The Best Simulation and Sandbox Games for 2024 (2024)

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Civilization: Beyond Earth

Building on our inborn desire to explore—and, of course, exploit our hunger for addictive turn-based strategy games—Civilization: Beyond Earth catapults you off the planet that's housed your kings, wonders, and wars for millennia.

The Firaxis-developed game lets you build a society on a new world by selecting a spacecraft and sponsor, determining if your culture goes high-tech or exists in harmony with nature, and fending off attacks from alien creatures.

Elite: Dangerous

Evil Genius 2: World Domination

The first Evil Genius, released to PC in 2004, was a curious mix of another PC gaming classic, Dungeon Keeper, and the James Bond spy films. Evil Genius received decent reviews, but it didn't get a sequel to expand the concept—until now.

Evil Genius 2: World Domination is very much the child of that first game. In fact, it almost feels like a clone, but with improvements courtesy of updated technology and new features. Evil Genius 2 works because the original title was such a great PC game, so more of the same is a good thing. Despite that, this sequel has a few rough edges carried forward from the classic entry, and new features that could use better implementation.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft Flight Simulator, the simulator of simulators, is back. Not only is it good, it's extremely good. In fact, we've hailed Flight Simulator as the year's most ambitious game, due to how it leverages Bing Maps and real-time weather and traffic to create an authentic in-game world.

This love letter to aviation is a one-of-a-kind experience made possible by a marriage of clever developers and cutting-edge technology. It’s a gift to the series’ dedicated fans, an appealing entry point for newcomers, and now the bar for the simulation genre. Grab a flight stick, and take to the skies.

And if you need help deciding where to fly, check outour favorite Microsoft Flight Simulator destinations.

Minecraft

Minecraft is a blocky, beautiful sandbox that lets you explore the depths of your imagination. The core gameplay involves exploring a hostile world made from blocks that you can use to build items as you please. But as you play, you'll quickly see that this game has much more to offer than just architecture.

Minecraft presents a Lego-like space for players to enjoy their own kind of play. Dedicated players will love the sandbox's many possibilities, but even casuals will enjoy facing off against an unfriendly wilderness.

For more, check out How to Set Up a Minecraft Server In a Few Easy Steps.

No Man's Sky

The controversial and much-hyped No Man's Sky is a game that offers two opposing experiences. One is a beautiful and wholly fresh journey through space to chart or conquer undiscovered worlds. The other weighs down that joy with mundane and repetitive resource gathering and fighting.

That said, No Man's Sky is so much more than a sterile description of its parts and features. The developers at Hello Games have tirelessly worked since the game’s 2016 launch to add new and promised features. The latest update, released in July 2022, adds exterior walkways and food fabricators.

The Pinball Arcade

Pinball—the classic game of reflexes, luck, and spatial recognition—isn't nearly as popular as it was 25 years ago, but its legacy of tables, flippers, and gaudy lights lives on in FarSight Studios' The Pinball Arcade.

The Pinball Arcade focuses on recreating classic real-world pinball machines from renowned manufacturers, such as Gottlieb and Stern (sadly Bally and Williams tables are no more). The result is a collection that looks, sounds, and feels like the pinball games of yore. Amassing all of your favorite tables could be a serious investment, however, tables are sold in separate DLC packs.

PowerWash Simulator

Chores aren't exactly the most glamorous or enthralling ventures in real life—we get that. Yet, activities, such as cleaning and organizing, cause you to enter a Zen-like state. Even better, the satisfaction and pride you feel from a job well done cannot be denied.

PowerWash Simulator embraces the joys of cleaning by letting you fire jets of cleanly goodness from a high-powered, pressurized water nozzle. Clean structures, environments, and vehicles, all while managing your soap and supplies. You can also challenge yourself with time and water challenges to see how efficiently you clean under pressure.

Rocksmith 2014 Edition Remastered

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

The Sims 3

With The Sims 3, the Sims series exited its adolescence and entered adulthood. No longer are the Sims just digital action figures in a big dollhouse; they have personalities, goals, and unique body types and hairstyles.

The Sims themselves aren't the only thing overhauled in this release, either. The game mechanics have been changed to make it easier to customize your environments and surroundings, giving users millions of ways to create the worlds of their choice.