The Sapling
Very reminisce of Spore, but focus on natural selection and ecology which Spore seriously lacked. I completed all the current scenarios. So a 4 out 5 for me, and must buy for anyone who want an ecological game.
In a world filled with in-your-face tutorial, Sapling tutorial teach to basic and then allow the player learn the rest thru trying out all the functions and hover-over information. A serious plus.
The scenarios are both pleasing and challenging puzzles, and as I said before the scenarios teach the player how to use the game thru experimentation over in-your-face hand-holding flood of pop-up tutorials that plague the gaming world. Even once you completed all scenarios, the sandbox is actually challenging and very satisfying despite the fact everything is unlocked. With mutation and time-skip for sand-box, it allow you is more accurate natural selection.
– Real player with 22.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Nature Relaxing Games.
I really love this game, I also love creating creatures to play as, or to just simply observe them evolving! Its fun to see how they would do in the wild trough a simulation. Though, this game is small and all, I’d want to be able to use a brush tool to change moisture and temperature of places, with it automatically changing the color and creating puddles or mud, maybe even a coloring tool to give the ground some color! *With this there should be an option to make the lakes not be automatically created. But also, we should be able to create our own lakes, so we can make a swamp-like environment for our creations to survive in! But really, overall I’d rate this game an 8.5/10 , one of the problems I have is lag, even with a good pc and low settings, probably due to many things moving at once all the time and the crashing. Another issue is the time cap I encountered, everything froze and I could only get past it trough a time skip, which took a whole 7 minutes to be done. But I enjoy this game alot, despite the issues. Hope you guys can develop this game to be one of the best simulation games ever!
– Real player with 19.9 hrs in game
Beetle Uprising
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Very cute.
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Very relaxing.
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The evolution system is realistic.
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You can feel the power growing.
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Kind of dislike the fact that we must kill our own beetles.
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Don’t be too boldy. It is a relaxing game. Not a “Conquer as quick as possible” game.
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You end up with a mess on the floor.
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Decorations are useless and lack of potential.
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Kind of annoying how the inventories work. Lack of organization. Annoying to navigate.
Conclusion :
I am really not sure if this game is supposed to be beautiful or efficient…
– Real player with 22.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Nature Colony Sim Games.
While at this time it is still in early access, this title has a lot going for it even with some of the drawbacks.
Its a nice little management game with some real time tactics for the combat, that grows in depth once you start playing around with the genetics to improve your combat abilities. You go from simply looking at your highest stat numbers and trying to combine them, into looking at the genetic tree of your particular units then breeding based off that to improve on your entire gene pool, which does lead into one aspect of the game that needs some work in my opinion at this stage as you spend a lot of time just sat there, combining genes then throwing the inferior beetles into a blender to make room for the next set.
– Real player with 21.3 hrs in game
Vilmonic
Vilmonic is a sandbox game which focuses on the evolution of alien species called anims; they adapt to environments, go extinct, go through periods of population peaks… Anims change shape as they try to find a way to fulfil their role in a niche, when faced with competition from other anims. I have high hopes for this game, and I believe the developer will continue to grow it.
Vilmonic for me is a concept game, it is still in beta as I write this, the game has potential to inspire many into pursuing perhaps even careers in genetics, or simply educating people in times where evolution has been considered controversial. It has a friendly aesthetic for new users, the control schemes can be somewhat clunky.
– Real player with 151.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Nature Agriculture Games.
The ONLY modern A-Life game you can do a successful Wolfing Run.
For the young ones, that is a term coined by the Creatures series community, which has been on the net since 1999.
Wolfing is leaving your artificial lifeforms to their own devices for several hours, maybe while at work or sleeping, and coming back to a population that has changed, persisted, and survived natural selection factors. Mods are needed for Creatures 2’s bugs but the three games can theoretically support a “wild” population of creatures without player input for extended periods.
– Real player with 30.8 hrs in game
Woodland Empire
Woodland Empire is a An ANTI-citybuilder; a natural take on the typical city building game
Instead of building roads and power lines, you control the wind, rain and sunlight to help your forest grow.
