30 best simulators on PC

Review of the best according to the editorial board. On the selection criteria. This material is subjective and does not constitute advertising and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.

Simulators are a genre that is almost always found in an integrated form. Almost every game coming out soon and coming out earlier is a simulator of some kind of action. So, a shooter is nothing more than a shooting simulator, and any PRG in the open world is a simulator of the life and development of a character. However, all of these examples form their own, stable and distinguished genres – simulators are by their nature more uncertain. Digging into the history of the gaming industry, the magazine tried to highlight 30 of the best PC simulators in various incarnations.

P.S. Huge request not to consider the final place in the rating as a measure of the coolness or 'inferiority' of the game. All of them belong to different time periods, carry different messages and belong to different genre circles, so it will not be entirely correct to compare them with each other.

Rating of the best simulators on PC

Nomination	a place	a game	rating
Rating of the best simulators on PC	1	'IL-2. Stormtrooper '	5.0
	2	L.A. Noire	4.9
	3	War thunder	4.9
	4	World of Tanks	4.8
	5	The sims	4.8
	6	The movies	4.7
	7	SimCity	4.7
	8	PES	4.7
	9	FIFA	4.6
	10	Anno	4.6
	11	Project CARS	4.5
	12	F1	4.5
	13	NHL 09	4.5
	14	PC Building Simulator	4.4
	15	Car Mechanic Simulator	4.4
	16	The long dark	4.4
	17	World of warplanes	4.4
	18	Spore	4.4
	19	theHunter: Call of the Wild	4.3
	20	The forest	4.3
	21	World of Warships	4.2
	22	Euro Truck Simulator 2	4.2
	23	World Rally Championship 7	4.1
	24	Farming Simulator	4.1
	25	NBA 2k14	4.0
	26	House flipper	4.0
	27	WWE 2k18	4.0
	28	Ultimate Fishing Simulator	3.9
	29	Thief Simulator	3.8
	30	Goat simulator	3.7

'IL-2. Stormtrooper '

Rating: 5.0

The famous 2001 flight simulator, which received a phenomenal 91 points according to the Metacritic aggregator and became the best project of 2001. 'IL-2. Sturmovik 'is one of the small, but very significant victories of the Russian game dev (now almost deceased) over world competitors.

Like all military simulators of that time, the IL-2 used the setting of the Great Patriotic War, taking into account the extremely important and large-scale battles from the point of view of history. The entire gameplay here was divided into 8 campaigns, each of which had its own set of maps and tasks, depending not only on the side of the conflict, but also on the type of aircraft chosen. Naturally, in 2001 such a level of elaboration was perceived as something unimaginable, and for a long time no one was able to repeat this success (although there were plenty of attempts). At the time of the release of the final version of the aviation sim, it contained 77 units of aircraft and 75 units of ground transport. Each plane was recreated according to the official drawings, and the physical piloting model was developed jointly with combat pilots of both the modern era and the times of the Great Patriotic War. A decade later, it was the IL-2. Stormtrooper 'served as the starting point for the creation of War thunder , which later grew into something more than an MMO flight simulator.

L.A. Noire

Rating: 4.9

L.A. Noire Detective Investigation Simulator is an action adventure that tells the story of a city set in a late 1940s setting. The post-war city of Angels is a place infinitely beautiful in the charm of jazz and reigning capitalism. But dark things are often hidden behind the bright appearance: corruption, drugs, brutal murders and rampant criminality are only a small part of the vices that occur outside of people's sight.

L.A. Noire presents users with an interactive story in the purest noir style, which will develop directly with their close participation. Separated from the main storyline, players will receive random tasks, called 'street crimes', via the police radio. As in the case with another Rockstar Games project, Grand Theft Auto, the protagonist can move around the city on foot, or use cars that open as he progresses through the story. In addition, the player has access to change costumes, like another project of a related genre – Mafia II. There are only 10 of them in L.A. Noire, and each of them gives the character additional points of characteristics, such as increasing the accuracy of shooting or increasing protection against damage (all buffs of suits are logical). This is a one-of-a-kind detective simulator that has held the bar for a great project since 2011.

