The Game Census
The Sapling cover art

The Sapling

Wessel Stoop · 2019-12-12

Steam

SimulationEarly Access

Modes: Single player

Releases: Dec 12, 2019 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Dec 12, 2019 (Linux)

The Sapling is a short simulation game where you design your own plants and animals, and put them in a world together. Or you turn on random mutations, and see what evolution does to your ecosystem!

16
playing now
89%
positive of 2.0k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
100,000–200,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
70/100
IGDB user rating (1 ratings)
pending
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$17.99
steam price (US)

16 players in-game as of 2026-10-15 06:00 UTC (census sample)

Health check

Healthy
  • · 16 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 280 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~35/week).
  • · Review velocity up 7% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 10% of 16,820 Simulation games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 50k–120k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 1,997 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $7.99 at Steam (2019-12-12)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $17.99 · on sale 0 of 1 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
757520192026Week of 2019-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 46 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 75 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 66 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 52 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 29 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

54112026-09-15 16:00 — 32 players2026-09-17 00:00 — 46 players2026-09-18 07:00 — 25 players2026-09-19 15:00 — 54 players2026-09-20 22:00 — 38 players2026-09-22 06:00 — 24 players2026-09-23 14:00 — 23 players2026-09-24 21:00 — 26 players2026-09-26 05:00 — 29 players2026-09-27 12:00 — 24 players2026-09-28 20:00 — 28 players2026-09-30 03:00 — 32 players2026-10-01 11:00 — 19 players2026-10-02 18:00 — 28 players2026-10-04 02:00 — 32 players2026-10-05 10:00 — 18 players2026-10-06 17:00 — 23 players2026-10-08 01:00 — 33 players2026-10-09 08:00 — 13 players2026-10-10 16:00 — 28 players2026-10-12 00:00 — 31 players2026-10-13 07:00 — 11 players2026-10-14 15:00 — 13 players2026-10-15 06:00 — 16 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
470Dec 2019Aug 2026Dec 2019 — avg 2 · peak 5Mar 2020 — avg 1 · peak 3Aug 2020 — avg 1 · peak 3Dec 2020 — avg 1 · peak 3Feb 2021 — avg 1 · peak 3Apr 2021 — avg 1 · peak 4Jun 2021 — avg 4 · peak 15Aug 2021 — avg 2 · peak 6Oct 2021 — avg 2 · peak 7Dec 2021 — avg 21 · peak 44Feb 2022 — avg 5 · peak 14Apr 2022 — avg 4 · peak 11Jun 2022 — avg 8 · peak 22Aug 2022 — avg 11 · peak 60Oct 2022 — avg 8 · peak 32Dec 2022 — avg 6 · peak 14Feb 2023 — avg 23 · peak 49Apr 2023 — avg 28 · peak 73Jun 2023 — avg 20 · peak 54Aug 2023 — avg 20 · peak 44Oct 2023 — avg 31 · peak 105Dec 2023 — avg 26 · peak 67Feb 2024 — avg 20 · peak 47Apr 2024 — avg 47 · peak 214Jun 2024 — avg 21 · peak 45Aug 2024 — avg 15 · peak 35Oct 2024 — avg 32 · peak 90Dec 2024 — avg 26 · peak 63Feb 2025 — avg 30 · peak 87Apr 2025 — avg 21 · peak 45Jun 2025 — avg 32 · peak 69Aug 2025 — avg 20 · peak 39Oct 2025 — avg 47 · peak 106Dec 2025 — avg 25 · peak 50Feb 2026 — avg 26 · peak 52Apr 2026 — avg 27 · peak 63Jun 2026 — avg 28 · peak 55Aug 2026 — avg 23 · peak 46
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$17.99$7.992019-12-122025-11-012019-12-12 — best price $7.992019-12-15 — best price $8.002022-10-11 — best price $9.992023-12-10 — best price $12.992024-10-31 — best price $15.992025-11-01 — best price $17.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

5
achievements tracked
89.7%
earned "Sweet Success"
52.8%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsLinuxSingle-playerSteam AchievementsSteam CloudFamily Sharing1 DLC

1 supported languages: English

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2024-01-15 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)3928%5

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

AliensCasualNatureSandboxScienceGod GameLife SimRelaxingDinosaursEducation

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Speedruns ↗