Spent a little too long in the world of cryingclowns and plumbobs? Worry no more.
Here are the 10 best games to play if youlove The Sims.
Comme en sna na? If you understood that and are mostly fluentin Simlish, it might be time to gently step away from your painstakingly created fictionalhumans and all of their DLC.
Just them though, not your PC as there areplenty of other games that have all the great qualities of the sims, just not in exactlythe same form.
Come back! It’s a good thing! And you can always go back to the Goths whenyou get withdrawal symptoms.
They’ll always be there! Unless you’ve got aging turned on and thenwent and played with another family….
But anyway… From undead frightmares to underground builders, here are the 10 best games to play if you love The Sims.
Maybe what you love about the Sims is justlooking after people.
Caring for a group of digital humans who, if it wasn’t for you, probably wouldn’t go to the toilet in time.
Definitely NOT because you didn’t builtone fast enough… Anyway… Two Point Hospital is ALL about maximisingyour nurturing side.
Exercising your nursing muscles and baskingin the joys of ludicrous pun illnesses like Lightheadedness and Mockstar so you too canput the ward in award winning.
I’m not even sorry for that.
Plus, equally as satisfying as watching peoplepass through X-ray machines and saucepans being yanked from skulls is designing yourhospital.
Sure you could build a bare bones functionalroom but why do that when you can design prestige wards packed with antibacterial handwash andeven posters of pugs.
Add in the Tetris skills necessary to packas many treatment rooms into each hospital building as possible and Two Point Hospitalscratches all your management itches nicely.
Except no.
You should probably have a cream for that… Okay.
We know.
There’s never a bit in The Sims when crumblingundead hordes smash through your windows and tear you and your designer French Bulldoglimb from snackable limb.
And you never pop around to see the Gothsand find Mortimer in a shallow grave and a reanimated Bella banging her rotting headon the toilet door.
But despite this, the excellent Project Zombiodhas loads in common with The Sims.
You have to cook food when your avatar getshungry, which is a skill that improves with research and practice.
And you can plonk yourself in front of a bookto improve skills that will help you last more than a few hours in this savage zompocalypsesimulator.
Yes, it’s a little more in-depth – yourSim never starved to death because they couldn’t find a can opener, for instance – but thatcentral loop of learning and surviving is pleasantly similar.
Just… don’t expect to live quite as longin Project Zomboid.
Because you won’t.
Time is important in the Sims.
Watching your Sims grow as people and gainingnew experiences.
Well time is equally important in Farm Togetherand, err, so is growing.
Is that enough of a connection? I’m going to say yes.
Farm Together is a ludicrously adorable agriculturesim that will make your hours and days disappear.
Welcome to a world where there is no sleep, only farming and production.
Where there are endless adorable animals, limitless trees of fruit, and a blank slate of land to turn into your own mini masterpiece.
Sure, you’ll start off with a mere acreor so of land and not even have a tractor to call your own but level up enough and you’llquickly be planting and watering nine squares at a time as you quest to become the ultimatecrop mogul.
Plus, as the title suggests, this encouragesplaying with friends as you visit other farms to increase your own productivity.
If the design and clockwork regularity ofthe Sims is what hooks you, this is on track for an ideal change of scenery.
[d] Don’t worry, your precious humans are stillhere in Cities Skylines.
They’re just really far away while you havebigger problems to deal with.
Like the water supply for an entire city makingeveryone ludicrously unwell and all having to go the hospital that you haven’t hadenough money to construct yet.
While you’re not on the ground in this behemothof a city sim, it doesn’t mean that you’re not constantly dealing with Sims-like problems.
Health.
Education.
The desire for the simple life and PARKS yetstill adequate transport links.
It turns out that humans do just ask for theearth and Cities Skylines is supplying the solutions one DLC pack at a time.
It’s the sheer scope that’s so staggeringhere.
From tiny towns to staggering metropolises- metropolisi? – your creations can grow as big and intimidatingas you want them to be.
And hey, if you don’t have the patienceto wait for a city to grow, there’s always the wonders of the Steam Workshop.
And once again Stardew Valley arrives on oneof my lists.
What a complete coincidence.
In this case though, the addition of thisperfect little farm and life ‘em up makes a lot of sense for fans of micromanaging thelives of sometimes irrational Sims.
The regularity of farming day to day willsoothe your desire for banal routine AND if you don’t want to be a lone wolf, livinglife on the land, you can play the dating game.