War Thunder

Rating: 4.9

War Thunder is a project developed by the Russian studio Gaijin Entertainment, which uses the best practices and mechanics of the great storyline simulator IL-2. Stormtrooper '. The concept of multiplayer aviation simulator has long tormented the minds of Russian developers, who, as it turned out, started implementing the idea at the same time as Wargaming, which announced its MMO simulator World of warplanes a month later.

The main emphasis in War Thunder was placed on the authenticity of historical events that appear in the game as a general plot background. The developers' approach to modeling the processes of inflicting damage is also atypical: the physical damage system takes into account not only the place of impact, but also the type of projectile, the distance of the shot, and even the ballistic trajectory. In addition, the properties of various types of materials recreated in the game play on realism: they all have their own relative characteristics and degree of strength.

But perhaps the main feature of War Thunder lies in the project's scalability, which we have seen over the past 8 years. The game has grown from a typical flight simulator about the events of World War II into a global combat constructor. As the concept developed, tanks were added there, recreated to the smallest detail, and later ships. Ultimately, War Thunder has become the MMO that single-handedly imposes competition on all Wargaming products, and that's really cool!

World of Tanks

Rating: 4.8

The project that initiated the 'World of …' series of games and became one of the most successful CIS action games in the history of the gaming industry. World of Tanks can be characterized as an arcade tank simulator – this is the genre model that the developers from Wargaming wanted to implement.

All the features of the 'World of Tanks' in one form or another are included in the gameplay. For example, the multiplayer component of a game of this genre, according to the canons, required the presence of training levels … but there are none here. The logic of refusing to learn is simple: firstly, the game would have had to be 'screwed up' in a single mode, which meant additional spending of the budget, and secondly, in the heat of battles, a real battle becomes the best teacher. In addition, the path of development of each, without exception, player began with small tanks of the 1st level, which respected the fragile principle of equality.

And although Wargaming advocated the absolute similarity of the conditions of all people within the project, it did not exist until the moment of abandoning the free-to-play monetization model. That is, until a certain time, there was content in World of Tanks that was bought for real money and could give an advantage over other players. Now this story has been safely forgotten, and we are left with a classic free-to-win tank simulator with a rich 10-year history.

The sims

Rating: 4.8

The most famous life simulator developed by Maxis and The Sims Studio under the leadership of Electronic Arts also got into our rating. We cannot single out any one project from the series, since all of them, one way or another, left a big mark on the genre, and therefore let's talk about the features of the franchise as a whole.

The first thing you should pay attention to is that there is no specific plot in the original games of The Sims, which is why the genre of the game is described by the word sandbox (sandbox). The user can create sims – virtual people, build or buy ready-made houses, monitor the needs, desires and mood of his ward, while simultaneously realizing many scenarios of his life. The game relies on the principle of gradually adding content through the release of large-scale additions: in addition to packs of clothes, items for the store, new locations and activities, some DLCs may contain storylines. This development model has been practiced since the release of the very first The Sims in 2000, and continues to generate a lot of money for developers, minimizing any risks. Well, so far this prediction is fully justified, because 5 years have passed since the release of the number 4 part, and the new game has not been announced.

The movies

Rating: 4.7

The real 'Hollywood simulator' produced by Lionhead Studios back in 2005 is still one of a kind. The Movies is a unique fusion of the idea of ​​immersing the user in the world of filming with elements of micromanagement and control of people's lives in a film studio. As in any other economic strategy, the player is given a conditional basis for starting the development of his own film company, if we are not talking about the sandbox mode. There is a need to hire service personnel, actors and directors, each of them having their own level of competence, as well as a scale of mood and desire to shoot (and be filmed) in a particular genre. As the years and eras change, some of the genres become popular, and some, on the contrary, fade into oblivion, returning to trends after a certain number of years.

An important difference between The Movies and other projects of the genre is the ability to independently organize the filming of the film. The game has a primitive but very interesting system of stage setting, selection of entourage, props and costumes. The owners of the licensed version of the game were able to post a video in the special service The Movies Online, where other participants could view and rate the work on a 5-point scale. After 13 full years, the project continues to be remembered with nostalgia and played in between modern action games.

