Gridworld

About

Gridworld is an artificial life simulator where abstract creatures evolve in a two-dimensional ecosystem, competing for food and struggling for survival. It offers a user-friendly interface to customize simulations and observe evolution in action over hours instead of thousands of years. The game promotes hands-off experimentation, allowing users to tweak parameters and witness creatures adapting to their created environments.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

84%

Audience ScoreBased on 335 reviews

story1 positive mentions

gameplay4 negative mentions

The game offers a fascinating simulation of evolution, allowing players to observe emergent behaviors and adaptations over time.
It's a great value for the price, providing hours of observational entertainment and the ability to experiment with different environmental settings.
The level of detail in the evolution mechanics is impressive, with various traits and behaviors developing in the creatures based on random mutations.

The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult for players to navigate and understand the mechanics of the game.
The game can be very slow-paced, requiring a lot of patience before any interesting evolution occurs, which may not appeal to all players.
There are frequent performance issues, including crashes and lag, especially when running larger simulations with many creatures.

graphics
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
38%
31%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a minimalist and simple pixel art style, which some players find appealing for its background ambiance, while others criticize it as lacking detail and quality. Despite the low framerates and clunky interface, the game's focus on evolution simulation is appreciated by those who can overlook its visual shortcomings. Overall, the graphics are seen as a mixed bag, with some players enjoying the simplicity and others wishing for more polished visuals.
- “Normally I enjoy graphically beautiful, rich open world exploring games, but this is a beautiful one to have in the background whilst I do all my boring day-to-day admin. I keep coming back to see what's happened in my little biome.”
- “Really nice graphics.”
- “When you can live with a minimal graphic petri dish simulator, this one is great in what it does.”
- “I must say, despite the (very) crappy graphics, the game has potential.”
- “Terrible framerates despite pixel graphics, deeply flawed and clunky user interface, and all this for basically a petri dish simulator.”
- “There are many similar simulators with better graphics (even in 3D) available for free, not just on Steam.”
gameplay
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
71%
17%
The gameplay is characterized as simplistic and slow-paced, often described as more of an educational simulation than a traditional game. Players engage primarily by adjusting world settings and observing the evolution of creatures, but many find the experience hindered by a clunky user interface and a lack of engaging mechanics. While the concept is intriguing, the execution leaves much to be desired, leading to frustration with prolonged periods of inactivity and minimal visual appeal.
- “I can see why since it looks so simple, yet infinite gameplay is what you get when you play Gridworld.”
- “Interesting, fun for its genre type, but slow pace and simplistic gameplay for the complexity of the game.”
- “Gameplay: while this is more of an educational simulation with the express purpose of demonstrating how evolution from chaos works on a micro scale, there are a few key events to look for.”
- “It's also important to note that this is not a game or offer any kind of gameplay, and it's absolutely hideous to look at, making it very unappealing.”
- “Cons: very simple gameplay and visuals, slow to start, with creatures taking a long time for a viable one to appear.”
- “Great idea, but clunky UI and slow/unreliable gameplay make this simulation unplayable.”
optimization
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
31%
54%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its smooth operation while others report significant performance issues, including low frame rates and noticeable lag. Many users attribute these problems to poor programming choices, particularly the use of Java, which they believe hampers the simulation's efficiency. Overall, while the game offers engaging gameplay, its optimization leaves much to be desired, especially for those sensitive to performance.
- “Great game! I love it! I'm the guy who likes these; I've collected literally all evolution games I can find since there aren't many. This one is amazing! It has that flare, and although I literally have zero idea what's going on, I'm slowly learning. I just had my first successful species; I call them beavers since they look like them and work together like beavers making chains. But I'm pretty sure the food shortage and overpopulation caused most to die in quick succession. But that's the beauty of it—letting them learn. Oh, and finally, can someone tell me what membranes are? Also, a quick idea: it runs smoothly, but autosaves take a bit.”
- “You should try it out if you are a Darwin fan and ironically don't care about performance.”
- “Awesome sim, but the performance is horrible (a good PC runs it at 40 fps, wtf?)”
- “Actually, the performance of this 'simulator' is so poor that there is a lag in the mouse click of at least one whole second.”
- “Unfortunately, it's written in Java and badly optimized, so exploring even basic possibilities will take hours or days, when a well-written simulation in a lower-level language would take seconds.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it relaxing, while others consider it to be of poor quality. Overall, it seems to lack a lasting impact, leading to a general sense of dissatisfaction among users.
- “The music is bad, if there is any at all. I haven't played since early 2015.”
- “I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
story
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The story conveys a powerful message about resilience and the unpredictability of life, emphasizing that perseverance in the face of adversity can lead to unexpected and rewarding outcomes.
- “The moral of the story is that you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users suggest that the game's replayability could significantly improve with a complete revamp of the user interface, indicating that the current UI may hinder the overall experience and enjoyment of replaying the game.