Best Simulation Games On PlayStation Plus Extra & Premium (September 2023)
Simulations cover a fairly wide spectrum of games. Life, farming, and management sims have all produced successful projects, but while their representatives share a few things in common, there is no guarantee that fans of one subgenre will gravitate toward another. Frequently blending with city-builders, RPGs, and racers, sims are responsible for some of the most relaxing and stressful games on the market. Although not overflowing with options, PlayStation Plus’ library highlights the genre’s range quite well.
Regardless of whether someone subscribes to the service’s Extra or Premium tiers, they will have access to hundreds of games; consequently, narrowing down the options can be a difficult task. To make that process as simple as possible, here are some of the best PS Plus sim games.
Each entry states whether a game is part of PS Plus’ Extra tier. Also, Amazon links will be included if listings are available, just in case somebody prefers to pick up a title’s physical copy.
HowLongtoBeat was used as a source to find the average length of each game.
Frostpunk
Platform/s
PS4
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
11 Hours
Subgenre
City-Builder, Survival
Developer/s
11 bit studios
Available With PS Plus Extra
Yes
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
Frostpunk
Frostpunk slips into a few genres, and it excels in practically all of them. The hard-as-nails city-builder manages to be fairly straightforward in its mechanics and simultaneously extremely punishing. As a survival game, Frostpunk masterfully incorporates the stressful thrills of monitoring resources and meters, albeit on a wider scale than just an individual’s essentials. Finally, the social simulator casts players in a high-stakes role as the leader of a group of people trying to make the best of an awful situation. Balancing everyone’s needs is anything but simple, and sacrifices must be made for the greater good.
Set in an alternate reality where the sun’s warmth cannot reach Earth’s surface, Frostpunk finds a group of survivors trying to build a new town around a coal-fueled furnace. As the person calling the shots, players must ensure the fire keeps burning, something that is easier said than done. They also need to try to keep the population’s hopes alive, which does not always gel with the needs of the moment.
Harvest Moon: Back To Nature
Platform/s
PS1
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
85 Hours
Subgenre
Farming
Developer/s
Victor Interactive Software
Available With PS Plus Extra
No
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
N/A
Even though PS Plus has a couple of Harvest Moon games, Mad Dash, One World, and Light of Hope are not part of the same franchise that started on the SNES. Thankfully, the Premium tier has one exception to the rule: Back to Nature. The PS1 classic focuses on a boy who has just inherited his grandfather’s farm, and he has roughly three years to get it into tip-top shape.
Naturally, this means a lot of farming, which is an area Back to Nature knocks out of the park. Although not the deepest farming sim ever, the game has all the basics one would expect from the genre, and the core mechanics have aged relatively well. Harvest Moon also incorporates other elements to inject a touch of variety, including a degree of exploration and a focus on crafting friendships with the town’s residents.
Two Point Hospital
Platform/s
PS4
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
40 Hours
Subgenre
Management
Developer/s
Two Point Studios
Available With PS Plus Extra
Yes
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
Two Point Hospital
Two Point Studios has done a great job of making business sims accessible to a casual audience, while still offering more than enough debt to keep veterans of the genre hooked. While 2022’s Two Point Campus is not on PS Plus Extra, its spiritual predecessor, Two Point Hospital, is available on the service and well worth playing. As the title suggests, the game puts players in charge of running hospitals in different scenarios, which obviously comes with plenty of unique challenges that must be overcome to keep the staff, patients, and bottom line happy.
As with most business sims, Two Point Hospital eases players into their new responsibilities, only for things to expand exponentially as the hours fly by. Before long, players will be running a sprawling hospital with so many moving parts that they might start to feel overwhelmed. While taking its mechanics seriously, Two Point Hospital is overall a lighthearted experience filled to the brim with humor.
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Platform/s
PS5, PS4
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
20 Hours
Subgenre
Management
Developer/s
Skyhook Games
Available With PS Plus Extra
Yes
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
Lawn Mowing Simulator
No activity is too mundane to be turned into an addictive sim. Lawn Mowing Simulator almost sounds like a fake game that might have appeared as a gag in an early-2010s movie or TV show, but it is not only a reality but also pretty good. Skyhook’s project does not come with all that many surprises as it delivers the exact experience most people might picture when they hear the title; however, that is not a criticism.
Lawn Mowing Simulator is a management game at its heart. Players start a company and take on contracts with the goal of earning money, expanding their operation, hiring employees, and purchasing better equipment. The campaign is really that simple, and the same could be said for the basic gameplay loop. Although not devoid of depth, Lawn Moving Simulator is overall fairly straightforward, at least for the management sim genre. As such, the game is a good option for people who want to unwind for a few hours.