SimCity

Rating: 4.7

One of the most successful Maxis franchises, second only to The Sims in scale and level of recognition (alas, the potentially powerful Spore simulator never became a 'gold mine' for developers). The history of this city building simulator began in 1989. It was then that the light saw the two-dimensional project SimCity Classic, which was predicted to fail in the sale due to the lack of action and arcade elements, which were held in high esteem by the industry at that time. Despite a difficult start, the game gained high sales rates thanks to extremely positive reviews from reputable gaming publications. Work on the sequel was not long in coming, and in 1993 the second part of the SimCity 2000 simulator was released.

The new project of the Maxis studio was made in an isometric style and refined the ideas of the first part on the creation and development of the city, infrastructure and other important elements of socio-cultural life. It was SimCity 2000 that was recognized as a classic of the genre, and it was from it that all the city-building simulations of the next decade were based on. The latest iteration of the franchise under the original name SimCity (2013) was very warmly received by fans and sold out in large numbers, even despite the scandal that broke out with the fall of game servers and the loss of saved data by millions of users around the world.

PES

Rating: 4.7

Pro Evolution Soccer is a football simulator from the Japanese company Konami, which is the main competitor to FIFA on the world stage. The main message of the game at any time period remained the realism of the action taking place on the field, which is why the franchise was dubbed hardcore (not arcade) in terms of gameplay.

The main problem of PES throughout its history of release was the lack of licenses to use the merchandise of clubs and various football leagues. Subsequently, this case was easily straightened out by custom mods, but claims for a serious fight with the grandee required serious decisions. In 2009, perhaps the strongest part of the old formation footsim came out, which claimed the title of the best (since FIFA 09 was an outright failure). After that, the story began with the departure of the series into the shadows, the transition to the new Fox Engine, and the next stage of the brand's ascent to the previous level of popularity. Konami even integrated their own analogue of Ultimate Team into the game, but it is clear that this mode lacks elaboration. But in terms of drive, emotions, gaming experience and the adequacy of the gaming system, the current version 19 of PES looks much more interesting than the 'impoverished' and scripted FIFA 19. It remains to be hoped that the Japanese will be able to consolidate their success and still surpass their competitor in the next part of the annual ' TV series'.

FIFA

Rating: 4.6

Legendary football simulator from Electronic Arts, at the moment objectively surpassing PES in terms of popularity in the media space. over the more than 30-year history of the franchise, FIFA has gone through 3 large-scale historical transitions, concerning both the gameplay and the visual part of the project.

The first of them happened at the time of the change of 2D graphics to 3D, and mainly affected consoles of the old generation. The second revolution was associated with a sharp leap in the industry in terms of graphics cards, and it was here that perhaps the most adequate version of the old generation FIFA was released: FIFA 07. Even without the physical 'chips' of the old engines fashionable by today's standards, the gameplay was perceived as a whole and very fun . The game contained a ton of additional unlockable content (for points earned in the single player campaign) and an atmospheric soundtrack, as well as a primitive but very atmospheric scene with newspaper interviews.

The next leap was associated with a complete overhaul of the basic concept of the game and the release of a new game mode for the online component: Ultimate Team for FIFA 12. Until a certain point, the systems and capabilities of the project were polished and refined, and in the opinion of many professional players and publications they reached an optimum of 17 version of the annual 'serial'. Now it seems that the franchise has fallen into a state of degradation, but for the scale and great way not to include it in the list of the best simulators, we simply cannot.

Anno

Rating: 4.6

A representative of the city planning simulator category, has been in the industry for over 20 years. The first game in the series, Anno, 1602, was a high-quality but controversial alternative to the then shining Age of Empires and The Settlers. The developers tried to make the product as versatile as possible, but not through balancing factions or European nations, but by unifying game units. Basically, the only difference when starting a new campaign was which flag the player would be flying under. At the time of 1998, this approach was the norm, but even then many publications dubbed the project meager and simple.

Nevertheless, the gameplay was very addictive, as it relied on the principles of achieving a higher level of development of controlled lands for the opening of new buildings. This approach significantly increased the playing time and interest, since gamers of the time were not spoiled by the abundance of content. Over the years, the same dogmas of building a gameplay have been successfully applied to new parts of the series. Objectively, the best game in the franchise was and remains Anno 1404 – a turning point in defining the vector of the genre's development and the last campaign that used the setting of medieval Europe (and East Asia). In the future, the ideas of game designers led the series to an illustration of the future and a small crisis of original ideas.

