Games like RollerCoaster Tycoon®: Deluxe

The Squirrel's verdictPlanet Coaster is built for players who want granular, piece-by-piece control over every themed element of their park — rides, walls, floors, and decorations are all placed individually rather than dropped as pre-made units. There is no tutorial, and the UI is widely noted as clunky and unintuitive. Rated Very Positive at 91.3% positive, priced at $44.99, with median playtime around 26 hours.

Not for you if you want structured guidance or a streamlined management experience rather than freeform, detail-heavy construction.

The Squirrel's verdictRCT3 Platinum moves the franchise to a full 3D engine, adding in-park camera riding, water parks, and a broader ride selection while keeping the core park-building and profitability loop intact. Players who prefer the simplicity of pre-placed food stalls and straightforward path tools over free-form 3D construction tend to favor this over Planet Coaster. Steam rating is Very Positive at 91.9% positive, with median playtime around 47 hours. This version is no longer available for purchase on Steam — Frontier's lawsuit against Atari led to its delisting, and the Complete Edition is the current purchasable release.

Not for you if you want a version currently sold on Steam, or need water parks and zoo content included.

The Squirrel's verdictRollerCoaster Tycoon Classic combines RCT1 and RCT2 scenarios under a redesigned UI built originally for mobile touchscreens, which multiple reviewers flag as a significant downgrade from the originals' mouse-and-keyboard interface. It runs natively without third-party tools and is compatible with OpenRCT2. Priced at $19.99, rated Very Positive at 91.0%, with median playtime around 24 hours.

Not for you if you want the original RCT1 or RCT2 interface intact rather than a touch-oriented redesign ported to PC.

The Squirrel's verdictGazillionaire suits players who enjoy the abstract optimization loop of management sims — buying, selling, and reacting to random events like meteor strikes and space piracy — with no physical construction involved at any point. Trade routes and cargo replace coasters and guests entirely. Rated Very Positive at 94.7% positive, priced at $9.99, with median playtime around 14 hours.

Not for you if you want the physical park-building and ride design that defines RollerCoaster Tycoon rather than trade-route management.

The Squirrel's verdictPlayers who want to walk around inside their park, ride attractions, and complete guided objectives will find Off the Rails a closer fit than open sandbox builders. It keeps the coaster-design and park-management core but wraps it in missions, minigames, and a controllable on-foot character. Priced at $9.99, rated Very Positive at 93.1% positive, with median playtime around 10 hours.

Not for you if you want unstructured sandbox park management without missions, minigames, or an avatar to control.

The Squirrel's verdictRCT3 Complete Edition is the currently sold, Frontier-developed release of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, adding water parks, zoos, and custom fireworks to the standard park-building loop. It runs on modern systems without compatibility workarounds and includes more content than the original release. Priced at $19.99, rated Very Positive at 87.4%, with median playtime around 16 hours. Reviewers note the UI does not scale above 1080p without manually editing a game file.

Not for you if you want deeper creative control over theming and construction rather than the more structured, pre-made-asset approach of RCT3.

The Squirrel's verdictChris Sawyer designed both this and RollerCoaster Tycoon, so the underlying logic — build networks, manage economies, watch interconnected systems run — carries over directly. Locomotion replaces coasters and guests with trains, ships, planes, and city-to-city cargo. Priced at $5.99 with a Very Positive rating, it suits players who want that same satisfaction of clicking systems together applied to transport infrastructure. An open-source successor, OpenLoco, exists for those wanting greater stability.

Not for you if you want coaster-building and guest management rather than cargo routes and transport networks.

The Squirrel's verdictPlayers drawn to the optimization and supply-chain satisfaction of management sims, but who want a shorter, story-bounded experience with no construction component, are the core audience here. Chocolatier trades park-building for ingredient sourcing, recipe crafting, and trade-route travel across a light narrative. Median playtime is around 15 hours. Rated Mostly Positive at 72.5% positive, priced at $9.99.

Not for you if you want open-ended building and park design rather than a defined story arc with recipe and trading structures.