All number of eligible bachelor and bachelorettesare waiting for you in Stardew Valley.
You’ll start off just by saying hello andwaving coyly but find the right gift for your intended and you’ll start a relationship.
Just like real life, if you reach a ten heartstatus AND find the mermaid’s pendant on the beach, you can even get married and haveyour significant other move onto your farm.
Aaah, wedded bliss.
And hey, if you don’t like it, there’sa disturbing rune that will make you a singleton again.
One of the many pleasures of simulation games, not just The Sims, is making everything just work.
Overcrowd: A Commute ‘Em Up is the perfectclearest indicator of just that.
When it’s all running smoothly, your trainstation is full of happy commuters sipping their flat whites and ignoring other humans, when it’s not? Well you’ll know about it quickly as bottlenecksappear in front of ticket barriers and the whole world seems to be waiting on a trainthat’s only got two carriages.
This Early Access sim feels equally like apuzzle game as you level the ground around tracks, make sure everyone is getting offthe right side of the trains, and exiting in an orderly fashion.
Oh, and don’t let those cutesy looks deceiveyou.
Overcrowd might look innocent and sweet butthere’s an enjoyably brutal granularity beneath the surface that reveals a much deepersimulation element.
Mind the gap… It’s a bit of a curveball but it’s importantto be able to put your love of the Sims to good practical use sometimes.
Well, good practical use in a video game environment.
Game Dev Tycoon takes your knowledge of theindustry and makes it into a, well, game.
Literally.
As an indie developer, you’re tasked withcrafting new and exciting gaming experiences for the hungry button pressing public andyour knowledge of genres that work well together is a serious plus.
And yes, your pun skills help too.
Choosing console platforms, taking risks andcombining odd genres makes Game Dev Tycoon constantly compelling.
Even fixing bugs is satisfying.
Starting out in a garage in the 80s, if yousucceed you’ll eventually end up designing for modern consoles in much more plush surroundingswith millions of dollars in the bank.
Now where’s that code for Fortnite 2 gone.
Fancy a coconut water while you wait? Human simulation? Pah.
Who needs humans when there are DINOSAURSto play with.
Jurassic World Evolution is all about sparingno expense and playing with Dino DNA as you take control of a selection of murder zoos.
While you can of course just manage everypark from the skies, it’s getting truly involved in the sometimes gory day to daywhere the fun lies.
Taking pictures of your dinosaurs.
Getting hands on with the feeding schedule.
Not being able to stop yourself watching thevelociraptors hunt your guests when you should be tranquilising them.
Clever girls… There are two clear ways to play JurassicWorld Evolution.
One, the path of chaos with the body partsof tourists smudged across your Trip Advisor reviews, or two, the path of true organisationand power as you do what John Hammond never managed to do and actually keep a park undercontrol and the merchandise money flowing in.
Just don’t be tempted to create a mega dinosaurthat can go invisible AND unlock doors.
And by don’t, I totally mean do… It might not have the effortless simplicityof rosebud or motherlode, but the design options within House Flipper and its green-fingeredDLC are vast, AND you get to clean the whole place up first.
Taking requests from customers, you can polishup the mess, fit radiators, paint walls, and organise furniture.
It’s like being all of the Avengers in one, if the MCU was full of people with really specific DIY knowledge.
It might even inspire you to actually tacklea real life problem or two in your own house.
Or, y’know, at least maybe consider it beforeyou turn back to your screen.
Unlike cheating in the Sims and just buyingthe most expensive of everything, by the time you decorate in House Flipper, you genuinelyfeel like you’ve earned everything on your own and you’ll be comparing before and afterpictures like a proud room parent in no time.
D’awww they just clean up so fast thesedays….
Sometimes, you wait years and years for asequel to one of the most beloved games of all time, only to be crushed by disappointmentwhen it finally arrives.
And sometimes, an entirely different developerturns up and makes the game you always dreamed of anyway.
War for the Overworld is that type of game;a bold, unapologetic spiritual successor to the legendary Dungeon Keeper – a game thatgave many of us our first taste of cackling evil.
Nearly all the same beats are here, updatedfor a modern audience.
And The Sims connection comes from the factyou have attend to and care for your nefarious minions, in much the same way you do yourcheerful digital humans; albeit it with more murder, torture, and imprisonment.
Simply put, this is Dungeon Keeper 3 madeby people who adored the original games, and it’s deliciously evil.
So that’s the ten games to play if you love the Sims but need to break away from all those glowinggreen needs bars for a little while.
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