Project CARS

Rating: 4.5

The project CARS crowdfunding project continues the theme of car simulators, developed by the independent British studio Slightly Mad Studios. It is based on a redesigned Madness physics engine, tweaked to improve control response times and other basic ideas.

The main difference between Project CARS and its competitors lies in the use of the dynamic model of SETA tires, as well as in the implementation of the processes of changing weather and time of day. For the realism of the racing process, professional racers were invited to the development team, including the famous Stig from Top Gear and Nicholas Hamilton, the younger brother of the Formula 1 driver. In terms of content, the game also delights fans, with Slightly Mad having licensed as many as 70 cars and 35 auto racing tracks. Ultimately, the small project attracted huge attention from both the press and the users, raised more than $ 3 million for the implementation of all ideas … and was able to become one of the best car simulators for the entire existence of the gaming industry. According to Metacritic, Project CARS scored 83 points based on 48 reviews, which is quite a high score for a project of this genre.

F1

Rating: 4.5

The most famous car simulator by Codemasters, created based on the seasons of the prestigious Formula-1 racing series. The history of its development has been going on for 10 years, and during this time the game managed to evolve both in terms of gameplay and in various physical aspects. The reason for this was the change of the engine from EGO 1.0 (on which the games of the Colin Mc'Rae and FlatOut series were based) to EGO 4.0 – a more advanced platform for transferring gaming experience.

Since its release, the F1 series has had one very important virtue: the correct prioritization of the scale of the simulation of the racing process. Many development studios are accustomed to highlighting what's happening on the track. And this is the case in projects like NFS: Underground or Project CARS. However, Formula-1 is a competition, the bulk of the work in which is carried out off the track. The key to victory and successful performance here lies in setting up the cars in the pits, choosing the right tactics for refueling and changing tires, etc. And Codemasters were able to convey this micromanagement experience to the fullest, while reducing the level of arcadeness of the racing races themselves to the maximum possible minimum (which they did not do in any of their previous projects). In the end, even the very first game in the series (F1 2010) received 84 points on Metacritic and a huge amount of positive feedback from players.

NHL 09

Rating: 4.5

Letting go of modern representatives of the simulator genre, let's remember the last representative of the NHL series, who visited personal computers more than 10 years ago. NHL 09 is a stunning ice hockey simulator that is hugely popular with the game's fan base around the world. The audience of ice battles at that time was absolutely not inferior in scale to football fans, and the decision to transfer subsequent games in the series exclusively to the console was made with great indignation. The reason for this was, as EA put it, “an unstable economic situation,” and therefore even porting subsequent NHL games to the PC was considered a waste of money.

Not much can be said about the gameplay aspect of NHL 09, as the game was the embodiment of the rules and conventions of the original tournament. The physics models moved around the court correctly, the simulation of the flight of the puck and the various actions of the players was at a high level even at that time. The transfer and draft system looked good, but there are suspicions that it was intentionally unbalanced for the PC version. For the same platform, the developers have tried to cut down on the graphics component in order to “avoid problems with freezes and bugs on the old hardware.” You can hate EA for such an attitude towards users, but even the fact of deliberate damage did not prevent NHL 09 from becoming one of the best simulators of the 2008 calendar year.

PC Building Simulator

Rating: 4.4

Similarly, House flipper was developed by another representative of simulators – PC Building Simulator, the idea of ​​which also did not go beyond management. True, unlike its competitor, this project focuses on a topical topic that has not been raised in any of the representatives of the genre before.

Developers from The Irregular Corporation tried to play on the realism of what is happening, taking as a basis the notorious 'business' of fixing computers at home. In parallel with this, they were able to license all products that are used for modding and repairing system units. GeForce RTX graphics cards? Not a problem! Motherboards from Gigabyte? Yes, as much as necessary! In this game you can find everything you need for top-end upgrades … however, do not forget about the specific preferences of customers. However, in the later stages of the game, you will find room for creativity – increasing the number of available parts will allow you to choose what to install in the case. We also note the possibility to upgrade the room in which all the action takes place. Well, the presence of periodically released DLCs will also be a good help to increase the duration of involvement in the gameplay.

