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Games don't always have to be about blowing something up or relying on twitch reflexes. Puzzles do a good job of offering something on that front (and we've rounded up a bunch of puzzle games for iPad, not to mention the best iPad games of every other genre), but for those looking for something a bit more substantial, you'll find plenty of simulation games available on iPad. These are all about framing and recreating relatable, real-life situations in interesting ways.

Whatever kind of gamer you are, if you're itching for new sim games on your iPad, check these out.

Surgeon Simulator

Surgeon Simulator is a morbidly hilarious game where players have to perform life-saving operations with all the ineptitude that touch input has to offer. Would-be doctors hold their tools with one finger, then tap at the target location with the other. At first it might just seem like there's a lot of random flailing and blood everywhere, but every procedure has a process which you can review in your retro iZap PDA. There's an unhealthy array of surgical tools to learn and master over the course of a lengthy single-player campaign.

This game is less of a simulator and more of a mockery of modern medicine.

  • $5.99 - Download now

The Sims FreePlay is a casual, fun sim game where players can build a home, forge relationships, and climb career ladders with a highly-customizable avatar. Players have to tend to their Sim's needs, such as hunger and fun, and in the process earn Lifestyle Points which can be spent on various items. You can also buy Lifestyle Points outright, if you're the impatient type.

The possibilities are extensive, including starting new romantic relationships, having pets, and eventually having kids. You can build up your own little community of Sims, and visit those of your friends.

For those looking for a laid-back, constructive, and long-term game, the Sim FreePlay will have you covered.

  • Free, IAPs - Download now

Order Up!! To Go is a cooking and restaurant simulator that tests your time management skills. The gameplay is twofold. For one, you're working on building up the reputation and menu for your restaurant, always with an eye to the next establishment, so there's a fair bit of budgeting involved. The cooking itself is very similar to the Cooking Mama series in that you cut tomatoes with downward swipes and flip burgers with curved swipes. What really keeps Order Up!! To Go fun is the variety of other mini-games and the great humor both in the writing and art style. Smaller nuances, like recognizing customers as they come in and using the appropriate spices adds even more depth to the frantic gameplay.

You earn silver coins through regular gameplay, which can be used to buy your ingredients, access new restaurants, and hire extra help, but you can speed up the process with premium gold coins acquired through in-app purchases.

  • Free, IAPs - Download now

The Sandbox is clever mix-and-match game with an 8-bit art style. You take the role of an almighty creator trying to combine various elements in the right order at the right spot in order to complete a puzzle. Those goals can be as simple as evaporating water and as elaborate as discovering electricity. In that sense, there's a definite Doodle God vibe, except The Sandbox is a much more fluid. Beyond painting element-infused pixels, you also have control over a wide variety of environmental elements, including temperature and weather. The real magic of The Sandbox is that elements all behave as you expect them to - trees catch fire if you turn up the world temperature, dirt falls when you paint it in the sky, and electricity surges through metal and shoots off the ends of wires with sparks. Given, all of that action is in chunky pixels, it's still all very believable. Outside of the puzzles, you can also go freestyle to make your own creations and share them online in the growing pixel art gallery.

Though The Sandbox is free, new elements are unlocked with mana points, which are awarded as you play through missions or bought through in-app purchases. Mana points can also be used to purchase hints for particularly tricky puzzles - luckily the hints aren't too expensive.

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  • Free, IAPs - Download now

Building bridges in a game is more fun than you think it would be. It might have something to do with how those that cross your half-baked creations dive haplessly to their demise down a ravine. Despite the lemming-quality AI, Bridge Constructor Medieval offers a wide range of physics-based challenges. It builds on the original modern-themed Bridge Constructor by having barbarians attack key points in your bridge while your people try making it to the other side. In-app purchases are employed to shortcut levels either with unlimited resources or a few hints. For what should be a pretty simple game, and could just as easily be completely 2D, there are rich 3D graphics at play here, along with a colorful storyline to justify all of this bridge-building. For engineers-at-heart, Bridge Constructor Medieval is a ton of fun.

