Thrive
Worth it · Strategy · 2021 · Early Access
Steam Deck PlayableThe verdict
BUY IT.
Worth it at $3.49, at or past its typical seasonal cut of 30%. The Autumn Sale runs to Oct 8.
- Reviews
- 92% positive
Buy now or wait
The Autumn Sale is on until Oct 8. It is 30% off today.
Discounted in 6 of its last 8 seasonal sales on record.
- Typical seasonal cut
- 30% ($3.49)
Sources: IsThereAnyDeal, Valve.
Watch this gameOne alert when it is worth buying.
Minimum on the Steam store: 4 GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 530, 5 GB of storage. Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
An evolution simulation game. Take control of your species in the environment and edit your species as a whole. Compete with other evolving species for resources on an alien planet.
What drives the score
How to read this
Grades run S to D, read from the buyer's side. ▲ marks a lift, ▼ a drag or a dock, ? an input we do not have, • a fact this genre's score does not use. How the grades work
- How long it takes to beat isn't in our data. We scored it as a typical Strategy game (about 8 hours) and docked the score for the missing length.
The value story
The lowest price on record is $3.24, set in February 2025. Its cuts run 30 percent off as a rule. There have been 9 in the 5 years tracked, about 14 weeks apart. Today's $3.49 at 30 percent off still sits 8 percent above the floor, so a deeper cut exists in its history.
Value puts it in the top 4 percent of the games it competes with. It is cheaper than 65 percent of its genre, and better reviewed than 97 percent. Among the games that feel like it, Sandboxels ($0.99, scores 77) beats it on value, while it beats SpaceEngine ($29.99, scores 57).
Of the 425 Steam-purchase reviews this site sampled, 3 come from buyers who refunded the game, sampled from reviews written November 2021 to August 2026. Inside the two-hour refund window, 77 percent of the 227 reviews written there were positive, against 92 percent overall, and those are 14 percent of everything written about it.
The drop-off
30% start to 4% rarestNo achievement in this game marks the ending, so there is no finish rate. The curve runs from the most-unlocked achievement to the rarest, and its shape is where players stop. Steam global achievements
Players
12 players online when we last checked, on Sep 29, 22:49 UTC.
Player counts from the Steam Web API.
No data upstream: critic score (Metacritic).
Cite this score
Thrive scores 68/100 on the BANG Score (worth it) as of Oct 2, 2026. Length is estimated at 8 hours, not measured, so the score is docked. The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/1779200/thriveReviews set the ceiling, and price against its genre's typical length moves the BANG Score inside it, docked until a real length is known. How it works, and where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Sep 26, price as of Oct 1.
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