Bacteria

Bacteria is the kind of game name that usually points to a small simulation or strategy idea built around growth, spread, and simple rules. By our assessment, that kind of design can be neat when it makes a tiny system easy to read, but it also tends to stay narrow, with little room for long-term variety unless the rules are unusually rich. In practice these games live or die on whether the player enjoys watching a compact system unfold step by step. Compared with larger strategy games, the ceiling is usually lower and the appeal more specialised.