It’s that time of year again: tax season. Nobody particularly likes filing taxes, unless of course numbers and forms excite them. Even still, they are important to society. They pay for the public services that citizens use every day, such as infrastructure and public libraries.
Taxes even play a central role in several beloved video games. They can act as an essential gameplay mechanic or play a role in the background. They can poke fun at the need to do taxes or treat them with reverence. Either way, they need to be done. So here are some games to celebrate the annual salute to the IRS.
7 Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, focuses on staying as far away from taxes as humanly possible. The adorable Turnip Boy makes a deal with Mayor Onion to get his home back after failing to pay his property taxes.
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is a Zelda-like game where Turnip Boy runs around the area committing numerous crimes to reach his goals, including killing innocent animals and breaking into houses. He will stumble upon notifications and reminders to do his taxes, which upon reading, he summarily tears apart.
6 Caesar 3
Caesar 3 tasks individuals with building settlements to expand the Roman Empire. As any management game goes, several elements will have to be balanced. The Gods must be appeased via temples and festivals, trade must be conducted with other regions, and money must be earned for the glory of Rome.
Players are only allotted a certain budget at the start of a mission for development. That is why city residents must be taxed. If taxes are too high, though, they will become frustrated and start rioting in the streets.
5 Island Saver
Island Saver was published by The National Westminster Bank to teach people financial literacy. In the game, a Bionaut will travel to multiple islands and clean up the gunk and litter to bring back the various “bankimals” that call the islands their home.
To clean up the litter, the Bionaut will have to use recycling machines scattered throughout the islands. The catch is, though, that they can only be used via special tokens, which are acquired through taxes. Every once in a while, a specialized robot will come to collect a percentage of income from rescuing bankimals, which can be converted to these tokens.
4 A Game About Literally Doing Your Taxes
At first glance, A Game About Literally Doing Your Taxes seems to be exactly what the title describes. A pile of documents is presented to the taxpayer in the first-person. Tax documents, bills, and checks go on the left, while junk mail goes on the right.
A couple in-game days along the path, a whisper can be heard underneath the cheery music. The game quickly takes a dark turn, as the taxpayer starts having hallucinations, and the series of documents transforms into cryptic symbols and demented images.
3 Assassin’s Creed 3
While somewhat known as the black sheep of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed 3 has an identity all its own that makes it worth checking out. Series protagonist Desmond takes another dive into the Animus, where he relives the memories of Connor, an Iroquois man who takes part in the American Revolution.
A major impetus for the revolution was the taxes England imposed on the colonies to pay off its debt. These were carried out without any representative of the colonies having a seat in Parliament when it happened. In the game, Connor is able to participate in the Boston Tea Party, held in response to Britain’s taxes on teas, although the game version had significantly more killing than the actual event.
2 Sim City
The classic everyone knows and loves, SimCity is one of the original city management simulators. It made kids and adults alike the mayor of their own city, challenging them to set up and manage residential districts, industry, and entertainment.
Running a city isn’t cheap, though, so taxes will have to be collected. The tax system is a little different from game to game, with the original having a flat tax, and future installments providing more control over different industries and income brackets.
1 Unknown Horizons
Unknown Horizons will feel right at home for fans of classic city-building games. A settlement must be built in the new world, housing colonists, providing work, and engaging in trade. Another bonus for the money-savvy gamer is that it is free.
Taxes must be collected in order to fund the settlement’s operations. These can be adjusted on individual houses or as a whole at a town square, and multiple categories of residents are taxable, from sailors to settlers and citizens.