Simulators are having a bit of a moment. Animal Crossing New Horizons is the fastest-selling Switch game ever, while older games, like Sims, are still getting new content and attracting new fans. And for good reason, too. Who doesn't want to escape the world sometimes and see what it's like to run an island, fly a jumbo jet (to literally any airport on earth), or join a Navy S.E.A.L. squad?
But along the way, certain games get lost, due to mods that outshine the original game, or the gaming world's march towards bigger budget titles. Here are some forgotten simulators to try.
10 Castaway Paradise
Pining for some Animal Crossing but don't own a Switch? Castaway Paradise might be for you. The 2018 game is kind of like New Horizons (okay, pretty much a direct copy) with the same seasons, annoying villagers, and pesky bugs.
It came out in 2014 for Facebook, Android and iOS (on Xbox and Ps4 in 2018) and the number of activities available is pretty impressive. As far as Animal Crossing knock-offs go -- it's well worth players' time.
9 Planet Zoo
Planet Zoo is a fun and surprisingly in-depth way to step into the shoes of a zookeeper. Despite rave reviews on Metacritic, it's an under-the-radar game that's catered to a niche audience. With the ability to create zoo environments, breed animals, and discover hundreds of species, it's a massive and intimidating game world to get started in.
But it's worth it -- and an incredibly peaceful way to spend some time -- watching animals live their best lives amidst the happy enclosures and beautifully rendered worlds you can explore.
8 Democracy 3
While not many people want to spend time behind their controller running a government, Democracy 3 was an interesting stab at a unique genre of simulators: government life. Gamers play as either Canada, Germany, France, the UK, Australia, or the United States, and do exactly what the title says: figure out democracy.
For the micromanagers among us, this might be the perfect simulator that no one is playing. You can run elections, experiment with passing bills, select cabinets, and more. There's little action on offer here except the thrill of democratic institutions and governing a population with the clicks of the mouse.
7 Aces High 3
In Aces High, released in 2000 and updated in 2016, you're a fighter pilot, controlling WWI and WWII in breathtaking dogfights. It's incredibly detailed, with realistic flight controls and guns that players can now control through Oculus Rift VR.
There's a small but passionate community for the game, with developers releasing updates as recently as 2018. For players hankering for a PC dog fight, Aces High 3 might be the simulator to try.
6 Anno 1800
Anno 1800 is breathtaking. It's a PC city builder that's quietly built up a legion of fans while stuck in the shadows of Cities: Skylines. The protagonist is a humble entrepreneur, starting with a farm in an unpopulated green space. As the game goes on, your city grows and its economy gets ever-more complex.
The level of detail is astounding, and it's immensely satisfying to explore the possibilities of an industrial-era simulator, backed by the graphics that a triple-A studio, like Ubisoft, can offer.
5 Spore
Spore was a light, open-ended game EA released all the way back in 2008. It's still a fun way to spend some time, guiding your little creature from a cell all the way to a massive being capable of inter-galactic adventuring. And there's still an active Spore community, creating bizarre biological monstrosities, and even paying homage to famous gaming monsters (like those in Monster Hunter).
Most of the world's moved on from Spore, and EA has since shut down Maxis, the game's original developer -- but its wildly unique concept lives on.
4 The Guild 3
The Guild 3 seems a bit like a zoomed out version of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, a 2018 medieval simulator where even making a living is hard).
Unlike the Total War games, the focus in The Guild is trade, commerce, and intrigue. Your family's success depends on your choices, but players within the game can influence what happens within the city, too. You can join a guild and practice your alchemy, or just focus on creating the medieval city of your dreams.
3 House Flipper
Despite its wacky concept, Empyrean Game's House Flipper didn't make a big splash in the gaming world. The in-game job? Demolish and rebuild. Smashing down walls and grubby living rooms before rebuilding them into Beverly Hills-worthy mansions is incredibly satisfying.
While games like Sims let players build dream homes, there's never been a game like this, where they're left alone with a hammer and some imagination.
2 Elite: Dangerous
Elite Dangerous has a massive community and an ever-changing galaxy that is unimaginably huge, but due to its slow and complex nature, it doesn't get much mainstream airtime. The game is a 1:1 scale interpretation of the Milky Way, with thousands of ways to play. Players can spend thousands of hours (literally) flying to new planets, becoming bounty hunters, or even fighting aliens.
While the game has thousands of devoted fans, it comes with a steep learning curve. Even piloting a ship out of a hanger is difficult, but the game's active Reddit community is constantly growing and discovering new ways to live out their space fantasies.
1 Arma 3
Arma 3 is hard to forget. The military simulator, released in 2013, has since been modded into one of the most played games of all time: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Without it, the entire Battle Royal genre (with games like Fortnite and Apex: Legends) might look entirely different or not exist at all.
The original game gets a fraction of the players its PUBG offspring has, but there is a big community still in love with the realism and tension that comes with meticulously planned military operations on a sprawling map.