Sim City (Series)

Game image Sim City
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Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Genres: Creative, Simulation and Strategy

Released: February 1989, updated in 2014. Added to this library 11 weeks ago.

Overview

SimCity is a series of city-building game, created by Will Wright. Since their inception as educational experiences in 1989, the games have enabled players to design ambitious cities. The attraction is the open-ness of play, where you can let your imagination and ideas play out on a grand scale to see the implications.

You start with a small budget and patch of undeveloped land. By establishing residential, commercial and industrial zones, providing electricity and water you soon have people moving in a building their homes. Then, by means of taxes, you can make money to develop your city further.

  • SimCity (1989) on PC, Mac, Amiga, Atari ST
  • SimCity 2000 (1993) on Mac, PC, SNES, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance
  • SimCity 3000 (1999) on Windows, Mac, iOS
  • SimCity 64 (2000) on Nintendo 64
  • SimCity 4 (2002) on PC and Mac
  • SimCity DS (2007) on DS
  • SimCity (2013) relaunched on Mac and PC
  • SimCity: BuildIt (2014) on iOS and Android

Tip

This game is good if you want to take on a mountainous challenge, create something for visitors or play games with building like LEGO.

Commitment

Duration: This game will take between 10 hours and 20 hours to complete. The time to play depends on how ambitious your plans and how successful you are at completing them.
 
Players: This is a single player game.

Costs

Does not include in-game purchases, 'loot boxes' or 'battle/season passes'.

This game is free with Origin Access.

Ratings

This game has been rated PEGI 3+.


This game has been rated ESRB EVERYONE.

Accessibility

System settings: Android has accessibility settings including ways to navigate and interact, although not all games support this. Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators. iOS has a very extensive suite of accessibility settings including ways to navigate with voice and comprehensive screen reading, though most of the features don't work with games... read more.


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Similar Games

The following games address a similar topic or offer a similar way to play. They are good options to play after Sim City, and also offer a range of alternatives for different age ratings.

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PEGI Rating 3+ for Two Point HospitalESRB Rating EVERYONE 10+ for Two Point Hospital

Two Point Hospital

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Duration: Between 30 hours and 50 hours to complete.

Players: This is a single player game.

Costs: Purchase cost. In-game purchases.

Two Point Hospital is a light-hearted healthcare simulator. You take charge of a hospital, similar to Theme Hospital, where you must construct and maintain wards, machines and staff.


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PEGI Rating 3+ for Cities SkylinesESRB Rating EVERYONE for Cities Skylines

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Platforms: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Genres: Creative, Simulation and Strategy

Players: This is a single player game.

Costs: Purchase cost. Season pass and in-game purchases.

Cities: Skylines is a city-building simulation. It rekindled the attention to detail and ambitious city planning of the Sim City games. You zone buildings, place roads, set taxation, provide public services and public...


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PEGI Rating 3+ for Zoo TycoonESRB Rating EVERYONE for Zoo Tycoon

Zoo Tycoon (Series)

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Genres: Creative, Simulation and Strategy

Duration: Between 25 hours and 28 hours to complete.

Players: This is a single player game. You can play with up to 4 players online.

Costs: Purchase cost.

Zoo Tycoon is a zoo simulator series where you take charge of a zoo business, build the park, care for animals and attack visitors with attractions. You can build, expand, and upgrade the zoo by purchasing animals, creating suitable animal habitats, and...


Game image Planet Coaster

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PEGI Rating 7+ for Planet CoasterESRB Rating EVERYONE 10+ for Planet Coaster

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Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X

Genres: Creative, Puzzle and Simulation

Duration: Between 25 hours and 30 hours to complete.

Players: This is a single player game.

Costs: Purchase cost. In-game purchases.

Planet Coaster Console Edition is a pleasure park construction and management game. It draws on games like Theme Park and RollerCoaster Tycoon. You build different theme park rides and roller-coasters in considerable detail, to score design points and...


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PEGI Rating 7+ for AstroneerESRB Rating EVERYONE for Astroneer

Astroneer

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Genres: Action, Adventure, Open World, Simulation and Strategy

Duration: Between 14 hours and 40 hours to complete.

Players: This is a single player game.

Costs: Purchase cost. In-game purchases.

Astroneer is an open-world space adventure where you colonize planets by creating habitable structures, farming and mining resources. There is no specific story, although the challenges of each planet give rise to struggles of achievement to placate the...


