Utopia - The Creation of a Nation is one of those weirdly addictive SNES strategy games where you're basically playing god over a tiny island. You start with a blank slate—just some land and a handful of settlers—and have to juggle resources, build towns, and fend off disasters like storms and pirates. The pixel art is charmingly simple, but don't let that fool you—it gets surprisingly deep once you figure out how everything connects.

At first, I kept running out of food because I didn’t balance farming right, and my people kept revolting. Then I realized you can actually bribe pirates instead of fighting them, which changed everything. It’s got that classic '90s strategy vibe where half the fun is learning from your own disasters.

If you liked SimCity but wished it had more random chaos, this one’s worth a look.