Gear

10 Awesome Management Games for Armchair Tycoons

These building- and resource-based simulations are perfect for single-player fun and relaxation.

Before kids and other responsibilities, when I regularly gamed into the wee small hours, playing management sims was one of my favorite things to do. I spent countless days building in Sim Tower, SimCity, and Theme Park. I ran a studio in The Movies, managed a menagerie in Zoo Tycoon, and constructed the pyramids in Pharaoh. My villainous lairs in Dungeon Keeper 2 and Evil Genius were beyond comparison. I built impregnable castles in Stronghold, and I sank days into Game Dev Story—a game about making games.

These games are the perfect foil to multiplayer madness, offering a table of absorbing escapism for one. As the kids have grown, I’ve found myself with a little more time to scratch that management and building itch, and these are the games that have sucked me back in. 

A note for potential players: While there are often console versions, you tend to get better controls and greater depth if you play on PC.

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  • Photograph: Paradox Interactive

    Locked Up

    Prison Architect

    Designing and running a successful prison isn’t easy. Take the warden’s job and you must build cells and facilities to cater to all manner of depraved criminals intent on violence or escape. Run a punishing regime with tiny cells and regular shakedowns, or rehabilitate prisoners through learning programs and creature comforts. Building different prisons to test your ideas is a lot of fun, but it can be tough to maintain order and turn a profit. Even if you cultivate a network of informants, the odd shower shanking is inevitable. The base game is great, just beware of disappointing DLC.

    $30 at Steam Store (PC)
    $25 at Playstation Store (PS4)
    $30 at Microsoft Store (Xbox)
    $30 at Nintendo Store (Switch)
  • Photograph: Simon Hill

    El Presidente

    Tropico 6

    Can you turn a tropical backwater into a major player on the world stage? Cast as a dictator, you must decide what’s best for your people and guide your fledgling nation to throw off its colonial overlords, survive the world wars, the Cold War, and reach the modern day. 

    The satirical political simulation sits atop a classic city builder that challenges you to extract resources, manufacture profitable goods, and keep your discontented citizens happy—or find a way to silence them. The series formula hasn’t evolved much, but it’s an interesting mix of ideas that will have you striving to build a tropical paradise and line your pockets in the process.

    $40 at Steam (PC)
    $50 at PlayStation Store (PS4)
    $50 at Microsoft Store (Xbox)
    $50 $30 at Nintendo Store (Switch)
  • Photograph: Two Point Studios

    Funny Bone

    Two Point Hospital

    Taking clear inspiration from Theme Hospital, which I played to death, Two Point Hospital strikes a similar comedic tone with silly afflictions from Bed Face and Freudian Lips to Leopard Skin and Jazz Hand. The frivolity helps keep this hospital management simulation from getting too serious.

    Tasked with running struggling hospitals, you must build treatment rooms, wards, and other facilities and staff them properly as you race to diagnose and treat an ever-growing intake of needy patients. It never gets very challenging, and some aspects feel half-baked, but sometimes you want something lighthearted. There’s lots of DLC, but it’s a mixed bag (Bigfoot is the best).

    $35 $12 at Steam (PC)
    $40 at PlayStation Store (PS4)
    $40 at Microsoft Store (Xbox)
    $40 at Nintendo Store (Switch)
  • Photograph: 11 Bit Studios

    Chill City

    Frostpunk

    Wonderfully bleak and utterly unforgiving, you must battle for survival as you carve a city out of the frozen wastelands of a doomed late 19th-century earth. Try to extract resources, provide shelter, and research new technologies as you struggle to keep your citizens warm in circular cities built around a central heat source. The steampunk styling and haunting score combine to give this game a unique identity. Challenging gameplay has you constantly teetering on the brink of oblivion, with the fate of humanity weighing heavy on your shoulders, and it’s so satisfying when you manage to pull through. A sequel is in development.

    $30 at Steam (PC)
    $30 $12 at PlayStation Store (PS4)
    $30 at Microsoft Store (Xbox)
  • Photograph: Sports Interactive

    Soccer Strategy

    Football Manager 2021

    Few games blur the line between fantasy and reality as effectively as Football Manager. The challenge of assembling a soccer team and guiding them to glory is mammoth and has grown increasingly complex as this series has matured. The stats and data on players are accurate enough that pro coaches have reportedly used it, and everyone with a fondness for the beautiful game is susceptible to its charms. 

