The Sapling
Wessel Stoop · 2019 · Life Sim, Sandbox, God Game, Science, Nature
PC
Very Positive89% · 1,865
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About The Sapling
✦ AI summary
Design custom plants and animals from the ground up, then watch them evolve and compete in procedurally generated ecosystems with dynamic seasons and environmental challenges. The game's deep simulation is introduced gradually through scenario-based learning, then opens into a sandbox where random mutations drive realistic evolutionary arms races as species adapt or go extinct.
Design algae and plants
Whether you want a small flower that glows in the dark, black algae specialized for planets without a lot of sunlight, or a forest of giant trees covered in spikes, it's up to you.
Design aquatic, land and flying animals
Want a brightly colored fish that drags itself onto land to hide its eggs in burrows? Or perhaps a land animal that gives birth to live young and quickly runs from flower to flower to drink nectar? Or what about a flying carnivore specialized for diving and catching its prey underwater? Again, it's up to you.
Scenarios: learn the simulation step by step
While the simulation in this game can be deep and complex, it's introduced to the player step by step; it never becomes overwhelming. Each scenario tasks you to build an ecosystem that meets specific requirements, and introduces a small number of new concepts.
Sandbox: build your own planet
The sandbox offers the same functionality as the scenarios (but, obviously, with everything unlocked), but also much more: play with the procedural planet generator to get the exact planet you want, whether it's a desert world, an underwater world, or whatever you come up with. It even allows you to define up to 8 seasons to spice that ecosystem up a little. While playing, you can continue to change things: the next ice age is always only a few clicks away.
Turn on random mutations and see what evolution does with your ecosystem
The most exciting feature of the sandbox, at least according to solo dev Wessel Stoop, is random mutations. See your algae, plants and animals evolve to quickly fill available niches, see how some species are outcompeted immediately while others bloom for thousands of years... only to die out when their food source evolves a new trick to escape, and a completely different clade jumps in the now vacant niche.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
its dsificult
Just spend the extra 3 dollars on spore
good
With the specs being so low, you wouldn't expect it to run this horribly. My PC is way beyond the listed requirements, yet the game runs like absolute sh!t. Ridiculously long load times, frequent crashes, and generally p!ss poor optimization. I load it up maybe twice a year to see if the problems have been fixed, and each time I regret wasting my time. I love the concept, but it's just not a fun or engaging experience. You can't just have a novel idea and an interesting concept, you need to make sure it actually works if you're expecting people to pay for it.
ts awesme
The game is good, but it could be better. I’ve put together a few things you could add, Wessel Stop: Scenarios Mode: You could provide more detailed explanations for certain parts and include explanations for features found in Sandbox mode—like planet editing, which took me a while to figure out how to use. Sandbox Mode: You could add a mechanic to change the spectral class of the star our planet orbits (e.g., from Type G to Type M) and a system to add natural satellites or allow us to create life on them. It would be great to choose whether we orbit a rocky or gas planet. You could also add an atmospheric chemistry system to let us tweak the planet's gases and equip animals with traits allowing them to breathe different gases (like hydrogen, as on Titan). Additionally, an axial and tidal system would be cool—allowing us to apply tidal effects or lock a celestial body's axis (like tidal locking), forcing life to adapt to living only in the twilight zone, or eventually adapting to eternal day or eternal night. Finally, you could include unicellular life so we can truly start from the very dawn of life. I hope you read this and add one of these suggestions to make the game even mor…
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