The Best Life Sim Games of 2022
Games that simulate real-life situations provide us an opportunity to escape while also getting a glimpse of how we might prefer our own lives to be. It could not be an exact portrayal of our dreams but rather one that embodies abstract ideas like enthusiasm, achievement, settling down, or whatnot. And while the world is still dealing with the pandemic, the clamor for life simulator games rises even more.
Today, there are many life sim games that you can choose from. But only a few of them can offer the best gaming experience. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with reality and wishing you could just live a simpler life or you’re just looking for the best life sim games to pass the time, here are some of the best we’ve found.
Our Recommendation
The Sims 4
The Sims is one of the most popular life simulator games. From the day the first version of the game was released to the present, it remains one of the most well-known games in its category. The Sims franchise, which has been around since the early 2000s, has swept the globe and established itself as the top “god simulator.”
You have complete control over a single sim or a full household, including when they use the bathroom and take a shower. The Sims 4 is the biggest and best Sims game yet, at least from our perspective, and there are a ton of extras available. Your Sims can live in the city, go skiing, unwind in a spa with a Japanese theme, get a pet, on a fantastic trip, or even be vampires.
The Sims 4 transfers the exact same desktop experience to the Xbox One or PlayStation 4, allowing us to indulge our God complexes while lounging on our couches and holding a controller. Naturally, it’s not as simple or natural as it is with a mouse; the console version still uses a pointer that you move with the analog stick, and using menus needs more button clicks than we’re used to. The controls are nearly as fantastic as we could have ever hoped for in a real console port, albeit they do require some getting used to.
Runner Up
Stardew Valley
Would you like to manage your own farm and create it precisely how you want? In Stardew Valley, you can. But this living simulation is much more than just farming. You can wander around the village, making friends with the residents, or you can explore the town’s mines in search of priceless gems. You could even find someone to get married to and spend the rest of your life with.
The colorful, SNES-era-inspired imagery in Stardew Valley suits the overall visual and mood of the game wonderfully. This art style can turn off a lot of people, but you may actually find it to be very aesthetically beautiful. The Stardew Valley soundtrack blends well with the visual style and, at times, is evocative of the C418-composed soundtrack for Minecraft without ever going too far in that direction.
Even though it’s one of those games where you can play your own music in the background, the official soundtrack is still really pleasantly composed. You’ll undoubtedly be bewildered and unsure of how to go for the first several days of Stardew Valley. However, it doesn’t take long before you begin to understand how farming operates; Stardew Valley’s initial seed gifting helps.
Additionally, one of your first tasks is to meet everyone in Pelican Town, where the locals will give you tips on how to navigate the game. You discover the locations and individuals you’ll need to keep returning to in order to buy seeds and equipment or upgrade different parts of your farm by being invited to tour Pelican Town and get to know its inhabitants. Each character in Pelican Town has a distinct personality, as well as weekly rituals that define who they are and what they do for the community.
Everyone Else
My Time at Sandrock
My Time at Sandrock, one of the newest games on this list of the top life simulation games, is also one of our favorites. It recently launched Early Access on PC and is a sequel to My Time at Portia. After spending some time with the Early Access version, we can attest to its beauty, functionality, and sheer enjoyment. Fans of games with open-ended crafting, farming, and exploration mechanics should definitely pay attention to this.
At the start of the game, you’ll be dropped into Sandrock, a small village in the desert that evokes images of the wild west, after creating your character. They are hoping that you, as a builder, can enter and revitalize the town because it isn’t exactly prospering these days. So, no pressure. Fortunately, your tasks begin small. To make new tools, you’ll be collecting scrap from the desert around. Additionally, you can complete most tasks on your own schedule.
It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to collect the necessary components; this is your adventure, so go at your own pace if you’d like. You’ll gradually learn additional mechanics as you play. There are people in the town for you to get to know and become friends with, and if you’re up for it, many of them have jobs for you to do. However, not everyone is friendly. Outside of Sandrock, where things are relatively safe, there are opponents and dangers, so you’ll need to brush up on your fighting techniques and perhaps make a few nice weapons for yourself.
