12 Best Simulation Games for Mac in 2023

You know you could run your city better than the current mayor, right? Or drive a truck better than that jerk who almost ran you off the road? Well, fortunately, your Mac gives you the opportunity to test that out.

Simulators have always been a strong genre on the Mac, and today is no different. From farming to rollercoasters all the way up to managing people’s lives, there’s a simulation that will let you live out your fantasies. And if you think these games all require a beefy Mac to simulate the real world, you’ll be surprised to find a host of fantastic sims that will run even on your not-so-powerful MacBook.

Our absolute favorites:

Game	★ Our Pick	Also Great	Best Value
	Cities: Skylines	Farming Simulator 2022	Euro Truck Simulator 2
Genre	City-builder	Farming-sim	Truck-sim
Release date	2015	2021	2012
Metascore	85	78	79
Our rating	★★★★★ Full Review	★★★★☆ Full Review	★★★★★ Full Review
Requirements	High	Medium	Low
Check Price	Check Price	Check Price	Check Price

💡 And if you’d prefer something entirely different, this 100 Best Mac games guide covers the most popular games across all genres.

Our favorite Mac Simulation games

Cities: Skylines

City-building games helped create the simulation genre, and for years SimCity was the gold standard. But Maxis and EA dropped the ball with the latest version, and Cities: Skylines picked it up and ran with it.

Cities: Skylines’ premise is the usual. You create a city from scratch: build roads and other infrastructure; supply energy and water; control zoning; choose tax rates; provide public services, public transportation, parks and entertainment, and more.

It can be overwhelming, but Cities: Skylines also helps you along, keeping things hidden until your city reaches a certain size and your citizens demand them. Keep your citizens happy and your city will thrive and grow.

Cities: Skylines goes a step further than SimCity and adds challenges, huge maps, and a traffic simulation so smart it’s scary. Even better, Colossal continues to provide excellent support with free and paid updates on a regular basis. If you were looking for city simulation games for Mac, this is the best there is.

 One more thing… The graphics are top-notch too, making Skylines the most beautiful city-building game ever created. However, that does make it a demanding game that needs a dedicated graphics card.

System requirements: OS 10.9, 3.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 4 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or ATI Radeon HD 5670, 512 MB VRAM, 4 GB hard drive space.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	Cities: Skylines	Simulation	Yes		OpenGL	Rosetta	Average

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Farming Simulator 22

Usually, when someone talks about a strategy game, you imagine some medieval-esque political simulator or war games like Risk. However, just like the title implies, Farming Simulator 22 is all about farming. Does that make it a boring strategy game by any means?

Of course not. While you won’t be fighting any wars abroad, farming does take a good deal of logistics to operate smoothly. Managing your time well is key in Farming Simulator. Plan out your harvesting dates, figure out your transport, and count your money, because growing crops is only half the battle. Even though it sounds like some stressful business strategy simulator, Farming Simulator 22 manages to make it a fun yet relaxing task.

Farming Simulator also has a good history of Mac compatibility, so this is a great time to try it out.

System requirements: macOS 10.1, Intel Core i5 or better, 8 GB RAM, 35 GB HD space, GeForce GTX 660, AMD Radeon R7 265 or better.
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Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	Farming Simulator 22	Simulation	Yes		Metal	Native	Good

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Euro Truck Simulator 2

When you think about it, a lot of planning is needed to be a trucker. Your travel plan will dictate your fuel usage, and fuel usage will determine how much the journey costs. The same goes for Euro Truck Simulator 2, which is possibly the best trucking simulator on the market as of now.

There’s not a lot of fancy mechanics to Euro Truck Simulator 2. Customize your truck within your budget and strategize the best road path available to save money. Eventually, once you earn enough, you can start your own trucking company and thrive in Trucker paradise. And that’s the main strategy aspect of this game.

Additionally, this game is very hit or miss for the gaming community. If you hate long drives, you’ll probably find it boring. If you like long drives, then you’ll find this game to be a relaxing experience.

System requirements: macOS 10.9, Dual-core CPU 2.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 12 GB HD space, GeForce GTS 450 or Intel HD 4000.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	Euro Truck Simulator 2	Simulation	Yes		OpenGL	Rosetta	Good

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Stardew Valley

One of the hottest indie titles ever released, this pixel-graphic farming sim continues to add major updates years after its initial release, including the addition of cooperative multiplayer.

In Stardew Valley you inherit a dormant farm from your grandfather and start clearing land, planting crops, raising animals, and more. Stardew Valley includes RPG elements such as crafting and the ability to level up your abilities and unlock new areas to explore.

