Sitting down to play the best management sims in 2023 can be a rewarding use of your leisure time. These are the sort of titles that challenge your creative mind to build, expand and look after fictional communities within immersive game worlds.
In this detailed guide, we’ll be running through the finest management simulations that PC and console players can enjoy this year, taking into account the particular elements that each game excels at as well as the platform accessibility of every listed title.
For related reading, you could have a look through our short post outlining the best Meta Quest 3 mixed reality games. Alternatively, should mobile games tickle your particular fancy, then check out our brief article which reveals the finest mobile games similar to Stardew Valley, which is a popular farm life simulation.
Table of Contents
Anyway, let’s dive into some great management sims that you should play this year.
RimWorld
In this management simulation, the stakes are pretty high as you’ll be presiding over a whole colony of people following a crash landing on an unfamiliar alien planet in outer space.
RimWorld provides a unique perspective on fictional governance as the game is set in a diverse universe containing different worlds that have various degrees of technological advancement.
What this means is that there are some worlds that are extremely primitive in nature, whereas other worlds are full of developmental abundance.
Your role as commander will involve dealing with the tragedies presented to you in a random world by the game’s intelligent AI storyteller, which is responsible for dishing out all sorts of in-game scenarios from melee combat to climate biomes, trade diplomacy and interpersonal relationships.
For example, your colony could be ravaged by heavy thunderstorms or an unfortunate case of livestock sickness that would impact your overall subsistence.
One great aspect of this management simulation is that the characters you’re responsible for have random personalities that affect the way they behave.
So, there’s a certain level of nuance you have to take with your approach to managing each character in order to prevent any negative impact on the world you’re taking charge of.
You can download and play RimWorld on Steam, PlayStation and Xbox stores.
Factorio
Up next we have Factorio, a title centred around building and creating automated factories to produce items of increasing complexity, all within an infinite two-dimensional sphere.
The game really encourages you to use your own imagination, especially when it comes to the initial design phase of your factory, which you’re fully in charge of.
You’ll be able to combine simple elements to put together ingenious infrastructures, as well as map out protective barricades to prevent access to the factory from creatures who don’t take a liking to you.
More so, you’ll have to defend yourself from the locals who don’t take the exploitation of the planet’s resources too kindly.
Beyond that, Factorio sees you handle the process of mining resources and automating production.
So, you can expect to start off with tasks like chopping down trees, crafting mechanical arms and transporting belts by hand. But over time, you can grow your factory to become an industrial powerhouse that has massive solar fields, oil refineries and even logistical robotics.
Get yourself immersed today by purchasing the game on Steam.
Prison Architect
Another interesting take on management simulations is the title called Prison Architect, which was developed and published by the talented team at Introversion Software.
It’s a unique take on private penitentiary construction and control, where you’ll have to design a secure prison and contain some of the world’s most ruthless inmates.
One key feature of this game is how you can allocate resources to customize the level of confinement you want for the prison’s inhabitants.
However, while doing this you have to be careful not to restrict crowd flow too much in case you encounter an unfortunate event like a flood, fire, fight, or full-blown riot.
Prison Architect also allows you to invest and innovate, providing you with avenues to tap into federal government funding with grant applications, which you can use to direct finances towards combating disease and gang activity, as well as using that money to improve overall litigation procedures at the facility.
You also have the opportunity to leave no stone unturned in your prison by making it physically safe and ethically sound, which can be done by staffing it with qualified guards, psychologists, doctors and lawyers.
Download this game on Steam, PlayStation or Xbox today!
Cities: Skylines
Here we have a modern take on classic city development and simulation that was put together by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive.
You’ll be playing as the mayor of your city, which will require you to balance various essentials like:
- Education systems
- Water and electricity provision
- Police response
- Firefighting services
- Healthcare dispensation
The game will also put you in control of urban planning. For instance, you’ll have to manage different day and night cycles of the city, one of these being inward and outward city traffic flow.
Players will also engage with more meticulous tasks like controlling zoning, road placement and taxation, which is what you’d expect from a full-blown city simulation such as this one.
You can get yourself a copy of this game on Steam, or opt for alternative editions that have been remastered for PlayStation and Xbox One.
Football Manager 2023
We’re now going to wrap up this article with a short glimpse of another fantastic sports management simulation - Football Manager 2023.
Sports Interactive developed this game for players who want to experience precisely what it’s like to take control of a football team from the dugout.
As a football manager in this game, you’ll handle everything from player recruitment to weekly training schedules and match tactics.
Not only will you have to prove that you’re a shrewd tactician, but you’ll also be tasked with attending press conferences to answer specific questions from the journalists who represent traditional newspapers and media outlets.
You can start a new save with any team from Europe’s top leagues or choose a journeyman storyline that sees you progress as a plucky underdog side to become a dominant footballing giant.
Grab yourself a copy today on Steam, PlayStation or Xbox to try and become the next Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp.