It may not seem like it, but it's been over two decades since life simulation games became popular. It may feel as though games like The Sims and Second Life were around in the Nineties, but it was actually the early Noughties that dominated this gaming genre. Sometimes the decades feel like they merge into one, especially when playing games in the early days of the internet.
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Millennials have a nostalgia for the games of the past. And while most life simulators were on PC and Mac, some franchises dominated home consoles like Animal Crossing on Nintendo 64 and GameCube, which provided the same sentiment in a town full of adorable animals. Aside from the nostalgia, there are a bunch of life simulation games from the Noughties that are still fun to play now.
Animal Crossing is classed as a social simulation game, but it's a life simulation game in the sense that players create their own character and live their life as they see fit. Granted, virtual life in a town full of animal villagers isn't as stressful as in The Sims. But the impending doom of paying off a debt to Tom Nook is enough to make gamers collect all the bugs, fruit, and fish and sell them for a profit.
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While players have the option to play the latest game in the franchise, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there's something magical about playing the first game - whether it's the simple goal of expanding the house or just hanging out with the local villagers. The simplicity of a game like 2001's Animal Crossing is hard to beat.
Second Life is very much still a thing, but it was actually created in 2003. While it's different from other life simulation games in that it's an entirely online service, the simulation aspect is one and the same. There's no set goal of building houses or managing a "Sim" in Second Life. Instead, players create avatars that can interact with others in a virtual environment.
There's freedom in what players choose to be in Second Life, which ranges from human to animal in addition to supernatural beings. The game is all about creating an identity and sharing it with others, be that friends or strangers. It's still as fun as it used to be playing Second Life, if not improved due to the passage of time, and it is consistently updated.
It's hard to consider it now, but there wasn't much to do in The Sims. Players made do with what they had, which made it into the legendary game it is now. Will Wright first conceived The Sims as an architectural simulator, where Sims would evaluate the players' creations. This transformed into the Sims being the stars of the show, and the game being the vehicle for players to experience simulated life.
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There's something magical about the first Sims that can't be topped, no matter how many of the franchise follow it. Whether it's the sound effects or the game's overall vibe, it's still such a joy to play now (albeit a little hard to find). One day The Sims will find its way back into the hands of its players, new and old.
Kudos was a turn-based life simulation game developed by the British-based developer Positech Games. Released in 2006, players essentially stay on the creation mode screen implemented in The Sims, and dictate their character's life from there via a point-and-click system. However, unlike other life simulation games, Kudos isn't open-ended. Instead, the game's goal is to get the character through a decade of their life, with Kudos beginning on their twentieth birthday.
Despite not seeing the character walking around and interacting with their environment, Kudos is quite intuitive in what it lets players do. This includes shopping, watching television, and socializing with friends and co-workers.
Having distanced himself from The Sims franchise, its creator, Will Wright, went on to design Spore. Released in 2008 and developed by Maxis, Spore players manage an undetermined species from the beginning of its life cycle and watch it evolve to become a sentient being. These creatures had five stages to develop, each with different scenarios that would affect their life cycle.
According to designer Soren Johnson, Wright's initial vision of Spore was much more advantageous than it ultimately became. But it's still a fun game to play, nonetheless, with players recreating creatures from other games like Elden Ring in its creature creator.
The Sims 2 saw the jump to fully-realized 3D graphics, in addition to a generational style of gameplay that Simmers have never looked back on. The game provided a huge step up from The Sims, improving upon what made the original great while delivering its own spin on the simulation genre Maxis helped create.
While The Sims 2 does seem a little outdated compared to today's standards, players can tell that this game was a labor of love full of easter eggs and references to its predecessor. And with its focus on generational storytelling, there's plenty of stuff for Simmers to get stuck into - whether that's creating a new household or playing a pre-made family. The possibilities are truly endless.
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