It’s no secret that we here at Overclockers UK are big into our gaming. We live for new game hype and love to replay our old favourites. Over 2024, we’ll be sharing our own top fives across a spicy selection of genres. This month we’re looking at Ruth’s Top 5 Life Sims.
Life sims are my number one. I love the complete freedom you have over the gameplay. You can play at your own pace, creating pure all-out chaos or live out your unfulfilled dreams of being a criminal mastermind. It was a challenge to narrow down my favourites to just five but check out which games made my list below.
OcUK Staff Top Fives
Before we kick off with my top life sims, be sure to check out the other articles in our OcUK staff top five series. We’ve covered Emily’s top farming sims, Briony’s racing sims, Rob’s VR faves, Jacob’s creature collectors, and Simon’s favourite RPGs.
The Sims
We can’t talk about life sims without mentioning the goat of all simulation games – The Sims. Shamelessly, I have over 5000 hours in the Sims 4 and hours spent in the other previous instalments of the franchise, so it’s safe to say this life sim is at the top of my list. What makes the Sims so memorable for me is the complete freedom the gameplay offers, which was very appealing as a child as it gave me the chance to take revenge on my bullies by removing the pool ladder.
In the Sims 4, there are no rules. You create your very own Sim and plan out their lives to the very end, choosing their appearance, traits, and lifetime goal. Their success is in your hands, whether you guide them to the very peak of their career or endlessly go around the town stealing other Sims’ possessions and building a cowplant army. It is entirely up to you.
My favourite feature of the Sims however is the lore. With a 24-year lifespan and over four games, the Sims franchise is jam packed with tasty lore and stories to uncover. This is what makes this life sim stand out. Everyone has heard of Bella Goth and her infamous red dress or the money hungry Landgraabs and their desire to create an empire. If you don’t have the creative spark to build your own story, you can play with these iconic townies and make theirs your own.
Unpacking
Unpacking is a cosy life sim with a fun puzzle twist. We all know the best part of moving house is picking the perfect place for all your belongings and Unpacking takes this to a whole new level. It’s the perfect game to play after a hectic day with no timers or scores. You can simply relax to a beautiful soundtrack as you mindlessly unpack boxes. What more do you want in a life sim?
What makes Unpacking special to me is that whilst you piece together all the unnamed character’s items, you explore their story. Split over eight different moves, you join this character as their life unfolds before your eyes as they grow up, go to school, and fall in love. Each house move introduces new items for you to unpack, offering new clues to what has happened in this character’s story. Then there’s their weird obsession with chicken plushies…
The Sims Medieval
I’m back with my Sims obsession. I can’t go too long without talking about the Sims and I just had to give the Sims Medieval a shoutout. Think of the complete freedom of the Sims with the all-out craziness of Medieval times combined into the ultimate life sim and you’ll get the Sims Medieval. It is one of many spinoffs in the franchise which allows you to experience the Sims in a completely different light, featuring the same classic life sim foundations with plenty of brand-new gameplay to explore.
Forget about being an astronaut or a criminal mastermind, that’s boring. In the Sims Medieval, you create your very own kingdom with you in charge of the throne. The gameplay takes inspiration from classic RPGs with the focus being less about the life of your individual Sim and more about influencing the ever-changing world around you. You select from a roster of Hero Sims to play, all of which have specific jobs and roles within the different quests. Don’t worry though, you can still customise your Hero Sims, choosing their perfect attire, traits, and even fatal flaws.
Your kingdom will have a specific ambition, which you must complete quests to achieve. You have complete freedom of which challenges you want to undergo, how to solve them, and what Hero Sim to play as. You can choose to preserve peace (or chaos) as you build your empire, construct churches, revolutionise industry, wage war, or even work to secure an heir. If anyone threatens your ambitions or gets in the way of your plans, you can always send them to the stocks, or better yet, the pit beast!
