Best simulation games for Android phones & tablets
Simulation is such a large category - there are so many different types of simulation games for Android that you can play. Most of them allow you to take part in real-world events, become a farmer, create a theme park and take on jobs that you may have only dreamed of having. Simulation games are a great break from reality, where you can easily dive into a world and take on jobs that don’t have any real repercussions if you mess them up.
Some of these games are very realistic while others bring you into cartoon worlds, showcasing somewhere cute and beautiful. There are so many different activities to explore and games to play, it may be hard to find the best of the best. So we have put together a list of the best simulation games for Android to save you some time looking.
Let’s dive into it.
1
BitLife - Life Simulator
BitLife is a life simulator, where you can take on a new player, creating a person who has just been born. You then get to decide how to interact with the world - making friends with people, asking your parents for money, studying hard, taking piloting lessons and more. There are lots of random ways to end up dying, so it’s up to you to decide how to spend your days. If you end up living a long life and having children, you can become one of them and continue on for another life.
2
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley has you looking after a farm, with very little experience and without knowing anything about the small town you have moved to. You can spend your days farming, making repairs, interacting with the town, fishing and mining! There is a lot to discover in this game, especially as time moves forward and you can partake in events or find cutscenes that reveal personalities and interactions within the local town. Stardew Valley is one of our favourite simulation games on Android, but it's probably true for other platforms too.
3
Fallout Shelter
Often said to be one of the best games on mobile, Bethesda’s Fallout Shelter does live up to the hype. Much like the name suggests, Fallout Shelter takes place in a ‘Vault’ in a post-apocalyptic setting. It’s a simulator game where you have to ensure that the Dwellers in the Vault are happy and that the overall community is thriving. You have to protect the Vault against external as well as internal threats.
But there’s much more to do - you can explore the wasteland above, craft useful items out of scratch, and grow your community.
4
The Sims FreePlay
I feel like everyone has heard of The Sims. The Sims FreePlay takes the sandbox world of The Sims and brings it to your mobile phone. There are a bunch of possibilities - you can create your own Sim, customise them to look however you want, give them a job and help them meet their needs and goals. The world is quite vast, with other Sims to talk to and tons of ways to customise your home and your life. If you've already played it, and you'd like to try out something similar, check the list of mobile games like The Sims.
5
Plague Inc.
Plague Inc. is a pretty interesting and uh, topical Android simulation game where you are able to become a deadly virus, working its way through the entire human population and eliminating all of them. You need to wipe everyone out, so you are able to create different types of viruses, mutate them to keep things interesting and ensure they are still infecting people, and adapt as humans take drugs and try to get rid of the disease.
6
Game Dev Tycoon
Playing games is fun, but have you ever considered becoming a developer yourself? In Game Dev Tycoon, you are able to manage a startup, looking to become a successful game development company. You can hire employees, take on freelance contracts to make ends meet, and continue to work on and improve your own titles.
There is a lot of management in Game Dev Tycoon, as events pop up, patches need to be released and you need to continue to update your own games. It's brilliant, and you should read our Game Dev Tycoon review if you're curious about our experience playing it.
7
Home Street
Home Street is a little like The Sims, but players can focus more on accessorising and decorating their houses. After creating your own character and building your own house, you can spend your days hanging out with friends, selling your house to purchase bigger ones, or becoming a TV star. You can even start a business if you’d like. There is less of a grind than there is in the Sims and it makes for a neat game.
8
Hungry Hearts Diner Neo
The Hungry Hearts Diner series can be described as - A cozy diner in the heart of Tokyo and a loving granny serving delicious food. And the warm colour scheme, cutesy characters, and background score all conjure up a perfect cooking sim game.
Much like the name suggests, it's all about cooking and time management. You step in as Sue, a help hired by Granny to help her run the place. Your job is to help her cook fine Japanese dishes and manage the dishes.
In case you like these kinds of cooking games, you can also check out Hungry Hearts Diner, Hungry Hearts Diner: Memories, and Hungry Hearts Diner 2.
9
RFS - Real Flight Simulator
Real Flight Simulator is a flying simulator, as you might have guessed from the name. But, this simulator is quite realistic, with lots to control and simulate. You can fly a plane in various conditions, dealing with a night and day cycle as well as changes in weather. Flight plans need to be booked, the plan needs to be controlled and you will need to master a very realistic HUD! It’s very well made.
10
Rent Please! - Landlord Sim
If you ever wanted to be a rich Landlord, now is the time. All you have to do is install the ‘Rent Please! - Landlord Sim’ and manage a whole community of tenants.
As a landlord, you will be responsible for fulfilling tenants’ needs, collecting rent, and nurturing a community. Plus, the tenants come with different backstories; there are different kinds of rooms to unlock and your own private space to design.
11
SimCity Buildit
Mobile version of the famous city-building simulation game for Android from Electronic Arts. You have to turn a small town into a big metropolis with bright skyscrapers, resort hotels, and giant shopping malls. You will be engaged in the construction of buildings, trade, optimization of transport links, and other interesting things. However, a good mayor is one who cares about his citizens as well. You will regulate their level of happiness and solve various problems, and as a result, people will love or hate you. In SimCity BuildIt you can even cooperate with other players or start a war.
12
Raft Survival
Survival on Raft embodies one of the fears of any person. The protagonist manages to become the only survivor of a plane crash. However, luck ends there, because now he finds himself in the middle of an endless ocean, the marine inhabitants of which want to it him.
