The Sapling

About

The Sapling is a simulation game where you design your own plants and animals, and put them in a world together. Or you turn on random mutations, and see what evolution does to your ecosystem!

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

90%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,090 reviews

graphics26 positive mentions

optimization34 negative mentions

The game has a lot of potential and offers a fun and engaging evolution simulation experience.
The creature and plant creation systems are intuitive and allow for a high degree of creativity.
The developer is active and responsive to community feedback, regularly updating the game with new features.

The game suffers from significant performance issues, including lag and frequent crashes, especially in sandbox mode.
Camera controls are clunky and unintuitive, making navigation difficult.
There is a lack of depth in the evolutionary mechanics, leading to limited diversity in species adaptations.

optimization
160 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
66%
21%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with players reporting severe performance issues that hinder gameplay, especially as populations of plants and animals increase. Many users express hope that the developer will prioritize optimization in future updates, as the current state makes the game nearly unplayable for extended periods. While some acknowledge improvements over time, the consensus is that significant work is still needed to enhance stability and performance.
- “Each update that comes out further enhances the game and its mechanics in addition to performance.”
- “Addressing optimization issues would significantly enhance enjoyment.”
- “I trust the dev is working on performance and stability, and I'm really excited to see where he takes the game from here.”
- “The performance is awful, and the creation of creatures and plants especially is quite clunky and confusing.”
- “I want to love this game so much, but it's frustrating not being able to play in the same world for more than an hour without performance drastically dropping.”
- “The game has some promise, but is in a barely playable state, and from what I see the dev is more concerned with adding more and more content instead of fixing fundamental issues like memory leaks and abysmal performance.”
stability
100 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is currently plagued by significant stability issues, including frequent crashes, freezes, and various bugs that hinder gameplay, particularly as the complexity of the simulation increases. Many users report that the camera controls are janky and the overall optimization is lacking, making it difficult to enjoy the experience fully. While there is potential for improvement, especially with upcoming updates, players are advised to wait until these stability issues are addressed before diving in.
- “Interesting concept and I wish it had been good, but it's really laggy even on my high-end computer, and the amount of glitches and features that just do not work at all along with the lack of optimization makes this a game you should wait to get.”
- “After 3 years in early access, this game is still a buggy mess.”
- “From what I saw from the YouTube videos, I saw this insanely well-done evolution simulator game, made by an indie game developer fueled by passion, but the product I actually got in my hands was simply an unbearably buggy mess, and it was extremely hard to set up an interesting simulation for the game.”
graphics
82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
51%
17%
The graphics of the game are generally considered simplistic and unpolished, often leading to performance issues such as crashes and lag, even on lower settings. While some players appreciate the charming art style and potential for improvement, many express frustration with the game's optimization and the inability to run it smoothly, even on high-end PCs. Overall, the graphics are seen as a significant drawback, but there is hope for future enhancements as the game is still in early access.
- “It's got a charming aesthetic.”
- “This game, especially with its new update, is incredibly mechanically complex and the creatures look amazing with max graphics on.”
- “Graphics are charming, the gameplay is fun, and I feel good for supporting an indie developer.”
- “Don't let the simple graphics fool you, this game will at times bring your high-end gaming PC to its knees, only able to spit out single-digit frames.”
- “Even with every graphics/performance setting turned as low as possible, it still slowly devolves into constant lag and long loading times.”
- “Secondly, the game runs terribly; for something with such simple graphics, I'm amazed that it runs so poorly.”
gameplay
80 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
57%
10%
The gameplay of the game is generally praised for its interesting mechanics and potential, offering a fun sandbox experience and engaging challenges. However, many users report significant optimization issues, bugs, and confusing mechanics that hinder the overall experience, with some stating that the game becomes unplayable after a short period. While the core gameplay is enjoyable, it requires further refinement and stability to fully recommend.
- “The gameplay is nice and interesting; you can play in the sandbox or do the challenges that teach you the mechanics of the game (and are also fun later when you want to max them out).”
- “The core gameplay of this game is very fun and satisfying, although I would love to see a bit more variation in terrain.”
- “Love the mechanics and simulation depth; creating an ecosystem that's evolving in real-time is such a fascinating idea and it's a lot of fun to mess around with.”
- “I like this game, but I can't give it a positive recommendation when I know that you've got maybe 10-20 minutes of gameplay max before your game becomes too laggy and you can't do anything anymore (using the timeskip feature at this point has a real possibility of freezing you in the timeskip, so don't).”
- “First of all, the camera alone is a buggy mess. This is one of the simplest mechanics and it has somehow been messed up; it stops moving randomly, speeds up randomly, teleports to the other side of the map randomly, and zooms out randomly.”
- “As it stands, however, I wouldn't recommend this game, as for me the core mechanics are flawed.”
music
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
38%
13%
The music in the game is widely praised for its quality, with many users describing it as epic, calming, and well-suited to the gameplay. However, some players have reported issues with music stuttering and resetting after world reloads, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite these technical problems, the soundtrack is considered a highlight, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere.
- “The mechanics are great, the creatures look cool, the music is amazing, and it's always fun to do the scenarios and sandbox.”
- “Very promising for an early access game, and the music is nice and relaxing.”
- “This is a very calming game, I would recommend this plus the music goes so well with the flow of the game.”
- “Whenever the world reloads, the music is turned on again (even after I turned it off), the light goes crazy, the plants are ginormous, and the game crashes :(”
- “But as it is, it's unplayable for any length of time. It has many bugs; the music stutters, and the game just goes weird with graphic errors every time I play.”
- “The music for the game is relaxing.”
humor
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely appreciated, with players finding the creatures and their antics, particularly the fish, to be amusing and entertaining. Many reviews highlight the game's ability to generate unpredictable and hilarious situations, even in the face of bugs, which some players find endearing rather than frustrating. Overall, the humor adds a delightful charm to the gameplay experience.
- “This game's new food and fire update/beta is quite buggy, but the game itself is wonderful and funny.”
- “I give it a positive rating as I find these bugs hilarious.”
- “The sapling is a beautiful game and can also create unpredictable and hilarious outcomes.”
story
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
63%
19%
The story mode is currently the primary focus of gameplay, with users praising its engaging narrative and challenging missions, despite some technical issues like crashes. Players appreciate the depth of the story, likening it to a personal quest reminiscent of the game "Spore," while also enjoying the sandbox mode for its creative freedom. However, some missions are noted to be particularly difficult, which may hinder progress.
- “The sapling is one man's quest to make the game he imagined Spore to be.”
- “The story levels help out.”
- “The sandbox is a load of fun where I get to make my own challenges, but - and this is rare for me - I enjoy the challenge of the 'story' mode!”
- “Effectively, only the story mode is playable right now.”
- “It's extremely good but it keeps on crashing and I'm still playing the story mode.”
- “Second mission/phase is impossible.”
emotional
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the game emotionally uplifting and wholesome, particularly appreciating its simulation elements that resonate with their love for nature and relaxation. The overall sentiment reflects a strong connection to the game's positive and comforting atmosphere.
- “Thanks Wessel for making a good wholesome game.”
- “I'm a big fan of simulation games and touching grass, so this is pretty much perfect!”