Why on Earth would you want to play a game that simulates the grind and stress of everyday employment? That’s broadly what the management game genre is offering, after all.
It’s a tricky one to pin down, but the best management games offer a deeply cathartic sense of control, progression, and blissful orderliness. If your mind works a certain way, then sorting stuff out and getting things done (and a streamlined, fun-optimized fashion) is the very definition of fun. They’re also good if you fancy the power trip of running your own business without all the, you know, business.
These management games for iOS demonstrate precisely what we’re talking about. Download them and wallow in their logistical brilliance.
Game Dev Tycoon [$4.99/£4.99]
Playing a game about making games might sound like a meta-step too far, but Game Dev Tycoon shrugs off the clever-clogs premise in fine style. The process of seeing a game through from concept to production is handled with a surprising lightness of touch, as you allocate resources and juggle tasks in a timely fashion. With a clean isometric graphics engine, a mobile-friendly UI (despite being a port), and a loving grasp of videogame history, it’s the ideal game to play for gamers curious about how the sausage is made.
Stardew Valley [$4.99/£4.99]
Stardew Valley sees you building, growing, and running your very own farm in a super-cute ’90s JRPG fashion. Raise animals, grow crops, deck out your farm, and become part of the local farming community. You can even settle down and start a farming family. If that all sounds like it could get a little too sedate for its own good, there’s the potential to venture out and explore mysterious caves in the search for valuable treasures – all in the name of improving the bottom line of your burgeoning farming business, of course.
Hundred Days [$5.99/£5.99]
Take control of a winery in this impossibly stylish management simulator. Its sharply observed story seamlessly and cleverly introduces you to the principles of running a vineyard before letting you lose on the full sandbox experience. Higher quality wine improves your reputation, but at the expense of higher operational costs. This is a red-blooded tycoon game, but with a narrative twist that adds an extra layer of motivation beyond merely watching the numbers go up. You could say that this management game has a very particular terroir.
RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic [$5.99/£5.99]
After several false starts, one of the original business management game superstars finally made it way to iOS in an acceptable form. More than acceptable in fact – RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic is an absolute treat. The game has you building and maintaining a theme park, managing the flow of traffic, keeping visitors happy, and maximizing profits. It goes above and beyond mere busywork, however, in letting you create your own wild rollercoaster rides. Hopefully not so wild that you’ll scare the punters off, however.