Animal Crossing
Another classic and absolute must is Animal Crossing. This is another incredible life sim with multiple different game instalments in the franchise, the latest of which is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Each game follows the same premise. You play a human character who has recently moved to a new rural village or island inhabited by animals. The gameplay is open-ended and your only real ‘restriction’ is that the game utilises real-time, following the same clock and calendar of your console. However, this does bring iconic seasonal in-game events such as Toy Day, fishing or bug tournaments, New Year’s Eve, and even the dreaded Bunny Day.
There are no definitive in-game objectives. Instead, you pass the time by fishing, collecting fossils, hunting for bugs, decorating, working to improve the community, and socialising with your animal villagers. You will never get bored with so many iconic and loveable creatures to meet, from the tanuki Tom Nook, wise old Blathers, canine travelling musician K.K. Slider, and fashionistas the Able Sisters. Each of these NPCs bring new gameplay from paying off your house loans, restoring the museum’s collections, and obtaining new items or clothes to decorate your village or wear.
Honourable Mention
In addition to my top fives, I had to give an honourable mention to an upcoming life sim that I can’t wait to get my hands on – Paralives.
Paralives offers a brand-new twist on the life sim genre and is set to compete against the Sims. You create your own Parafolk, build their dream homes, and maintain their dreams or failures. The vibrant open world is set to scratch the itch left after its disappearance in the Sims 4.
Your creativity can run wild with extensive customisation and build tools ranging from curved objects, resizable objects, custom shaped stairs, and much more! Everything you need to truly make the game your own.
Whilst we’ve still got a while to wait for Paralives to release in early access in 2025, I am eagerly on the edge of my seat waiting to play this brand-new life sim.
Spirittea
Ever since its mention in our Indie Showcase last year, Spirittea has been high on my list. This beautiful game combines two of my ultimate faves – Studio Ghibli and life sims. Drawing inspiration from Spirited Away, Spirittea combines simulation with management as you work to restore the old bathhouse and appease the spirits that live among you.
The gameplay kicks off with a life sim staple, character creation, Spirittea’s character design options are simple and quite basic, but you still have control over the fundamentals such as your appearance and name. Your character is an aspiring writer, leaving the big city behind as you head off to a remote village to start work on your book. Once you arrive in the village, you’ll soon meet the colourful cast of townsfolk and uncover the deeper spiritual storyline.
Managing the bathhouse is key. Start by dusting away pesky cobwebs as you work to build up money to pay the local builder to fix up any overgrown parts and even reopen the kitchen. The more work you put into the bathhouse and local community, the more gameplay and minigames you unlock. Who knew making noodles could be so fun?
Looking to Play These Life Sims?
If your PC isn’t up to the task of running your favourite life sims, you are sure to find your next great upgrade at Overclockers UK. Packed with plenty of the latest tech, our top PC and laptop picks are sure to render your life sims in stunning quality with silky-smooth gameplay. Everything you need to immerse yourself in your stories or throw your enemies to the pit beast.
If our top recs don’t suit your gaming demands or aesthetic, you can also shop the full range of systems and laptops.
Refract Gaming Jade Pre-Built PC
- Pre-built gaming PC
- Optimised for mid-tier gaming and budding content creators
- AMD Ryzen 7 7700 CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti
- 32GB DDDR5 RAM and 1TB M.2 SSD
- Customisable RGB lighting
ASUS ROG Strix G17 Gaming Laptop
- 17.3” FHD display
- 144Hz refresh rate
- AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4070
- 16GB DDR5 RAM
- Windows 11 Home
What’s Your Favourite Life Sim?
What’s your favourite life sim? We’d love to hear it so let us know in the comments below!
*Prices correct at time of writing and PC specs are subject to change.
- 9 min read
Ruth Rowley
Author
Ruth has been with Overclockers UK for over a year and has gone on to write about everything ranging from in-depth hardware guides to monthly game releases.
Outside of writing blog posts, she can be found wrapped in a blanket with her black cat, engrossed in a book or playing life-simulation games such as The Sims, Stardew Valley, and Animal Crossing.
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