The Sims is an immersive life simulation game franchise that’s been going strong for over 20 years now. The first title in the Sims series was released in the year 2000, and three more titles followed — as well as multiple spin-offs.
The Sims is one of the most popular video game franchises ever, and while most gamers like to get stuck into at least a few different games, world in The Sims 4 is so expansive that some are perfectly happy playing just that one game, sometimes for years.
Whether you’re finally ready to see what else is out there, or The Sims simply isn’t available for your platform (Linux gamers, we’re looking at you!), there are plenty of other great life sim titles to explore. You’ll find the best in the genre on this list!
The Sims Game Features
 Release Date: | February 4, 2000 |
 Developer: | Maxis |
 Publisher: | Electronic Arts |
 Platforms: | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Java ME, BlackBerry OS, Bada, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Android, Windows Phone |
 Genre: | Life simulation, Social simulation |
 Setting: | Real World |
 Game Modes: | Single Player |
1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the fifth title in the Animal Crossing series. Released in 2020, this exciting open-ended life simulation game is exclusively available for Nintendo Switch. Players start off by designing their own human character, who will be dropped onto a deserted island after buying a getaway package from Tim Nook (an NPC who already became famous in the previous Animal Crossing titles).
You’ll have a plot of land and some started resources, but from there on out, you’ll have to make your own way in this wholesome world populated by humanoid animal NPCs (and, if you’re playing the multiplayer version, other players).
Players can do whatever they want, gathering resources, upgrading their homes, and having fun with the NPCs they come across. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of the most wholesome life sim games out there, and Sims players will enjoy the change of scenery as well as the familiar play style.
- Developer: Nintendo EPD
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: March 2020
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
2. Stardew Valley
Sims players who really love spending their time focusing on gardening and farming should definitely check out the ridiculously cute and wholesome life sim game Stardew Valley. This open-ended game follows a protagonist who inherits a rundown farm from their grandfather in a sleepy village. After choosing what type of farm you’d like to develop, you’ll get to work on fixing it up.
Players can try their hand at growing different crops, raising animals, cooking, foraging, and even building a whole community with the world’s NPCs. Stardew Valley includes a dating mechanic that allows players to marry an NPC and have kids.
Stardew Valley is delightfully open-ended, and its procedurally-generated terrain always offers surprises. Some Sims players will initially be disappointed by Stardew Valley’s simplistic graphics, but after you discover what the game has to offer, you’ll soon get over that — and even grow to love the art style. Even better? Stardew Valley is cross-platform, and if you want, you can play it with your friends.
- Developer: ConcernedApe
- Publisher: CocernedApe
- Release Date: February 2016
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Android
3. Disney Dreamlight Valley
Do you absolutely love the Sims franchise, but are you also a huge Disney fan? There’s no doubt that Disney Dreamlight Valley, a wonderful life sim game where your favorite Disney and Pixar heroes take center stage, should be the next game you try.
Just released in September 2022, Disney Dreamlight Valley invites you to settle in Dreamlight Valley after customizing your player character. You’ll be able to fish, farm, mine, and engage in other daily activities in the company of famous Disney characters, as you also try to uncover what’s gone wrong in the neighborhood.
The graphics that Disney Dreamlight Valley offers are incredibly similar to The Sims 4, and Sims “veterans” won’t have any trouble at all figuring out how to play this game, or how to create a beautiful neighborhood.
- Developer: Gameloft
- Publisher: Gameloft
- Release Date: September 2022
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Nintendo Switch
4. No Place Like Home
No Place Like Home takes place in a world abandoned by most of humanity. As the majority of people have left for Mars, you, the player character, are determined to explore and restore, craft, build, and farm. No Place Like Home is an exciting life sim game that’s perfect for gamers who are after something relaxing and easy to get into, and it offers a brand new (and altogether more wholesome) take on the post-apocalyptic genre of games.
You’ll be rescuing animals, helping to rebuild a ravaged community, clearing up trash, and trying to find your missing grandfather at the same time.
- Developer: Chicken Launcher
- Publisher: Awaken Realms
- Release Date: March 2022
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
5. Potion Permit
Gamers who are looking for a great life sim RPG that’s a little less open-ended might just be thrilled with Potion Permit, a brand new game that just released in September 2022 and has already become one of the top selling sim games on Steam.
Potion Permit starts off with a tired trope (your grandfather dies, you get his farm), but executes it surprisingly well. This time, you’re a chemist, and you’ll be playing the role of a healer in the cozy town of Moonbury.
Players diagnose sick villagers, decide what potions they need to get better, collect the necessary resources, and get brewing. The challenge lies in the fact that the community you’ve just moved into doesn’t trust you, and it will take time for them to realize you are only trying to help.
Potion Permit is an exciting game with a compelling narrative, and a very cute top-down art style.
- Developer: MassHive Media
- Publisher: PQube
- Release Date: September 2022
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS
6. My Time at Portia
My Time at Portia is an exciting adventure game in which you’ll take on the role of a child who has just inherited your father’s building workshop. He was a master, but can you live up to his legacy in a world ravaged by disaster that humanity is just starting to rebuild? Can you prove yourself to be the best builder in town, and help your community thrive?
