We discuss ten games like Spore you must play. Add these well-recommended games to your gaming library.
Spore is a 2008 game developed by Maxis and published by EA. Players start off the game as a tiny microscopic organism and must evolve to progress, emerging as a socially intelligent being, to taking over its planet, and finally, its rise to a space god, where players have to journey to the center of the galaxy to receive the Staff of Life.
Spore sits in a genre called god games, because it puts players in the position of a god, letting them shape the very world around them and control the inhabitants. Here are ten other games like Spore you must play, including some other god games.
10 Games like Spore
No Man’s Sky (2016)
No Man’s Sky is a game with a similar objective to Spore. Both games task their players with reaching the center of the universe. In No Man’s Sky though, players are given their very own ship to explore a procedurally generated universe, building bases, interacting with NPCs, and dogfighting in space.
While this game was a huge disappointment at launch, several updates have made this game a much more enjoyable experience.
The Sims franchise (2000-ongoing)
Another franchise developed by Maxis, The Sims lets players take the role of a god and control the everyday lives of characters called sims, letting them dress up, get a job, get married, and so on. It also lets players show their sadistic side, and they treat their sims with utter contempt.
Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution (2018)
Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution is a game where players control the very forces of nature itself and allows them to select creatures and tinker with their evolution in real time. A never-ending game, players can take a passive approach and just watch evolution play out, or take a more active role in choosing how species evolve.
Pokémon franchise (1996-2022)
Pokémon is a massively popular franchise where players can build their own team of Pokémon, little critter-like creatures that have their own type and moveset, and take them into turn-based combat. As the player progresses through the game, their Pokémon will evolve into new and stronger forms.
There are stories in each game, but the primary objective is to be the very best like no one ever was by beating the Champion of each region.
RimWorld (2018)
RimWorld is a sci-fi colony sim, where players will construct their own bases and manage their own civilization in space, with the game simulating aspects like the inhabitant’s psychology, the surrounding ecology, ranged and melee combat, different climate and biomes, diplomacy, interpersonal relationships, art, medicine, and trading.
GROW: Song of the Evertree (2021)
GROW: Song of the Evertree is a game that lets players develop a deep connection with the natural world as they help to restore the Worlds of Alaria and the Evertree. A sandbox game that lets players craft the world around them, and nature the flora and fauna back to its past beauty.
The Universim (2018)
Instead of managing a small bit of land with a few inhabitants, The Universim has players manage entire planets and has them guide many civilizations through the many different ages.
Each planet is different, with weather simulation and meteor crashes that can wreak havoc on the player’s work.
Stellaris (2016)
In this huge space strategy game, players can either take control of a prebuilt species or create their own and are tasked with exploring, colonizing, or conquering the galaxy, with the players building their own ships and bases to achieve these goals.
There are several ways to win the game depending on the player’s desire, ranging from the peaceful coexistence with other alien species, or the absolute annihilation of all sentient life in the universe.
Satisfactory (2019)
Satisfactory has players build and optimize their own factory line on an alien planet from a first-person perspective. They’ll gather resources to build basic factories, which will allow for more efficient resource gathering, which will allow the player to construct more complex factories, and so on.
There are combat encounters with alien life, where the player must defend their creations from being destroyed and get valuable resources.
Equilinox (2018)
Equilinox is a relaxing game, where players create and nurture their very own ecosystems and populate them with life. They can shape the world to their liking, raise hundreds of different types of species and evolve them to unlock more exotic animals and plants.
The player will need to make sure their animals are happy in their environment, as they’ll live longer, breed more and earn the player more points.
Do you have any other recommendations for games like Spore? Let us know in the comments below.
