Thrive similar games & best alternatives

Thrive - Trailer
Thrive - thrive_1.avif
Thrive - thrive_2.avif
Thrive - thrive_3.avif
Thrive - thrive_4.avif
Thrive - thrive_5.avif
Thrive - thrive_6.avif

Thrive

Android, iOS • 2021

Should you play it?

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 works

  • Scientifically accurate and educational
  • Deep and complex cell customization
  • Relaxing and immersive gameplay
  • Active and passionate development team
  • Affordable price with free version available

Things to keep in mind

  • Game is incomplete with limited stages
  • Performance issues and occasional bugs
  • Slow progression and grind in multicellular stage
  • Limited social or cooperative features
  • Resource scarcity can cause frustration

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Rogue Voltage

  • Crush the Industry

  • Tower Tactics: Liberation

  • Slime 3K: Rise Against Despot

  • Rock Crusher

  • Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival

More fantastical

Games that feels like Thrive but with more imaginative fiction

  • Spellbook Demonslayers

  • Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy

  • Approaching Infinity

  • Caves of Qud

  • The Doors of Trithius

  • Reality Break

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with Thrive. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with Thrive. These titles are not in What to play next.

Thrive: Less representative of its motivational profile, with noticeable differences. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Violence, Survival, Fellowship, Intimacy. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Relaxation. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Fantasy, Thrill.

Last update: 21/08/2026