Car Mechanic Simulator

Rating: 4.4

The car mechanic simulator, released in 2014, has become the annual 'TV series' of the world of the gaming industry. But, unlike the same football simulators, the changes here acquire scale and visibility. Car Mechanic Simulator is an interactive opportunity to disassemble cars to cogs with your own hands (without a key, but with a mouse), while delving into a fairly detailed diagram of its device.

A distinctive feature of the project throughout the entire history of the release is the garage management, which is carried out along with the process of car repairs both in free and in a pseudo-plot mode. Naturally, the system grows from year to year, new content and cars for parsing appear, other interactions with garage inventory are added. However, the next important step for the franchise, if any, should be car licensing (at least partially) and working out graphics for the increased capabilities of computer hardware. How all this will be embodied – we will find out in the near future. Well, the fact that this simulator is one of the best in the segment is an unconditional and obvious fact.

The long dark

Rating: 4.4

Like The forest , The Long Dark is a representative of survival simulators, but in a different setting and radically different style. The plot of the game takes place on the Pacific coast of Canada, where the plane crashed during a more global natural disaster. The main character of the game – the pilot of the plane – in the storyline must find his acquaintance, who disappeared without a trace from the crash site long before he came to his senses. The story is quite interesting and small, but by the will of the developers, the time of its passage is artificially stretched with the help of large transitions from one point of the task to another … and back.

But the survival mode is implemented very well in the game. With the same introductions, the main goal of the player is to preserve the life of the protagonist for as long a period of time as possible. It is very important here to pay attention to the ambient temperature, indicators of thirst, hunger, fatigue and health of the character, as well as to always monitor the amount of available resources – if they wait in one place, they end extremely quickly. The Long Dark received a lot of positive reviews and great advertising from publications even at the time of the alpha version, and subsequently, towards the release, there was even more enthusiasm for it. Our recommendations, in general, coincide with the opinion of the publications: be sure to play survival mode in order to feel the atmosphere of the project and get a completely new gaming experience.

World of Warplanes

Rating: 4.4

The second project of the 'World of …' cycle, which was announced in June 2011. In terms of introducing World of Warplanes, it was a little unlucky, since a month earlier the Russian studio Gaijin Entertainment presented War Thunder – at that time a pure MMO flight simulator, aiming at an unoccupied niche and claiming to be the leader of the genre.

Naturally, the level of approval of Wargaming's work on the development of the next military simulator was high – due to the highest popularity of their first project, World of Tanks. But the Belarusian studio could not allocate a team that dealt with WoT to implement the new idea, since many members of that composition were busy supporting and further developing the 'tank world'. Then the Ukrainian Persha Studio came to their aid, and took over the process of creation under the supervision of the main studio-publisher. Over the years of painstaking work, more than 250 realistically recreated aircraft of the USSR, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, the USA, France and China were added to the project, which were designed in the time period from 1918 to 1955. As in other games in the series, World of Warplanes does not have story-based maps and game modes, which, however, does not interfere with the process of obtaining a gaming experience for users. Recently, the project has been actively stirring up interest in various collaborations (for example, with the Iron Maiden group) – but, let's be honest, it is good even without loud announcements.

Spore

Rating: 4.4

Spore is a unique genre blend that combines god simulator, RPG components and even real-time strategy elements. The peculiarity of the game lies in the fact that the user is engaged in the development of his character gradually, passing through 5 natural stages of development:

1. the cell is the simplest microorganism that lives in the 'primordial soup', rich in nutrients and other, more advanced and dangerous forms of microorganisms. The main goal of this stage is to eat (either meat or algae) and not become food for others;
2. being – the moment of emergence of a developed microorganism on land and the beginning of the formation of a social community;
3. tribe – a tribe is controlled by the user, for the further development of which it is necessary to either destroy or annex 5 neighboring tribes to itself;
4. civilization – the mechanics of this stage were partially borrowed from the Sid Meier's Civilization series. The main goal of the stage: suppress the formation of other civilizations on the map;
5. space is an endless stage in which the user can explore the Galaxy, build colonies and wage war with other life forms.

