113 articles
SimCity 4
SimCity 4 (2003), Maxis/EA city-building simulation, fourth main SimCity, designed by Will Wright. Known for regional play with neighbor deals, a statistical spreadsheet simulation, Rush Hour expansion, and a lasting NAM modding community.
Simulation video game
Simulation video game genre: games modeling real or fictional systems like cities, vehicles, farms, or economies. Founded around SimCity (1989, Will Wright, Maxis); includes The Sims, flight and truck sims, god games, colony sims, and serious games.
Slime Rancher
Developed by Monomi Park, the game Slime Rancher involves Beatrix LeBeau wrangling slimes on a planet a thousand light-years from Earth. It sold six million copies in 2017.
Spacewar!
Spacewar! is a 1962 two-player space-combat video game written by Steve Russell and others at MIT on a DEC PDP-1, inspired by Doc Smith's Lensman novels; it seeded hacker culture and inspired Computer Space and Pong.
Spore (2008 video game)
Spore (2008), Maxis/EA god game by Will Wright, evolving a creature through Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space stages; Metacritic 84 but Amazon rating under 1.5 stars over SecuROM DRM.
Star Citizen
Star Citizen is Cloud Imperium Games' crowdfunded multiplayer space sim by Chris Roberts, announced October 10, 2012; it passed $1 billion from 6.5 million backers in 2026 while still in alpha, with Squadron 42 delayed.
Star Wars: Squadrons
Star Wars: Squadrons is a 2020 first-person 5v5 starfighter combat game by EA Motive, set after Return of the Jedi, with a dual-perspective campaign, Fleet Battles, VR and crossplay support, and a Metacritic score of 79.
Story of Seasons
Story of Seasons (Bokujō Monogatari, 牧場物語) is Marvelous's farm life sim series, localized as Harvest Moon until 2014, then renamed because Natsume owns the Harvest Moon trademark; latest entry Grand Bazaar, 2025.
Survival game
The survival game is a video game genre where players keep characters alive by managing scarce resources, with breakout hits including Minecraft and the DayZ mod.
The Crew (video game)
The Crew is a 2014 open-world racing game by Ubisoft Ivory Tower and Ubisoft, set in an always-online recreation of the mainland United States, with servers closed in 2024.
The Need for Speed
Need for Speed is Electronic Arts' arcade racing franchise, launched in 1994 with Road & Track Presents The Need for Speed. About 25 titles across 30 years, known for police pursuits and car customization; latest mainline game is Unbound (2022), with Criterion now focused on Battlefield.
The Settlers
The Settlers, city-building real-time strategy series launched 1993 by Blue Byte (Serf City: Life is Feudal), acquired by Ubisoft 2001; seven mainline entries to 2010, New Allies 2023, known for production chains and indirect control of settlers.
The Sims
The Sims, life simulation game series created by Will Wright at Maxis, first released 4 February 2000 by EA; over 100 million copies sold, four mainline games, The Sims 4 still active with rivals InZoi and Paralives.
The Sims 2
The Sims 2 (2004) is Maxis/EA's life simulation sequel to The Sims, adding aging, genetics, memories, and the aspiration/fear system. Metascore 90 PC, best-selling PC game of 2004, re-released digitally as the Legacy Collection in 2025.
The Sims 3
The Sims 3 (2009), Maxis/EA life simulation game for PC, Mac, and later consoles; first open-world Sims without lot loading screens, trait-based personalities, 11 expansions, 9 stuff packs, over 7 million copies sold by 2015.
The Sims 4
The Sims 4 is Maxis and EA's life simulation game, fourth in the series, released September 2, 2014 for PC and later Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation; base game free since October 18, 2022, with Gallery, Create a Sim, Build Mode, and paid expansion packs.
Toontown Online
Toontown Online, also called Disney's Toontown Online, was a kid-friendly MMORPG launched June 2, 2003 and closed September 19, 2013, where Toons fought Cog robots with gags; revived by Toontown Rewritten.
Tropico 5
Tropico 5 (Tropico 5) is a 2014 city-building and dictator simulation game by Haemimont Games and Kalypso Media, the fifth Tropico entry, spanning Colonial to Modern Times eras with dynasties, research, and series-first multiplayer.
Two Point Hospital
Two Point Hospital (2018) is a SEGA-published hospital management sim by Two Point Studios, founded by ex-Bullfrog Theme Hospital creators Mark Webley and Gary Carr; spiritual successor set in Two Point County, followed by Campus and Museum.
VRChat
VRChat: free social virtual reality platform by VRChat Inc., founded 2014 by Graham Gaylor and Jesse Joudrey, Steam release 2017, Unity-based user-created worlds and avatars, Udon scripting, Creator Economy, peak concurrency near 160,000.
War Thunder
War Thunder is Gaijin Entertainment's free-to-play cross-platform vehicular combat MMO (formerly World of Planes), with over 2,500 aircraft, tanks, ships, and helicopters, Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator modes, and a module-based damage model.
World of Tanks
World of Tanks: Wargaming's free-to-play online tank combat game (2010), 800+ mid-20th-century vehicles across 11 nations, 15v15 arcade battles, spotting capped at 445 m, $471M revenue in 2017, spinoff World of Tanks: HEAT launched 2026.
Zoo Tycoon
Zoo Tycoon is a zoo-building business simulation game series begun in 2001 by Blue Fang Games and Microsoft, followed by Zoo Tycoon 2 (2004), DS versions, and a 2013 Frontier Developments reboot on Xbox.