Gaming is a solid choice if you need a bit of a break from the monotony and stresses of real life. No genre is better for this than simulation games, providing a whole other life where you control everything, rather t?han being forced to adap?t to the world around you. 

There are multiple kinds of simulation games, encompassing everything from animal sims to farm sims to city builders and everything in between. Having the escape of simulation g??ames can only be improved by the portability of? the Nintendo Switch. Now you can escape wherever you are, whenever you need a moment’s break from reality.

If youâ€?™re looking for something to control or something to occupy your time while you shut down from a long day, here are 10 of ??the best simulation games available to play on Nintendo Switch.

House Flipper

There’s something incredibly therapeutic about destroying something, and House Flipper not only lets you do that ??but also rebuild it in a way that suits you. It’s all about home renovation, either for clients or as a buy-and-resell business, with more houses unlocking for the latter when you complete more of the former. 

There are countless options for decor and furniture, all of which can be customized to some degree, and updates to House Flipper are still being released even though House Flipper 2 has been available to play for 2 years now. The first House Flipper manages to beat out its successor because of the number of gameplay elements added over the ??years. 

Let’s Build a Zoo

Let’s Build a Zoo is what would emerge if Zoo Tycoon and Stardew Valley copulated and had a life-sim love child. Pixel games are undeniably charming in their aesthetic, but having control over an array of adorable animals while enticing in customers with your decoration choices takes Let’s Build a Zoo to a whole new level of enjoyable. And all of that is without menti??oning the fact that you’ll face a series of moral choices along the way.

Since it was released on Nintendo Switch in 2022, Let’s Build a Zoo has received two DLC packs. Aquarium Odyssey is exactly as it sounds, with a whole new campaign centered around fish and other aquatic animals. Dinosaur Island has a separate campaign too, except this one takes you closer to Jurassic Park than a ??basic zoo experience, adding 50 dinosaurs.

Stardew Valley

Let’s be honest, did you really expect a list of simulation games not to include Stardew Valley? It’s a classic? at this point, and there’s a long list of reasons to get stuck in and start a new life on the farm in Peli?can Town. From basic farming to diving into the Mines and Skull Cavern, there are hundreds of hours to play through. 

Thanks to the recent 1.6 update (a full six months after it was released on PC), there are now even more things to take up your time, including a tree full of adorable Raccoons, the Desert Festival and SquidFest, the Mastery system, and even a whole new farm type among many, many more additions. 

Goat Simulator

I never said that all of the suggestions on this list should be taken entirely seriously, and if any of them definitely shouldn’t, it’s Goat Simulator. However, having said that there’s something undeniably fun and freeing about running around a town as a sticky-tongued ??goat, causing absolute chaos and untold destruction. 

Not only do you get the base game when you purchase through the Nintendo eShop, but you also get the MMO Simulator, Goat Z, Payday, and Waste of Space DLCs included. All of those extras are filled with chaos and laughs that are sure to help ??you unwind if you’re stressed. 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

When you think of life sims on the Nintendo Switch, I’d hazard a guess that Animal Crossing: New Horizons probably comes to mind first. Thanks to its timely release during the early days of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and all of the lockdowns that resulted, New Horizons immediately became an? escape from reality for many and continues to be such to this day. 

It’s cute, there’s no??thing too taxing, there’s no health bar to worry about and, most of all, you have complete control over what your island looks like and who lives on it (for the most part, sometimes it’s hard to get rid of unwanted villagers, but perseverance is key). That control over something is addictive, and it’s easy to see why so many people have clocked up hundreds of hours of playtime. 

Disney Dreamlight Valley

Even if you’re not a ‘Disney adult� you’ll find something to love about Disney Dreamlight Valley. Like Animal Crossing, it offers you full control over a huge amount of space, villagers, and friendships with various Disney characters both new and classic. Whether you want to be best friends with Merlin or drag Stitch along while you do your gard?ening, there’s something for everyone. 

Disney Dreamlight Valley benefits from a regular update schedule, each of which has added a massive amount of features to keep gameplay fresh, even when you’ve been playing for years. Plus, there are two DLCs (Rift in Time and Storybook Vale) whi?ch add even more characters and content to get through, so there is never a shortage of things to do. 

Bee Simulator

As someone with a deathly fear of Bees, Wasps, Hornets, and basically anything black and yellow that buzzes, I wasn’t expecting to love (or even like) Bee Simulator when I picked it up out of curiosity. However, ??the game itself is stunning, and once I got over the horror that I was suddenly a buzzy bee in this giant world, I found I didn’t mind so much. If I can manage that, then you can too. 

