When gaming first originated, not many people would have predicted the form of entertainment would be used by people who wanted to spend their spare time delving into business ventures. However, business sims aren’t even the most mundane sounding games to release in the modern-day, as games like Forklift Simulator have made the genre sound thrilling in comparison.
Although business simulators may not sound like the most exciting games on paper, many of them have provided players with engrossing, enjoyable, and immersive experiences. For anyone looking to get into the business simulator genre or for those who are already fans and want something new to play, here are some of the best games available.
10 Tropico 4
Tropico 4 was released on Xbox 360 and PC in 2011 before coming to Mac just under two years later. The game is the first, but certainly not the last city-building game to appear on this list, though Tropico 4 differentiates itself from the other games with its emphasis on politics.
Tropico 4 was fairly well-received by fans and critics, exemplified by its impressive PC and Xbox 360 Metascores of 78 and 77, respectively. The non-Mac iterations of the game were developed by Bulgarian-based development studio Haemimont Games, the team behind 2018’s Surviving Mars.
9 Zoo Tycoon 2
Arguably the second most well-known business simulator series behind RollerCoaster Tycoon, the original Zoo Tycoon game was released in 2001 by Microsoft to impressive commercial success. Zoo Tycoon 2 was released just over three years later and continued the series’ trend of achieving excellent sales figures.
Despite the success, Zoo Tycoon wasn’t a huge hit with critics, as many of them felt that the Campaign mode was too easy and simplistic. It’s hard to argue against this point, though it’s not what most fans spent their time doing in the game. Instead of playing the campaign, many Zoo Tycoon 2 players spent their time in the Freedom mode, which allowed them to flex their creative muscles and build the best, or in most cases, worst Zoo imaginable.
8 RollerCoaster Tycoon 2
As alluded to before, RollerCoaster Tycoon is by far the most universally recognized business simulator that the genre has to offer, so much so that many people who have virtually no interest in video games are aware of the theme park management title and often have fond memories of it.
Similar to Zoo Tycoon 2, players can either complete set objectives in the Scenario mode or create their own experience using the Scenario Editor. Impressively, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 was designed and programmed by just one person, Chris Sawyer.
7 Cities: Skylines
Cities: Skylines is one of the most successful business simulators released in the last decade. As well as its commercial success, the game has also received praise from fans and critics, exemplified by its PC Metascore of 85 and Steam All Reviews mark of Very Positive.
Cities: Skylines adopts a more serious approach than the previous two Tycoon games on this list, though it can still be great fun to play. To be successful in the game, players need to build a city that takes realistic factors into account, such as pollution, travel, employment, and finances.
6 Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
The farming business has been one of the business sim genre’s most successful institutions, and the Harvest Moon series, now known as Story of Seasons, was one of its pioneers. Harvest Moon: Back to Nature was the third game in the franchise to be released on home console, following Harvest Moon 64 and the original SNES game simply titled Harvest Moon.
Like many games in the farm management genre, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature begins with the player inheriting a farm from a relative before being tasked with restoring the farm to its former glory.
5 Game Dev Story
A video game about making a video game may sound like an odd concept at first. However, the Japanese development team Kairosoft did a fantastic job at making Game Dev Story an enthralling experience.
Game Dev Story was initially released on PC exclusively in Japan all the way back in 1997. However, the game finally got a worldwide release over ten years after it initially hit stores in Asia, as it came to iOS and Android devices in 2010. Game Dev Story was then released on Nintendo Switch in 2018, making the classic Japanese game available to even more players.
4 Motorsport Manager
Motorsport Manager was initially released on iOS devices in 2011 before coming to Android, PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch in the years that followed. The racing business and management game is among the most in-depth simulators available on mobile devices, leading to the game’s impressive critical reception and subsequent 88 Metascore.
Sports fans may also want to check out Sports Interactive’s Football Manager series, which can certainly compete with Motorsport Manager in terms of quality, though it doesn’t feature on this list due to its lack of business elements.
3 Two Point Hospital
Running a hospital may sound like the most stressful task in the world, though ironically, Two Point Hospital is one of the most enjoyable and bizarrely entertaining entries on this list. The game begins with players needing to create normal hospital facilities such as reception areas, wards, and pharmacies, before swiftly requiring players to build peculiar rooms such as a Clown Clinic after a circus comes to town.
Two Point Hospital‘s main strength is that it never takes itself too seriously but still offers a well-balanced game that is rewarding to play.
2 Sim City 4
The iconic city-building series SimCity first hit stores back in the late 80s with Maxis’ original game. As the title suggests, SimCity was the fourth major release in the series following the original game, SimCity 2000 and SimCity 3000. However, a Japanese exclusive game was released on the Nintendo 64DD before SimCity 4 in the year 2000.
American developer Maxis returned once again to create SimCity 4, and the game was quickly regarded as one of their best works yet when it was released in January 2003.
1 Stardew Valley
The game that tops this list is also the most recent one to release, Stardew Valley. Recent bias certainly isn’t the only reason why the farm simulator sits atop this list, as the game has been flooded with praise from both fans and critics since it first hit stores in 2016.
Stardew Valley‘s high praise is exemplified by its impressive Metascores, which range between 86 and 89. Moreover, the Stardew Valley Steam page has both an All Reviews and Recent Reviews mark of overwhelmingly positive, and the game’s designer, Eric Barone, was granted the Breakthrough Award at the Golden Joystick Awards in 2016.
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