Manage, upgrade and grow your empire with the help of woodland creatures, including foxes, wolves, squirrels and birds
Harness the natural instincts of predators and prey to spread and fertilize your forest.
Tired of the hustle-bustle of the typical city builder? Retire to the wilderness and live in harmony with Nature
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Control the forces of wind, sun, rain and time
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Grow and upgrade trees and plants
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Encourage wildlife to thrive and prosper
Honeycomb
Day by day, technological progress changes not only the lives of people, but also the smallest life forms on our planet. In our project, we would like to direct your attention to a very important issue of our times - the extinction of wild bees, which despite their tiny size, has a huge impact on the entire Earth’s ecosystem.
Greetings explorer! You are going to spend quite some time in the laboratory - don’t forget to go on a research expedition into the unknown. A world full of exploration, building and crafting awaits you!
You are the last hope of Earthlings.
Research both flora and fauna - standard scanning is not enough. Explore the world of genetics and experiment with various possibilities to even create a new plant genera. Mutating plants and species promotes new raw material discoveries and blueprints. Experiment to master new technologies and settle your base in new environments.
This new world can be beautiful but dangerous as well - an undiscovered fruit or a contact with previously unknown, even the most innocuous-looking animals can provoke a disease, for which you’ll have to invent a cure. Some of them are tamable, some can only be feared and fled from - there is only one way to find out.
For optimal productivity, an explorer’s life has to be comfortable! Take care of your “workplace”, create the needed conditions by yourself and even decorate your base. Build drones, mobile laboratories, habitat, and research stations. Don’t stop there - create multiple stations in optimal locations, safety, weather or raw material wise, and ensure safe travel between them - hoverboard is the best way to start.
The planet stores the secret key that may help you in saving the earth and its inhabitants. Remember! It is up to you how you use that knowledge.
Adapt
Adapt is a survival evolution game designed to simulate the constantly changing environments life must navigate to thrive. To succeed, your species will need to find food using a multitude of dietary strategies, seek out habitable environments, and react to changing seasons, and global climate. Your competitors will evolve alongside you, vying for food and territory to ensure their own survival.
- Live Features -
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Species’ customization through modification of genetics and physical traits to determine your evolutionary strategy.
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Numerous adaptations allow for diverse play-styles and physical characteristics.
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Plant life exhibits seasonal behaviors and growth, producing seeds and fruit, losing leaves, and acting as home for edible insects.
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Complex species AI behaviors including hunting for food, seeking mates, tracking, and hiding from predators.
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Attempt to survive virtually anywhere, from the tops of mountains, to the bottom of the seas.
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Species specialization through special abilities such as varied dietary and locomotive strategies, shells, poison, and climbing.
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Hunt or be hunted: Predators will stalk, chase, and track potential prey for an ambush, and even cooperate for an easy meal.
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Visual, audio, and scent queues, to keep tabs on potential friends, threats, and food.
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Dynamic day/night, and seasonal cycles create a living, and constantly changing world.
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Multiple reproductive strategies provide diverse species relationships and unique experiences.
OVERVIEW (A Walk Through The Universe)
Just bought this last night and dove right in, as ever since buying a VR system a couple of months ago I have wanted a “space exploration” simulator experience. I came across “Overview” by accident as I was looking for inexpensive VR games. I was a bit nervous about the purchase, given the mixed reviews, but it was on sale ($5) and so I figured the risk-to-reward ratio was acceptable.
Happily, I can report that I love “Overview.” Certainly there are some options I would love to see added, but for what this game is and has now, I think it is amazing. The flyover Saturn alone was worth the purchase, in my opinion.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
I am reposting this from a review I wrote on Reddit last week: I saw the the title of Overview in the Steam Store and added it to my wish list a few weeks back. Most people may have heard about the overview effect that astronauts all share when they look down at the earth from so far away and it makes them realize how small we are in the grand scheme of things. So. when it was on sale recently I grabbed it and was excited to try it.