You will, of course, come into contact with some (usually small) things that suddenly seem indescribably large, such as the Stag Beetle th??at’s suddenly terrifying to behold. However, the Central Park-inspired s??etting is filled with secrets to discover and pollen to collect, so you won’t get stuck with the beasties for long.

Bear and Breakfast

In reality, a Bed and Breakfast built and managed by a bear is a singularly horrifying prospect, but it works extraordinarily well in game format, and Bear and Breakfast is a joy from beginning to end. Once you’ve built and personalized your cabin, you can invite a myriad of guests to stay, and impressing th??em will cause more guests. 

There are also story quests to complete, all of which will unlock new perks or items to improve your BnB, plus a ?whole forest to explore so that you can discover its secrets. Plus, you’re a derpy bear with the best of intentions, which is always a cute bonus. 

Unpacking

Unpacking is different from the other simulation games listed here becaus??e you don’t have any option to move or much choice over what happens, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable to play, time and again. The concept is simple �you unpack boxes and slowly uncover the life story of the person who owns the items inside. 

The art style is adorable, and the story is likely to resonate with everybody at one point or another. Who knows, unpacking these ??boxes might even help you to unpack parts ??of your own life, and there’s something therapeutic about that. 

Fae Farm

Fae Farm is a life sim set in the world of Azoria, a magical land of enchanting creatures and a variety of people to meet and befriend, and it’s utterly charming in every way. As with most other life sims of its type, Fae Farm allows you to improve your skills in cookin??g??, potion-making, and crafting. 

One of the best things about Fae Farm is the fact that the story develops entirely independently? of the in-game calendar, so there’s no pressure to do anything in a hurry. You can play at your own pace, even with friends if you want to, and you won’t ever risk missing out on anything. 

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Rockstar and Coffee Stain buttin' heads

Coffee Stain Games has been forced to pull a new ad for its upcoming sequel Goat Simulator 3 after Rockstar Games took umbrage to its use of the leaked Grand Theft Auto (GTA) VI development footage.

The commercial saw the supposed four-legged hero of the physics-sim sequel, Shaun, discussing the preparation it takes to really deliver the goods as the premier star of the Goat Simulator series. As we see Shaun practicing his very finest ragdoll efforts, he tells us that he has been keeping busy between games �cutting to a montage of Shaun in action, which includes a clip of the controversial GTA VI dev footage, leaked earlier this year.

While this is not the first time the Goat Simulator crew has referenced another developer for satirical fun, Rockstar Games �as billion-dollar companies are wont to do �clearly didn't see the funny side. The ad in question has since been pulled from all official outlets, with even reuploads posted to Tw??itter and other social media sites by members of the public being shut down as quickly as they appear.

Rockstar Games is still shining from the theft and broadcast of the (clearly very, very early) development footage. The videos were allegedly stolen in September directly from the?? company's own Slack channels by a 17-year-old hacker, who, is it also claimed, ha??d planned to extort the publisher, but instead found himself in the bad books and black vans of the feds. The suspect is expected to appear in a high court at a later date.

Goat Simulator 3, which does not feature any GTA VI source code , (that we k??now of) is available now on PS5, PC, and Xb??ox Series X.

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"The devs actually bothered to make an ending this time"

Goat Simulator 3 entered the world with a Dead Island 2 fakeout parody trailer at Summer Game Fest 2022, and the new game is coming this fall to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC by way of the Epic Games Store. They're skipping right over "2" for this direct sequel.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKsJYDz70Ts

According to developer Coffee Stain North, Goat Simulator 3 is bringing its do-what-you-feel-like sandbox action to the island of San Angora. Best of all, there's four-player co-op, locally and online. As intentionally dumb as Goat Simulator can be, that part actually inte?rests me! Wacky free-roaming shenanigans can be a lot of fun ??with a partner.

In Goat Simulator 3, players will "cause all manner of mayhem as you lick, headbutt, cr??ash and explode your way across the map, leaving no NPC unannoyed."

The humor and slapdash physics may not feel particularly modern at this point �I sympathize with anyone who thinks this "simulation" has run its course �but there's a world in which I could have some fun playing Goat Simulator 3, I think. Maybe!

I'm less interested in mini-games (there's going to be seven types) and more on board with the idea of exploring for secrets together. I'm sure they'll get pretty out-t?here with unlockable skins and "gear parts" if there are (*checks notes*) oh wow, 300 of 'em.

Sometimes, you need a shut-off-your-brain game with low stakes and the ability to make quick, tangible progress to keep you entertained. I just hope ??the price is right.