Of course, such a unique mix of possibilities and original design aroused great interest among the players of that time, which predetermined the success of the god simulator and allowed Maxis to release 4 more major additions.

theHunter: Call of the Wild

Rating: 4.3

A project developed by Avalanche Studios in 2017, which has gained immense popularity among all fans of shooters and wild hunting simulators. The main advantage of this game over competitors was a very painstaking attitude to the development of a physical model of weapons, a ballistic system of shots and bullet flights, as well as a more realistic (not arcade) implementation of the gaming experience.

theHunter: Call of the Wild supports a cooperative game mode, when up to 8 players gather on one map. Their goal is extremely simple: to hunt down and as skillfully kill one or another representative of the local fauna. Everything is evaluated: both the distance, and the place of impact, and a number of minor additional conditions.

But, perhaps, the most vivid impression about the game is left by the level of the project's graphic elaboration and the vastness of the game location. According to the developers themselves, the total playing area exceeds 13 hectares, which have both landscape diversity and unique climatic conditions. And the fullness of the smallest sounds, convenient seating places and viewpoints, the cyclical change of day and night, only enhance the effect of immersion in an already wonderful game.

The Forest

Rating: 4.3

A survival simulator that provides tremendous opportunities for the implementation of the gaming experience in the open world. The Forest takes the protagonist to an inhabited island, where his first task will be to collect resources and craft equipment necessary for elementary survival in a hostile environment. One of the important elements of this very environment are the tribes of natives-cannibals, frightening in their naturalness and, similar to the user, tuned in to survive at any cost.

In such conditions, the main secret of successful existence lies in the constant improvement of their own skills – the benefit of which is in store in The Forest abound. Players can cooperate in small communities, build houses, create better weapons and collect entire raids to clear the area from savages. However, here the system for clearing inhabited caves is very much reminiscent of standard dungeons from RPG projects: the lower the player makes his way, the more terrible and ferocious enemies he comes across. But, having mowed down the entire tribe, you can get hold of resources and a lot of useful materials that will certainly help in your further survival on the islands. Oddly enough, the game has a storyline that gives the user a motive to advance: to find the son of the protagonist named Timmy, stolen by one of the employees of the Sahara complex. Combining all this into one product, we get a great mix of survival simulator, horror and native story sandbox.

World of Warships

Rating: 4.2

The third game in the 'World of …' series from Wargaming, announced 2 months later than World of Warplanes flight simulator. The concept of creating a whole series of games about simulating military operations using various equipment was visited by Belarusian developers at the stage of assembling the World of Tanks. But given the studio's modest budgets at that point in time, the development of this idea became possible only after the commercial success of the first game. Naturally, the influx of funds was not long in coming, and already in 2011 the studio announced that it was working on an idea similar to tanks, but with a completely different gaming experience.

World of Warships uses the setting of World War II, but does not have a plot development of events, as it is implemented in War Thunder (which can now be considered the main competitor in the genre of naval battles simulator). But the number of ships on display and the level of their elaboration can please even the most picky users. At the moment, the game features branches of ships of the army of the Russian Empire and the USSR, the USA, Japan, Great Britain, Germany, Pan-Asia and some representatives of the fleet of France and Italy. At the time of its official release, World of Warships received mostly positive reviews from publications, gaining 81 points in the Metacritic rating.

Euro Truck Simulator 2

Rating: 4.2

The second part of the truck driver simulator, which was released back in 2012. Much has changed in the industry over the past 7 years, but Euro Truck Simulator 2 is still relevant thanks to the model of constant project support by developers (from the Czech studio SCS Software).

The originality of this project lies in the fact that it combines not only the simulative part of traveling with cargo, but also an economic strategy based on building a rational logistics system. And everything would be great if the project was not based on the rules of real traffic. Thus, all roads, highways and autobahns have their own scripted speed limits, violation of which entails fines. The user's actions are monitored from road cameras, which record possible speeding, just like in real life. In addition, the game contains penalties for non-compliance with the work and rest hours. If you ignore all the conventional signals of fatigue of a trucker, then you can run into trouble much more serious than monetary fines: at some point, the screen darkens (imitation of closed eyes), however, traffic continues and will almost certainly lead either to an exit from the road, or to an accident. All this and much more is presented in the simulator so cool that the game hours pass almost unnoticed.

