Ecosystem

Simulator Strategy Indie Sandbox

Mostly Positive

574 reviews

November 8, 2024

Released 540 days ago

Hype

PC (Microsoft Windows)

About

Grow and modify an ecosystem, with simulated evolution by natural selection creating the lifeforms that inhabit it. All the creatures in the trailer evolved on their own in the game. None were hand-edited!

Storyline

Ecosystem isn't just a video game version of the laws of ecology with pre-made fish models. The simulation actually determines the creatures in the game: their bodies, how they swim, and how they think and behave. All the creatures in the trailer evolved on their own in the game; none were hand-edited!

Virtual creatures evolve on their own to adapt to an environment you create
At Ecosystem's heart are evolving virtual lifeforms, who grow from synthetic DNA and live in a physically-simulated ocean. This synthetic DNA encodes everything about a creature, from skeletal structure to skin, from joint-types to mental processes. The genetic code of a creature can mutate, combine, be spliced with other species, and be directly modified by the player.

Creatures' nervous systems evolve along with their bodies
Creature brains are also encoded in DNA and subject to evolution. The neurology of a virtual lifeform is a pipeline computer where, every moment, data from sense organs is passed through a network of neurons and finally contracts a muscle in a specific body part.

Movement is bound by the laws of fishics
To swim, creatures don't just play an animation. They move like real sea-life, applying torque at their joints to push against the water in a way coordinated to propel themselves forward. Working within this physical simulation, evolution can produce an enormous variety of body shapes and swimming styles.

Play for thousands of hours and never see the same animal twice!
A wide variety of different creature populations share a single environment, where they swim, graze, prey on each other, and have children. The fittest creatures pass their genes along to their children, and over time a world of strange and unique creatures is born...