  • $1.99, IAPs - Download now

Minecraft

Minecraft is a building sim/monster survival sandbox game with an 8-bit twist. When you first drop into your Minecraft world, it's more or less a blank slate, but after gathering basic resources and combining them to make new types of blocks, and placing those blocks throughout the world, you can build some pretty incredible things. You can even invite friends to build with you if they're on the same Wi-Fi network.

  • $6.99 - Download now

Transport Tycoon is a classic business simulation game. Players build sprawling networks by road, rail, sea, and air. Maximize profits in order to expand your infrastructure wider. 150 vehicle types are available for use across 49 scenarios, provided you can assert your mastery over the terrain to put down the necessary framework. Business savy will be equired to edge out competing transportation companies.

Budding civil engineers will have a field day with Transport Tycoon.

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  • $6.99 - Download now

At first glance, Democracy 3 is visually plain, but don't let that fool you. This is a rich political game that requires compromise, balance, and understanding cause and effect. There are deep systems and demographics to appeal to in order to stay in office. Appeal to different values, handle budgets, and institute all manner of double-edged policies. Players can see how each and every variable affects everything else, before and after taking action. That said, Democracy 3 is the perfect game for intricate micromanagers.

  • $9.99 - Download now

Civilization Revolution 2 is the mobile revival of 2K's beloved turn-based strategy game. All of the usual mechanics you know and love are here: start building an empire with a single humble city, harvest the resource tiles nearby, expand your nation in science, culture, religion, and military, and achieve global dominance through warfare or diplomacy.

You'll find plenty of new stuff, though. The refreshed Civilization Revolution features new wonders like the Red Cross and Silicon Valley, new units like the Stealth Bomber and Jet Fighter, leaders such as JFK and Churchill, and research options for Modern Warfare, Modern Medicine, Lasers, and Information Technology. To top it all off, there are new scenarios, including a Revolutionary War-themed one.

  • $14.99 - Download now

Godus is a casual god sim game with classic mobile city-building mechanics. Players need to guide a fledgling population through the hoops of an evolving civilization, including new housing, developing relationships with one another, and all-out war with neighbours. The usual freemium tropes are present, such as limited faith points which are gathered from the dwellings of worshippers periodically and spent on most deific tasks, including basic terraforming. The pared-down, textureless art style allows vibrant animation with lots of personality shine through.

If you're looking for something like Clash of Clans or Farmville with a touch of visual class, Godus will serve you well.

  • Free, IAPs - Download now

Your favorite sim games for iPad?

Those are our top ten simulation games available for iPad, but there are plenty more out there. Which are your favorite? Leave a comment and let us know!

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Concepts everywhere

Another day, another iPhone 12 Pro concept. How much would you pay?

If reports are accurate we might be waiting a little while longer than normal for iPhone 12 Pro. But would you care if it looked like this?

When it comes to strategy games on Mac, there are a lot of impressive choices. Some of these are available through Apple Arcade, while others are just a download away from the Mac App Store. Here are our current favorites.

Civilization V

When it comes to turn-based strategy games, you can't do better than Sid Meier's series of Civilization titles. In this fifth edition, you begin with 20 historical leaders, and your job is to slowly take over the world from the dawn of man into the space age. Along the way, you'll get to discover surprising new civilizations and wonders, excellent gameplay systems, and much more.

Currently, Civilization V offers 10 in-app purchases, including Brave New World and Gods and Kings. With these options, you get to decide just how far you want to go through the game.

How far will you go?

Civilization V

Diplomacy or War?

Sid Meier's Civilization V offers a brilliant story that's advanced further with a lengthy listing of in-app purchases big and small.

Best simulation pc games

Source: Aspyr Media, Inc.

And here we go again! Similar to the previous installments, Civilization VI has one goal for players: to create and maintain a lasting civilization. In this most recent installment, you achieve victory through military domination, technological superiority, or cultural influence. It offers a nice mix of new and old civilizations. There's also renewed emphasis on the terrain and fresh artificial intelligence mechanics for computer-controlled opponents.