World Rally Championship 7

Rating: 4.1

Ranked among the best and the simulator of rally racing World Rally Championship 7 – not a reference, but accurately conveys all aspects of high-speed driving on a cross-country route. Its relative success in the WRC 7 genre has a rich legacy, as the first numbered part of the franchise was released back in 2001. Over the more than 16-year history of development, systems and underlying engines have changed, refined and 'polished' to provide the most accurate gaming experience comparable to driving a real rally car.

One of the strengths of WRC 7 is its adaptability to the level of user skills: keeping in mind the niche nature of previous projects, Kylotonn studio made the gameplay more accessible for beginners. The difficulty level was adjusted, various tips and software assistants in the management were included. Nevertheless, even despite the active steering and lowering the bar of achievements, the game made you feel the drive from the passage of the tracks, since any changes in weather and climatic conditions were instantly reflected in the tactics of the route. Since its official release, WRC 7 has achieved 70 points in the Metacritic rating, making it the franchise's most successful simulator (in this regard).

Farming Simulator

Rating: 4.1

A game in the genre of a farm simulator, the history of the development of which goes back 11 years. The user tries on the role of a farmer, who owns a small plantation and a park of old, half-broken equipment. The initial level of equipment does not allow the player to do anything other than farming, and this is the starting point for new opportunities and expansion of farmland. Step by step, cultivating the fields and realizing the harvest, the character multiplies the start-up capital, for which he can acquire new lands, equipment, animals and new crops for sowing.

The paradox of Farming Simulator is that, starting with a small active audience, it achieved incredible sales success by 2013. It was at that time that the franchise reached its peak of popularity, which, in the future, began only to support. Despite the average and positive ratings of the publications, some critics call the game monotonous and highly specialized, with a small audience coverage. Nevertheless, almost any simulator can be written under such patterns, and it is very funny to expose the scarcity of the project idea as a minus.

NBA 2k14

Rating: 4.0

The 15th installment of the NBA 2k simulator, developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2k Sports, was awarded a place in the list of the best. From the point of view of the gameplay, NBA 2k14 did not bring anything new to the genre, and according to many, it has completely stagnated since the release of the 13th part. However, the global degradation of the series happened a few years later, ironically coinciding with the decision of the developers to release games only on the console.

In fact, nothing serious in the gameplay of NBA 2k14 itself was broken, except for the slightly inconvenient system of implementing free throws (which, however, has always been a weak point of the basketball simulator). Dribbling, medium and long distance throws, colorful slam-dunks, block shots and tight guarding of the opponent worked well, and therefore made it possible to feel the atmosphere of real basketball. Draft and player transfer systems remained unchanged.

But the most important feature of NBA 2k14 was the addition of teams from Europe to the roster, which became the starting point for potentially promising cooperation and opened many ways for further development of the idea. Unfortunately, at the moment neither the developer studio nor the publisher is able to use them.

House Flipper

Rating: 4.0

I could not pass by the rating and House Flipper – a construction simulator that allows you to create beauty in houses like The Sims, but only in the first person view. The arsenal of tools and methods for producing dream repairs is simply huge here: you can glue wallpaper, lay tiles, whitewash, paint, tear down walls and rebuild them. Plus, there will be a whole catalog of furniture and decor items that can be placed in renovated houses.

Paradoxically, but House Flipper is a project more about building a business than about repairing and taking the soul away through a methodical lesson. There is no plot ending here, but the plot is quite obvious to itself: at the initial stage, the character acquires the first dwelling, which needs urgent repairs for more or less comfortable living conditions. However, he does not have enough money for the production of full-fledged repair work, and the only way to earn them is part-time work at facilities that also need to produce a certain amount of repair and decoration. In the future, earning money and buying new real estate, the player brings it to the ideal pre-sale state, thereby helping out even more money. This is a fairly trivial scheme that does not lead to anything specific.