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Goat Simulator Waste of Space expansion

Goat Simulator's latest expansion takes place on a scam, crowdfunded space colony; an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator (narrating the trailer); a Star Wars: The Force Awakens joke; a 69 joke; a #MakeSpaceGreatAgain (picking up the mantle from Paradox's Stellaris). I guess this i?s wh?at people mean when they say "shitposting," but in video game form? I don't know, but it looks amusing.

The Waste of Space expansion is being made by Gone North Games, the studio that made the GoatZ expansion, and is due out on PC, iOS, Android and Amazon. "Console ports might come in the future."

Following the logic of the Leprechaun movie franchise, the only wild place for Goat Simulator to go post-space? The hood.

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Baa-ring

There's something to be said for games that revolve around a single joke. If you've wrung every possible guffaw out of a game within the first half-hour, you can just close it and move on with your life. In theory, Goat Simulator benefits from this structure. You're a goat! Everything is broken! From there, it's up to the player to dec?ide whether there are further punchlines to be delivered.

Of course, this does not apply if you're under some kind of obligation to see a majority of the game's content like I was. I spent a good 4-5 hours wringing the game dry, and I was reaching for entertainment around the 20 minute mark. Regardless of whether you find Goat Simulator's core gag am??using, it's hard to ignore the price to content r?atio.

Goat Simulator (Android, iOS, PC, PS3, PS4 [reviewed], Xbox 360, Xbox One)
Developer: Coffee Stain Studios
Publisher: Coffee Stain Studios
Release Date: April 1, 2014 (PC) / September 16, 2015 (Android/iOS) / April 17, 2015 (Xbox One/360) / August 11, 2015 (PS3/PS4)
MSRP: $9.99 (PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One / $4.99 (Android/iOS)

When you start Goat Simulator, the game's four-legged protagonist is dropped into an ordinary town and tasked with jumping over a fence. It's a clever subversion of standard game tutorials, and it will be the last time I use the word 'clever' in this review. From there, the game provides the player with little challenges, like pressing the 'Baa' button or running on a wall for a certain period of time. These challenges help boost your score, much like almost everything else in the game. Licking people is worth a handful of points, for example. There are unique things to do in the world -- like finding EDM musician deadmau5 and licking him?? -- that earn both points and an achievement on your platform of choice.

The achievement list can be a help if you're looking for things to do, but some are so obtuse that you're better off trying to explore the world. Herein lies Goat Simulator's Achilles' Heel -- it plays like trash. This is ostensibly part of the game's larger gag, there's even a but?ton dedicated to entering a ragdoll state. But the game tries to have it both ways. Collectibles litte??r the map (including a handful you need for achievements) and some of them would be challenging to acquire in a superior title. Feats of skill in a game with frustrating controls are certainly impressive, but that doesn't make the struggle any fun.

There are a bunch of modifiers, some of which are fun to play with for approximately ten minutes. The jetpack is chuckle-worthy and the VR modifier is an unyielding nightmare straight out of a PG-rated Hellraiser. It is also worth seeing. I used the modifiers as ripcords throughout my play?through -- when things got too dull, I would hit the jetpack button and watch as the goat flew around in slow-motion. It wasn't hilarious, but it w??as something to break up my numerous attempts at nailing the manual challenge.

(You can perform 'manuals' by flicking the st??ick back and forth and then trying to balance the goat on its front legs. It's awful)

The game's core joke is difficult to criticize because humor is subjective; one man's guffaw is another man's blank stare. I have a vivid memory of watching Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom in a packed theater and being the only person laughing along. The jokes I found so tickling absolutely failed to play with the rest of the audience. And that's fine! I can sit here telling you that Goat Simulator is just not that amusing for the rest of my life, and that won't register w?ith? half of my audience.

However, I cannot imagine the people who "get" Goat Simulator will be okay with paying for the experience. Not to keep coming back to movies (comedy games are something of a rarity, so I have to look outwards) but I wouldn't spend full price on a film that gives away its best jokes in the trailer, no matter how funny those jokes were. I played the game on PS4, where it costs $10. That is unconscionable. If one were so inclined, Goat Simulator could go on forever. It's a playground, not a series of objectives, and no high score can hide that. But ??it's not worth an hour of your time, let alone days. The game has two areas and lacks both the MMO and Zombie DLC. There's just so little to do an??d even less that's worth doing.

Even if the price was right (and that price is free, regardless of platform) Goat Simulator is not worth playing. It's a game desi?gned for YouTube, not the average consumer. Reward this shrewd business ??decision by not buying this game and just watching some clips online instead.

