10 Best Games Like The Sims To Play in 2024

The Sims is one of the most popular gaming franchises ever, selling well over 200 million copies worldwide. A simulation series that allows you to build the lives and stories of multiple Sims, the game represents escapism, creativity, and freedom of expression.

While you may love The Sims, it might not be scratching the game itch you’ve got anymore. Many players viewed The Sims 4 as a downgrade, and it’s proven not to hold the attention of the fanbase as much as older entries did. In that case, looking for an alternative is your best bet, and we’ve listed the 10 best games like The Sims below.

The Best Games Like The Sims

1. Alter Ego

• Genre: Role-playing
• Release date: May 1, 1986
• Platforms: Windows
• Gameplay features: Choice-based narrative, personality development, multiple life paths, branching storylines
• Developer: Choose Multiple LLC
• Payment model: $6.99
• Rating: 5.8 on SteamBest for: Players who enjoy psychological life simulations with a focus on choice-driven storytelling

Alter Ego bucks the trend of life simulation games by putting a narrative focus on gameplay. You’ll navigate the life of the character you take on, with each decision you take impacting the future story. The decisions you make will affect your personal and professional life, adding a ton of replayability to the game due to its branching narrative structure.

While it plays more linearly than other Sims alternatives, Alter Ego offers you a lot of customization. You can customize your player’s appearance, fashion, background, and personality, which will affect how other characters you encounter interact with you. 

2. Starbound 

• Genre: Action adventure
• Release date: July 22, 2016
• Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Xbox, GeForce Now
• Gameplay features: Space exploration, base-building, crafting, resource gathering, farming, NPC interaction
• Developer: Chucklefish
• Payment model: $14.99
• Rating: 81/100 on Metacritic
• Best for: Fans of sandbox and exploration games who want to build and manage worlds while interacting with diverse species and environments

What do you get if you combine the video game genres of The Sims with No Man’s Sky? Starbound. With its procedurally generated universe, Starbound offers immersive exploration, as you visit diverse planets with their own unique resources, creatures, and biomes.

The game offers tons of customization over your ship, space stations, and character, giving you a solid sense of freedom. While there are quests with a defined narrative, the gameplay is very open ended. You can even trade, explore, and collaborate with other players if you want to try multiplayer. 

3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

• Genre: Social simulation
• Release date: March 20, 2020
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch
• Gameplay features: Village-building, decorating, crafting, fishing, and seasonal events
• Developer: Nintendo
• Payment model: $59.99
• Rating: 90/100 on Metacritic
• Best for: Players who enjoy a relaxed, creative life simulation with customizable worlds and social interaction with cute animal villagers

Animal Crossing: New Horizons puts you in control of your own island, with plenty of biomes to explore, non-player characters (NPCs) to meet, and buildings to construct. One of the most popular games like The Sims, New Horizons is a successful life simulation game, enjoying a dedicated, expansive player base and frequent updates.

While there is plenty to do playing solo, you can also enjoy multiplayer aspects by visiting your friends’ islands and trading with them for unique items. The game offers a rewarding, relaxing experience with a charming art style and groovy soundtrack.

4. RimWorld

• Genre: Construction and management simulation
• Release date: November 4, 2013
• Platforms: macOS, PlayStation, Xbox, Windows, Linux, GeForce Now
• Gameplay features: Colony management, survival simulation, procedural storytelling, crafting, and base-building
• Developer: Ludeon Studios, Tynan Sylvester, Double Eleven
• Payment model: $34.99
• Rating: 87/100 on Metacritic
• Best for: Players who enjoy deep strategy and simulation games with emergent storytelling and complex social dynamics in survival scenarios

Manage your very own colony on an alien world in RimWorld, a stunning game that brings a unique sci-fi setting with familiar Sims-esque game mechanics. In RimWorld, you’ll manage your colony by constructing buildings and managing resources. Your colonists will have a well-being meter you need to maintain, adding a pressure to the gameplay that keeps you moving and exploring. RimWorld is a simulation game you should try if you’re a fan of the genre.

