The Best Simulation Games for Linux

Update : Nature And Life - Drunk On Nectar added at rank #49.
1

Dwarf Fortress (2022)

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92
Review score
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PC Windows IOS iPhone Linux

Dwarf Fortress is an incredibly detailed, complex game where you help a colony of dwarves build a settlement by carving out bedrooms, dining halls and other necessary structures from the side of a mountain. You don't control individual dwarves but instead provide instructions for them to follow, with each dwarf having their own needs and wants that you become familiar with as you play.

Buy

What we like:
  • Robust mouse support
  • New tutorial to help new players understand menus
  • Complex web of characters and relationships
  • Simulated world is full of surprises both big and small
  • Ability to create artifacts and engravings that tell stories
What could be improved:
  • Inscrutability can be off-putting for those expecting a more streamlined experience
  • Convoluted user interface can make it difficult to figure out what is even possible in the game or how to access the different menus

  • simulation
  • dwarf
  • management
  • colony
  • construction
  • simulated
  • tile
  • fantasy
  • survival
  • procedural
  • moddable
  • pixel
  • resource-management
  • base-building
  • city-building

2

American Truck Simulator (2016)

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96
Review score
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PC Windows Linux Mac OS

American Truck Simulator allows you to drive classic American trucks across California and Nevada, delivering cargo and completing contracts. Customize your truck, follow the rules of the road, and avoid getting fined by the police. With multiplayer mode and online community features, you'll love this captivating game experience.


What we like:
  • Realism of the trucking experience
  • Great soundtrack
  • Fun way to connect with family
  • Cute cat petting feature
  • Immersive experience
What could be improved:
  • None

  • simulation
  • truck
  • driving

3

Tropico 6 (2019)

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90
Review score
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IOS iPhone Linux Mac OS PC Windows Xbox One

Tropico 6 is a city-building game that offers an engaging mix of elements such as ruling your own island dictatorship, sandbox mode with customizable goals, missions, and easy controller support. You can be a big picture person and make decisions that impact the entire island or get into the minute details of urban planning.


What we like:
  • Engaging mix of elements
  • Sandbox mode with customizable goals
  • Missions
  • Easy controller support:No need for mouse and keyboard or touchscreen
What could be improved:
  • Minor performance issues

  • city-building
  • simulation
  • economy
  • political
  • sandbox
  • management
  • strategy
  • construction
  • military
  • politics

4

Two Point Campus (2022)

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86
Review score
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Linux Xbox One Playstation 4 PC Windows Xbox Series X Playstation 5 Mac OS Nintendo Switch

Two Point Campus is the sequel to Two Point Studios' hit game, Two Point Hospital. Players will have to manage their own university campus, from providing dormitories and bathrooms to offering courses and events for students. There are 17 courses included in the game, as well as a range of humorous characters and customisation options for the campus.

Buy

What we like:
  • Balance of management and creativity
  • Plenty of variety in courses
  • Humorous characters and dialogue
  • Customisable buildings
  • Streamlined micromanagement aspects from previous game
What could be improved:
  • Repetition of tannoy voice lines can occur occasionally

  • management
  • simulation
  • education

5

Crusader Kings III (2020)

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91
Review score
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Playstation 5 Linux Mac OS PC Windows Xbox Series X

Crusader Kings III immerses you in the world of medieval politics and dynasties, letting you choose a noble house and lead them to greatness. With a vast and beautifully detailed medieval map to explore, you will encounter a host of historical characters, make life-altering decisions, and forge your dynasty's legacy. The game's unique and colorful characters, wide range of playstyles, and limitless paths to follow make it an exciting and rewarding experience for those who love grand strategy games.

