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 Sandbox Life Sim 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
PHYSARUM: Slime Mold Simulator
11/10 would slime mold simulator again
30 hours edit: 11/10 still would slime mold simulator again
– Real player with 34.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sandbox Atmospheric Games.
Very cool simulation. I have mainly been using it in Video mode with ripped VHS tapes to get some cool visuals for streaming / video synthesis stuff. Dev also responded in forums and added requested features, which is always a big plus.
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game
Spaceflight Simulator
EXPLORE SPACE
Be in command of your own space program, from rocket design to interplanetary travel and achieve your dream of cruising through the cosmos in your custom spacecraft.
In Spaceflight Simulator, you will get to engineer your rockets, plan launches and flights, attempt landings, deploy payloads and explore new worlds.
EASY-TO-PICK UP, HARD-TO-MASTER
You could be launching your first rocket within minutes, but landing it in one piece might be another story!
With so many parts to pick from, you will learn through trial and error how to build spacecrafts best adapted to each of your missions. You will have to master navigating through the Solar system and landing your vehicle on all the planets and moons, each with their own atmospheric and terrain conditions.
REAL-WORD PHYSICS
During the design phase, you will get to assemble your own launch vehicle from a wide variety of components and pair them with a multitude of engines, all modeled after their real-world counterparts. Each part possesses its own technical specifications (mass, aerodynamics, etc.) which will affect your rocket’s behavior.
All engines accurately model thrust and fuel consumption affecting how much payload you’ll be able to carry safely. You’ll be able to create multistage vehicles, control how they separate and when secondary burn occurs in order to achieve the optimal trajectory.
BUILD YOUR WORLD
Fuel your ambitions, launch satellites, build exploration rovers, space stations, multiple rockets into space. Your world is persistent and only your imagination is your limit.
Conquer the harsh conditions of the Solar system, travel long distances and build your presence in space throughout multiple missions.
PARTS, PARTS, PARTS
Each part is highly detailed and serves a particular purpose. They are all based on their real-world equivalent and allow you to recreate your favorite historical rocket.
● Fuel tanks (20 sizes and configurations)
● Engines and thrusters (6 propulsion systems and a reaction control system)
● Aerodynamics (13 fairings with many nose and side cones)
● Capsules, probes, payload systems, separators and docking ports
● Landing systems (legs, parachutes, wheels)
● Utilities (solar panels, batteries, electrical, structural)
● Skins (to personalize your rocket)
WHAT TO EXPLORE
Each destination is modeled accurately in terms of gravity pull and atmospheric conditions, offering a challenging landing experience every time.
● Earth, your starting point
● The Moon, Earth’s celestial companion
● Mercury, the smallest planet of our solar system and the closest to the Sun
● Venus, Earth’s inside neighbour with an extremely dense and hot atmosphere
● Mars, the red planet with a thin atmosphere
● Phobos, Mars' inner moon, with rough terrain and low gravity
● Deimos, Mars' outer moon, with an extremely low gravity and a smooth surface
● Jupiter, the gas giant with its thick atmosphere
● Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Each with their how terrain and landing difficulty
Read More: Best Sandbox Space Sim Games.
Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution
Species: ALRE is a game for those of us longing for the glory days of SimEarth and though those days are long gone we can atleast see some semblance of evolution happening here.
The Good
Species ALRE gives players a wide range of options to steer how evolution will occur throughout their playthrough. There are map-wide effects such as raising or lowering the sea level, increasing or decreasing land fertility, screwing around with the global temperature and more.
Other effects are to introduce artifical selection pressure for traits that the player finds (un)desirable. This is achieved through rovers, spawnable autonomous entities that are given a single mission, to either feed or kill those with the trait in question. This allows the player enough freedom to have his creatures evolve however he wants, such as giving them enormous necks or creating a biome consisting only of hyper-aggressive huge herbivores.
– Real player with 49.7 hrs in game
I want to be clear: this is not a “game” for everyone, but if the idea is intriguing enough to you and you have some spare cash I would say take the risk and invest in it. There is nothing like this anywhere else. This isn’t some sort of half-assed early access stuff that will poorly mimic other titles then end up abandoned. This is a legit playground for anyone with a fascination with biology, genetics and evolution. If you want to make it a “game” and actively set goals you can. However, a good question to ask yourself is whether you’d be interested in letting the simulation play out without any interference.