The post Review: Goat Simulator (PS4) appeared first on Destructoid.

Also includes boring human zombies

Zombies are coming to Goat Simulator and absolutely no one is surprised. The zombie-filled GoatZ expansion calls itself "the only survival game on Steam that isn’t in Early Access," which is only a little untrue. Either way, this new DLC continues Goat Simulator's tradition of creating beautiful satire out of an industry ??that sometimes takes itself a little too seriously.&n??bsp;

According to Coffee Stain Studios, GoatZ will include most of the same features as other zom?bie survival games:

• Mandatory crafting system because everyone ??else is doing it
  
• Zombies that bug out. There’s a pun here about actual living bugs, but we&r??squo;re not going ??to bother
  
• You can c?raft anything in the world, as long as it’s one of the half dozen weapons in the game
  
• Zombies, because this is a zombie game, remember?
  
• A pretty big new map with some stuff in it
  
• Complete??ly realistic survival mode where you have to eat every damn five minutes to survive because Dean Hall & Garry Newman said so

GoatZ will release on Windows, Mac, and Linux on May 7 for $4.99. It will also come to iOS and Android? devices the same day, but as a separate app. 

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A reason to revisit Goat Simulator

Coffee Stain Studios hasn't stopped supporting its wonky physics sandbox game Goat Simulator, thank goodness. The mobile version didn't entice me, but this fantasy-themed Goat MMO Simulator expansion is exactly the type of weird content I wa?nt and expect from the studio.

It's releasing this Thursday on Steam and it's free if you own Goat Simulator. I'm unsure wh??at all is in here, but Coffee Stain is calling the update its "biggest and craziest thing" yet.

The mermaids are just lanky-legged fish, which please?s me.

This old fantasy trope also pleases me.

The post Free ‘Goat MMO Simulator’ update coming Thursday appeared first on Destructoid.

Developer calls the mobile version a succeess

Goat Simulator is now on Android and iOS in a?ddition to the PC, and according to Coffee Stain Studios, it's selling well -- very well in fact. So far they've reported over 100,000 sales over both platforms, which they consider to be over expectations.

??Plans for the future are kind of slim, as the team didn't think it would be this successful. The focus for now is to concentrate on mobile version bugs for a few weeks, then more updates will be provided on future content.

Goat Simulator iOS and Android - Some more info! [Coffee Stain Studios]

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Where the giraffes are goats, and the goats are skateboards

Coffee Stain Studios' Goat Simulator began as a joke, a secret IP that was never meant to achieve the critical acclaim it has today. Armin Ibrisagic, a game designer that worked on Goat Simulator, stated that due to all the studio's animators working on another project, the graphical assets had to be bought off the internet, with the titular character, the Goat, being bought at 75% off for around $20. That's some kind of baa-a-ad bargain. 

Sales of the game ended up exceeding all expectations and ??the studio ended up recouping the money put into developing the game in around ten minutes after its release on?? Steam.

Patch 1.2 for Goat Simulator is slated to come out soon and Ibrisagic stated that it will surprise people just as much as when they saw the trailer for Goat Simulator for the first time. I don't know that I was surprised, per se, but intrigued. So I hope I'll be intrigued again. 

The hilarious success story of Goat Si??mulator [Gamasutra]

The post All the assets in Goat Simulator? were actually bought online appeared first on Destructoid.

Totes mah goats

Coffee Stain's Goat Simulator started as a wacky concept that took off faster than anyone could've ev?er imagined. After its positive reception on PC, it's heading to another petting zoo where a new audience can fawn over its adorable zaniness.

At Microsoft's gamescom 2014 press briefing, Goat Simulator was included in a montage of indie games in the ID@Xbox program that are coming to Xbox One soon. Those are all the details at the current time, but at least we know there's going ??to be some silly goat action on the console in the near future. That's not a baaahhhd deal.

The post You’ve goat to be kidding: Goat Simulator coming to Xbox One appeared first on Destructoid.

The wait won't be so baa-ad

Not too long ago, we announced that Goat Simulator would be receiving a retail release in the UK. A boxed version of the bizarre farm animal simulator was awesome news, but North American gamers were still relegated to the digital release. Now, Deep Silver has revealed that they've acquired the North American distribution rights for Goat Simulator, so the r??etail festivities can begin. Or continue, I suppose. The game's been out for a while.