Buy

What we like:
  • Immersive gameplay and world-building
  • Wide range of options for playstyle and objectives
  • Beautiful graphics and top-notch soundtrack
  • Unique and colorful characters with varied abilities and traits
  • Legacy system adds depth and longevity to gameplay
What could be improved:
  • Overpriced DLCs that do not add much to gameplay
  • Slow pace of gameplay and battles
  • Uncanny 3D models
  • Lack of region differentiation

  • strategy
  • grand-strategy
  • medieval
  • simulation
  • rpg
  • historical
  • war
  • empire
  • grand
  • political
  • politics
  • military
  • management

6

Two Point Museum (2025)

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86
Review score
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PC Windows Mac OS Linux

Curate and manage incredible museums! Explore to discover amazing artifacts. Design and refine the layout, keep staff happy, guests entertained, donations plentiful… and children off the exhibits

Buy

  • management
  • simulation
  • sandbox
  • city-building
  • life
  • supernatural
  • building
  • comedy
  • casual
  • strategy

7

Space Haven (2020)

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87
Review score
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PC Windows Mac OS Linux

Space Haven is an early access game where you can design your own ship and manage your crew as you embark on a journey to save humanity. Build your spaceship tile by tile, explore the vast universe, engage in tactical ship-to-ship combat and witness the drama and emotions of your crew. The game allows for complete freedom to customize and design your ship symmetrically or asymmetrically.


What we like:
  • Great sprites and sublime music
  • Game is approachable with a balanced feel
  • Unlimited freedom to build your own ship
  • Core game loop is engaging and not monotonous
  • Developers fully commited
What could be improved:
  • Lacks crew leveling up
  • Lacks variety in gameplay beyond building bigger ship and fending off pirates.

  • colony
  • simulation
  • base-building
  • space
  • management
  • tile
  • resource-management
  • sandbox
  • pirates
  • building
  • sci-fi
  • city-building
  • resource
  • survival-strategy

8

Kerbal Space Program (2015)

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95
Review score
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Mac OS Playstation 4 Xbox One PC Windows Linux

Kerbal Space Program is a sandbox game that puts you in charge of the space program on the planet Kerbin, an Earth-like planet inhabited by adorable green aliens. You will build rockets and fly them, researching advanced parts as you progress. It has a Story mode to introduce players to the game, as well as Sandbox mode for more experienced players.


What we like:
  • Funny and entertaining
  • Educational and teaches real concepts
  • Immensely creative with many possibilities for spaceflight available
  • Great modding community
What could be improved:
  • Complex tech tree and learning curve
  • Potentially overwhelming for new players
  • Requires patience to understand real life concepts

  • simulation
  • flight
  • space
  • physics
  • sandbox

9

APICO (2022)

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82
Review score
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j Xbox One Xbox Series X Playstation 5 Playstation 4 Nintendo Switch Mac OS PC Windows Linux m

APICO is the latest game in the sims genre, combining elements from Stardew Valley, Graveyard Keeper and Animal Crossing. Join your grandfather's beekeeping business on an island and craft, build and breed bees to discover extinct species. Experience a chilled adventure as you create your own unique world.

Buy

What we like:
  • Crafting and building features are easy to pick up on
  • Chilled experience which allows you to complete the game at your own pace
  • Incorporates science into fun gameplay
What could be improved:
  • Initial NPCs lack personality compared to similar games
  • Tasks can be time consuming once you have a rhythm going

  • simulation
  • relaxing
  • education
  • farming
  • nature
  • immersive
  • management
  • crafting
  • cute
  • sims
  • building
  • exploration
  • life-sim
  • sandbox
  • top-down

10

Oxygen Not Included (2019)

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96
Review score
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PC Windows Mac OS Linux

Oxygen Not Included is an innovative and unique colony-building game in which you control a crew of duplicants who start beneath the surface of a procedurally generated asteroid with nothing more than a ration box and cloning device. With its childlike art style and humour, Oxygen Not Included looks like less of a space simulator and more like The Sims in space, but don't let that fool you - it's brimming with complexity and depth.

Buy

What we like:
  • Child-friendly art style
  • Complexity and depth
  • Humor
  • Procedurally generated asteroid
  • Experimenting with contraptions
  • Retconning decisions
What could be improved:
  • Frame rate drops at the start of each cycle
  • AI occasionally getting confused

  • survival
  • simulation
  • colony
  • resource-management
  • base-building
  • management
  • sandbox
  • space

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