Awesome Simulators

Overwhelmed by open world games? Fed up with first person shooters? Sick of soulslikes? Placid Plastic Duck Simulator is here for you. More of a semi-randomly generated video than a game, this relaxing indie hit sees different kinds of rubber ducks gradually converging at a seaside swimming pool. That’s it. Available for PC, Switch, PS5, PS4, and Xbox Series X/S.

Solo developer Dan Govier is promising both scale and detail in this ambitious sandbox game. He claims that he’s designing the spaceships as if they were real-world naval vessels, including having full wiring and plumbing. To top it off, the game is set in a 1:1 scale adaptation of the Milky Way, filled with other systems and life forms. A demo is out now on Steam.

Stressed after a long day at work? Head over to the Pluvior website, go full screen, and unwind to the pitter-patter of raindrops on your screen. As the virtual rain falls, you can tweak other sounds like wind, lightning, and urban ambiance. We wish the raindrop simulation was tied to the sound intensity, though.

We used to play the hell out of the Sega Dreamcast game Crazy Taxi. The ride-and-drive simulator Taxi Life is a far more sedate take on the same. The sim puts you behind the wheel of a cab to pick up passengers in Barcelona, Spain, and also to create and manage your own taxi company. The game hits PS5, Xbox, and Steam on 3.7.2024.

This tense “walking simulator” from Kotake Create drops players into a seemingly-endless subway, where they must wander its tiled hallways to find a way out. The game’s instructions read simply: Don’t overlook any anomalies; If you find anomalies, turn back immediately; If you don’t find anomalies, do not turn back; To go out from Exit 8.

The upcoming life simulator game inZOI takes the idea of The Sims and updates it to take advantage of modern hardware. The 4K gameplay trailer shows incredible detail in its virtual worlds and sees its avatars going grocery shopping, cooking fried chicken, watering plants, and going to the gym. Its character- and world-builder tools look incredibly deep.

One place you never want to be when a fire breaks out is a theater. That is unless you’re in this “5D Cinema” theater that produces a real fire that leaps off the screen and across the ceiling above the audience’s heads. We couldn’t confirm where this attraction is, but apparently, it’s somewhere in China.

The game QWOP challenged players to make a 2-dimensional figure walk using their keyboard to control its limbs. The 3D platformer Baby Steps takes this idea to the next level, asking gamers to move a character through a variety of challenging environments by controlling only his feet. Coming to PC and PS5 in 2024.

This upcoming sim from the creator of the surprisingly fun Gas Station Simulator lets players renovate, upgrade, and operate a roadside diner. Once you open your doors, watch customers and staff interact, and do your best to turn a profit. Hungry for a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie? Add it to your Steam wishlist now.

Brick Science host Riley Scott wanted to see if he could build a flight simulator out of LEGO bricks. With the help of his friends Christian and Marcel, they came up with a tabletop machine with a remote joystick and throttle which control the airplane’s propellor, pitch, and roll. Its motors are controlled by a Mindstorms EV3 module.

Most driving games involve competitive racing. But Anslo’s driving game is about relaxation. The browser-based Slow Roads drops you behind the wheel of a virtual car as it drives along an endless, procedurally-generated road filled with scenic vistas. You can control the car using your keyboard or mouse, or enable autopilot.

These days, the military uses powerful computers and high-end graphics cards to simulate missions. But in the 1970s, one of the ways to simulate driving a tank was using a miniature city, a motion camera rig, and a remote screen that displayed the first-person perspective to the pilot. Tom Scott took this vintage sim for a ride.

This engineering sandbox game lets players make their own working machines, structures, and interactive objects. It features a robust visual programming interface for controlling movements and encourages players to share their creations. Coming to Steam in early 2023. A PC demo is available now.

The upcoming game Retro Gadgets from Evil Licorice challenges players to create virtual electronic gadgets in a digital workshop. The game will test your creativity and improve your electronics skills as you invent, build, and solder together your projects, then write code to make them work. Coming to Steam.

Cars in racing games don’t have the most realistic-sounding engine sounds. AngeTheGreat’s Engine Simulator not only can replicate the mechanisms and physics of a car engine, but it also produces realistic procedurally-generated sounds. You can grab the source code for Windows on GitHub.

No time to go to the beach? Creative coder Neal Agarwal’s online toy Rocks lets you enjoy a soothing oceanside pastime from the comfort of your computer screen. The browser-based rock simulator offers sounds of the surf and four virtual rocks for your balancing enjoyment.

Described as a “Slow-life town destruction game,” DEEEER Simulator invites players to frolic about for a leisurely stroll or wreak havoc and destroy the place. After watching the trailer, we still have no idea what’s going on, but we need to play this. Coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. It’s on Steam Early Access for PC too.

This unique sim game asks players to visit homes and offices to perform electrical repairs. Scenarios include fixing broken switches and outlets, installing wiring, and troubleshooting devices. And yes, electrocution is always a risk. First Shock, a free prologue to the full Electrician Simulator is coming to Steam 11.2021.

Developed by Madnetic Games, this unique sim game sends you on a global hunt as a wildlife photographer. It features photorealistic scenery and animals to shoot (with your lens). As they build their photo skills, players collect camera gear and sell their photos to magazines. Add it to your Steam wishlist.

With an amazing amount of graphical detail and real-world map data, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is closer than ever to recreating the experience of flight. Digital pilot TheNinjaCowboy shared this video footage of some of their favorite locations from the game, looking out from the pilot’s window and above their single-engine plane.

New Zealand tech startup Eight360 has created a motion simulator that looks like something out of Jurassic World or Oblivion. The sphere can rotate untethered in any direction, meaning its occupant can tumble, roll, and spin. Its movements are synced with a VR headset, so motion sickness isn’t as likely as stationary VR.

Completely revamped from top to bottom, Microsoft Flight Simulator aims to be the most realistic aviation sim ever. The game includes data from over 2 million cities around the globe, rendered in incredible detail, with 4K and HDR support, along with real-time atmospheric and weather conditions. Coming to Windows 10, 8.18.20.

This physics-based moving sim game asks players to move furniture around the town of Packmore, as you live your life as a newly-certified Furniture Arrangement & Relocation Technician. It’s packed with hilarious and tricky levels, and looks even more fun in co-op mode. Drops 4/28/2020 on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.