Game image Lego City Undercover

Lego City: Undercover
PEGI Rating 7+ for Lego City UndercoverESRB Rating EVERYONE for Lego City Undercover

Lego City: Undercover

Platforms: Nintendo 2DS/3DS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Narrative, Open World and Shooting

Duration: Between 16 hours and 22 hours to complete.

Players: You can play with 2 players in the same room, but you can’t play it online.

Costs: Purchase cost.

Lego City Undercover offers an open world to explore. While most Lego games have an open-world element in at least some areas, this one keeps play open throughout so that children can enjoy exploring at their own pace.


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Civilization
PEGI Rating 12+ for CivilizationESRB Rating EVERYONE 10+ for Civilization

Civilization (Series)

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Genres: Fighting, Open World, Strategy and Turn-Based

Duration: Between 20 hours and 40 hours to complete.

Players: This is a single player game.

Costs: Purchase cost. In-game purchases.

Civilization is a long running strategy game where you develop a society from hunter gatherer to space travel. There are many ways to approach this challenge; socially, militarily, politically or perhaps building wonders to impress other nations.


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PEGI Rating 12+ for Age of EmpiresESRB Rating TEEN for Age of Empires

Age of Empires (Series)

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Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Open World and Strategy

Duration: Between 20 hours and 30 hours to complete.

Players: You can play this with 8 players online.

Costs: Purchase cost. In-game purchases.

Age of Empires is a strategy game where you command an ancient civilisation in real-time and must develop from hunter-gatherers to advanced forms of defence and war. This is similar territory to Civilization but focus on...


Sim City is in These Lists

In addition to the similar games listed above, which have been linked to this game specifically in the database, you may find games with a similar theme to Sim City in the following lists:

Expand LEGO Style Play

These are games that involve actual Lego bricks or offer an experience that has the same plug and play building and creating as the classic toy.
 
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PEGI Rating 3+ for Lego Super MarioESRB Rating EVERYONE for Lego Super Mario
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PEGI Rating 3+ for Cities SkylinesESRB Rating EVERYONE for Cities Skylines

Attempt The Impossible

How hare a game is considered to be depends on who is playing it. A three-year-old tackling Zelda will struggle. But equally a new-to-games-parents will find Mutant Mudds quickly gets beyond them. The games in this list are known for being difficult. They wear the difficulty as a badge of honour. "None shall pass," except this with the will, time and belligerence to get good enough at this particular activity to beat the high bar the game sets.

This might be grappling with the flying mechanics in Rocket League, getting endlessly lost trying to find the next guardian in Shadow of the Collosus or coming up with the right tactic to get enough money for the ship you need in Elite. Of course, some of these games can be made easier, but to play them at their best is to ramp up the difficulty to max (crushing on The Last Of Us for example) and let them give you all they've got.
 
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Elsinore
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Returnal

Free With Origin Access

Origin Access is a subscription service for PC, smartphones and tablets, offering access to games include all those published by EA.
  • Basic (£3.99/Month) grants access to games but not other in-game purchases. Very new games are sometimes restricted to a demo.
  • Advance (£14.99/Month) grants access to even the newest EA games and includes in-game purchases.

 
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Sim City
PEGI Rating 3+ for Sim CityESRB Rating EVERYONE for Sim City
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Snake Pass
PEGI Rating 3+ for Snake PassESRB Rating EVERYONE for Snake Pass
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Peggle
PEGI Rating 3+ for PeggleESRB Rating EVERYONE for Peggle
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Overcooked
PEGI Rating 3+ for OvercookedESRB Rating EVERYONE for Overcooked

Create An Attraction

Many games let you create your own items, object or levels. But some are specifically designed for you to do this in order to attract characters and visitor to your creation in the game.

Whether it's the perfect garden in Viva Pinata, the ideal visitor island in Animal Crossing or the most thrilling ride in Planet Coaster, these games are fun because they combine creativity and management.

Then there are games where your attractions are more understated. The ideal home and live to keep your Sims happy. Or maybe create something that doesn't impact the environment negatively like in Eco.

Whatever you create, as well as attract characters in the game, the creations you make are ideal to share with other people (parents and carers maybe) to show them what you've been doing.
 
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Townscraper
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Two Point Hospital
PEGI Rating 3+ for Two Point HospitalESRB Rating EVERYONE 10+ for Two Point Hospital
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Viva Pinata
PEGI Rating 3+ for Viva PinataESRB Rating EVERYONE for Viva Pinata
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PEGI Rating 3+ for Farm TogetherESRB Rating EVERYONE for Farm Together
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