You'll be able to pick up Goat Simulator for $9.99 at participating reta?ilers by mid-July, and it will ship with the content from patch 1.1. This includes the ability to ride a bike or a skateboard, a new map, and local four-player split screen multiplayer. In addition, Capture the Flag, Racing Mode, and Ragdoll Hockey are included.

For that price and the additional c??ontent, I'd say it's worth purchasing again. Especially if you need a quick laugh.

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Patch 1.1 is coming slightly later than expected

Goat Simulator was fun while it lasted but more content to mess around with is sorely needed. Coffee Stain Studios says patch 1?.1 is arriving later than previously announced, now on June 3, i?n order to make sure the new map is as good if not better than the original.

But it's not just a new map -- there's also four-player local splitscreen, the ability to wallrun and balance on your front legs, more goats like the Shopping Goat and Repulsive Goat, game optimization, and extra achievements.? The patch is going to be free, by the way.

Also, this: "You will be able to ride bicycles? and skateboards, ??and force humans to ride you."

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The more Goat Simulator, the better

Fans have been asking Coffee Stain Studios for Goat Simulator DLC and I can see why: what's there is tremendously funny, goofy stuff but there isn't a ton of it. We're in luck. The studio doesn't want to "charge for new content" so it'll have a free patch for us in mid-May.

Patch 1.1 introduces another playable map that's "roughly the size of the original map," local splitscreen multipl??ayer, more achievements, and new goats, to name a f??ew of the additions.

Mods have helped extend the life of Goat Simulator but they're?? not all going to meet expectations set by the core game. Another map from Coffee Stain is exactly what I wanted??.

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'WASD to write history'

Two seconds. Two seconds into this launch trailer for Goat Simulator and I was already laughing.

It's coming to Steam on April 1, 2014 because that's only fitting. To be clear, yes, Goat Simulator is an actual, real game even if it didn't start out as such. Pre-orderers will get access to the??? title four days early, so consider doing that if you're feeling eager. How could you not be?

This i??s a game whose sole existence makes me happy. It doesn't even need to be terribly fun, I don't think. That's almost ?become irrelevant. Long live weird-ass games.

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Best song of 2014?!

So when I watched the Goat Simulator trail?er I was so focused on the actual gameplay that I glazed over?? the soundtrack. Thankfully I came across the extended version of the trailer song and I haven't been able to stop replaying it.

Yes, I know. I'm not right in the head.

The post Listen to 25 minutes of Goat Simulator music insan?ity appeared first on Destructoid.

It's coming out on April 1 because of course it is

Sanctum developer Coffee Stain Studios has written about the birth of Goat Simulator, a hilarious thing that at one point wasn't going to be a real game until enough of us demanded it. We needed this. "After a day or two we reached more views on the Goat Simulator video than we had in all our other trailers we've produced over the last few year??s, combined."

The team held a game jam following its work on Sanctum 2 and the goat concept eventually started to gain traction internally amid more serious ideas. "Some day in January, goats were in the majority. We reached the point where the studio was like 'OKAY FINE, LETS DO THE GOAT THING!.' After that, things w??ent extremely fast."

As feature requests from fans started coming in, many of them extraordinary and beyond the project's original scope, the studio "placed more people on Goat Simulator, made a real project plan for it (seriously, it didn't have a project plan), and started looking at how ?we could add content and make the game worthy of all the hype."

Now, the title will "have a gas station that explodes beautifully, a low-gravity testing facility, a waterpark, and a breakable stonehenge. We're even adding AI for humans that will run away from you." There's also Steam Workshop support for mods, meaning "People are going to make levels filled with 10,000 explosive canisters, headbutt them with a goat, and make the game crash. And that will be glorious." I know what I'll be doing on April 1.

How Goat Simulator really did become our next IP [Gamasutra]

The post Coffee Stain Studios talks Goat Simulator’s origin, release date appeared first on Destructoid.

'Okay Internet, you win'

The thing many of us desperately wanted to happen is going to: Coffee Stain Studios has relented and will turn its humorous Goat Simulator concept into a real game. Or was this -- putting the idea out there and seeing if people were genuinely into it -- the plan all along? I don't even care. Pre-orders are now open on the studio's site, granting early access via Steam.

New for this trailer is the ability to lic??k objects, tethering them to your tongue. This mechanic allows our goat friend to, say, wield an axe. It's not often I can get into pure sandbox games and remain interested for terribly long, bu?t the sheer silliness of this has me feeling hopeful.

Also, I love this description from Coffee Stain: "Goat Simulator is like an old-school skating game, except instead of being a skater, you're a goat, and instead of doin?g tricks, you wreck stuff. It brings next-gen goat simulation to YOU. WASD to write history."

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