    Developer Sports Interactive first found success with the Championship Manager series before splitting with publisher Eidos. The latest Football Manager is easily the most complete management simulation around, but it can become all-consuming. If soccer isn’t your thing, try the Out of the Park Baseball series.

    $50 at Steam (PC)
    $50 at Microsoft Store (Xbox)
  • Photograph: Simon Hill/Ludeon Studios

    Space Colony

    Rimworld

    I am a Rimworld addict. Sometimes it stops me from trying other games because anything vaguely reminiscent just makes me want to play Rimworld. It combines the challenge of resource management and colony building on random alien planets with colorful characters and emergent stories. 

    Fans of this game who want to branch out should consider one of its inspirations, the incredibly inaccessible madness that is Dwarf Fortress and games like Going Medieval, which is a great introduction to colony sims, though it’s an early access game on Steam right now. Still, nothing nails the chaos of sci-fi colony-building like Rimworld.

    $35 at Steam
  • Photograph: Paradox Interactive

    Urban Sprawl

    Cities: Skylines

    It may be a few years old, but this is still the reigning champion of city builders after the SimCity series fell into disrepair. This open-ended city construction simulation is an absorbing challenge, and it’s easy to get lost tinkering with the transport system. 

    The basic format of creating residential, industrial, and commercial zones, building roads, and providing services will be familiar to SimCity players, but some intriguing city management options pop up as your city grows. The potential scale in the base game is awesome, several DLCs have been added over the years to provide even greater depth, and there’s a lively modding scene.

    $30 at Steam (PC)
    $40 at PlayStation Store (PS4)
    $40 at Microsoft Store (Xbox)
    $40 at Nintendo Store (Switch)
  • Photograph: Frontier

    Dinosaur Disaster

    Jurassic World Evolution

    Movie tie-ins are rarely successful, but the Jurassic Park series has long cried out for a good theme park sim. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis was fun, but the rebooted franchise needed a park-building game of its own. Jurassic World Evolution features more than 40 dinosaurs and challenges you to build and manage parks across five different islands. 

    Scouring the globe for fossils, you must nail DNA sequences to recreate extinct species. We all know building a dinosaur park inevitably ends with someone getting eaten, but the disasters here take many forms, and the option to jump into third-person and observe dinosaurs up close adds a lot to the experience. Sadly, the park-building side of the game is shallow and gets repetitive. The sequel lands later this year and promises new dinosaurs, including flying and marine reptiles.

    $45 at Steam (PC)
    $50 at PlayStation Store (PS4)
    $50 at Microsoft Store (Xbox)
    $60 at Nintendo Store (Switch)
  • Photograph: Wube Software

    Automation Optimization

    Factorio

    Distilling the satisfying challenge of gathering resources and automating processes to turn them into increasingly complex machines, Factorio is frighteningly addictive. You disturb the native life as your factories grow to consume more of the planet’s resources. The drive to constantly research and refine as you optimize your factory and balance defenses to cope with increasingly tough aliens is incredibly engrossing. The best games always inspire others, and Factorio fans must also try Dyson Sphere Program, an early access game that takes factory building interstellar.

    $30 at Steam

  • Industrial Revolution

    Anno 1800

    This gorgeously detailed city-builder throws you into 19th-century Europe and challenges you to start a village and gradually grow to become a metropolis. To do this, you must set sail for the New World and establish colonies capable of delivering the resources you need to foster a thriving economy and drive industrialization. 

    As the competition for resources hots up, there’s a real-time strategy element where you must fight off competing nations. Anno 1800 provides a deeply absorbing challenge. Catering to demanding citizens, finding and securing the right resources, and managing your urban sprawl takes some serious juggling skills.

    $60 at Epic Store (PC)
    $60 at Ubisoft (PC)

  • Honorable Mentions

    More Management Games

    If you don’t fancy these picks or you’ve already played them, there are plenty of alternatives that narrowly missed out. 

    For twists on theme park fun, try Parkasaurus, Planet Coaster, Parkitect, or Planet Zoo. Oxygen Not Included is another great space colony sim. Banished is a smart city builder. This War of Mine is a bleak survival sim. Dungeons 3 is as close as you’ll get to a modern Dungeon Keeper. For a blend of city-building and real-time strategy in a zombie apocalypse, try They Are Billions. For farming with RPG elements, there’s always Stardew Valley, and if that is too cutesy for you, go for Graveyard Keeper instead.

Topicsvideo gamesPC Gamesbuying guidesShoppingsimulations