The Sapling
Skip · Strategy · 2019 · Early Access
Steam Deck PlayableThe verdict
SKIP IT.
It scores 49, under the fair line, at $17.99.
- Reviews
- 89% positive
Watch this gameOne alert when it is worth buying.
Minimum on the Steam store: 16 GB of memory, Graphics card with DX10 (shader model 4.0) capabilities., 154 MB of storage. Runs on Windows, Linux.
The Sapling is a simulation game where you design your own plants, animals, algae and fungi, and put them in a world together. Or you turn on random mutations, and see what evolution does to your ecosystem!
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 $7.99, set in December 2019. In 7 years of price history it has never once been discounted.
Against its own genre it lands in the top 18 percent on value. It is pricier than 86 percent of its genre, and better reviewed than 94 percent. Among the games that feel like it, WorldBox - God Simulator ($19.99, scores 90) beats it on value, while it beats Among Ripples (free, scores 22).
10 of the 499 Steam-purchase reviews sampled here come from buyers who refunded the game, sampled from reviews written December 2021 to August 2026. Inside the two-hour refund window, 67 percent of the 136 reviews written there were positive, against 89 percent overall, and those are 7 percent of everything written about it.
The drop-off
90% start to 13% 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
41 players online when we last checked, on Sep 27, 15:49 UTC.
Player counts from the Steam Web API.
No data upstream: critic score (Metacritic).
Cite this score
The Sapling scores 49/100 on the BANG Score (a skip) 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/997380/the-saplingReviews 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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