WWE 2k18

Rating: 4.0

Another representative of the sports simulation genre, who visited the PC platform in 2017 and received 64 points on Metacritic. Someone may say that this is too little for the rating of the best, but in the case of WWE, the main thing is not the ratings, but the emotional message that the game broadcasts to users.

WWE 2k18 managed to preserve the entourage of spectacular battles, but the dynamics are still rather tight. From the very beginning of his career, the user begins to play plot twists, which are difficult to perceive even for an advanced wrestling user. The controls have not changed, remaining understandable, a couple of new techniques have been added and the physics of battles has been slightly polished.

But one of the shortcomings of the project is the complete replacement of customization stores with special loot boxes, which are purchased both for in-game currency and for real payment. The graphic component remained at the level of myl, and does not even reach the level of the first UFC from Electronic Arts. It will be extremely difficult to catch up with the technical gap at this rate – after all, it's time for publishers from 2k Sports to accept this. But, be that as it may, WWE 2k18 is perfect for wrestling fans and those who want to try something new in games.

Ultimate Fishing Simulator

Rating: 3.9

The classic fishing simulator, released in 2018, surpasses even WWE 2k18 in terms of points on Metacritic – 70 versus 64. However, it would be incorrect to compare these games, if only because they belong to different simulation genres. Ultimate Fishing Simulator is a mixture of arcade and realism, complete with great options for varying fishing equipment and baits. It invites users to decide on their own what they want to play: a regular mode, characterized by more frequent fish bites and a reduced level of its activity when fishing, or a hardcore mode, which requires players to be more assiduous and precise in their actions.

For the first time in the genre, a fishing simulator has integrated the mechanics of ice fishing. For her, as for summer fishing, you also need equipment (an ice screw and a fishing rod), but otherwise the essence of the game remains the same. Another advantage of Ultimate Fishing Simulator is its advanced graphics and a huge set of picturesque locations that you can navigate both on foot and by boat. It is also worth noting the abundance of add-ons and the low cost of the original game. And, of course, what mining project can do without a trophy house?

Thief Simulator

Rating: 3.9

A thief simulator is a good opportunity to experience all the charms and hardships of a 'romantic' profession without resorting to such attempts in real life. The developers from the small studio Noble Muffins tried to make a unique mixture of the simulator genre with stealth adventure, which is not the deepest paradigm of the main character's actions. In essence, he takes on the role of a kind of 'Robin Hood', taking away wealth from the rich and handing them over to the hands of a little less wealthy, naturally, for his own benefit.

In Thief Simulator, the player is allowed to use a wide range of special gadgets, ranging from electronic lock picks for cars and ending with devices for hacking mobile equipment. There are also special hints here that can be requested from the gunner who gave the theft task for a fee. Similar knowledge about the schedule of tenants and the amount of equipment on their site can be obtained independently, but for this it is necessary to establish a full-fledged surveillance of the house. In the process of carrying out thefts or tracking, the character can arouse the suspicion of others, as a result of which they will certainly and very quickly call the police squad. All in all, the game does a great job of conveying unwanted antisocial experiences through a game that has garnered a huge amount of praise from consumers.

Goat simulator

Rating: 3.7

A meme game released exclusively at the request of users. While working on the Sanctum 2 project, Coffee Stain Studios decided to make a comic prototype simulator, in which the main role was played by a goat. The purpose of this prototype was that the player, controlling the goat, had to cause damage to the surrounding world.

Many found this embodiment of the sandbox amusing, and therefore the studio's reaction was not long in coming: Goat Simulator was officially released on Steam on April 1, 2014. Critics took the idea too seriously, and therefore publications devoid of a sense of irony released extremely negative reviews about the project. In particular, a large number of disadvantages were associated with the 'parasitism' of the game on modern memes and the direct dependence of its popularity on social media. There was also condemnation of the topic of skateboarding, in particular, the games of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. But the simulator was more than satisfied with the users, and therefore the developers regularly released various additions over the next 2 years, including the introduction of a full-fledged multiplayer mode. To date, the work on the content of the Goat Simulator has been picked up by the users themselves, and the community's interest continues to be quite high.

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Attention! This rating is subjective and does not constitute an advertisement and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.