There\u2019s no game quite like The Sims<\/em>. We realise that rather scuppers us when we\u2019re putting together a list of games like The Sims<\/em>, but the reality is that EA\u2019s life sim-come-god game has dominated its corner of the market so utterly that it\u2019s genuinely difficult to think of a game that does something sufficiently similar. Still, there are plenty of games out there that you might love if you\u2019re a fan of The Sims<\/em>, and it\u2019s definitely possible to play The Sims <\/em>too much,  so you\u2019ll almost certainly want a break from it at some point. When that time comes, you should definitely check out these 15 great games like The Sims<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons<\/em>, you can live life at your own pace. You move to an island at the behest of everyone\u2019s favourite raccoon racketeer Tom Nook, and once you get there, what you do is largely up to you. Of course, you have a house that you can improve and modify, and this time around, you can also shape the geography of the island itself. Animal residents will gradually move in and establish themselves, too, and you can befriend them, hang out with them, and then get unreasonably sad when they move out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Cities: Skylines<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you like playing The Sims<\/em>, but wish you were able to control things on a more global scale, then Cities: Skylines <\/em>is for you. We cannot in good conscience recommend that you spend any decent amount of time with EA\u2019s 2013 abomination SimCity<\/em>, but Cities: Skylines <\/em>is the city-building sim that every gamer deserved back then. It\u2019s a fully-featured management game in which you can pretty much control every aspect of your city, and if there\u2019s something you can\u2019t do, there\u2019s probably DLC to fix that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. House Flipper<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the cornerstones of The Sims<\/em>\u2019 appeal is renovating houses. You can work on a house until it looks exactly as you want it, setting up furniture and decorating to your exact specifications. House Flipper <\/em>is essentially that aspect of The Sims<\/em>, but expanded into a full experience. You\u2019re presented with a series of fixer-upper properties, and it\u2019s up to you to, well, fix them up. It\u2019s largely up to you exactly how you do that, though, so this game lets you exercise similar creative licence to The Sims<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Two Point Hospital<\/a> and Two Point Campus<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aesthetically, Two Point Hospital <\/em>has quite a lot in common with The Sims<\/em>; they\u2019re both fairly colourful, chunky, and cartoony experiences with lots of pastel colours and exaggerated animation. However, Two Point Hospital <\/em>is much more of a classic management sim in line with Theme Hospital<\/em>, which it\u2019s directly inspired by. In Two Point Hospital<\/em>, you must manage a hospital, its patients, and its staff, ensuring that everything is running smoothly. It\u2019s a cute, comedic take on management sims. You might also want to check out the new Two Point Campus, which is a sim theme surrounding a University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Stardew Valley<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If your favourite part of The Sims <\/em>is socialising with other Sims, then you should definitely give Stardew Valley <\/em>a look. It\u2019s principally inspired by Harvest Moon<\/em>; you move into a run-down farm and must renovate it so that it looks presentable, selling crops and raising livestock to pay your way. You\u2019ll also explore the town, meet its residents, and learn more about the game\u2019s world, which is surprisingly detailed and fleshed-out. Play this one if you wish The Sims <\/em>had just a little more hands-on gameplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Tomodachi Life<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You might struggle to get hold of Tomodachi Life<\/em>, as it\u2019s a relatively obscure 3DS title that launched way back in the mists of 2013. If you can find it, though, it\u2019s not dissimilar to The Sims<\/em>; you use the Miis on your 3DS system to fill the game\u2019s population out, and they will move in together, pursue romantic relationships, or potentially even develop rivalries independent of what you want for them. You can guide their actions, but for the most part, they will act of their own accord, making this a sort of petri dish-style \u201cobservation sim\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Minecraft<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Much like The Sims<\/em>, Minecraft <\/em>is a kind of creativity sandbox kit, one that places its core gameplay loop second to the creations that players can make using its engine. In Minecraft<\/em>, it\u2019s all about the kind of insane things you can construct; sure, building a 1:1 recreation of the Library of Alexandria probably isn\u2019t necessary for fending off Creepers, but it sure looks impressive. If you\u2019ve been known to spend hours considering how best to make your house look perfect in The Sims<\/em>, you should play Minecraft<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Second Life<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Second Life <\/em>is legendary among gamers of a certain age; it\u2019s the game that many of us didn\u2019t quite understand the first time around, but that ended up predicting where the world was heading pretty accurately. You can essentially create what you want and be who you want within Second Life<\/em>; it\u2019s like The Sims<\/em>, but you get to wander around the village you\u2019ve created (and the village that others have created, usually with extremely hypersexualised results).