Thrive

About Thrive

Thrive is a single player open world management game. It was developed by Revolutionary Games Studio and was released on November 26, 2021. It received very positive reviews from players.

Thrive is a free, open-source game about the evolution of life. From the lowly tidepools of your home planet, you will rise to cosmic dominance. At every step, powerful creation tools and deep simulation mechanics will aid your species' development.

Skip Games Like Thrive

Looking for games like Thrive? Here are top open world management recommendations, selected from player-similarity data — start with The Sapling, Planetary Life or Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution.

90%2.1kreviews

The Sapling

2019

Open World Simulation

93%477reviews

Planetary Life

2025

Management

75%1.5kreviews

Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution

2018

Simulation

79%2.1kreviews

OUTBRK

2024

Open World Simulation

81%3.1kreviews

Startup Company

2020

Casual Management

86%1.7kreviews

MMORPG Tycoon 2

2020

Open World City Builder

92%6.4kreviews

Colony Survival

2017

Open World City Builder

59%1.3kreviews

Saurian

2017

Open World Simulation

65%748reviews

Draconia

2022

Open World Role Playing

90%3.8kreviews

Prehistoric Kingdom

2021

Economy City Builder

More games like Thrive

Skip User Reviews

Reviews

91%Audience ScoreBased on 1,172 reviews

gameplay39 positive mentions

grinding7 negative mentions

Deep and engaging simulation of cellular and microbial life with detailed organelle customization.
Offers a scientifically grounded and more realistic alternative to Spore's cell stage, appealing to biology and evolution enthusiasts.
Active and dedicated development team with frequent updates and community engagement, showing steady progress and strong potential.

Limited current content, primarily focused on the cell stage with later stages still in early development or prototyping.
Steep learning curve and sometimes unclear tutorials and UI can make it difficult for new players to grasp gameplay mechanics.
Performance issues and bugs, especially in later stages like multicellular, including frame rate drops and occasional crashes.