You’ll also meet other residents and have the chance to help rebuild the decaying town. There’s so much more to Stardew Valley, including the ability to woo and marry NPCs, that you may never discover all the game has to offer. Multiplayer allows you to farm with up to three friends, and the game’s requirements are so light this could have also been our Macbook pick.

 One more thing… It’s hard to believe but Stardew Valley was created by only one person, Eric Barone.

System requirements: macOS 10.10+, 2 GHz Processor, 2 GB RAM, 500 mB HD space, 256 MB video memory, OpenGL 2.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	Stardew Valley	Simulation	Yes		OpenGL	Rosetta	Good

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Planet Coaster

Planet Coaster, in essence, is a theme park simulator game. Take the role of an omnipotent architect and design your own theme park. You have both the freedom and the tools to build your greatest desire. Terraform the land to create lakes and mountains, build the world’s largest roller-coaster, or spend hours on hours customizing each and every building that resides in your dreamland.

However, all ambitious creations need a glorious amount of funding and a theme park is no exception. In Planet Coaster, you’ll have to manage your income and expenses wisely. Calculate ticket prices, food prices, increase the costs of rain-coats during rainy weather, all while making your customers happy. Happy customers means more spending, and more income means bigger attractions. Plan out your business strategy and grow your theme-park domain.

Additionally, it runs very well on Mac platforms, with solid gameplay performance and graphics. Happy Building!

System requirements: macOS 10.14, Intel Core i5, 6 GB RAM, 15 GB HD space, AMD Radeon R9 M290 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	Planet Coaster	Simulation	Yes		Metal	Rosetta	Good

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Football Manager 2024

It is safe to say that football is a globally loved sport. It is a pastime and an obsession for many. And with the 2022 world cup coming to a close, there’s no better time to start playing Football Manager 2024.

At this point, Football Manager is the industry standard of football management games. If you’re a gamer that loves football, you will definitely play it, and you will most certainly enjoy it. Featuring the latest statistics and rebalances from the previous Football Manager, Football Manager 2024 is still the best in its genre. With its addictive gameplay loop and high attention to detail, there’s almost no reason to play anything else.

Also, it is natively supported for M1 Macs, which is always a plus.

System requirements: macOS 11, Apple M1 or Intel Core, 4 GB RAM, Apple M1, Intel HD Graphics 5000 or NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with Metal support, 7 GB available space.

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Two Point Campus

From the makers of Two Point Hospital, Two Point Campus is their latest product. This time, we’re building a university.

Similar to Two Point Hospital, Campus is about building the university of your dreams. The core gameplay remains the same. Construct buildings, train staff, and take care of your customers. But a key difference is that you’re not trying to quickly process patients through your facility, but to make the student experience as great as possible. With greater environmental control and replay value, Two Point Campus is looking to be a great successor.

To make it even better, Campus is available natively for M1 macs. If you liked Hospital, make sure to check out Two Point Campus too.

System requirements: macOS 12.1, i5 8259U 2.3 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 2 GB GTX 775M or 2 GB AMD Radeon 555 or Intel Iris Plus 655, 6 GB available space.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	Two Point Campus	Simulation	Yes		TBC	Rosetta	Good

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Prison Architect

In most simulations, you’re trying to make your virtual people happy. Prison Architect is a little different, as your role is not to make your sims happy but to keep them, well, in prison.

Rehabilitation is an option, but there will be times in the game when, despite all you might have done for them, your prisoners will have riots and try to escape. That’s the life of a prison architect.

You begin by constructing your prison and then hiring staff. As it’s a private prison you’ll need to make money; every inmate you take in will generate cash, but you also have a reputation to build, so rioting, drug smuggling, and jailbreaks will have to be kept to a minimum.

While you can focus on rehabilitation and create a relatively pleasant place for the inmates to live, you can also go full maximum security prison and make their stay a living hell, the choice is yours.

One more thing… As our Macbook Pick, be assured that Prison Architect will run fine on just about any Mac.

System requirements: 2009 era MacBook Pro, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB RAM, 300 MB hard drive space.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	Prison Architect	Simulation	Yes		OpenGL	Rosetta	Good

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The Sims 4

The latest in this virtual world franchise, The Sims 4 continues to build on your ability to create the people of your dreams, put them in the situations you desire, and see what happens.

With greater control over both the look and personality of your sims, the power of human creation has never been more realistic. And of course, it doesn’t stop with people; build the home of your dreams, travel to other communities and meet new and interesting (or boring) people, and control your Sims’ relationships and careers.

