


The tutorial and career mode also feature a made-up and lovable zoo owner, Bernard Goodwin, although even more charming is the head zookeeper Nancy Jones, who guides players along with her soothing Welsh accent. This language can also be seen on various educational or information signs that can be placed in the game. However, similar in some ways to The Sims, Planet Zoo also takes place in a quasi-realistic world, as players will notice that the zoo guests speak a made-up language.

Planet Zoo is a construction and management simulation game that at first glance may not appear to contain much world-building or lore. For example, in some cases, they used semi-legendary figures such as the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, but in other cases, such as obscure places on the map, they completely made up rulers, dynasties, and cultural traditions. This is particularly true for the 867 start date as fewer historical records survive for this time period, meaning that the developers had to create characters and much more based on partial or no information. This is because while the game does strive for realism, either due to a lack of historical sources or due to gameplay priorities, Crusader Kings 3 features its fair share of historical inaccuracies.Ĭhief among these and where the need for world-building comes in, is with obscure lands, rulers, religions, and cultures. Seeing as Crusader Kings 3 is a grand strategy simulation game about the real Middle Ages, many players won't realize it actually has fantastic world-building, which in itself is proof of success.
JOB SIMULATION GAMES SERIES
MacOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac operating systems, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S This includes management and construction games to grand strategy and even sports games, but the themes and settings are just as varied.Īs such, the number of simulation games with great world-building is surprisingly high, and in a few of these games, the world-building has been done so seamlessly that players don't even notice the hard and creative work that has been put in. Instead, multiple other video game genres are combined together to draw in all types of players. Updated Augby Joe Grantham: When it comes to simulation games, the genre can be a bit hard to define as few games are pure simulations. Consequently, such games also managed to build up their own lore or add more context to their game world so that it's easy to get lost in them. Some of them were awesome enough to combine fantasy, slice-of-life, or parody elements into their simulation gameplay. That doesn't mean world-building in simulation games doesn't exist. Whether it's washing a car or scrambling a surgery patient's guts, most simulation games don't care about world-building. Because most of the time, titles under this genre are mere digital recreations of real-world activities or scenarios.
JOB SIMULATION GAMES SIMULATOR
Simulation games like Papers, Please and Microsoft Flight Simulator showcase world-building through their realistic depiction of bureaucracy and satellite-based recreations of the real world, respectively.įor most players, lore is the last thing that comes to mind when it comes to simulation games. Games like Crusader Kings 3, Planet Zoo, and Dwarf Fortress showcase impressive world-building in a variety of creative ways. Simulation games often prioritize gameplay mechanics over lore, but some manage to incorporate fantasy and parody elements to create immersive worlds.
