Planet Coaster 2will have you building, managing, and observing your own highly detailed theme park. If you’re a fan of simulations where you’re able to spend hours modifying, managing and adjusting, then watching the results come to life it’s a great choice.

However, if you’re also looking for other games that give you a similar level of control over your creations, there are plenty to choose from. From modifying life on a genetic level to growing your own successful empire, building a park is just one of the many scenarios you can experience within the simulator genre.

Characters having fun on a ride in Thrillville Off The Rails.

8Thrillville: Off The Rails

Rides And Minigames

If you like theme parks but want a simpler experience with plenty of variety in the gameplay, then it’s time to head back to the past with Thrillville: Off The Rails. While the rollercoasters themselves have set places they need to be, each park has a unique theme that makes it visually appealing as well as a little silly.

In addition to the theme parks you can get up and running, there are alsoplenty of minigamesthat you can construct and play yourself. They include themed shooting galleries, side scrolling beat-em-ups, and even homages to classic arcade games. Thrillville: Off The Rails also features unique attractions that launch players through the air. Whether they make it to the other side is up to you.

Planet Zoo Console Edition Official Artwork of two elephants against a background of a zoo.

Planet Coaster 2 can satisfy your craving for theme park construction. However, if you want to get a bit more wild, then Planet Zoo offers the perfect alternative by taking things back to nature and putting you in charge of animal rescue, conservation, and care.

You’ll manage your own zoo bybuilding enclosures that keep all your animals happy. However, you will also need to keep your customers happy with fresh new exhibits, interesting architecture, and events that will maximize your profits. However, the fun part is seeing all the unique animal interactions as they roam around in their enclosures.

A T-Rex and other dinosaurs travel through a desert-like biome in an official image for Jurassic World Evolution 2.

If you’re a fan of all things prehistoricand wish you could throw some Velociraptors into your park, then perhaps you should move over to Jurassic World Evolution 2. This game has content that delivers thrills for both fans of Jurassic Park or Jurassic World and those who just love dinosaurs. After all, who doesn’t want to run their own dinosaur park?

So, while you will be expected to construct rides, stores, and amenities for your customers, you also need to make your biological attractions thrilling. Rides can take your customers up close and personal with the dinosaurs. There are plenty of customization options to genetically modify your star attraction to increase traffic. However, this also opens the door to the occasional dinosaur breakout. So, in addition to building top of the line infrastructure, you also need to routinely inspect your park to maintain an acceptable level of security.

A city in the night as people walk in the sidewalks in Cities Skyline 2.

Cities: Skylines 2 offers the same level of challenge that Planet Coaster 2 is known for due to how much detail you are in charge of when constructing your masterpiece. You start off with a piece of land and some spare funds, with the ultimate goal of turning this emptiness into a living and breathing world. Just like a theme park, you need to verify that the people who reside within it have everything they need to make it worth sticking around.

Pave roads, construct buildings, and use the existing landscape to enhance the layout of your city while also providing housing for your citizens. An additional challenge comes from understanding the value of locations, as some areas work better as resource hubs, while others provide the perfect setting for a tourist attraction such as a beach. If you have the skills to build parks in Planet Coaster 2, then you might just be ready for a job in city planning.

A bustling amusement park, themed with colorful food and hearts is seen in Park Beyond.

Park Beyond has all the same building, construction, and money-making features that you are familiar with from Planet Coaster 2. However, while Planet Coaster 2 sticks to a more grounded reality, Park Beyond gets a bit more whimsical with the construction possibilities.

Park Beyond allows you to impossify your rides, shops, and workers in order to achieve some out of this world results. An example of this would be turning a run-of-the-mill spinning ride into an out of this world UFO with no rails and unique animations. So, not only can you get satisfaction from making your park attractive to customers, but you may also take joy in discovering what every ride looks like when impossified.

An elephant walks through the park in the Wild! expansion for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.

3Roller Coaster Tycoon 3

A Classic Park Builder

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 will send you down memory lane with its old school graphics and simple editing tools. So, if you’re familiar with how Planet Coaster 2 functions as a construction sim, you will get the hang of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 quickly as you navigate the menus to build tracks, set up firework displays, and keep your park visitors happy.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Complete Edition lets you integrate your attractions with exciting wildlife options such as Tigers, Giraffes, and much more. You also have the option to make water parks perfect for those hot vacation days. This mix gives RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 great variety if you enjoy Planet Coaster 2, but want something that isn’t as intensive. It also works as a way to introduce yourself to the park building genre before jumping into more complex games.

a ming chinese city in civilization 7, with the forbidden palace and great wall both visible.

If managing a theme park is your cup of tea, then how about managing an entire nation? Civilization 6 is one ofthe most in-depth simulators ever made. Choose a civilization to start off with and attempt to advance your technology before everyone else does.

This game goes further than just building a functioning and profitable nation. You also have to get involved in politics, which ranges from forming peace treaties to establishing trade routes. If you really want to go all guns blazing, you can also win your session by conquering all the other civilizations. This gives you more of a goal to strive for that you can tackle from any angle.

An overhead view of a park in Parkitect.

1Parkitect

Excellent Mod Support

Managing theme parks is a tough business. In Parkitect, you are building your own park by modifying the attractions offered as well as taking charge of the layout. Parkitect is a much simpler game than Planet Coaster 2 but offers plenty of scenarios that challenge your ability to manage problems and meet quotas efficiently. This can mean sticking to a specific theme or getting your park ready using a tight budget.

This is alsoa game with plenty of content in the Steam Workshop. You can download more scenarios from the modding community to keep yourself sharp and challenged. This flexibility makes it the perfect game to jump into if you’re already having fun constructing in Planet Coaster 2.