As with the earlier versions, there are tons of paid DLC to add pets, seasons, activities, and much more. These tend to do more than just add new characters, rather they can fundamentally alter things you can do in the game, such as adding a fame career path or seasonal activities. If control is your thing, The Sims 4 is your game.

One more thing… Light system requirements mean you can play this game on older computers and it will still look good.

System requirements: macOS 10.7.5, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 4 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 320M, 9600M, 9400M, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro or better, 256 MB VRAM, 10 GB hard drive space.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	The Sims 4	Simulation	Yes		Metal	Rosetta	Good

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X-Plane 12

X-Plane 12 is an overall upgrade from its predecessor, X-Plane 11. One of the best flight simulators in the market, X-Plane 12 promises to impress you with its ultra-realistic flying experience, and even challenge Microsoft’s Flight Simulator on that front.

Using real-world data to simulate weather shifts to the point where actual raindrops are shown on the windshields, the visuals in this game are beautiful. X-Plane 12 also doesn’t disappoint with its incredible physics engine, letting you feel every impact and adjustment you make up in the sky or down on the ground. Not to mention their extensive collection of aircraft, ranging from the F-14 military airplane to the R22 helicopter.

If you’re interested in flying, X-Plane 12 is an excellent place to start. It also features a free demo as well!

System requirements: macOS 10.15, Intel Core i3 CPU with 4 or more cores, 8 GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 500 or newer, 23 GB available space.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	X-Plane 12	Simulation	Yes		Metal	Native	Good

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Two Point Hospital

A sort of sequel to the classic Theme Hospital, Two Point Hospital has the cure for those looking for a hospital sim. Your task here is to build a hospital from the ground up, making it the most attractive place for the citizens of Two Point County to come to be healed.

Trouble is, what ails the citizens of Two Point County differs from what you’ll see at a normal hospital. Have you researched the cure for Cubism yet? Here you’ll need to. You’ll also need to hire and train your staff, take out loans to fund your research and expansions, and deal with doctors and nurses who are often more difficult than the patients. All this to prevent the next deadly pandemic.

Remember, though, that your hospital is there as much for the shareholders as for the patients. As the description says, you’ll need to “strive to make a profit (and hopefully save some people along the way).”

 One more thing… Not only is this a worthy Theme Hospital successor, but this is also one of the finest tycoon games for Mac currently available.

System requirements: OS 10.13, 2.3 GHz i5 8259U processor, 8 GB RAM, Nvidia GTX 775M, AMD Radeon 555 or better, 2 GB VRAM, 5 GB hard drive space.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	Two Point Hospital	Simulation	Yes		TBC	Rosetta	Good

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Kerbal Space Program

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to master Kerbal Space Program, but you will need patience and dedication to help the Kerbals achieve their dream of entering orbit.

The game may look cute with cartoony graphics but it’s harder than you might expect. This is a simulation after all, and no one ever said space flight was easy. Sandbox Mode gives you everything you need to get started. Building rockets is as easy as dragging and locking pieces together and there is no consequence for failure.

In the Science and Career Modes, the game becomes more serious; it’s one thing to get a rocket off the ground, but achieving orbit is more difficult due to the game’s use of real-world physics. Finally, in Career Mode, you’re in charge of the entire space program. Raise funds to research rockets, train your crew, explore new planets, and more.

One more thing… This is a difficult game but is one of the few games where you might learn something useful. Who said rocket science isn’t fun?

System requirements: OS 10.9, Intel Processor, 4 GB RAM, SM 4.0 with 512 MB VRAM, 3 GB hard drive space.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support	Performance
	Kerbal Space Program	Simulation	Yes		Metal	Rosetta	Good

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Our Criteria

As you can see, simulations cover a lot of ground, and while everyone’s favorites might be different, we’re confident this is a solid list for Mac gamers. To ensure that’s the case, we have a set of criteria we use for all of our games and lists:

Native support: This should go without saying, but each and every one of the games mentioned here has to be officially supported on macOS and does not require Bootcamp or Wine. We’ve seen too many Top Games for macOS lists that feature Windows-only games…

MacOS performance: There’s a plethora of reliable Windows-PC reviews, guides, and videos on the internet. However, they never acknowledge MacOS gaming. This is why our focus is always on the Mac performance of the games listed here.

Critical acclaim: Video games can be subjective, but to keep this guide as relevant as possible, we only consider proven games with positive reviews from both professional reviewers and average gamers.

Pricing: We all want quality, but pricing also plays an important role. We always keep in mind price tags and production value to give indies and AAA games equal chances. After all, we’re after games that are fun to play. Looks are important but fun gameplay is even more so.

Disclaimer: Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission (this is how we pay the bills). This commission comes at no additional cost to you.