If you enjoyed playing god and creating your own universe but want more titles to sink your teeth into, then check out our pick of the best games like Spore to play today!
After multiple delays, when Spore finally released way back in 2008, it was met with pretty glowing reviews across the board.
Despite its simplistic gameplay loop, the fact that you essentially become god and evolve your very own species was a huge draw.
Since then, many gamers have been after a similar experience, but you have to do some digging to find other titles of this ilk.
This is due to Spore being very niche in its genre and most games that attempt similar mechanics just don’t pull it off.
However, we’ve managed to pull together a list of the best games like Spore to play today, so you know which are worth their salt.
Read on to start your genetic journey all over again!
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4. Niche (2016)
If you’re someone who wants to add a bit more strategy to your games like Spore, Niche could be your go-to choice.
While you create animals, breeding them in the process, it’s all about keeping them alive, fending off predators and more.
If you’re not successful in your efforts, your beloved species will become extinct thus ending the game.
Surprisingly, Niche is actually turn based, something that is certainly a departure from other genetic survival games.
Releasing in 2016, it has a bit more of a The Sims look to it over compared to Spore, but with an intriguing take on the genre, you should give it a chance.
3. Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution (2018)
In what is probably one of the closer experiences you’ll get to Spore, Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution offers you the chance to observe and meddle with evolution.
As you would expect, you will be creating creatures and keeping them alive through developing a solid ecosystem.
However, the options go seriously deep with this one giving you the ability to set up the world parameters, such as terrain, temperature, fertility and more which all have an impact later down the line.
With all this being said though, Species is actually still in early access.
This status hasn’t changed since the game launched on Steam in 2018, so we expect that there won’t be any further updates to the game to make it a complete package.
And if we’re being truly honest, the graphics also leave a lot to be desired.
Contrary to Spore which has a bit of a cartoony feel, Species is more ‘realistic’ looking. but the graphical fidelity is definitely lacking which could be annoying for some.
But, if you don’t mind a few quirks and bugs, hop into one of the best games like Spore with Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution and do some creation.
2. The Sapling (2019)
The Sapling describes itself as an evolution simulator and it more than fits the bill.
You both craft a planet, its vegetation, and any life forms in an effort to create a long standing ecosystem.
There has been some impressive detail made in terms of customization giving you complete control over not only what everything looks like but the colors too.
This gives you a real sense of ‘creation’ and is very alike to Spore because of this.
One caveat with The Sapling is that it is quite buggy overall.
It is a one man dev team on this so it is to be expected, and if you can move past that, there is some serious fun to be had making it one of the best games like Spore.
If it gets more love later down the line, with more added features and overall improvements, it could become something special.
1. Thrive (2021)
The results are in, and Thrive is officially the best game like Spore to play today! The goal with Thrive is to survive. As you’re thrown onto an alien planet as a microbe, you have to mutate and learn to overcome any challenges.
Being the newest title on this list of games like Spore, you’d expect it to offer a bit more than just a clone of the original.
And you’d be right.
What many are describing as Spore 2, Thrive builds on the model that Spore introduced and almost fulfills the potential of where its predecessor was somewhat lacking.
Once you make it passed the initial lifeform stage, you’re able to get some customization going and explore different parts of the planet that could accelerate your growth.
Surprisingly, Thrive is still in early access but it has some seriously great foundations.
What’s more, it is still actively being developed on which makes it that more attractive in comparison to some of the other early access options in this guide.
Overall, there’s a plethora of reasons why Thrive takes the top spot in this list and we’re certain you’ll have a great time playing it.
As alluded to earlier, due to Spore being very niche in both its gameplay and ideas overall, it’s pretty tough to find any really stellar alternatives.
But, with the above list of games like Spore we’ve put together, we believe that you should be able to find one to quell the itch.
Now you can become god once more and see if your new creation either thrives or flounders!
If you enjoyed this games like Spore list, why not expand your other gaming horizons by taking a look at games like Pikmin, or games like Harvest Moon.