My Time at Portia is an immersive, sweet, game that’s perfect for gamers who are looking for a relaxing grinding experience — but if you’re looking for battle, you can also head for the dungeons, where terrifying enemies await you.
- Developer: Pathea Games
- Publisher: Team17, Nuverse
- Release Date: January 2019
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Android, iOS
7. Graveyard Keeper
Graveyard Keeper is a fantastic life sim game with a morbid twist. Your character gets hit by a car and magically wakes up in a quaint medieval setting, only to inherit a small graveyard that’s definitely seen better days.
You’ll be doing your best to spruce the cemetery up so that it becomes the town’s prime afterlife destination — weeding, clearing debris, tending to the graves, and eliciting donations to make your graveyard a better place. The town’s NPCs will task you with challenging quests along the way, and you can expect to go fishing, fight enemies, and craft much-needed items.
At the same time, you’re desperate to get back to your own world. Opening a portal might make it possible, but how?
Graveyard Keeper is easy to overlook, for the simple reason that it’s hard to imagine that a graveyard keeper sim game could be this expansive and exciting, but once Sims fans dive in, they’ll have trouble letting go.
- Developer: Lazy Bear Games
- Publisher: tinyBuild
- Release Date: August 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Android, iOS
8. Dinkum
Dinkum is an indie life sim game that focuses on farming — in the Australian outback. That’s no easy feat, so get ready for the unique challenges that building a farm in the scorching heat brings you. Go fishing, interact with the world’s NPCs, and take good care of now endangered Aussie animals like wombats.
Although Dinkum is still in early access — which means that you have plenty of exciting new content to look forward to in the future — the game has already become one of the most popular new life sim games. Sims players who are looking for a brand new setting to explore will have a blast playing this game.
- Developer: James Bendon
- Publisher: James Bendon
- Release Date: July 2022 (early access)
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
9. Planet Zoo
Running a zoo is harder than it seems! Can you build the perfect habitat for each of your 70+ animal species, ensuring that they stay healthy and aren’t housed with their natural predators? Can you breed animals to ensure the future success of your venture? Can you build a beautiful zoo with the kinds of amenities that consistently bring visitors (and revenue)?
Planet Zoo is the perfect sim game for Sims fans who don’t fancy focusing on farming, but who do want a specific goal to work toward. The animals feature advanced AI, your landscaping and construction options are extensive, and Planet Zoo isn’t guaranteed to be a relaxing experience. Lots can go wrong when you’re running a zoo, and your youngest visitors might just see things that will scar them for life if you take a wrong turn!
- Developer: Frontier Developments
- Publisher: Frontier Developments
- Release Date: November 2019
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
10. Two Point Hospital
Two Point Hospital is a surprisingly challenging — not to mention fun — business simulation game in which you’re tasked with building the perfect hospital. Players take on the role of a hospital administrator, and that entails hiring doctors and other staff, designing wards, expanding the hospital’s infrastructure, and making sure your patients don’t die.
Two Point Hospital isn’t an easy game to play. Lots can go wrong. If you’re bored of doing it “right”, because you can’t quite work out how to run a successful hospital, though, Two Point Hospital is still guaranteed to offer you hours of fun as you watch disaster unfold.
- Developer: Two Point Studios
- Publisher: Sega
- Release Date: August 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
11. Cozy Grove
Cozy Grove is a very sweet game with stunning artwork and the most wholesome atmosphere you could imagine — making it perfect for Sims players who are looking for an equally relaxing gaming experience that allows them to leave the stresses of modern life behind.
Players arrive on a beautiful haunted island, but Cozy Grove isn’t a horror game. The ghosts you’ll find in this world are friendly, and you’ll be helping them find peace as the game’s narrative unfolds. Nothing ever stays the same in this world, so you’ll have to adapt to new challenges, each as satisfying as the last.
A word of warning: Many gamers complain that Cozy Grove is simply too sleepy to be interesting, so if you’re after relaxed gameplay, work out exactly what you mean by that before you try out a game that essentially forces you to take things slow. For the right player, Cozy Grove is the perfect game to dive into after The Sims 4, though.
- Developer: Spry Fox LLC
- Publisher: Spry Fox LLC
- Release Date: April 2021
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
12. Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is an immersive singleplayer adventure game in which you’ll play as a shipwrecked protagonist who’s got no choice but to survive on the strange magical island of Gemea. The island’s natives are threatened by a mysterious fog called the Murk, and you do your best to save them from it.
Collecting Sprites, magical creatures that can help you on your quest, is your main objective. As you try to save the island, you’ll also be able to take part in relaxing activities that range from farming to crafting, and even taking on different professions.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is a good choice for Sims players who’d love to add a good dose of fantasy to their lives, and the striking artwork only adds to the relaxing feel this game offers.
- Developer: Prideful Sloth
- Publisher: Prideful Sloth, Merge Games
- Release Date: July 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 & 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X/S
13. Minecraft
We don’t have to tell you that Minecraft isn’t a life sim game. Minecraft is, in fact, absolutely nothing like The Sims. The famous sandbox game has earned itself a place on this list of games like The Sims simply because it can, if you want it to, fill the same kind of hole.
