SimulationEarly Access
The Sapling
Give it 5 hours
Gets good by 5h then rated almost like by veterans
Started playing 90% of owners
Steam reviews 89% positive of 2,028
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (33%); after 7h it's 1 in 12 (8%).
- Few early reviews, so this is a rough estimate.
- 90% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 2,052 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 295 reviews: 11.2h for positive, 11.5h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (89.7% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
Story milestones aren't labeled yet; all achievements are listed below.
All achievements (5)
- Sweet Success Complete your first scenario 100%
- Adventurous Architect Play the Sandbox mode for 5000 years 66%
- Courageous Carnivores Get one of your animals eaten 61%
- Unbelievable Ultra Choose an animal color humans cannot see 55%
- Cool Completionist Finish all scenarios in the game 15%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-20.