Best games
Best Simulation games on Xbox Series X|S
The 13 best Simulation games on Xbox Series X|S, ranked from 7,405 critic and player ratings.
The best Simulation game on Xbox Series X|S right now is Escape Simulator, with a critic score of 100/100 — updated September 2026.
How this ranking is built
- Games are ranked on the aggregated critic score out of 100 imported from IGDB and Metacritic, never on Tier's own grades.
- A game only enters the ranking with at least 80 external ratings, so a single enthusiastic review never outranks a proven classic.
- Each game is ranked in one genre only, the one that defines it best, so the same title never tops two different genre charts.
- Community grades from F to S are shown next to every game, and only stated as a fact above 5 Tier ratings.
- Release window covered: 1970 to 2026.
- 13 games are listed on this page, carrying 7,405 ratings between them.
- Rankings are recomputed hourly; this one was last rebuilt on 29 September 2026.
Top 13
01
Escape Simulator
Escape Simulator is a next-gen escape room experience: pick up and examine everything, move furniture, smash pots and melt locks! Play solo or with a friend to solve cryptic puzzles and riddles.
100
/100
02
Unpacking
Unpacking is a zen puzzle game about the familiar experience of pulling possessions out of boxes and fitting them into a new home. Part block-fitting puzzle, part home decoration, you are invited to create a satisfying living space while learning clues about the life you’re unpacking. Over the course of eight house moves, you are given a chance to experience a sense of intimacy with a character you never see and a story you’re never told.
92
/100
03
Immortality
Marissa Marcel was a film star. She made three movies. But none of the movies was ever released. And Marissa Marcel disappeared. The new game from Sam Barlow, creator of Her Story.
92
/100
Escape Simulator
Escape Simulator is a next-gen escape room experience: pick up and examine everything, move furniture, smash pots and melt locks! Play solo or with a friend to solve cryptic puzzles and riddles.
100
/100
02
Unpacking
Unpacking is a zen puzzle game about the familiar experience of pulling possessions out of boxes and fitting them into a new home. Part block-fitting puzzle, part home decoration, you are invited to create a satisfying living space while learning clues about the life you’re unpacking. Over the course of eight house moves, you are given a chance to experience a sense of intimacy with a character you never see and a story you’re never told.
92
/100
03
Immortality
Marissa Marcel was a film star. She made three movies. But none of the movies was ever released. And Marissa Marcel disappeared. The new game from Sam Barlow, creator of Her Story.
92
/100
04
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is the next generation of one of the most beloved simulation franchises. From light planes to wide-body jets, fly highly detailed and stunning aircraft in an incredibly realistic world. Create your flight plan and fly anywhere on the planet. Enjoy flying day or night and face realistic, challenging weather conditions.
85
/100
05
Not For Broadcast
Not For Broadcast is an immersive, narrative-driven propaganda sim set in the control room of a TV Studio in a 1980’s dystopia. Control what the people see and what they don't as the government tightens its grip. Will you censor the news and be rewarded, or fight for the truth and live with the consequences?
85
/100
06
Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop. The newest member of the space program in a small village on the planet Timber Hearth, the player navigates a space shuttle and travels across their solar system to get to the bottom of its mysteries by exploring the cosmos and gathering the knowledge hidden within each of the system's planets, left behind by another civilization in the distant past.
85
/100
07
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
From the makers of Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and DmC: Devil May Cry, comes a warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness. Set in the Viking age, a broken Celtic warrior embarks on a haunting vision quest into Viking Hell to fight for the soul of her dead lover. Created in collaboration with neuroscientists and people who experience psychosis, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice will pull you deep into Senua’s mind.
84
/100
08
S
Minecraft
Minecraft focuses on allowing the player to explore, interact with, and modify a dynamically-generated map made of one-cubic-meter-sized blocks. In addition to blocks, the environment features plants, mobs, and items. Some activities in the game include mining for ore, fighting hostile mobs, and crafting new blocks and tools by gathering various resources found in the game. The game's open-ended model allows players to create structures, creations, and artwork on various multiplayer servers or their single-player maps. Other features include redstone circuits for logic computations and remote actions, minecarts and tracks, and a mysterious underworld called the Nether. A designated but completely optional goal of the game is to travel to a dimension called the End, and defeat the ender dragon.
83
/100
09
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is an expanded re-imagining of 2013's The Stanley Parable. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will make a choice, and you will become powerless. You are not here to win. The Stanley Parable is a game that plays you.
83
/100
10
Townscaper
Townscaper is an experimental passion project. More of a toy than a game. Pick colors from the palette, plop down colored blocks of house on the irregular grid, and watch Townscaper's underlying algorithm automatically turn those blocks into cute little houses, arches, stairways, bridges and lush backyards, depending on their configuration.
80
/100
11
Raft
80
/100
12
PowerWash Simulator
76
/100
13
Sea of Thieves
68
/100
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is the next generation of one of the most beloved simulation franchises. From light planes to wide-body jets, fly highly detailed and stunning aircraft in an incredibly realistic world. Create your flight plan and fly anywhere on the planet. Enjoy flying day or night and face realistic, challenging weather conditions.
85
/100
05
Not For Broadcast
Not For Broadcast is an immersive, narrative-driven propaganda sim set in the control room of a TV Studio in a 1980’s dystopia. Control what the people see and what they don't as the government tightens its grip. Will you censor the news and be rewarded, or fight for the truth and live with the consequences?
85
/100
06
Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop. The newest member of the space program in a small village on the planet Timber Hearth, the player navigates a space shuttle and travels across their solar system to get to the bottom of its mysteries by exploring the cosmos and gathering the knowledge hidden within each of the system's planets, left behind by another civilization in the distant past.
85
/100
07
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
From the makers of Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and DmC: Devil May Cry, comes a warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness. Set in the Viking age, a broken Celtic warrior embarks on a haunting vision quest into Viking Hell to fight for the soul of her dead lover. Created in collaboration with neuroscientists and people who experience psychosis, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice will pull you deep into Senua’s mind.
84
/100
08
S
Minecraft
Minecraft focuses on allowing the player to explore, interact with, and modify a dynamically-generated map made of one-cubic-meter-sized blocks. In addition to blocks, the environment features plants, mobs, and items. Some activities in the game include mining for ore, fighting hostile mobs, and crafting new blocks and tools by gathering various resources found in the game. The game's open-ended model allows players to create structures, creations, and artwork on various multiplayer servers or their single-player maps. Other features include redstone circuits for logic computations and remote actions, minecarts and tracks, and a mysterious underworld called the Nether. A designated but completely optional goal of the game is to travel to a dimension called the End, and defeat the ender dragon.
83
/100
09
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is an expanded re-imagining of 2013's The Stanley Parable. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will make a choice, and you will become powerless. You are not here to win. The Stanley Parable is a game that plays you.
83
/100
10
Townscaper
Townscaper is an experimental passion project. More of a toy than a game. Pick colors from the palette, plop down colored blocks of house on the irregular grid, and watch Townscaper's underlying algorithm automatically turn those blocks into cute little houses, arches, stairways, bridges and lush backyards, depending on their configuration.
80
/100
11
Raft
80
/100
12
PowerWash Simulator
76
/100
13
Sea of Thieves
68
/100
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Simulation game on Xbox Series X|S?
Escape Simulator currently tops the ranking with a score of 100/100 across 89 ratings. Ranking updated September 2026.
How is this ranking built?
Games are ranked on their aggregated critic score out of 100, with a minimum vote threshold so a single glowing review never outranks a proven classic; the Tier community's own F-to-S grades are shown alongside each game.