gameplay
144 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27% positive mentions, 64% neutral mentions, 9% negative mentions
The gameplay of Thrive is praised for its scientific depth, strategic freedom, and engaging evolutionary simulation within the single-cell stage, offering many hours of play and replay value. However, players often find it complex, sometimes overwhelming due to numerous mechanics, limited content beyond the microbial stage, and a slow, occasionally tedious progression that may hinder accessibility and enjoyment for some. As an early-access title, it shows strong promise but requires refinement, better tutorials, and expanded gameplay stages to fully realize its potential.
- “The gameplay is complex but not rough to get a hang of, with a very high level of freedom in how you evolve your cell and which area you go to next, with weather events and evolutionary branches from each split providing dynamic gameplay every playthrough.”
- “The gameplay's real focus is on the evolution of your species and carving out a niche successfully.”
- “The auto-evolve mechanic for non-player species works really well and makes the ecosystem feel alive and reactive.”
- “I think there are too many stats, abilities, cell parts, and other various mechanics, and the tutorial in general does not do a good job helping me to understand what is happening.”
- “The gameplay loop could use some refining - several times I found the best strategy was just to float completely still and wait to divide, which is not a very engaging loop to do over and over just to add one or two bits onto a cell and then wait another 10-ish minutes.”
- “Gameplay amount I would estimate to 1–2 hours, and even these couple hours are not enjoyable at all.”
graphics
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25% positive mentions, 67% neutral mentions, 8% negative mentions
The game's graphics are generally described as decent, with a style that strikes a balance between cartoonish and detailed scientific visuals, though primarily basic and sometimes seen as placeholder during early stages. While some praise the artistic presentation and sci-fi aesthetic, others report performance issues and minor graphical bugs, especially given the game's early development status. Overall, graphics are adequate but not outstanding, with room for optimization and improvement as development progresses.
- “It's not like me to beam about a game, but I've been along for the ride with this one for a long time and I recognize it as a piece of digital artwork.”
- “The graphics style manages to find a good middle ground between the almost cartoonish look of Spore and the painfully detailed animations of molecular and cellular mechanics released by some channels on YouTube.”
- “The graphics are great, the gameplay is interesting, and the cell construction is wonderful.”
- “For this game to be successful they will need to alter their approach, and do a lot more on making the visuals and the bugs at the beginning better before moving on to further content, which they seem to be doing, and isn't the right approach given how broken the intro is.”
- “Really really bad game, low graphics, not optimized and terrible gameplay.”
- “I had 5-7fps rates during gameplay and there is no way to turn down graphics.”
optimization
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12% positive mentions, 76% neutral mentions, 12% negative mentions
The game currently suffers from significant performance and optimization issues, particularly during the multicellular stage where severe lag and low frame rates occur even on high-end PCs. While some players find it playable, many report that late-game performance drops make it frustrating or nearly unplayable. Developers are expected to improve optimization in future updates to address these persistent performance problems.
- “Multicellularity brings about performance issues, though it's still playable and I can only assume this issue is being worked on.”
- “Another criticism is that resolution (which says auto so potentially be careful not to use a 4k monitor or higher) and fps (which says 400) can't be tweaked at all which may lead to performance drops which I've experienced; however, I expect in the future for this to be updated and allow any resolution and fps to be chosen, and also there are options in the game that reduce physics systems.”
- “At its current state (Nov 2021), the game has some performance issues (for instance auto-evo is pretty slow) and there are some glitches, but the game is still early access so hopefully these aspects will be fixed/improved.”
- “It is a good game but its performance at the multicell stage is terrible, like 10-3 fps, and I am disappointed even with my very high performance PC. The macro stage is just balls and a rock; I was expecting more for a 2-year-old game.”
- “For now, I'd suggest that the devs work on optimization, since the lag can be incredibly bad as soon as you attempt to attach to other cells, and is exponentially worse when you get to the multicellular stage.”
- “After like 10 minutes, it's so laggy it's unplayable, and even when I reduce performance settings it still lags too much to play.”
music
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53% positive mentions, 47% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its calming, atmospheric, and dreamlike quality, with many users considering the soundtrack among the best they've heard. It enhances the overall experience, making gameplay meditative and immersive, though a few note sound effects can occasionally feel distracting. Overall, the soundtrack is a standout feature highly recommended even for those drawn primarily by the music.
- “The music makes this game almost dreamlike to play; it's some of the best ambient music I've heard in a while.”
- “Even the intro, which is un-cool in most games, is cool here; and don't get me started on the music—it's just the best I've ever heard.”
- “Still, what an absolutely amazing experience over the past three or four hours or so, especially with the devs' choice of music.”
replayability
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33% positive mentions, 47% neutral mentions, 20% negative mentions
Replayability in the game is generally seen as strong due to dynamic evolution, environmental variety, and multiple playstyles, offering near-infinite potential for experimentation and exploration. However, some users feel that after a few optimized playthroughs, the challenge and novelty diminish, making replayability limited for longer sessions. Overall, while the current content may be somewhat short or barebones, the game's design encourages repeated playthroughs and emerging strategies.
- “This would preserve the world's history, maintain the survival challenge (resource costs), and massively increase replayability by letting us see the world from a different evolutionary perspective.”
- “Even in its current barebones state, Thrive is already a great game with tons of replay value and potential for emergent gameplay.”
- “In the span of thirty hours, I don't feel like I've even touched the surface of what ecological niches are out there; due to the dynamic evolution and the multitude of organelles to combine to fulfill different playstyles, Thrive has near-infinite replayability that will only improve with time.”
- “It's great that it's realistic, but it kills replayability quickly as it's just variations on a theme.”
- “Pretty good but no replayability.”
- “There is some replay value, but you'll have optimized too much by the third playthrough for much challenge during an entire session.”
story
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20% positive mentions, 60% neutral mentions, 20% negative mentions
The game has no traditional narrative but presents a unique evolutionary progression concept where players influence the development and diversification of life. Although an explicit story or quests are minimal or absent, the gameplay subtly conveys a broad evolutionary theme through its mechanics and atmosphere.
- “Thrive's story is a wholly unique example of a project that basically just existed on paper for multiple years and sprouted to become an actual fun game.”
- “The story that is told is the appearance, spreading, and evolution of life through billions of years, showcased via a pseudo-Darwinian evolution algorithm.”
- “The role of the player in this story is to take control of a single evolutionary lineage, strategically mutating their organism in an editor and determining which biomes it migrates to.”
- “No story or progression available towards unlocked items (e.g., showing quest to unlock mitochondria).”
- “Atmosphere and some kind of plot are not added yet.”
- “After this short story, you could get a bit of understanding of how the session goes in this game.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 30% neutral mentions, 70% negative mentions
Grinding in the game is generally seen as tedious and excessive, especially when unlocking new components or evolving complex structures, leading to a slow and boring gameplay experience.
- “To unlock a new component, you have to complete some tedious tasks.”
- “Both take mutation points from the same pool, so making a complex 20 cell structure is really grindy.”
- “Everything is still under development and needs some work; besides that, it becomes a bit grindy at later evolutions.”
stability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 89% negative mentions
The game currently suffers from notable bugs and stability issues, including crashes and performance slowdowns, particularly in early stages and complex gameplay elements. However, as an early access title, it shows promise with frequent updates and an engaging core experience despite its rough, unstable state.
- “Incomplete game, spent all day trying to get to a complex organism and land, but it's buggy and needs improvement.”
- “Good game, the whole multicellular stage is a bit buggy, starting with more than a cell accidentally separates you from the colony, without the option to merge back.”
- “At its current state (Nov 2021) the game has some performance issues (for instance auto-evo is pretty slow) and there are some glitches, but the game is still early access so hopefully these aspects will be fixed/improved.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67% positive mentions, 16% neutral mentions, 17% negative mentions
The atmosphere is engaging and immersive, enhanced by pleasant music and environmental sounds like lightning. While currently offering a solid short-term experience, players hope for expanded atmospheric dynamics and long-term environmental changes influenced by player actions in future updates.
- “Currently, as of 27 Jan 2025, the game is quite atmospheric, guiding your little guy around to grab molecules to keep going.”
- “Music is pleasant and atmospheric, with well-appreciated muffled strikes of lightning.”
- “Likewise, changing atmospheric conditions may make your design unsustainable and force adaptation, like finding new energy or moving to different patches.”
- “Atmosphere and some kind of plot are not added yet.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The humor in the game is lighthearted and playful, with users appreciating its quirky and entertaining elements. The community-friendly tone and developer engagement add to the overall enjoyable and amusing experience.
- “10/10 funny looking cell go brrrrrrr”
- “I for one am excited and I think the best sentence to describe the game is: Thrive is already an entertaining and enjoyable experience that empowers players to create, truthfully, whatever organism they'd like; the development team listens to the community and continues to improve what needs to be better while also never encroaching on the things that have allowed Thrive to, again, 'thrive' (I know I used the pun twice, it's funny, shush).”
- “The game is neat, I can see the direction it's going; it could mean some funny stuff.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
Users highlight that many games are either extremely expensive, overloaded with ads, or demand high-end hardware for graphics, but they appreciate the absence of microtransactions.
- “No microtransactions or anything.”