Summary
Simulator games come in a wide variety of flavors.You got your city tycoons, park managers,and even the simple management of your own virtual avatars. One type of simulator that can be a fun experience if done well is simulating animals and wildlife in an ecosystem.
Simulating an ecosystem in these video games can be as complex as micromanaging the water and weather of a given environment for your wildlife. It can also be a bit more simple by playing out the life of an animal you’re following or even controlling its evolution.
Developer(s)
Thomas van den Berg, Noio Limited
In an empty space in the sky, take urban ruins and refuse and watch as they get overwhelmed with plant growth in this relaxing growth simulator.There’s not much of an objective in this except to have a good time listening to soothing music as you build several structures full of plants.
The structures you’re able to use for buildings are diverse and endless, along with the spaces you can forge on. Once you are content with the buildings and layouts you’ve made, you can then add plant and vine spots that can spread and grow all across your environment. The rest of the level then plays itself as you watch the serenity of nature grow over your creations.
Bitmap Galaxy
Preserve is a unique little game where you start on a small island made out of hexagons. The objective is to turn your small landmass into a thriving environment full of plants and animals. You’ll need to balance formations such as rivers and trees to develop an environment that fits all animal life.
The gameplay loop involves using cards to manipulate the weather for each land tile you have. For example, rain will turn a barren tile into a lush grassland and rivers start on mountain tiles to flow downstream and nourish other land masses. As you develop the tiles, you’ll eventually be able to fit different species of animals to inhabit these regions.
Exit 1 Studios
EcoGenesis is a 2D black-box simulator where your mission is to make an ecosystem that can survive through millions of years. Maintain a balance of life-nourishing resources and, in the process, you can unlock and populate the world with over 100 different animal species.
Several of the animal species you can unlock are creatures familiar to our time, like lizards and cats, while others are prehistoric marvels like the dinosaurs. Extinction caused by environmental change is an inevitable hazard, but life has a way of beating the odds. With your help, you can unlock three different possible victories for life on your planet.
Stray Fawn
A fascinating little simulator where you can control the trajectory of your creature’s genetics, adaptations, and evolution. Niche has a bit of a randomized roguelike element in the environments you reside in. Climate change can occur along with harmful diseases and the introduction of other dangerous animals to add to the randomized challenge.
To survive these tumultuous circumstances, you’ll need to manage the breeding and development of your species, ensuring they have the adaptations and traits to endure the ever-changing nature of the world. Several adaptations that can pop up are horns, different fur coloring, biting strengths, and how picky they could be in their pack.
Wessel Stoop
The Sapling is a simulation game on Steam in Early Access that lets you design your entire world literally from the ground up, from creating the landmass designs of your planet to populating it with critters that can develop and change to fit your created environment. The game functions as an educational resource, showing you how the development of life works.
The development of species follows what is known in today’s science, where biodiversity needs to start in the sea before organisms begin adapting to land. While the graphics are simplistic, the art style and design of the unique creatures you can create and watch develop are very creative. The Sapling is also short gameplay-wise, so experimentation is encouraged.
Lilou Studio
With your creative mind and love for aquatic life,Fishery is an aquarium simulator similar to Fishkeeper,where you can design your own little environments to let your favorite fish species live their little lives. The many fish you can add are all accurately based on their real-life appearances and biological needs, making for a very immersive and educational experience.
There are three key elements in the creation of your aquarium before adding your critters. The first is lighting for getting a clear shot of the place. The second is the substrate for forming your aquarium’s ground structure for coral, rocks, and seaweed. Finally, you’re able to choose several backdrops to give your environments that extra boost in immersion.
ThinMatrix
Equilinox is a nice and relaxing nature simulator that allows you to create your ideal environment and then build it up for all kinds of creatures. All the bouncing cute little animals you bring to your created worlds all have different needs, requirements, and balances to maintain their populations. The 3D blocky graphics also add to the charm of Equilinox.
As with all environmental simulators, you’d need to create great water sources, plants, and trees to thrive in these places. Once the environment is in place, herbivores like sheep and deer can eat the plants, and soon predators like wolves could be added and there you have a healthy nourished ecosystem that can grow and develop further than that.
Free Lives
In a world devastated and left a barren wasteland,your mission in Terra Nil is to resurrect the wasteland so that it can return to a thriving ecosystem full of diverse life.To do this, you will have access to several machines and buildings that restore water, purify air, and terraform the region that will eventually bring animals back. Once that’s done, you can remove your technology and leave nature in peace.
The eco-technology you use to restore these environments can be manipulated to support many environments and ecosystems. Forests blend seamlessly into grasslands, mountain ranges, swamps, and jungles. Each map you start with is procedurally generated, meaning each playthrough will offer you a new and unique experience.
Very Positive
Ecosystem takes you into an underwater environment as you manipulate the evolutionary progress of the aquatic creatures while they struggle to survive and reproduce, ensuring their genes are passed to a new generation of unique adaptations. The possibilities of your creature’s evolution are endless and fit into the natural science of life.
As you progress through the game, you will unlock and gain more ware to actively intervene in the evolution of your creatures, whether you want them to start with certain traits or remove others and see where it goes. Like any good simulator, you may also sculpt and alter the formation of your landscapes to create the best ecosystem for your creatures.
Abbey Games
Reus 2 takes the idea of an ecosystem simulator and gives it a fresh look and approach. Take control of six different types of divine giants to control and change the face of your many worlds. Each of them has an affinity to an element of nature they can change. As you create the best worlds for your human settlers, you’ll gain inspiration to further level up the giants for new abilities and formations.
There is Atlas, the Rock Giant, who can create desert biomes for minerals to obtain, along with Khiton, the Ocean Giant, who can split continents and raise the sea. Other giants also bring different environments and ecosystems, such as Satari, who raises forests, and Aegir Giant, who brings snow. Together with these giants, you’re able to bring balance, joy, and security to the many worlds in the galaxy.
