Tycoon games are those that involve a lot of economic strategies and resource management, which sounds almost too serious for a video game. But they're a lot of fun. Even though there have been plenty of great tycoon games on PC over the years, we've focused on modern titles. Below are the best tycoon games we know on the platform.
Best Tycoon Games on PC
1. Planet Zoo
In Planet Zoo, you build and manage a zoo, and the variety of animals at players' disposal is huge. All the creatures look stunning, with beautiful graphics and animations. The core of the gameplay is economic strategy, like in many other tycoon games, but are free to build your dream zoo in sandbox mode with unlimited resources. There is also a campaign mode where you manage a pre-created zoo, need to acquire various types of animals, bread them and take care of the people visiting the zoo. Planet Zoo is, by far, one of the best tycoon games out there.
2. Tropico 6
Tropico 6 is yet another installment in Tropico Franchise that started in the year 2001. The game revolves around being a leader of the banana republic—El Presidente. It is all about dictatorship, but it has a lot of humor under the surface. For the first time in the series we are managing not one, but several islands at the same time which makes the game a bit more complex than its predecessors. It is still about ruling the whole city with an iron fist, and everything you do will have an impact on the virtual society.
3. Jurassic World Evolution
Jurassic World Evolution is an exciting adventure that relies on your creativity and problem-solving. It is a strategy game following a popular genre of tycoons. In Jurassic World Evolution, you are responsible for building your own Jurassic Park, like a dinosaur zoo. You have to keep track of every species you have, research new technology, and discover new kinds of dinosaurs. Every single one of them requires attention, because if the dinosaurs get angry or dislike the environment and the people, then they might break out, causing panic and destruction all around.
4. Jurassic World Evolution 2
The sequel to the 2018 hit, Jurassic World Evolution 2 builds on what made its predecessor a hit among many fans and adds a slew of interesting new features. It has an all-new narrative campaign, four game modes, and more dinosaurs that could either threaten your guests or make a visit to Jurassic World something to enjoy. This game takes place after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and will have you putting your efforts into capturing, conserving, and containing the dinos that have run amok in various places in the USA. The game’s narrative is voiced by personalities from the movie franchise, including Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire Dearing) and Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm).
Related: Top 5 Best Dinosaur Games on PC
5. Planet Coaster
The third and last game from Frontier Developments is on the list in Planet Coaster. They continue to prove that they really know how to make a great tycoon game. Planet Coaster is a classic tycoon game about managing your own theme park with a lot of rides and managing resources to attract the most people to see what you created. Your main goal is to create a well prospering theme park and play around with mechanics given to you by the developers. Over four years after the original release, the game was also ported to consoles.
6. Cities: Skylines
Considering that the criteria for tycoon games are very wide, we wanted to include one game about creating your own city full of roads, skyscrapers, factories, schools, and other facilities. Cities: Skylines is mostly just a city-builder but one of the best out there. It is your job to create a perfect city in either a normal mode or full-on creative with unlimited resources. There are plenty of similar games, but Cities: Skylines has a tremendous mod community that allows for continuous support and introductions of new content whenever you want.
7. Software Inc
Software Inc is a tycoon game where you build the best software company in the world. You design and construct buildings capable of providing the best working conditions so that you can outperform competitors and eventually take over their businesses, just like how many companies in the real world actually perform.
The game isn’t just about building structures and offices. You will need to hire the best workers to design and produce the best software. You will also need to build effective and efficient assembly lines capable of manufacturing hardware. Players will also need to take care of their workers so they learn, stay motivated to do their jobs, and remain happy so they perform at their best. You do all of these with the intention to be the best in the business, eventually eating up other companies to reach the top.
8. Game Dev Tycoon
Game Dev Tycoon is a popular game where, like Software Inc, you build a company that produces software and aims to expand your production to more varieties. Unlike Software Inc, however, you are focused on video games for a host of consoles and platforms. You also work on creating new technologies that will revolutionize the video gaming industry.
Players start creating games from their garage and eventually work their way to getting their own building, hiring more people to work for them, and working on new consoles, as well as the games for each of them. These parody consoles, created in a special R&D lab you acquire later in the game, can have funny names (PlaySystem, mBox, and Vena Oasis are but some of them). It’s all good—especially if you really love video games.
9. Satisfactory
Satisfactory is a tycoon game where you build factories in remote planets in space, but with a first-person perspective. Unlike the usual tycoon games where you build and manage from a distance, this game puts you right there in location and gives you a more realistic (but sci-fi) building experience. Unlike most tycoon games, Satisfactory will have you engaging in combat against hostile enemies before you can build your factory. You will also personally create or call down the necessary structures, defend them from hostiles, and make sure they keep running to sustain production. Thankfully, you’ll have conveyors to help you move around fast.
Related: Best Mods for Satisfactory
10. Megaquarium
If you fancy having your own pet fish in an aquarium of sorts where you live, then you’ll be thrilled with Twice Circled’s Megaquarium. As the name implies, you get to build your own aquarium, fill it with all sorts of aquatic life suitable for public viewing, and hire people who will work to make your guests’ visit to your marine sanctuary something more enjoyable—and profitable.
Managing a public aquarium involves more than just the fish that will be put on display, and Megaquarium pulls no stops to emphasize that. You’ll need to learn to manage your finances, give more attention to small details, and be aware of what’s happening in your business. This game is splashing fun.
