Best Simulation games of 2012
The 19 best Simulation games released in 2012, ranked from 4,116 critic and player ratings.
The best Simulation game of 2012 is XCOM: Enemy Unknown, with a critic score of 88/100 — updated août 2026.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
XCOM: Enemy Unknown will place you in control of a secret paramilitary organization called XCOM. As the XCOM commander, you will defend against a terrifying global alien invasion by managing resources, advancing technologies, and overseeing combat strategies and individual unit tactics. The original XCOM is widely regarded as one of the best games ever made and has now been re-imagined by the strategy experts at Firaxis Games. XCOM: Enemy Unknown will expand on that legacy with an entirely new invasion story, enemies and technologies to fight aliens and defend Earth. You will control the fate of the human race through researching alien technologies, creating and managing a fully operational base, planning combat missions and controlling soldier movement in battle.
88
/100
02
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
88
/100
03
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a vehicle simulation game and a direct sequel to the 2008 game Euro Truck Simulator. Travel across Europe as king of the road, a trucker who delivers important cargo across impressive distances! With dozens of cities to explore from the UK, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and many more, your endurance, skill and speed will all be pushed to their limits. If you’ve got what it takes to be part of an elite trucking force, get behind the wheel and prove it!
88
/100
FTL: Faster Than Light
In FTL you experience the atmosphere of running a spaceship trying to save the galaxy. It's a dangerous mission, with every encounter presenting a unique challenge with multiple solutions. What will you do if a heavy missile barrage shuts down your shields? Reroute all power to the engines in an attempt to escape, power up additional weapons to blow your enemy out of the sky, or take the fight to them with a boarding party? This "spaceship simulation roguelike-like" allows you to take your ship and crew on an adventure through a randomly generated galaxy filled with glory and bitter defeat.
84
/100
05
Age of Empires III: Complete Collection
81
/100
06
Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut
81
/100
07
Game Dev Tycoon
In Game Dev Tycoon you replay the history of the gaming industry by starting your own video game development company in the 80s. Create best selling games. Research new technologies and invent new game types. Become the leader of the market and gain worldwide fans.
80
/100
08
Plague Inc.
As a new disease, it is your job to destroy the entire human species by evolving to a deadly plague.
80
/100
09
Waking Mars
79
/100
10
F1 2012
As well as the new young driver test mode, F1 2012 features a new "Champions Mode", in which the six World Champions competing in the 2012 season — Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher — will be styled after traditional end-of-level video gaming bosses, with the player challenged to beat them while racing in conditions that suit each driver. Another new mode introduced, is the "Season Challenge" mode. Feedback given to Codemasters was that players only played the game when they had a few hours to play. In response, Codemasters brought in this mode so that players could simply play for a short amount of time. In this mode the player will start as a team lower down the field, and over a ten race season the player will move teams mid-season, depending on their ability to beat rival drivers and objectives. Codemasters also introduced "One-Shot Qualifying", whereby a player has a single lap to qualify for the race. The three stage knock out session is still an option, however the single 20 minute session is no longer available in career mode. There is no longer an option to include all three practice sessions in a race weekend, but instead only a single hour session is available.
76
/100
11
Snapshot
74
/100
12
Incredipede
74
/100
13
Home
69
/100
14
Worms Revolution
68
/100
15
Long Live The Queen
67
/100
16
Little Inferno
65
/100
17
Guns of Icarus Online
64
/100
18
Jagged Alliance - Back in Action
62
/100
19
Port Royale 3
55
/100
What is the best Simulation game of 2012?
XCOM: Enemy Unknown currently tops the ranking with a score of 88/100 across 551 ratings. Ranking updated août 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.