Videogames are no longer the obscure habit they used to be. Sixty-five percent of people in the United States play video games. However, while they all enjoy the same hobby, not everyone likes to play the same types of games.
While first-person shooters, RPGs, and sports simulators are among the most popular of today’s titles, another genre has recently risen the ranks: management games.
Management games are a take on strategy games — games that focus on managing control of many rather than playing as one character. However, unlike most strategy games, management games center on project management and making sure something works well.
These management simulation games have become extremely important, offering people the ability to stretch their intellects. But what are the best management games?
This article will walk you through some project management games that you just have to try.
1. Two Point Hospital
That’s right, we’re kicking off this list with Two Point Hospital, the hospital simulation game that packs a mixture of humor, tension, and tough decisions.
On the surface, it’s a game about running a business that’s just trying to stay above water. You want to take care of your patients and do it with the utmost speed and efficiency. However, Two Point Hospital adds some twists.
The patients who come into your hospital have a variety of whacky illnesses, and the game throws at you regular curveballs that are sure to keep you on your toes. Add to this the fact that you can start robbing your patients to make ends meet, and you’ve got a popular gaming experience like no other.
2. Frostpunk
Frostpunk takes the form of a non-fighting-based management game and throws it into an action-packed world of its own. This famously nerve-wracking game is set in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world, where you’re in charge of managing a base full of freezing survivors.
In Frostpunk, resources are scarce, and decisions are hard. The extremely cold temperatures mean that the people you’re taking care of won’t last long far from the (extremely limited) heat generators. But people get sick, and work has to be done.
Frostpunk throws you into the seat of a leader in a tough situation and forces you to deal with your people’s morale. It allows you to choose how you play, leading in a democratic or authoritarian style, depending on how you play.
Whereas most management games focus on offering you options, Frostpunk is constantly taking your options away to see how you deal. If you consider yourself an advanced gamer and want a challenge, try out Frostpunk.
3. Factorio
Factorio is a unique game that combines management with puzzle-solving. In Factorio, you’re tasked with developing an extremely complex machine. It develops its own internal sense of logic as you create conveyor belts that develop into roads that develop into buildings that develop into auto-factories.
As the game goes on and on, your decisions become tougher and tougher. You have to consider the integrity of the whole machine you’ve made, and one wrong move could mean it’s curtains for your game. Factorio might just be our favorite game on this list, and we highly recommend you check out some Factorio server hosting.
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4. Prison Architect
Prison Architect is yet another different type of management game in that the people who you’re building structures for do not want to be living inside of them. This game puts you in an adversarial position to the people you’re managing.
You are a prison architect, after all. You’re trying to keep people from getting out.
However, the unique dynamics of a prison provide for some intricately layered gameplay. When you provide recreational facilities for inmates, they’re less likely to get angry and try to break out. However, you can’t please everybody — what if you could have used that money to tighten security or build a higher wall?
Just like Frostpunk, Prison Architect allows for complex social situations that can entertain you, and teach you something as well.
5. RimWorld
RimWorld is a high-octane sci-fi management game that puts you in charge of a space colony on an alien planet. It comes with what you expect from this sort of game, including base-building, trading, farming, combat, and questing. However, RimWorld proves that the devil is in the details.
The colonists on RimWorld can wind up in a variety of specific situations, which will influence their actions, and how much they comply. Colonists each have individual needs and can develop friendships, romantic relationships, suffer addictions, and sustain injuries.
RimWorld could be the greatest example of a game that makes you feel like you’re managing people, not just a situation. The game, overall, is assessed by an AI storyteller, which throws in a sort of TRPG feel. This storyteller will introduce plot points and throw you curves that turn this management game into a narrative experience.
Play Only the Best Management Games
While many people play video games, how many of them are taking advantage of one of the best genres of games out there — management games? If you want to stretch your brain a bit with your entertainment, try out Two Point Hospital, Frostpunk, Factorio, Prison Architect, or Rimworld.
For more articles like this, check out our “entertainment” section.