Hundred Days: Winemaking Simulator
Platform/s
PS5, PS4
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
5 Hours
Subgenre
Management
Developer/s
Brokenarmsgames
Available With PS Plus Extra
Yes
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
N/A
The management sim market is flooded with farming games, to the point that they can start to blend together. Although not too steep of a departure from these sorts of releases, Hundred Days shakes things up by revolving around winemaking, an industry that has been left mostly untouched by video games.
Following a brief story mode that helps set up the fundamentals, the game guides players through the whole process of creating wine, from planting grapes to labeling bottles. Hundred Days focuses on the minute details of winemaking, and the content can be a touch overwhelming if someone is not familiar with this world. That said, the game is quite interesting.
Overcooked! 2
Platform/s
PS4
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
8 Hours
Subgenre
Cooking
Developer/s
Team17, Ghost Town Games
Available With PS Plus Extra
Yes
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
Overcooked! + Overcooked! 2
What is more relaxing than running a kitchen? Overcooked! 2 is a co-op game featuring chefs who work tirelessly to ensure their restaurant is running as smoothly as possible. While solo play is viable, the experience is enhanced considerably when played with friends.
As a cooking sim, Overcooked! 2 is one of the most immersive options on the market. That said, it walks a fine line between a grounded sim and a party game, managing to strike a good balance between the two.
Tropico 5
Platform/s
PS4
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
22 Hours
Subgenre
City-Builder, Management
Developer/s
Haemimont Games
Available With PS Plus Extra
Yes
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
Tropico 5 Complete Collection
Tropico 5 is a management sim revolving around the rulers of an island. Starting from basically nothing, players aim to guide their nation to global prominence, a journey that can take many routes to arrive at its destination. While some strategy is involved, Tropico 5 belongs to the sim and city-building genres, and it is a fairly accessible representative of both spheres.
As El Presidente, players live through multiple generations and eras as their city naturally grows. While not as complex as, for instance, Cities Skylines, Tropico 5’s city progression is nevertheless satisfying and rewarding. Players have to also constantly make decisions that impact their political and social standings.
Prison Architect
Platform/s
PS4
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
17 Hours
Subgenre
Construction & Management
Developer/s
Introversion Software, Double Eleven
Available With PS Plus Extra
Yes
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
N/A
Once upon a time, construction sims were destined to remain PC exclusives, but this trend started to change during the PS4 era. Prison Architect was one of the earlier projects to make the jump, and, while not without a few growing pains, the transition was largely a success.
As its title suggests, the game puts players in charge of constructing and managing a prison, and they are offered a wide range of options to construct a system that suits them. Do not be fooled by its cartoonish and somewhat simplistic 2D visuals, Prison Architect incorporates an impressive array of mechanics, and they generally combine well with each other.
Cities: Skylines
Platform/s
PS4
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
30- Hours
Subgenre
City-Builder, Management
Developer/s
Colossal Order
Available With PS Plus Extra
Yes
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
Cities: Skylines
A contender for the most popular city-builder of the 2010s, Cities: Skylines is a spiritual successor to SimCity. Expertly walking the line between hardcore and accessible, Colossal’s project does a good job of easing genre newcomers into the flow of things, allowing them to create and work at their own pace. Once accustomed to the basics, players will come to realize the game has a great deal of depth and also encourages experimentation and creativity.
Cities: Skylines foregoes anything resembling a story in favor of unfiltered expansion. Although most playthroughs start fairly small, when it comes to expansion, the sky really is the limit. Before long, players will be in charge of sprawling metropolises with distinct districts and a diverse array of building types.
Evil Genius 2: World Domination
Platform/s
PS5, PS4
Approximate Game Length (Main Story)
27 Hours
Subgenre
Lair Builder
Developer/s
Rebellion Developments
Available With PS Plus Extra
Yes
Amazon Listing Page (If Available)
Evil Genius 2: World Domination
The villains are always the best parts of Saturday Morning Cartoons, and Evil Genius 2 capitalizes on that. Rebellion’s title features four playable geniuses, each of whom can take over one of three lairs as they try to set up their operation and eventually seek to expand their global reach. Naturally, such a feat requires resources, information, and security, all of which can be obtained by building an elaborate lair capable of catching spies, generating income, and keeping minions happy.
Considering its wacky setup, Evil Genius 2 is surprisingly relaxing and slow-moving, which is not a criticism. The game’s stylish visual aesthetic is thematically consistent, while the base-building is detailed, complex, and approachable.