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Avakin Life<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Second Life <\/em>isn\u2019t really updated much anymore, but Avakin Life <\/em>is, and it\u2019s basically Second Life<\/em>, so that\u2019s a win. You can create your own avatar, meet other players\u2019 avatars, and interact with them in a fully virtual world. Of course, you have a range of hairstyles, clothing, and other customisation options to choose from, making Avakin Life <\/em>ideal for the kind of player who would usually spend a long time deciding how they want their Sims to look in the game\u2019s character creator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. IMVU<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The market that sprung up around Second Life<\/em>\u2019s demise has yielded quite a few fruits, and IMVU <\/em>is another one of them, alongside Avakin Life<\/em>. Similarly to that game, IMVU <\/em>lets you create your own avatar, dress them in whatever clothing you want, and set them loose into the game\u2019s virtual world to interact with other players\u2019 avatars. There are microtransactions and in-app purchases in this one, of course, so make sure you\u2019re only spending as much money as you want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Virtual Families<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You may as well consider this a recommendation for both Virtual Families <\/em>and its sequel, since they\u2019re both effectively the same game. When you boot up Virtual Families <\/em>for the first time, you\u2019ll probably think it looks eerily familiar, and you\u2019d be right; aesthetically, it\u2019s suspiciously similar to the original Sims<\/em>, right down to the isometric perspective and cartoony art style. It plays a lot like The Sims<\/em>, too, although it\u2019s a bit more hands-off, so you don\u2019t need to micromanage quite as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Planet Zoo<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of Frontier Developments\u2019 many excellent management games available for PC, Planet Zoo <\/em>has you – you guessed it – building and managing your very own zoo. Doing so isn\u2019t easy, of course, because you\u2019ll need to balance the needs and desires of your animals with those of your guests, forever trying to find the perfect equilibrium between an entertaining experience and an ethically sound one. There are a ton of DLC packs for this one that expand its range, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. The Tenants<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In The Tenants<\/em>, your goal is to become the best landlord there has ever been. You must attract tenants to your building, cater for their needs once they start living there, and deal with their problems as they spring up. You\u2019ll also be redecorating your apartments, which you can do to your liking. If you\u2019ve always wanted to run a sort of tenement building-style apartment block of Sims <\/em>characters, then The Tenants <\/em>is definitely a game you\u2019ll want to check out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. Hokko Life<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In September, Hokko Life <\/em>will finally exit Early Access, so it will be available on Switch and PS4 as well as PC. That makes now the perfect time to take a look at this life sim, which takes cues from Animal Crossing <\/em>but features much more in-depth customisation. If you love poring over which wallpaper you want to use and which direction the sofas should face in The Sims<\/em>, then Hokko Life <\/em>will give you all that, plus quirky villagers to interact with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. Spiritfarer<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last but not least, we want to throw you a bit of a curveball. In Spiritfarer<\/em>, you are a ferryperson for the newly dead, and you must cater to their last requests before you send them off forever through \u201cThe Everdoor\u201d. To do so, you might have to cook their favourite meal, take them somewhere they love, or engage in symbolic minigames representative of some of their hangups in life. It\u2019s like The Sims<\/em>, but far more metaphysical and emotionally devastating. Play this game. Seriously.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

---

\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, we\u2019ll start to see more and more games coming through that take inspiration from The Sims<\/em>, because there are many who feel that the series needs to be taken away from EA at this point. What is your favourite game like The Sims <\/em>right now? What would you like to see in a \u201cSims<\/em>-like\u201d, and who would you get to develop it? Let us know!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no game quite like The Sims. We realise that rather scuppers us when we\u2019re putting together a list of games like The Sims, but the reality is that EA\u2019s life sim-come-god game has dominated its corner of the market so utterly that it\u2019s genuinely difficult to think of a game that does something sufficiently … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8587,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"close","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,1,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-videogames","category-nostalgia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8506"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8588,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8506\/revisions\/8588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdleaks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}