The player will have to survive on a raft and collect resources, craft, and build. Survival on Raft offers an unusual gaming experience because surviving in such conditions is much more difficult than on land. For example, you need to find clean water, catch fish, grow food (yes, right on the raft), and also drive sharks away from your home.
13
Frozen City
Frozen City has a post-apocalyptic theme but with an icy twist. You step in as the chief of the last surviving town on the planet, who is tasked with rebuilding the society.
As the chief, your main task is to gather resources, assign tasks to the survivors, recruit people for the town’s security, keep the town running, and look after the community. In addition to this, you have to expand the town and attract more survivors.
[games id="34798"]
14
TAP! DIG! MY MUSEUM!
A colorful simulator with pixel graphics that offers you to take on the role of the owner of an abandoned museum. You have to take care of the place, as well as go to distant places for excavations to search for rare exhibits. The gameplay of Dig! my museum! can be conditionally divided into two parts. The player will have to manage his museum, that is to serve visitors, create exhibition stands and collect money that will be used to further develop the business. But besides this, you will also go on excavations and collect the bones of extinct dinosaurs.
15
Hay Day
If you like relaxing farming games, then Hay Day is a title you need to check out. Created by Supercell, the creator of Clash of Clans, the game focuses on farming, taking care of cattle, setting up factories like sugar mills, dairy, and a lot more.
You start off with a patch of land where you grow crops, and eventually, you build a huge industry-level farming empire. In addition to cultivating crops, you can trade your goods, visit the neighbours, and much more.
Decorating the farmland is another important part of the gameplay - you get to set a theme, buy decor, adorn the pathways, and decorate it as you like.
16
Animal Restaurant
It’s exactly what it sounds like - a restaurant run by animals. The chef is an animal, the waiter is an animal, and so are the customers. Your goal is to start up a restaurant, cook delicious food, serve the cutesy customers, upgrade the facility, and manage it all like a boss.
To add to the depth of the gameplay, Animal Restaurant lets you decorate the restaurant, hire employees, collect client feedback, and much more.
17
Hotel Empire Tycoon
In Hotel Empire Tycoon, you will be ruling an entire hotel empire and trying to create the best hotel in town. The gameplay is impressive in its diversity. In addition to building various rooms, you personally need to equip them, hire staff, keep everything clean, organize entertainment and solve various problems. If visitors are satisfied, you will earn money that can be used to grow your business.
18
Township
If you like HayDay, you would definitely like Township. However, Township can said to be a mix of farming simulator and city-building.
Much like HayDay (or any other farm sim, for that matter), you start by farming on a piece of land. Eventually, you set up factories, sell produce, and start developing a town around your land. You can set up restaurants, cinemas, zoos, and other community buildings to develop your city.
19
The Trail
The Trail is a colorful pioneer simulator. Visiting the distant past, when America was not yet discovered, the player will aimlessly travel around the world and enjoy fantastic views. The gameplay also includes the development of your own town in the New World. You will be engaged in trade, production, and colonization. Note that the game was created by Peter Molyneux, who gave the world Black & White, Godus, Theme Park, and other projects with an unusual idea.
20
PewDiePie's Tuber Simulation
If you ever dreamed of becoming a successful YouTuber, then you need to check out PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator. Just like the name suggests, this is an idle vlogger simulator that lets you achieve fame as a YouTuber.
The simulator features deep customization, mini-games, meme contests, PewDiePie’s story, room events, and much more. What’s more, is that the game also features exclusive music by RushJet1 that will make you groove.
21
Smartphone Tycoon 2
We all love smartphones and follow the new products that are regularly released by well-known manufacturers. But how about feeling like a businessman yourself and driving a company that creates new mobile phones? You will have such an opportunity in Smartphone Tycoon 2. This is an Android simulation game with interesting gameplay that allows you to develop advanced smartphones and sell them, developing your own brand from scratch to leadership in the global market. Moreover, the Smartphone Tycoon 2 simulator allows you to compete with Samsung and Apple.
22
Epic Battle Simulator 2
Epic Battle Simulator 2 is the sequel to one of the most realistic battle simulators on Android. Here you can form your own troops, upgrade units, strategize and manage your army to win epic battles against bots or other users online. It features very realistic physics and an excellent algorithm for selecting opponents. Thanks to this, each battle will become a real test for you, which is difficult to win, but very interesting. In the second part of the game, the graphics have been significantly improved, and the battles have become even more spectacular than before.
23
Taxi Sim 2022
Taxi Sim will put you in the role of a taxi driver (really!) performing various tasks in the metropolis. More than three dozen different cars will be available to you, and new cars are added to the game regularly. You will drive around New York, Miami, Rome, and other major world capitals. You will have to constantly adapt your driving style because customers are different. Some will care about their safety and begin to resent when the driver runs a red light, while some will just need to get to their destination as quickly as possible.
24
We Are Illuminati: Conspiracy
If you have always wanted to be a part of a conspiracy, then ‘We Are Illuminati: Conspiracy’ will fulfill your wishes. The game makes you a part of a multiverse where you become the conspiracy. You get to run shoulders with freemasonry enthusiasts, powerful leaders, popular celebrities, and other influential people.
The goal is to gain influence over these people and dominate the secret society. You can make use of mind control, fake news, music videos, tampering with the water supply, and other questionable methods.
