Indie · January 28, 2021

Academia : School Simulator (2021)

trophy140 achievementslocal_offer-50% current discountgroup100k–1M ownersrecommend2.7k recommendations
Build a high school with fantastic facilities like science labs, basketball courts, and art rooms, or do the bare minimum and live off government subsidies! Will you offer your delinquent students counseling, or simply send them to detention to let them waste their lives away? Will you hire the best teachers or cheap out and build giant classrooms with a 1:100 teacher to student ratio? Will you build enough toilets, or snicker as your students are forced to relieve themselves in the bushes? The choice is yours! Academia : School Simulator is a cheerful yet challenging management game from the artist of Prison Architect and the studio that brought you Political Animals. Student motivation is driven by various needs, including hygiene, hunger, and discipline, and they'll become even more complex as time goes on, eventually competing in school competitions like spelling bees and even falling in love. Teachers are unique, with different subject specialties and degrees. Eventually they will also have their own motivations that need to be satisfied so they can keep teaching at the highest level. Build Canteens, Clinics, Computer Labs, Common Areas and much more as you create your dream Educational Complex. Do you think the janitors aren't doing a good job? Plot out their routes yourself in order to ensure maximum efficiency. From potted plants to statues and fountains, we have everything to make your school the envy of all! And we'll keep adding decorative objects so that you can have a completely unique school. Students that look like zombies and eat brains? why not? Want to run a school where the students are literally prisoners? Whatever floats your boat! Image mods are available now, and language and other mods will follow in the future. Customize your school seal and motto to make a school that is uniquely yours! Normal mode requires you to balance your budget and provide the best education that you can with your money, while sandbox lets you go utopian with unlimited money!

Indie releases from 2021

39 Indie titles launched in 2021 — top 6 by review volume.

Community Tag Signals

Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.

  • Management · 257
  • City Builder · 238
  • Colony Sim · 235
  • Base-Building · 230
  • Simulation · 220
  • Building · 220
  • Capitalism · 217
  • Economy · 215
  • Strategy · 200
  • Sandbox · 198
  • 2D · 188
  • Top-Down · 184
  • Funny · 180
  • Cute · 180
  • Realistic · 177

Peer Indie titles

Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.

Position in Indie

MetricThis titleGenre position
Review volume2.9k Steam reviewsTop 72% in Indie
Positive rating86% positiveGenre average: 87% — this title sits in top 65%
Engagement hours9 h averageTop 65% for session depth among Indie

Localization Coverage

Interface / Subtitles (12)

  • English
  • Japanese
  • German
  • Russian
  • French
  • Spanish - Spain
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Italian
  • Polish
  • Portuguese - Brazil
  • Spanish - Latin America
  • Thai

Press Quotes

“I initially forget to put in bathrooms, though I'm sharp enough to notice that my students keep running outside to pee in the bushes. Let the trauma and embarrassment of school life begin!” PC Gamer “Academia: School Simulator’s Steam page suggests you can make the high school of your dreams. But my school, Leo’s Learning Emporium ended up as more of a dystopian nightmare.” Kotaku “I had a giddy moment during the trailer where something about the blocky classrooms and…

Engagement Profile

All-time avg

9h

short (5–15 hours)

Median

7h

Typical completion time

2-week avg

0h

Current engagement

Achievements

140

Steam unlocks available

Features & Capabilities

Community

  • Steam Achievements
  • Steam Trading Cards
  • Steam Workshop
  • Steam Cloud

Other

  • Single-player
  • Family Sharing

Release & Availability

Release dateJan 28, 2021
DeveloperSqueaky Wheel Studio Inc
PublisherParadox Interactive
Base price$9.99 -50%
PlatformsWindows, macOS
Estimated owners100k–1M
External linksOfficial site · Support

Reception Metrics

Steam community

86%Very Positive · 2.9k reviews

2.5k positive · 404 negative

Curator recommendations

2.7k

Editions & Packages

  • Buy Academia : School Simulator