The Best Simulation and Sandbox Games for 2026

2004’s Evil Genius was a curious mix of another PC gaming classic, Dungeon Keeper, and the James Bond spy films. Evil Genius received decent reviews, but it didn’t get a sequel to expand the supervillain concept—until now. Evil Genius 2: World Domination is very much the child of that first game. In fact, it almost feels like a clone, but with improvements courtesy of updated technology and new features. Evil Genius 2 works because the original title was such a great PC game, so more of the same is a good thing.

This love letter to aviation is a one-of-a-kind experience made possible by a marriage of clever developers and cutting-edge technology. It’s a gift to the series’ dedicated fans, an appealing entry point for newcomers, and now the bar for the simulation genre. Grab a flight stick and take to the skies. And if you need help deciding where to fly, check out our favorite Microsoft Flight Simulator destinations.

Minecraft is a blocky, beautiful sandbox that lets you explore the depths of your imagination. The core gameplay involves exploring a hostile world composed of blocks that you can use to build items as needed. But as you play, you’ll quickly see that this game has much more to offer than just architecture. Dedicated players will love the sandbox’s many possibilities, but even casuals will enjoy facing off against an unfriendly wilderness. For more, check out How to Set Up a Minecraft Server In a Few Easy Steps.

No Man’s Sky is a game that offers two opposing experiences. One is a beautiful and wholly fresh journey through space to chart or conquer undiscovered worlds. The other weighs down that joy with mundane and repetitive resource gathering and fighting. That said, No Man’s Sky is so much more than a sterile description of its parts and features. The developers at Hello Games have tirelessly worked since the game’s 2016 launch to add new and promised features, transforming it into one of gaming’s most unique experiences.

Chores aren’t exactly the most glamorous or enthralling ventures in real life—we get that. Yet, activities, such as cleaning and organizing, cause you to enter a Zen-like state and feel pride from a job well done. PowerWash Simulator celebrates the joys of cleaning by allowing you to fire high-powered, pressurized water nozzles. You clean structures, environments, and vehicles, all while managing your soap and supplies. You can also challenge yourself with time and water challenges to see how efficiently you clean under pressure.

In the mid- to late- aughts, Guitar Hero and its evolutionary spin-off, Rock Band, gave people with zero musical talent the opportunity to realize their dreams by playing instrument-based karaoke with plastic axes. Now, they can learn to play the real deal with Ubisoft’s Rocksmith 2014 Edition Remastered. The “game” teaches you the intricacies of learning bass, lead, and rhythm guitar via dynamic challenges, mini-games, and instructional videos. An enormous assortment of downloadable songs (which cost extra) ensures that your music library stays fresh.

Building on our inborn desire to see things no one has ever seen and take chances beyond the boundaries of reason—and, of course, exploit our hunger for addictive turn-based strategy games—Civilization: Beyond Earth catapults you off the planet that’s housed your kings, wonders, and wars for millennia (or at least since 1991, when the original Civilization was released). It lets you fend for your life and begin a new history on a literally alien world. But if there’s one problem with this game, it’s that it never quite feels alien enough.

With The Sims 3, the Sims series left adolescence behind and entered adulthood. No longer are the Sims just digital action figures in a big dollhouse; they have personalities, goals, and unique body types and hairstyles. The Sims themselves aren’t the only thing overhauled in this release, either. The game mechanics have been changed to make it easier to customize your environments and surroundings.