Not only will you have to scavenge for resources and continually progress your colony, but also fend off alien creatures that attack at random. The game features procedural generation, resulting in different wildlife, planets, and even background stories to your colonists with each playthrough. RimWorld has a ton of replayability, a great balance of challenge and relaxation, and a distinct spin on the life simulation genre.

5. Fantasy Life

• Genre: Role-playing, life simulation
• Release date: December 27, 2012
• Platforms: Nintendo 3DS
• Gameplay features: RPG elements, multiple professions, crafting, exploration, combat, and character progression
• Developer: Level-5, 1-Up Studio, h.a.n.d.
• Payment model: $84.26
• Rating: 73/100 on Metacritic
• Best for: Players who enjoy a blend of life simulation and RPG mechanics, with an emphasis on choosing and mastering different professions

Fantasy Life is a great Sims alternative if you’re into the fantasy genre. Set in a vibrant world, you’ll be tasked with contributing to a town’s development by undertaking quests, gathering resources, and crafting items. When you start the sim game, you’ll have the choice of a life class to choose, such as a Miner, Fisherman, or Wizard, with each offering unique skills and activities.

Along with RPG elements, Fantasy Life balances a rewarding combat system against monsters you encounter while exploring the town. You can also undertake quests given to you by local NPCs, adding an adventure element to the title. 

6. Cities: Skylines

• Genre: City-building
• Release date: March 10, 2015
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, macOS, Windows, Google Stadia
• Gameplay features: Urban planning, resource management, traffic and infrastructure control, zoning, and public services management
• Developer: Colossal Order
• Payment model: $29.99
• Rating: 85/100 on Metacritic
• Best for: Fans of city simulation games who enjoy designing, managing, and optimizing large urban environments with attention to detail

Perhaps the most popular game like The Sims featured on this list, Cities: Skyline has a massive following and has been highly praised by players and critics alike as one of the best city-building games. Putting you in charge of a vast, open plain, you’ll get straight to work building your own city. The game offers tons of road and structure types, offering you an impressive amount of customization to your own city and allowing it to stand out from builds other players create.

Cities: Skylines’ base game already gives you tons to do, but there are also a lot of expansions and mods you can use, resulting in even more activities and builds. Be warned: This game offers hundreds upon hundreds of hours of play time, but the result is your very own functional city that you can show off to others.

7. Two Point Hospital

• Genre: Business simulation
• Release date: August 30, 2018
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, Windows, GeForce Now, Linux, Mac
• Gameplay features: Quirky diseases, resource management, staff hiring, and building customized healthcare facilities
• Developer: Two Point Studios
• Payment model: $29.99
• Rating: 83/100 on Metacritic
• Best for: Players who like management sims with a humorous twist, focused on resource management and optimizing hospital operations

Two Point Hospital is one of the best management games, putting you in control of a hospital and responsible for managing the various departments, hiring staff, and managing resources to ensure the building runs smoothly. The game takes a humorous approach to its healthcare setting, with patients having conditions like “cubism,” where they turn up in blocky, Picasso-style art pieces that have to be cured. You’ll be responsible for ensuring patients get the treatment they need and that your staff has the resources to make it happen.

Two Point Hospital is praised for its management mechanics, humor, and graphics, making it a solid alternative to The Sims.

8. My Time at Portia 

• Genre: Farm life simulation
• Release date: January 23, 2018
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Android, macOS, PlayStation, Xbox, Windows, iOS, GeForce Now
• Gameplay features: Crafting, resource gathering, town-building, social interactions, combat, and questing in an open world simulation
• Developer: Pathea
• Payment model: $5.99
• Rating: 73/100 on Metacritic
• Best for: Players who enjoy immersive crafting and farming sims with RPG elements and a strong focus on town-building and character relationships

A life simulation role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world, My Time at Portia sees you rebuilding and managing a workshop in the titular town of Portia. Not only can you spend time crafting and upgrading items to develop your workshop, but also exploring and meeting local NPCs that have quests for you to complete for more rewards.

