The Sapling
Sandbox ecosystem simulator where you design species and watch evolution
Wessel Stoop · Released Dec 12, 2019 · Early Access
- Reviews
- Very Positive
- 89% of 2,002
- Recent reviews
- Very Positive
- 86% of 30 in 30 days
- Playing now
- 18
- peak 24h 41
- Steam Deck
- Playable
- Last update
- 4 months ago
- May 16, 2026
What is The Sapling?
The Sapling is a single-player ecosystem simulator in which you design algae, plants, and aquatic, land, and flying animals, then see how they fare on a planet. Goal-based scenarios introduce the simulation gradually; sandbox mode lets you generate a planet, set seasons, change conditions, and turn on random mutations.
For you if...
- +you enjoy creating organisms and testing their survival
- +you like watching simulated evolution unfold over time
- +you want both structured scenarios and open-ended sandbox play
Not for you if...
- −you want fast action rather than observing a simulation
- −you prefer a scripted story to ecosystem experiments
What players say
89% of 2,002 reviews are positive · 86% of 30 in the last 30 days
Players praise designing organisms and watching ecosystems change. They commonly report poor performance, bugs and crashes, and awkward controls and interfaces. Some say random mutations produce little meaningful variety.
Screenshots and trailer
The Sapling system requirements
As published by the developer.
Minimum
- OS
- Windows 7
- Processor
- A processor with SSE2 instruction set support
- Graphics
- Graphics card with DX10 (shader model 4.0) capabilities.
- Memory
- 16 GB RAM
- Storage
- 150 MB available space
- DirectX
- Version 10
Recommended
- Memory
- 32 GB RAM
PC version details
DRM, required accounts, controller support and Steam features.
- DRM
- None declared on Steam
- Controller
- Keyboard and mouse
- Platforms
- Windows, Linux
- Achievements
- 5
- Steam features
- Cloud saves, Family Sharing
Steam Deck: Playable
- Some in-game text is small and may be hard to read
- All functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration
- Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck
Tags
- Life Sim
- Sandbox
- God Game
- Science
- Nature
- Artificial Intelligence
- Simulation
- Procedural Generation
- Dinosaurs
- Aliens
- Education
- Relaxing
- Open World
- Casual
- Singleplayer
- Atmospheric
Recent updates
- May 16, 2026 · Patch v13.71
- Apr 7, 2026 · Patch v13.57
- Mar 17, 2026 · Patch v13.52
- Mar 7, 2026 · Patch v13.49
- Feb 24, 2026 · Patch v13.46
1 DLC available.
Games like The Sapling