11. Frostpunk
This game takes city building to literal extremes, in freezing cold temperatures. You basically act as the ruler seeking to build the last city in the world so that you can help Earth’s remaining inhabitants survive and thrive amid frigid temperatures and limited resources. It’s not as easy as it seems, however, since the conditions don’t seem to be in your favor.
For one, you will need to produce enough heat to keep people alive. You will then be forced to make hard decisions regarding the people’s everyday lives, including how your society will proceed from this point in time onward. Will you choose to rule with an iron fist? Or with compassion and virtue despite the challenges your survivor society is facing? It’s all up to you.
12. Anno 1800
Unlike other tycoon games, Anno 1800 takes you back in time (to the industrial age) and requires you to build an empire in the 19th century. The game involves more than just building structures and the usual stuff that other tycoon games offer—it touches on politics and allegiances, conspiracies, and more. What’s great about this game is that despite being set centuries ago, it doesn’t feel backward at all. You dabble in technological inventions, launch expeditions to explore areas around the world, and create the largest empire possible using a variety of tactics, all at your disposal. If you want to know what it feels like to master diplomacy, trade, and warfare, this is the game for you.
13. Two Point Hospital
Typical tycoon games have you building cities, even kingdoms. Two Point Hospital, on the other hand, lets you focus on building the best hospital ever, with the goal of providing the best healthcare to patients and eventually building bigger and better hospitals in other places as well. Of course, your hospitals can range from small healthcare centers to larger facilities capable of treating more conditions.
What’s interesting about Two Point Hospital is that it will force you to learn the importance of proper finance management and design. You can spend tons of resources on structures and features, and yet have an inefficient hospital incapable of providing adequate healthcare. You will start out with a small property as a clinic of sorts and eventually work on expanding your hospital and adding more equipment and manpower to be able to handle more cases.
14. Prison Architect
Prison Architect might look cute at first glance, but it’s a serious game that delves into the darkness of human nature, among many things. As warden, you are tasked to create the best prison to contain and control the most ruthless of criminals, making sure that inmates will not find a way to escape—either literally by finding a way out of jail, or figuratively by dying in bloody fights inside the prison.
Your task as warden isn’t limited to building a secure penitentiary. You are also tasked to make it as humane as possible, complete with the best staff that can provide top-notch mental health services, legal assistance, and more. And as the builder working on the best prison, you have a lot of federal resources at your disposal. The question is, can you really create the best prison for the worst people society has to offer?
15. Offworld Trading Company
Offworld Trading Company is a fast-paced real-time strategy game designed by Soren Johnson, the same designer who worked for the renowned Civilization IV. It’s basically a game where you race against other big corporations in dominating an emerging market on Mars after it has been colonized. Think of it as Starcraft, but instead of human and non-human races warring against each other using deadly technologies and psionic powers, you war against business competitors using the market.
While the game allows you to play against AI and your friends in single and multiplayer modes respectively, the premise is the same: you are in a race to maximize the resources you can find on the red planet, so you can produce items you profit off of. If you thought battling with other races in intergalactic wars was tough, then you will be shocked to know that competing against corporate titans in a new world is even tougher.
Best Tycoon Games - Honorable Mentions
Stardew Valley
This indie hit is still one of the best tycoon games out there despite its age. It’s basically an RPG that have you building farms and becoming an important part of local community life. You prepare the ground for planting, plant the seeds you desire, continually tend to your plants, then enjoy the harvest when it’s ripe for the picking. Then you go about preparing meals, selling produce, and enjoying the fruits of your labor.
Unlike other tycoon games in this list, however, Stardew Valley has you focused on building the best farm as a farmer, rather than being some unseen figure overseeing the creation of a huge farming business. You will personally sow and reap vegetation, mine resources, fish for food, trade your produce, and interact with NPCs and strengthen relationships with them. You can even get married in this game. It’s basically what tycoon games are about, but more personal and done in a very relaxing way.
The Sims 4
The Sims is one of the most popular simulation franchises out there. We wanted to include this installment due to it being the newest and most popular one. The whole series is all about simulating life. You can either buy or build a house, manage one or many people, and even have a whole family with pets if you own appropriate DLCs. You need to simply play "life" to find the balance between virtual jobs, house chores, and entertainment activities. The game allows you to play out scenarios that are unlikely in real life, like becoming a secret spy, for example.
RimWorld
RimWorld is once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon that gained huge popularity and fan base over the years. The game deserves a mention because it introduced so many people to the whole economic strategy genre which is also a core mechanic of any tycoon game. In RimWorld we manage an outer space colony. It is focused more on people than just buildings. The game was in early access for over four years, starting in 2014, and was fully released just three years ago in 2018. It is a PC-exclusive game right now, but hopefully, in the future, it will be released on consoles as well because it deserves all the attention, and more accessibility is always a good thing.
Surviving Mars
Surviving Mars is a great twist on the whole city-builder genre. In the game, you are responsible for building a colony on Mars and managing resources to expand civilization. Creating a colony that would let people into the facilities and inhabit the environment is a hard task, but it is all about strategy and resource management. For example, to obtain water, your machines must reach underground sources, and then you must connect them using specific pipes and distribute it properly.
For more articles about tycoon games check out How to upgrade your house in Stardew Valley as well as Roblox My Zoo Tycoon Codes here at Pro Game Guides.
Published: Mar 6, 2023 02:17 pm