– Real player with 45.5 hrs in game
Universe Sandbox
the physics are really good.. NO..more like PERFECT. The physics is based on Newtonian Physics, although this game isn’t using Einstein’s General Relativity, this physics is really accurate. If you lower the timelapse, the physics is more accurate. But if you add the speed of the timelapse, the physics is less accurate. Nonetheless, this game is not only stunning, awsome and satisfying ( Except if its lagging lol) But also Educational and Usefull. Perfect. [Note to player: if you have something wrong, just go to settings , there are so many tools.]
– Real player with 98.7 hrs in game
I wish universe sandbox would add a feature where you can change the type of clouds a gas giant has along with more materials
– Real player with 75.2 hrs in game
Rover Builder
(Oct 8)
A bunch of changes have been made. Generally building has improved greatly with symmetry working properly now, and the addition of namable crafts.
There could still be improvements like the ability to copy paste sections or copy paste part parameters, but id say this is easily worth your time if you like physics sandbox games now as you arent fighting the clunkiness as much.
–———————————————————–
(initial)
Its obviously very ea, but that doesnt change the review does it. I cant recommend it in its current state, but il update if that changes.
– Real player with 36.0 hrs in game
I definitely enjoy playing this game; it lets me unleash my inner engineer. I have had a lot of fun building unnecessarily complicated rovers. Despite having only a handful of parts (or maybe because of it), Rover Builder is a deceptively challenging game.
However, there are a few bugs/issues that I have found rather detracting. Fixing these will greatly improve the game.
- Bearings don’t always load correctly when the simulation starts. Sometimes they disappear and sometimes steel beams coming off of the bearings are in the wrong orientation. In order to fix this, I have to go back to the builder, delete the bearings, and reinsert them. Sometimes even that doesn’t work.
– Real player with 30.8 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
Kerbal Space Program
I kind of feel it’s late to post a review for KSP at this time as I think that anyone who would be interested in such a game has heard about it by now, but hey, you never know.
For me, KSP is more than a game, it is more like a hobby. You spend hours building your ship, you fill it up with little green Kerbals and then actually fly it to space!
Every milestone you achieve feels extremely satisfying. You feel proud of yourself for every new goal you reach, and not in the way you do in other games, it’s not that you had good reflexes, or that you killed some big boss. You actually designed, built and flew a spaceship! And you did all that using realistic rocket parts, and realistic, unforgiving Physics. No clicking “launch” and poof you’re in space in this game.
– Real player with 2380.7 hrs in game
Well, actually, this test flight was not my idea…
…doesn’t matter now anyway!
After years of “test flying” I have solid ground under my feet again thanks to the Almighty!Where this uselessness of Jeb is hiding? He really tell me, “Just travel to the moon and back,with his best apprentice till now. No big deal!”. I should have told his grandma about the idea, after all, she would have told me something! Why i was so dumb to agree this flight?
When I get him in my fingers. Believe me! ..Oh..
– Real player with 2033.8 hrs in game
Elementary Sandbox
Create and destroy on an unimaginable scale… with a particle physics simulator that combines real-time gravity, strong and weak interaction, electromagnetic and material interactions to reveal the beauty of our fundamental interactions and the fragility of our universe.
Key features
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Quark System - build particles out of Charm, Strange, Up and other flavors of quarks.
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Colorful wave effects of particle interactions.
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Electromagnetic fields, potentials and other charms of our world.
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Nuclear reactions.
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Substance Constructor.
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Informative encyclopedia of substances, chemical compounds and particles.
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Share & explore templates of simulations on Steam Workshop.
Diluvian Winds
Diluvian is a 2D management/adventure game seen from the side in semi-real time, in a context of exile due to the rising waters. The player embodies the Guardian, an individual who, refusing to leave his lighthouse, will witness this mass exodus.
Expand your Community by Floating, Flying or even Submerging
Each Lodged Refugee will make changes of varying magnitude around the Lighthouse, making it more resilient to the gradually rising waters.
Enter a poetic universe combining Sail Punk architecture and Anthropomorphism
In order to survive, the Keeper will have to choose whether or not to house nearby Travelers in need of help.
Experience countless stories with procedurally generated events and characters
Different Survival Paths will be open to the Keeper to adapt his Lighthouse to withstand the flood.
