Simulation games are one of the most expansive and popular game genres the world over. It’s also one of the most popular on mobile because the controls work very well on touch screens. They’re easy to play, fun to engage with, and some of them can last for years. If you want the best bang for your buck, here are the best simulation games for Android!
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9 Innings
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
9 Innings isn’t just one of the better simulation games, but one of the few really good baseball games available in any genre. This is a card collecting style game where you get players, build rosters, and then simulate to see if you can win games. It includes 1400 baseball players across all 30 MLB teams and you can actually participate in baseball games to help your team win. It’s a solid effort all around and seems to be updated yearly with the latest players and team rosters.
Get it now on Google Play!
Fallout Shelter
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Fallout Shelter was one of the best games released in 2015 and was lauded for its fun game play, classic Fallout quirkiness, and that it managed to find an excellent balance for a Freemium game. In this one, you build a fallout shelter (roll credits) and populate it with dwellers. The dwellers do the various jobs that are required to keep the vault going and interact with each other. The idea is to create the best vault ever, explore the wasteland, and create a thriving community of living people. It’s a lot of fun and highly recommended.
Get it now on Google Play!
Flight Pilot Simulator 3D
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Flight simulation games are wildly popular on Android, but there are only a few really good ones and Flight Pilot Simulator 3D seems to be one of them. It features a variety of planes in different configurations along with excellent graphics, at least partially realistic physics, and more. You can play in open flight mode and just cruise the breeze, participate in timed races, put out forest fires, and, of course, there is the obligatory “perfect landing” task. The in-app purchases can get a little expensive, but the game is pretty good overall.
Get it now on Google Play!
Game Dev Story
[Price: $2.50]
Game Dev Story is an old one but a good one. It’s a video game where you run a video game development studio that makes video games. The idea is to create games, generate profits, and become the best video game development studio ever. You can change the professions of the staff members to optimize the work space and it’s not only a good time, but also gives players a glimpse of the work involved with making a video game. It’s developed by Kairosoft which does a number of great simulation games, including Ninja Village.
Get it now on Google Play!
Goat Simulator
[Price: $4.99]
Who says that simulation games have to be serious all the time? With Goat Simulator, you get to simulate the totally realistic (kidding) life of a goat as you run around doing goat things (again, kidding). In reality, this game is a ridiculous thing that exists for the sole purpose of making you wonder how the game developers made this stuff happen to begin with. It’s a bit expensive considering its content, but there are no in-app purchases and it’s good for a laugh if you’ve never seen the game played before. The developer also has a few other variants of the game if you’re interested.
Get it now on Google Play!
Infinite Flight Simulator
[Price: $4.99 with in-app purchases]
Infinite Flight Simulator is another flight sim that does a pretty good job. This one features a variety of planes with simulations of most major airports. You’ll be required to go the whole nine yards with things like flight planning, landing, weight and balance configurations, and more. There are 17 aircraft in the game with 18 more available as additional purchases. You can also simulate various weather conditions, day and night, and more.
Get it now on Google Play!
Jurassic World: The Game
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Jurassic World: The Game is a relatively newer entrant in the simulation games space but it seems to be doing pretty good. In this one, you’ll be able to build your own Jurassic Park, populate it with over 100 different varieties of dinosaur, and then you can battle dinosaurs with other players for supremacy. It also includes cameo appearances from characters from the film and there is even a physical component if you happen to collect Hasbro Brawlasaurs toys. It’s a little aggressive with its Freemium strategy, but if you have a high tolerance for that, this is a fun game.
Get it now on Google Play!
See also: The best FREE Android games!107
Mucho Taco
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Mucho Taco is one of many, many restaurant simulation games where you must build a shop, create a fanbase, and make a ton of money. Mucho Taco has all of those ideas wrapped up in some charming 8-bit style graphics. The ultimate goal is to complete a map that takes you to a ritual ground where you can find the ultimate taco that makes all other tacos look bad. It’s a fun, goofy restaurant sim that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Like most, it’s a Freemium game, so prepare yourself for that.
Get it now on Google Play!
Plague Inc
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Plague Inc has been around for a long time but remains one of the best and most in-depth simulation games available. In this one, you’ll be in charge of creating a disease and then orchestrating its spread in order to wipe out humanity. You’ll have access to 12 disease types, an AI that makes it challenging to infect everyone, and you’ll have 50 countries to infect. It also comes with leaderboards, achievements, and the developers have added some expansions over the years. This is one of the best and has been for a long time.
Get it now on Google Play!
SimCity BuildIt
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
SimCity BuidIt is about the best SimCity experience you can get without an emulator. It follows along a lot of the same guidelines as the original games, including the ability to create towns, solving problems with fire, traffic, and polution, and even having to deal with the occasional act of God. Admittedly, the Freemium strategy in this game is aggressive and that has understandably turned a lot of people off to the game as a whole. However, there is a social component which works well (most of the time) and it’s an overall positive experience.
Get it now on Google Play!
The Sims FreePlay
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
The Sims FreePlay is pretty much the only Sims experience you can have on mobile that’s worth trying. Like most Sims games, you’ll have control over a life and you’ll have to feed, entertain, and otherwise take care of your sim to make sure they live a happy life. You’ll also be able to customize them, have families, build houses, and even have pets. There are also tasks to be completed in the game and places in your Town to unlock for additional activities.
Get it now on Google Play!
Star Traders RPG
[Price: Free / $2.99]
Star Traders is a strategy game where you must create a captain and then journey out into space. You’ll be expected to explore new planets and new sectors while you form alliances with various factions or go at it as an independent contractor. The game is very deep and allows you to play in a variety of ways. You can be a pirate, a military combatant, or even just trade stuff if you want to. It’s wide open and a really fun world to be a part of. There is a paid version and a free version. Neither of them have in-app purchases or advertising.
Get it now on Google Play!
StickMan Dismounting
[Price: Free]
Stickman Dismounting is a simulation game where you must try as hard as possible to get your stickman injured. You’ll be given a variety of scenarios, obstacles, and vehicles and the whole point is to just let it fly and see how messed up of a wreck you can cause. It’s a completely free game with no in-app purchases, but it can get a little grindy here and there. Not a bad game if you’re low on cash or you like stick-based mayhem.
Get it now on Google Play!
Surgeon Simulator
[Price: $1.99]
Surgeon Simulator is probably the most ridiculous game on the list. In this one, you act as a surgeon and you must fix what ails your patient by whatever means possible. If that means beating them over the head with an EKG machine or hacking away like a butcher gone mad, then so be it. Much like Goat Simulator, this game is really about seeing just how far you can go before the game stops you and, as it turns out, the game lets you go pretty far. It’s not recommended for those with weaker stomachs.
Get it now on Google Play!
Transport Tycoon
[Price: $6.99]
One of the original Tycoon games was Transport Tycoon. The premise is that you must build modes of transportation, dictate their routes, and get your cargo and passengers to their destinations. It’s an exact replica of the PC version along with some added features, larger worlds, and more vehicles. It’s a tad expensive, but there are no in-app purchases. If you’re low on cash and don’t mind a slightly lesser experience, OpenTTD is an open source version of the game that’s free.
Get it now on Google Play!
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If we missed any of the best simulation games for Android, tell us about them in the comments! This is an update of a formerly written article, so check the comments for some suggestions from our readers! To see our complete list of best app lists, click here.