche games, or breathtaking flight recreations. Some simulation games are world-building games, a genre that challenges you to create and manage a town, city, nation, or planet.
The nature of these game, as you may suspect, play to a more niche crowd. These titles will never match, say, Call of Duty in terms of popularity or sales numbers, but their customer base keeps returning for that more measured, cerebral play.
What About Strategy Games on Steam Deck?
If you're a PC gamer, you're likely playing simulation and world-building games on a Windows-based PC. In that case, simply download and install these titles. However, if you want to play these games on Steam Deck, check out Valve's game compatibility list. It showcases the PC games that work with SteamOS. Right now, there are many SteamOS-verified titles. Here's what you need to know: A green checkmark indicates that game is fully verified to run well on Steam Deck, while a yellow checkmark indicates that the game is playable on Steam Deck, “but requires extra steps or manual work from the user.” Of course, you could always install Windows on your Steam Deck. Keep in mind, games that require an online connection may not be ideal for on-the-go-Steam Deck play unless you can find a Wi-Fi signal.
As a platform, the PC hosts many simulation and world-building games. These are our favorites.
Building on our inborn desire to explore—and, of course, exploit our hunger for addictive turn-based strategy games—Civilization: Beyond Earth catapults you off the planet that's housed your kings, wonders, and wars for millennia.
The Firaxis-developed game lets you build a society on a new world by selecting a spacecraft and sponsor, determining if your culture goes high-tech or exists in harmony with nature, and fending off attacks from alien creatures.
Elite: Dangerous
If you want to appreciate the vastness of space, play Elite: Dangerous. This PC game by Frontier Developments is a crowdfunded follow-up to the classic Elite series of space sims. It's a game that gives you a ship, a handful of equipment, and a full tank of fuel, then sets you out on your own in the vast cosmos. It's huge, slow, deliberate, and open, and it will reward players with the patience to stay with it.
Evil Genius 2: World Domination
The first Evil Genius, released to PC in 2004, was a curious mix of another PC gaming classic, Dungeon Keeper, and the James Bond spy films. Evil Genius received decent reviews, but it didn't get a sequel to expand the concept—until now.
Evil Genius 2: World Domination is very much the child of that first game. In fact, it almost feels like a clone, but with improvements courtesy of updated technology and new features. Evil Genius 2 works because the original title was such a great PC game, so more of the same is a good thing. Despite that, this sequel has a few rough edges carried forward from the classic entry, and new features that could use better implementation.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator, the simulator of simulators, is back. Not only is it good, it's extremely good. In fact, we've hailed Flight Simulator as the year's most ambitious game, due to how it leverages Bing Maps and real-time weather and traffic to create an authentic in-game world.
This love letter to aviation is a one-of-a-kind experience made possible by a marriage of clever developers and cutting-edge technology. It’s a gift to the series’ dedicated fans, an appealing entry point for newcomers, and now the bar for the simulation genre. Grab a flight stick, and take to the skies.
And if you need help deciding where to fly, check out our favorite Microsoft Flight Simulator destinations.
Minecraft
Minecraft is a blocky, beautiful sandbox that lets you explore the depths of your imagination. The core gameplay involves exploring a hostile world made from blocks that you can use to build items as you please. But as you play, you'll quickly see that this game has much more to offer than just architecture.
Minecraft presents a Lego-like space for players to enjoy their own kind of play. Dedicated players will love the sandbox's many possibilities, but even casuals will enjoy facing off against an unfriendly wilderness.
For more, check out How to Set Up a Minecraft Server In a Few Easy Steps.
No Man's Sky
The controversial and much-hyped No Man's Sky is a game that offers two opposing experiences. One is a beautiful and wholly fresh journey through space to chart or conquer undiscovered worlds. The other weighs down that joy with mundane and repetitive resource gathering and fighting.
That said, No Man's Sky is so much more than a sterile description of its parts and features. The developers at Hello Games have tirelessly worked since the game’s 2016 launch to add new and promised features. The latest update, released in July 2022, adds exterior walkways and food fabricators.
The Pinball Arcade
Pinball—the classic game of reflexes, luck, and spatial recognition—isn't nearly as popular as it was 25 years ago, but its legacy of tables, flippers, and gaudy lights lives on in FarSight Studios' The Pinball Arcade.
The Pinball Arcade focuses on recreating classic real-world pinball machines from renowned manufacturers, such as Gottlieb and Stern (sadly Bally and Williams tables are no more). The result is a collection that looks, sounds, and feels like the pinball games of yore. Amassing all of your favorite tables could be a serious investment, however, tables are sold in separate DLC packs.
Chores aren't exactly the most glamorous or enthralling ventures in real life—we get that. Yet, activities, such as cleaning and organizing, cause you to enter a Zen-like state. Even better, the satisfaction and pride you feel from a job well done cannot be denied.
PowerWash Simulator embraces the joys of cleaning by letting you fire jets of cleanly goodness from a high-powered, pressurized water nozzle. Clean structures, environments, and vehicles, all while managing your soap and supplies. You can also challenge yourself with time and water challenges to see how efficiently you clean under pressure.
Rocksmith 2014 Edition Remastered
In the mid- to late- aughts, Guitar Hero and its evolutionary spin-off, Rock Band, gave people with zero musical talent the opportunity to realize their dreams by playing instrument-based karaoke with plastic axes. Now, they can learn to play the real deal with Ubisoft's Rocksmith 2014 Edition Remastered. The "game" teaches you the intricacies of learning bass, lead, and rhythm guitar via dynamic challenges, mini-games, and instructional videos. An enormous assortment of downloadable songs (which cost extra) ensures that your music library stays fresh.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth
Building on our inborn desire to see things no one has ever seen and take chances beyond the boundaries of reason—and, of course, exploit our hunger for addictive turn-based strategy games—Civilization: Beyond Earth catapults you off the planet that's housed your kings, wonders, and wars for millennia (or at least since 1991, when the original Civilization was released), and lets you fend for your life and begin a new history on a literally alien world. But if there's one problem with this game, it's that it never quite feels alien enough.
The Sims 3
With The Sims 3, the Sims series exited its adolescence and entered adulthood. No longer are the Sims just digital action figures in a big dollhouse; they have personalities, goals, and unique body types and hairstyles.
The Sims themselves aren't the only thing overhauled in this release, either. The game mechanics have been changed to make it easier to customize your environments and surroundings, giving users millions of ways to create the worlds of their choice.