1990s Simulation games

28 Simulation classics first released 1990 to 1999, in release order, and 40 games looking back to them.

Games looking back to them

• FreeRails: Free Railroad Tycoon-style game.
• Transport Fever: Swiss studio's transport tycoon spanning 150 years.
• Thrive: Free open-source evolution game in the spirit of Spore.
• WorldBox: Pixel-art god sandbox by a solo developer.
• Alliance Peacefighter: Space combat sim pitched as a tribute to Wing Commander and TIE Fighter.
• Ascii Sector: Free ASCII-graphics roguelike take on Privateer, offered only from its own site.
• Everspace: Kickstarted roguelite space shooter.
• Rebel Galaxy Outlaw: Cockpit space trader-fighter in the Privateer mold.
• Starlight Inception: 2012 Kickstarter space combat sim from a LucasArts veteran.
• Stellar Wanderer DX: Space trading and combat game openly modeled on Freelancer and Privateer; slated for March 2026.
• Wing Commander Saga: Standalone FreeSpace Open conversion with a 50-mission Wing Commander campaign, The Darkest Dawn.
• Cute Knight Deluxe: Life-sim RPG in the Princess Maker vein, first sold from Hanako's site.
• Long Live the Queen: Princess-raising sim about a young queen.
• Augustus: Julius fork that adds gameplay changes such as roadblocks.
• CaesarIA: Earlier open remake of Caesar III.
• eZeus: Open-source reimplementation of Zeus: Master of Olympus.
• Julius: Faithful reimplementation of Caesar III with UI improvements.
• Nebuchadnezzar: City builder in the Impressions Games mold set in Mesopotamia.
• House of the Dying Sun: Cockpit space combat game inspired by TIE Fighter and Homeworld.
• TIE Fighter: Total Conversion (X-Wing Alliance mod): Rebuilds TIE Fighter's campaigns in the upgraded X-Wing Alliance engine with VR support.
• X-Wing Alliance Upgrade (X-Wing Alliance mod): Long-running community overhaul of X-Wing Alliance's ships and engine, base of TFTC.
• CorsixTH: Open-source reimplementation of Theme Hospital.
• Parkitect: Kickstarted theme park builder modeled on RollerCoaster Tycoon.
• Project Hospital: Detailed hospital management sim by the makers of Heroes of Science and Fiction.
• Theme Park Builder 3D CAD: Open-source 3D theme park builder.
• Two Point Campus: University-management follow-up to Two Point Hospital.
• Two Point Hospital: By Theme Hospital's original designers.
• Captain of Industry: Colony and industry builder on a remote island.
• Mashinky: Solo-developed transport tycoon with a retro low-poly mode.
• OpenLoco: Open-source reimplementation of Chris Sawyer's Locomotion.
• OpenTTD: Open-source remake of Transport Tycoon Deluxe, now standalone with free graphics sets.
• Simutrans: Free transport simulation in the line of Transport Tycoon.
• TTDPatch (Transport Tycoon Deluxe patch): Patch that greatly extended Transport Tycoon Deluxe before OpenTTD.
• Capitalism Lab: Capitalism's creator's own continuation of the business sim.
• openc2e: Open-source Creatures engine.
• Stardew Valley: Solo-made farming RPG inspired by Harvest Moon.
• FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project: fs2open engine that keeps FreeSpace 2 and its total conversions alive.
• Akhenaten: Open-source engine for Pharaoh, built on Julius code.
• FreeRCT: Free theme park game in the style of RollerCoaster Tycoon with its own art.
• OpenRCT2: Reimplementation of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 with multiplayer and fixes; needs the original data.

The classics

• Pilotwings (1990)
• Railroad Tycoon (1990)
• Red Baron (1990)
• SimEarth (1990)
• Wing Commander (1990)
• Princess Maker (1991)
• Aces (1992)
• Caesar (1992)
• Comanche (1992)
• Star Wars: X-Wing (1993)
• Strike Commander (1993)
• Earthsiege (1994)
• Theme (1994)
• Tokimeki Memorial (1994)
• Transport Tycoon (1994)
• Ace Combat (1995)
• Capitalism (1995)
• Afterlife (1996)
• Creatures (1996)
• Densha de Go! (1996)
• Harvest Moon (1996)
• Silent Hunter (1996)
• Independence War (1997)
• Monster Rancher (1997)
• FreeSpace (1998)
• Pharaoh (1999)
• RollerCoaster Tycoon (1999)
• X (Egosoft) (1999)