Cat Cafe Manager
If you like cats and you like games, this is one of the best life sims for you. In this game, You play a young adult who has recently inherited their grandmother’s cat café. Nevertheless, when you arrive, there is nothing left. To get it up and running, you’ll have to build it from the ground up utilizing leftover pieces of old furniture. Your income will increase as your cafe’s popularity develops, enabling you to expand, serve more guests, expand your menu, and, of course, take in more stray cats.
In Cat Cafe Manager, you’ll need to have a bit of a jack-of-all-trades mentality. In addition to managing the café, taking orders, preparing drinks, and serving customers, you are also in charge of making sure the kitchen is well-stocked, the cats are fed and well-cared for, your crew is trained, and the café is being refurbished. Since it is so much more interactive than other games in the category, calling this a management sim wouldn’t be entirely accurate.
You can ultimately turn your café from a few nearly-broken tables and chairs into a chic location where nearly everyone in town will want to hang out. This is excellent news for you because it will increase your income as you serve more clients. But that’s where Cat Cafe Manager starts to become a little unnecessarily difficult. There are six different types of currencies in use here, not just one. Customers can be categorized into one of six groups, and each group will pay you in a separate currency.
Grow: Song o the Evertree
Grow: Song of the Evertree should be on your radar if you like games where you can control the world around you while moving at your own speed. Your role as an alchemist in the country of Alaria is presented in this amusing world-building game, actually, the last of your kind. The Evertree, which gives life to everything around it, has ceased growing as a result of a horrible fate that has befallen the earth.
Fortunately, you are the one who can give it new life. The world will soon be thriving once more thanks to the sowing of seeds, the singing of a wonderful, long-forgotten song, and the returning of Alaria to the land it once was. However, you have a lot of work ahead of you to get there. This game has many different aspects, and if you’re the kind of person who enjoys getting lost in a game, getting down to some busy work, and doing things any way you choose, you’ll find a lot to love here right away.
Grow gradually introduces you to the process, walks you through each stage, and teaches you the rules. Planting a Planet Seed, a seed that grows a brand-new world on a branch of the World Tree, is the first concept you’ll encounter. However, when you enter that new planet, you’ll find it to be a desolate wasteland. Fortunately, you have a collection of resources at your disposal.
To get your new environment in tip-top form, you’ll need to remove weeds, crumble rocks, sow fresh seeds, and water them. You’ll eventually notice lush greenery returning to the earth as plants and trees bloom as you continue to clean up. These farming-related aspects probably won’t appeal to everyone, but if you don’t mind performing some straightforward, repetitive tasks, the reward is well worth it.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons places you on a desert island where you can unwind, fish, gather bugs, and decorate. It is the most laid-back video game series ever. With Animal Crossing, you may just enjoy and engage with your surroundings while ignoring many typical video game elements like competitiveness and challenge.
It’s one of the coziest, friendliest gaming series around. Animal Crossing: New Horizons relocates you to a “deserted” island rather than a new town like in its predecessor, Animal Crossing: New Leaf. You purchase the Deserted Island Getaway Package from Nook Inc., which consists of a trip to an isolated island for you and two unrelated animal companions.
This implies that you begin with tents rather than houses and that you can make stuff rather than just purchasing them. Like in its predecessors, of course, Tom Nook and his nephews are still there to assist you in adjusting to your new life on the island, and you can buy tools from them as well as sell them fish, bugs, and seashells.
It’s a clue that the Animal Crossing concept’s twist might not be as important as it first appears. In fact, after a few days on your isolated island, the tents give way to houses, the Resident Services tent is augmented by the iconic Nook’s Cranny store, and you have a complete museum where you can donate fossils that have been found. You are not, in fact, stranded on a remote island. You are in the town from Animal Crossing.
If you’ve ever played an Animal Crossing game, you are aware of your options. If you haven’t, you might be perplexed as to how this qualifies as a game at all. Like earlier Animal Crossing games, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is primarily a freeform experience. You can go for walks across your neighborhood and talk to your neighbors while you fish, catch bugs, gather shells, look for fossils, and dig for them. As you proceed, you earn money, which enables you to purchase a larger home and decorate it. Using tools and items, you can further personalize the island by cultivating an orchard or removing trees to create a playground.
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