Games like RollerCoaster Tycoon®: Deluxe

The Squirrel's verdictPlanet Coaster puts creative control over theming at the center: rides, walls, floors, and decorations are built piece by piece rather than dropped as pre-made units. The trade-off is a clunky UI with no tutorial, staff that require constant attention, and no in-game guidance when things go wrong. Median playtime runs around 26 hours, shorter than a deep RCT career save. Rated Very Positive at 91.3% positive, priced at $44.99.

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 verdictBoth are 90s-rooted management sims built around optimizing systems until profitability clicks: RCT with rides and park layout, Gazillionaire with trade routes, cargo, and space hazards. No coaster building or ride construction here — this is buying, selling, and reacting to random events like meteor strikes and space piracy instead.

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 verdictSame core: build coasters, manage a park, chase profitability. Off the Rails adds a playable avatar, rider minigames, and co-op, trading pure top-down management for a more arcade, mission-driven structure. Fits players who liked shaping rides and parks but want direct character control and shorter, guided objectives instead of open sandbox park-building.

Not for you if you want the unstructured sandbox management of RCT rather than missions, minigames, and a controllable on-foot character.

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 verdictBoth are management sims about optimizing production chains and profit rather than combat or story. Chocolatier trades roller coasters for ingredient sourcing, recipe crafting, and trade-route travel, with a light narrative wrapper. Median playtime sits around 15 hours, shorter than a career RCT save, suited to those who want the same numbers-and-supply-chain satisfaction in a smaller box.

Not for you if you want RCT's open-ended park building rather than a bounded, recipe-and-trading structure with a defined story arc.