The game's first expansion pack, Rise and Fall, features entry into a prosperous Golden Age and terrifying Dark Age. There's also a Heroic Age. The second expansion pack, The Gathering Storm, features ecosystem difficulties that could impact the entire planet, including floods, volcanoes, and more.

The newest in the series

Civilization VI

Bigger than ever

This game is the newest in the long Civilization series and was first introduced to Mac in 2016.

Source: Dinosaur Polo Club

Being stuck in traffic is never fun unless you're playing Mini Motorways! The strategy simulation game gives you the power to keep existing roads clear while also expanding your digital city by adding new locations and road networks.

Featuring different color modes, including colorblind and night, Mini Motorways is for anyone with an imagination. Better still, like all Apple Arcade games, it comes without in-app purchases or any additional costs.

They will come

Mini Motorways

Create your city

As your city expands, make sure it remains easy to get from point A to point B. Otherwise, no one will be happy.

Source: Feral Interactive

Offering 3D real-time battles on land and at sea, Total War: Empire allows you to lead one of 12 great nations. Your success is determined by your diplomatic skills and military force, when necessary. Set in the 18th century, the game allows you to conquer overseas territories to establish colonies and profitable trade networks. Along the way, you'll need to learn more about your enemies and beat them on the battlefield accordingly.

First introduced on Mac in 2014, Total War: Empire is the fifth installment in the Total War series, which, as a whole, comes recommended. The turn-based strategy game was released for Windows in 2009. Before purchasing the game, just check the Mac App Store for compatibility with your Mac, since some older machines aren't supported.

Non-stop action

Total War: Empire

How will you succeed?

Empire is a thrilling installment in the Total War series. Just make sure your Mac supports it!

Source: Blindflug

In this multi-player real-time strategy game, you are fighting for control of distant planets. You have just seven minutes to destroy your opposition or the world as you know it will collapse and explode right before your eyes.

To accomplish your goal, you slowly gain access to rockets, tanks, and stealth generators. Futuristic troops are also available if you can find a way to unlock them.

Stellar Commanders is currently one of the best-reviewed Apple Arcade games available. Download it today.

Fly those rockets

Mac App Store Online

Stellar Commanders

The world needs your help

You have seven minutes until success or destruction. Which path will you take?

Source: Tortuga Team

Old-school meets the 21st century in this impressive turn-based strategy game from Tortuga Team. Featuring a unique system of dynamic turn-based battles that last no more than 15 minutes, Spaceland features 10 different enemies from alien animals to unnerving monsters.

Mac App Store

Offering a squad of space rangers, each with a unique fighting style, the game includes an exciting backstory about a mysterious planet, which you must protect. Use rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, and more to get the job done. Fail, and you must start again!

Single player fun

Spaceland

Protect this fascinating world

Shoot, kick, blow up, and destroy and achieve greatness in this Apple Arcade game.

Source: iMore

In This War of Mine, you aren't a great commander or a space fighter looking to protect the outer reaches of the universe. Instead, you're just one in a group of civilians trying to survive in a besieged city. Along the way, you must struggle with the lack of food, water, and medicine. At the same time, there's a constant worry that snipers and hostile scavengers could cause further pain.

This War of Mine has been well-received since it was first released and continues to receive kudos with each new expansion. While it's not necessarily a 'fun' game to play, per say, it tells a relevant and emotional story that should not be missed.

Can you survive?

The War of Mine

There's no escape

Can you find and explore all of the different outcomes of the game?

What's your favorite?

Strategy games and Macs go together well. Which games are you currently enjoying on your desktop or laptop? Let us know in the comments below. Perhaps we'll add it to our list on a future update!

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Concepts everywhere

Best Simulation Games Mac App Store Download

Another day, another iPhone 12 Pro concept. How much would you pay?

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If reports are accurate we might be waiting a little while longer than normal for iPhone 12 Pro. But would you care if it looked like this?

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