Sims players who want a wonderfully relaxing gaming experience can find that in Minecraft. Sims 4 players who’d happy spend more time in the game’s Build Mode than actually helping out in their Sims’ lives are absolutely guaranteed to have a blast in Minecraft creative mode.
Your imagination is the only limit you’ll come up against if you want to build a home, an entire village, or indeed a city, in this classic voxel game. Minecraft villagers (which still feature fairly advanced AI), skeletons, and zombies won’t quite replace your Sims, but they’ll still make sure your singleplayer creative world doesn’t feel empty.
As a bonus, you can switch right to a hardcore survival experience if you’re bored of the wholesome vibe Minecraft’s creative mode offers you — because Minecraft will always be a game you can make your own, no matter your play style.
- Developer: Mojang
- Publisher: Mojang
- Release Date: November 2011
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Android, iOS
14. Cities: Skylines
Cities: Skylines is a city-building game in which the player takes on the role of an invisible overlord — much like in The Sims. As you design your roads, power your grid, make sure your sewage system is up and running, and add much-needed amenities to your booming city, the people who move into it go about their lives.
You’ll be able to see what kinds of problems they face through the “tweets” they send, and the moment there’s an urban development problem, your population will begin to complain vocally. Can you meet their needs, exceed their expectations, and keep them happy? (Hint: No. There will always be new hardships to confront.)
Cities: Skylines lacks the human touch that makes The Sims so great, but offers a brand new challenge that’s much more immersive and addictive than you might expect.
- Developer: Colossal Order
- Publisher: Paradox Interactive
- Release Date: March 2015
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Stadia
15. Farthest Frontier
Farthest Frontier is a brand new early access game take takes the simulation genre to the cutting edge. Gamers who are up for a real challenge — one that includes realistic graphics as well as real-world problems — won’t be able to pry themselves away from this world.
You’ll be leading a group of medieval European settlers on their quest to build a better future in a new place, choosing from one of four different biome options. This historically-accurate game doesn’t make it easy, however. Your people will get sick, run into supply chain issues (unless you make smart harvesting choices at the very start), and face terrifying bandits that could easily bring your whole town down.
Farthest Frontier is, in short, The Sims 4 for gamers who think Animal Crossing is much too cutesy, and who would rather immerse themselves in a brutal world where anything could kill their people. Because it’s an early access game, the mechanics will be polished over time.
- Developer: Crate Entertainment
- Publisher: Crate Entertainment
- Release Date: August 2022 (early access)
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
16. Slime Rancher 2
Slime Rancher 2 is a life simulation game set on Rainbow Island — an amazingly colorful settlement on a faraway planet filled with new opportunities. Players take on the role of Beatrix LeBeau, who just moved in from Earth to become a slime rancher.
Breeding slimes is hard and their behavior depends on the foods you’re able to offer them, but to be able to sell the plorts they produce, you’ll have to do your best. Can you upgrade your slime farm, and become the best?
This charming singleplayer adventure is more expansive and complex than its predecessor, and many Sims 4 players will appreciate the relaxing (yet challenging) gameplay.
- Developer: Monomi Park
- Publisher: Monomi Park
- Release Date: September 2022
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, Xbox X/S
17. Jurassic World Evolution
Can you build an attractive dinosaur theme park that doesn’t just have visitors flood in, but also continuously adds new species as new research is completed? Will you be able to build dinosaur enclosures that satisfy the prehistoric monsters you’re showcasing, while keeping them from killing each other?
You’ll take on all of these challenges, and more, in the Jurassic Park-themed business sim game Jurassic World Evolution, which is essentially a prehistoric version of Planet Zoo. If offering your sims domestic bliss just isn’t satisfying anymore, giant predators might just do the trick for you.
- Developer: Frontier Developments
- Publisher: Frontier Developments
- Release Date: June 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
18. House Flipper
Sims 4 players who enjoy fixing and decorating homes will have a great time playing House Flipper, in which they’ll become a handyman and cunning businessperson. House Flipper calls on players to completely renovate homes that have potential, but have definitely seen much better days.
Clear out the trash, get rid of all the outdated features, and get to work on turning hovels into dream homes — and wait for all your hard work to pay off when you sell these houses for a handsome profit.
House Flipper is great for Sims players who just want to relax as they do old homes up, because the radical changes you make are surprisingly satisfying.
- Developer: Frozen District
- Publisher: PlayWay S.A.
- Release Date: May 2018
- Platform: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
Games Like The Sims: The Verdict
If you love The Sims franchise, you’ll just have to make peace with the fact that there’s nothing quite like it. No clone could pull off everything Maxis has done to make The Sims as great as it is, and no other game allows you to do everything that makes The Sims so unforgettable.
That doesn’t mean you don’t have lots of other great options, though! Animal Crossing is an obvious next choice, and Stardew Valley also offers the same kind of wholesome gameplay Sims players will be looking for.
If you’re ready to specialize, Planet Zoo, Two Point Hospital, and Cities: Skylines should be at the top of your list, but if you crave the most relaxing experience ever, you don’t need to look further than Cozy Grove.
