Summary
The management genre is a staple in gaming and has been for a long time. Most gamers will have played at least one. Fromcozy farming simulatorsto tycoon builders, there are many options for players to sift through when searching for their nextmanagement game. While most games in the genre hinge on making the most money or gaining the most customers, even survival games can come under the management label.
RELATED:Most Complex Management Games
For players seekinga darker tone, there are many brilliant options available. Players can manage whatever they want, but choosing the best with so many options can be hard.
Do Not Feed The Monkeys 2099has a simple yet chilling concept. The player takes on the role of a voyeur, watching screens, called cages in the game, to find out information about the subjects in them. There are secrets to discover and cages to unlock, but the challenge comes in as players must manage resources. The character must eat, rest, and earn money for new cages by working off-screen.
Do Not Feed The Monkeys 2099is just comedic enough to avoid being as dark as others. However, it is just creepy enough to make players feel unsettled.
Don’t Starveis aclassic resource managementgame beloved by millions. Players control their character and guide them through a wasteland where almost everything is deadly. The objective of the game is simple: don’t starve, and survive for as long as possible. The cutesy art style lightens the mood of what is truly a dark game.
There is a real difficulty here, even for experienced players. It is easy to die and not so easy to manage the character’s life that a player controls.
They Are Billionsthrusts players into a zombie-infested dystopia, in which they must build a strong base and explore the map in order to survive. The base has to be protected and expanded, while players must fend off the local zombie population. Infected villages are available to scavenge, but this poses a considerable risk. With eight resources to manage and tech trees to keep an eye on, there is a lot to this game that makes it better than the average zombie survival game.
RELATED:Most Stressful Management Games
They Are Billionsis a fresh take on an old concept. There is darkness and swathes of enemies, and there is much for the player to watch.
Homeseekis set ina post-apocalypticwasteland at the beginning of the next century. Earth has limited resources, especially regarding water, and players must make life-and-death choices. Players build their own cities and must choose between growing their communities to include struggling survivors or keeping the community secure and closed off to others. The location of every building must be meticulously planned to maximize efficiency, or the community will begin to struggle.
This game is brutal. Turning down outsiders in the setting the game has can feel awful, and sometimes, there are no good choices for players to make.
Gordis a brilliant choice for players looking for the darkest atmosphere possible. The game looks miserable, and the concept matches. Players must build a settlement near a haunted forest and manage the villagers. Settlements have a limit to the amount of space they can take up, forcing them to decide what to build and where to build it. The villagers need to be managed, as they all have three meters to keep an eye on: sanity, health, and faith. When these get too low, the consequences are disastrous.
Gord relies on micromanagement and thrives through its dark atmosphere. Players must give their full attention to their village to end up successful.
Prison Architectmay seem like an unusual choice for a dark management game, but with a campaign that opens with a death row scenario, it definitely deserves a look. Players build private prisons and must manage the happiness of all prisoners inside. This game includes the potential for prison riots, which can lead to prisoner-on-prisoner violence, and obviously includes death row. Building a working prison is difficult for beginners, and keeping prisoners happy is another layer on top of that.
Prison Architectis a brilliant management game with the potential to become highly dark depending on how well players can manage their prisons.
The cute art style ofOxygen Not Includedcovers up the dark nature of the concept. When a new game is launched, players meet three colonists who have ended up on an asteroid with limited breathable air. The goal is to create and manage a space colony and survive while addressing the colonists' needs and the oxygen supply. As the map expands, players can encounter vacuums, which will deplete the oxygen levels of other areas, making survival more difficult.
This game isan exciting city-builderwith a dark twist, and players will love managing their space colonies.
Frostpunk, as indicated by the title, is set ina frozen world. Players assume the role of a leader in an alternate version of the 19th century and must build and manage a community in a global volcanic winter. Specific facilities, including the medical facility, will stop working if they aren’t kept warm enough. The game forces some harsh choices on players, including an option to opt for child labor to keep the community going.
RELATED:Best Colony Sims
Frostpunkis beautiful and makes players become dictators of their own mini-cities. Making the choices necessary to survive can be unethical here, which is precisely what makes it so dark.
The Long Darkis not a traditional example of a management game. There is no city building and no community to manage. Instead, players take on the role of a bush pilot who has crash-landed into the Canadian wilderness andfinds himself in solitude. Players must survive the frigid temperatures while controlling caloric intake and protecting themselves against wind chill, hunger and thirst, wildlife, and more. There are three game modes to choose from, with survival mode being the one if players want to see how long they can survive with these factors to manage.
The Long Darkis a game in which players must manage survival above all else. Exposure is a killer here, and survival can be a struggle.
This War Of Mineis the best dark management game on offer for gamers. Finding resources in the war-stricken world is challenging, and players must manage the need for food and warmth with the character’s need for rest after busy and depressing days. At night, while players are scavenging abandoned buildings for supplies, the base is vulnerable to attack from bandits. Players can leave the house safely and return to find team members dead.
This War Of Mineis abrutal management gameagainst a harsh war, focusing on the average civilians who lose the most. It is challenging to get the hang of and can easily tug on the heartstrings.