My Time at Portia features a rich story full of questlines, delivering a compelling narrative that ties in all of the other activities you’re taking, giving them weight. The game balances crafting, exploration, and social interaction, resulting in a highly engaging Sims alternative that feels distinct.

9. Terraria

• Genre: Action adventure, sandbox
• Release date: May 16, 2011
• Platforms: Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, macOS, iOS, Windows, Xbox
• Gameplay features: Crafting, resource gathering, building, combat, and exploration
• Developer: Re-Logic
• Payment model: $9.99
• Rating: 81/100 on Metacritic
• Best for: Fans of sandbox-style games who enjoy limitless creativity, exploration, and combat

Terraria has been a fan favorite for years, offering a 2D, procedurally generated sandbox game full of monsters, items to craft, and resources to mine. While the world itself is huge to explore and completely accessible to you from the beginning, there’s also a ton of quests you can take on, making it one of the best PC games ever.

Terraria can be played solo or with friends, giving you the option of a multiplayer or single player experience. The game’s progression system keeps you engaged as you try to unlock upgrades and events for greater rewards. An indie game that went mainstream, Terraria has earned its place not just on a list of Sims alternatives, but lists of the best games ever.

10. Avakin Life

• Genre: 3D life simulation
• Release date: December 10, 2013
• Platforms: Android, iOS, ChromeOS
• Gameplay features: Virtual world, social interaction, character customization, home decorating, and exploring various virtual locations
• Developer: Lockwood Publishing
• Payment model: Free to play (in-game purchases)
• Rating: 4.8/10 on Steam
• Best for: Players who enjoy social simulation games, focusing on character customization, virtual socializing, and creative home design

A social simulation game where you express yourself and interact with others via virtual avatars, Avakin Life represents a social escapism experience and a surprisingly realistic game. You can meet and chat with other players at local bars, public areas, and apartments. There are also regular party events that typically draw a lot of players in and different themed events throughout the year.

Avakin Life stands out for the customization it affords, both over your own avatar and your apartment. Its focus on social networking makes it an engaging experience where you can easily make new friends.

The Best Games Like The Sims at a Glance

Pressed for time but want to find the best Sims alternative quickly? Check out this table:

What To Look For When Choosing a Game Like The Sims

When choosing an alternative to The Sims, consider several key factors that align with the simulation and life management genre. Here’s what to look for:

• Gameplay mechanics: Look for a game with engaging life simulation mechanics, such as detailed character creation, home-building, and social interactions.
• Story quality: Choose a game that offers a compelling narrative or allows for rich storytelling through the lives and experiences of your characters.
• Character development: Opt for a title providing deep character customization, progression, and the ability to influence and develop your characters' lives and relationships over time.
• Replayability: Seek out games with high replay value, offering diverse scenarios, endless customization options, and dynamic gameplay that encourage you to return and explore new possibilities.
• Community: Choose a game with an active and supportive community, where players share tips, creations, and experiences.
• Performance and stability: Look for games praised for smooth performance and stable servers, ensuring a seamless experience without technical or connectivity issues.

Finding the best Sims alternative that suits you can be a difficult task. Fortunately, lists like these combined with gameplay videos by the best YouTube gamers can make it easier for you to decide! There are plenty of PC games you can find that are similar to The Sims. 

The Sims Alternatives FAQ

You may still have some questions about alternatives to The Sims before choosing one. We’ve answered your most common ones below.

Is There a New Sims Game Coming Out?

The Sims 5 is currently in progress, expected for release in 2026.

What Are the Best Sims Alternatives?

Some of the best Sims alternatives are Fantasy Life, RimWorld, and Terraria. They have slight differences in setting and gameplay features, but they contain lots of similarities reminiscent of The Sims.

What Platforms Is The Sims On?

The Sims 4, the series’ latest release, is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Windows, and Mac.