It’s basically a single sequence that lasts about 30 minutes with another explore our solar system feature as well (which is good but underwhelming if I’m honest). The sequence is the star of the show but it too starts s bit slow. At first I found myself a bit disappointed- sure the graphics were gorgeous but it just wasn’t thrilling to me-I wanted the earth to be bigger in my perspective. I was missing the point I suppose!
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Territory - animals genetic strategy
Territory is an isometric 2D real-time single player strategy about genes and animal species. Animals are behaving the way they would in nature, but you can indirectly control them and mutate them to achieve various goals like dominance in the ecosystem.
Core Gameplay Mechanics - Challenge Mode
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you are entering the game with one species and mutate it to different species later on
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you are playing on the map with existing ecosystem that is producing various sources of food
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you are changing species genome and that is changing its attributes and behaviour
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map is populated with various species (~10 depending on map size), species can die out, species can mutate to new species in time
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each species has its own territory, its size and shape can be adjusted
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species can be herbivores, omnivores or carnivores and can have one of five different sizes
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species lives complete live from being born to death, need food to survive
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individual animal can die in fight, starve to death, can be killed by predator, die by disease or die by old age
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species are hostile only when they share the same source of food and has similar size
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you can migrate your species to new territories
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you can invade enemy species on its territory
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you can defend your territory from enemy species
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you are evaluating your surroundings and complete ecosystem to determine your next steps
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species are reacting indirectly on player’s command if certain conditions are met (migrate to new territory only when not being hungry, having certain genes, etc.)
Core Gameplay Mechanics - Sandbox Mode
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you are playing on the map without any species
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you can create unlimited number of species
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your goal is to achieve the largest biomass and/or diversity
Intelligent Design: An Evolutionary Sandbox
Science!
This is a game for people who enjoy patiently solving puzzles. Completing all the game objectives is not the end game, it’s where the game starts. Once you know how everything works, you spend time trying to develop genetic recipes for plants, herbivores, and carnivores. You can conduct experiments inside the contained forcefields. You tweak the balance until it stays stable. You observe how random mutations either help or hurt the design.
I spent an entire day developing my “stepping stone” plant recipe. Over the next few hours the plants mutated into taller “fat candles” that were better able to stand up to the stresses of wild fires and getting munched on by herbivores. This weekend I’ve assigned it as a science project for my homeschooled kid. I haven’t figured out how to get the herbivores and carnivores into a stable balance yet. I have lots of experiements left to run!
– Real player with 60.1 hrs in game
this game is interesting enough in its mechanics, to me, to give it a thumbs up, although seeing the general opinion and commentary on this game i see there are just as many reasons to give it a thumbs down, a neutral vote would be amazing here.
all in all this is a fairly simple looking game, but not very optimized for what it needs to do, especially when populations start going into the thousands the game grinds down to a snailspace or worse, this is because of the many calculations going on while the game is not multithreaded, leaving it incapable of processing its own data at a fast enough rate,besides that, and if you keep populations low enough (amount depends on your pc’s cpu power) you will have a fun time for a while.
– Real player with 35.9 hrs in game
Tiny Bubbles
Tiny Bubbles is a world class casual puzzle game. It’s a joy to play each moment because the physics are so robust, and it still manages to be a genuine challenge. I love how the mechanics are loose enough to where you straight up have to quickly finesse the physics sometimes to beat the level, or you can take your time and megamind it. Add the “Nick’s Praise Award” to your giant award cabinet.
– Real player with 50.8 hrs in game
Tiny Bubbles is one of those puzzle games that is mesmerizingly beautiful and zen to play.
I loved the beautiful sounds and peacefully balanced levels. I could enjoy mastering the challenges without having the cognitive overhead of a complicated UI often found in other puzzle games.
Everything was very intuitive. Actions primarily were fill colors and break barriers to merge liquid into a larger surface area.
I could play this game for hours. It helps me relax when stressed.
– Real player with 31.2 hrs in game