PC gamers aren’t exactly short of games to play in 2022, and new ones are coming out all the time. The management genre offers a wide range of different settings and creative challenges to overcome, and we’ve highlighted some of the best to try in 2022 for your convenience.
Grand Casino Tycoon
One of the more creative settings for management games is Grand Casino Tycoon, which presents the player with the chance to try their hand at running their own gambling establishment. This starts off with designing the casino and organizing where the slots and table games should be, and the less glitzy items too (a casino without toilets is not going to be fantastic). Try and understand how patrons act to persuade them to spend more, whether that’s on drinks at the bar or playing games. Over time, you can have multiple casinos and there’s a sandbox mode if you just want to have a laid-back experiment with different strategies.
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Two Point Hospital
From the relaxed to the plain silly we move to Two Point Hospital, a fast-paced medical management game. The player has to try and turn a profit, which is easier said than done. Jumping in feet first, Two Point Hospital manages to make the deadly serious business of running a hospital into an awful lot of fun. Failed to cure someone? They might come back from the dead, seeking vengeance.
Sometimes games can take themselves a little seriously but Two Point Hospital does a great job of remedying that with light-hearted humor and (after the intro) a reasonable degree of challenge. It’s also helped by a sleek UI that makes it easy to handle, and has various patches/updates and DLC if you like it and want even more.
Rimworld
One of the top management games available for PC players right now is Rimworld. The bad news is that a colony has crash-landed on an alien world. The good news is they have an incredibly competent leader (the player) to handle things. AI plays a big role as it determines the personalities of the colonists (including their fears and how well individuals get along with one another), and also throws curveballs at the player on a regular basis.
Everything might seem to be running smoothly, but when the game throws assorted catastrophes (such as vomiting animals) your way then smart decision-making is called for. In addition, the game has had both plenty of mods and updates which have helped keep things fresh. Plus the game has an air of unpredictability that offers excellent replay value.
Frostpunk
Another colony-type management game, but one set on an alternative steampunk Earth, is Frostpunk. Forget global warming, here the world has been subject to an Ice Age. And unlike humorous indulgence commonplace with other games (see Two Point Hospital above) this is brimming with survival elements.
For those who like tough decisions, Frostpunk offers plenty. Instead of balancing an economy for profits, your focus will be trying to keep things going, which might mean making tough choices for the people in order to maintain this isolated outpost of humanity. That could mean having children put to work. Building steam engines to stave off the cold and feeding your people are both challenges that might see you make decisions that cost people their lives. But better to sacrifice a few for the many than the other way around, right?
Cities: Skylines
A less frosty and altogether more relaxed management game is Cities: Skylines. Sink hours into this city game, which combines easy building and freedom of action to make a compelling game. However, it is still an in-depth and complex game despite how simple the building is. Players can set city policies, name districts, determine how transport works in your city, and decide on how shopping, residential, and industrial areas grow.
Cities: Skylines has also received a bundle of extra content in the forms of both DLC and mods so if you want to customize things and expand the possibilities with this already great game then it’s a piece of cake.
Stardew Valley
Last but not least on our list of the top six management games for the PC in 2022, we come to the big beast that is Stardew Valley. The graphics are straight from the evocative 2D era and might just bring a little well of nostalgia to gamers of a certain age, but the gameplay is altogether more modern (and more challenging than the old-school graphics might suggest).
The player has been left a farm by their grandfather and has a lot of freedom as to how to go about things. Fancy breeding livestock (or slimes)? No problem. Or you can set up a jam business, or opt for the more obvious choice of growing crops. Nearby there’s a town where you can mingle with the locals, which also has a gameplay function as it opens up new possibilities and adds a certain personal depth to Stardew Valley that can be lacking with some management games. The most small-scale of the games on our list, Stardew Valley is also a fantastic and fun time sink with plenty of updates adding to the content.
From colonies on alien worlds down to growing a business from a farm to a casino or hospital, the best management games have a lot of variety for PC players to enjoy in 2022.