Most games let you escape reality and play make-believe in supernatural adventures or wild fantasy worlds. Simulator games are different. They let you live out the minutiae of a very specific and often extremely niche activity or career — and we love them.
On paper, it sounds like trading in your day job for yet another day job, but the best simulator games cleverly parcel up the fun things and skip over the boring realities. They let us experiment with recipes without worrying about the taste, and herd cows without worrying about drought. Simulator games offer an escape from real life by letting us indulge in another, better real life.
Here, we’ve rounded up some of the best and most popular simulation games. Any time you’re feeling burnt out in real life, you can take a little break with one of these sims and pretend you’re a pilot, or a power washer, or a farmer or the manager of a hospital. Whatever you feel like, really.
FuturLab
PowerWash Simulator
What if you could turn a hose on full blast and simply wash away your stress? That’s what playing PowerWash Simulator feels like. The entire goal in this sim is to blast away every speck of dirt you can find on an object until it’s sparkling clean. Successfully cleaning everything in a level is, as one reviewer said, “a little hit of dopamine.” The game recently added a co-op mode so groups of up to six people can blast away their stress together.
Available on: PC
DRAGO entertainment
Gas Station Simulator
Your task in Gas Station Simulator is to restore an abandoned gas station to its full glory. To do that, you’ll have to pick up rubbish, paint the walls, buy furniture and scan items at the checkout. The game rewards you for completing tasks, which makes it fun to do the kind of chores that you’d normally put off in real life. Gas Station Simulator was wildly popular at launch, and still has almost 30,000 followers on Twitch who can attest to its calming routine.
Available on: PC (PlayStation, Xbox and Switch releases are planned for 2022)
Two Point Studios
Two Point Hospital
If you prefer a more hands-off sim experience, Two Point Hospital lets you manage a comical hospital from above. You have to build and manage a budding healthcare system to cure patients of fictional ailments like light-headedness (which in this case literally turns their heads into light bulbs) and cubism (yes, it turns your patients into cubes).
Available on: PC, PS4,PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Mac
Asobo Studio
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Go to flight school and then take to the skies in this ultra-realistic flight simulator. You can travel across the entire world and enjoy photorealistic 4K views from above, and adjust the difficulty levels so it’s just challenging enough for you.
Available on: PC, Xbox Series X/S
Frontier Developments
Planet Coaster
Create out-of-this-world roller coasters to delight and thrill your guests in Planet Coaster. It’s made by the developers of Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 and shares a lot of similarities that will excite long-time fans (like the ability to ride your coasters), but it’s fresh enough to keep new players hooked as well.
Available on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Xeries X/S
Big Cheese Studio
Cooking Simulator
Ever wanted to be a professional chef but you’re terrible in the kitchen? Cooking Simulator lets you live out your culinary dreams without any of the skill required to make real edible dishes. You’re let loose in a huge kitchen with more than 80 recipes — and the ability to create your own — and have to accurately measure your ingredients and combine everything correctly to create something your customers will enjoy. Just try not to set the kitchen on fire!
Available on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Colossal Order Ltd.
Cities: Skylines
One of the latest and greatest city sims around, Cities: Skylines puts you in control of an entire metropolis. Watch it grow in real-time and develop your society to your liking.
Available on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Giants Software
Farming Simulator 22
Oh to flee the city and live a quiet life in the countryside. Your life in Farming Simulator 22 might not be quiet, but it’ll give you a taste of what it’s like to work a farm. You’ll harvest crops, tend to animals, manage productions and take on seasonal challenges to become a modern farmer.
Available on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
