Is it worth playing?
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With more and more developers finding astoundingly ingenious ways of blending genres, Cell to Singularity seems like an interesting way of blending gaming with education. No kidding, this game contains explanations and definitions taken right from the books, and it mostly includes chemistry, biology, and overall everything connected to genesis. And, we don’t mean Biblical genesis, as the player takes over at a time when our planet Earth was just a molten ball of magma rotating around the Sun, and we participate in the creation of life from then on. Interested? Read on…
Development
This is a bold project developed and published entirely by a single studio – Computer Lunch…
Cell to Singularity – Evolution Never Ends is a bold project developed and published entirely by a single studio – Computer Lunch. Besides this title, the studio is also behind the SwingStar VR game, which came out in 2016. CtS PC version originally came out in December of 2018, and the game enjoys Very Positive reviews on Steam. It was later ported to Mobile, continuing its success. On Google play, the game’s Android version surpassed a staggering 5 million installs while still in early access. On the iTunes App Store, the iOS version of the game is officially launched a bit earlier and it enjoys an incredibly high 4.8-star rating, albeit out of a small vote pool.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Atmosphere
The visual presentation makes the game feel like an interactive animated educational tutorial through the periods described…
Have you ever watched a documentary movie about the creation of Earth and life? Well, this game will make you feel like you are making the documentary. It will make you feel like you are in charge of the evolution process, as we take over right when the Planet Earth is cooling off enough for the first threads of life to emerge, some 4.5 billion years ago. The visual presentation makes CtS feel like an interactive animated educational tutorial through the periods described.
And, we say “interactive” because the player plays the game and “pushes” the evolution forward through the familiar paths through which it has gotten to where we are now. So, the game follows the official scientific explanations and theories. The overall atmosphere of this game is greatly improved by the classical music number that runs in the background, which naturally reminds of 2001: A Space Odyssey movie, by Stanley Kubrik.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
GAMEplay
It is informative and educational, and most of all fun to go through…
The main thing a player does in CtS is tap or click the screen to gain the main game’s currency called Entropy. Now, Entropy is the natural tendency of all things in nature to degrade and it is what makes everything else possible. So, in its essence, this is a Clicker game, but a very informative one, for every step a player takes is followed up with appropriate scientific info.
For instance, at the very start, you only have the Sun or the “Home Star” as it’s called, and you tap to gain Entropy so you can purchase evolution upgrades. The first thing you purchase is Planet Earth. Purchasing the Earth immediately opens up branching paths to research the Primordial Soup and the Moon, which the game says comes to be when a Mars-sized object hits the Earth. With every new evolution, you tap Entropy value increases. At the start, you only gain one per tap, but in later stages of the game, this increases to millions or more.
Through the Primordial Soup, we can evolve the Amino Acids, Nucleotides, and DNA, RNA, and Protein life is created. Every once in a while, a Quantum Charge will appear on the screen, which, if triggered, will also improve Entropy gain and enable jumps through Evolution.
CtS premium currency is Darwinium, which is used to purchase more Entropy.
Even the Earth itself has its continent mass grouped up, like what the scientists say was the case, before the continents formed. After some more Evolution jumps, creating the Ozone layer and some sea creatures, fish, sharks, the dinosaurs, the nervous system, and internal organs, life transitions to land, and this is where the fun begins. The evolutionary process followed in this game is designed according to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, and life evolves accordingly. The first creatures to walk upright are the monkeys, and through the fire, brain, emotions, Homo Erectus, and extra brainpower, come the Humans.
Since the game is, as of yet in early access, the evolutionary process somewhat slows down after that, but it follows the historical paths of the development of society with no real ending in sight. First, we created the Neolithic society, developed more advanced tools, clothing, cave painting, mining, writing, etc… Later on, we also get Ideas as primary resource in-game. No to spoil anything, CtS is informative and educational, and most of all fun to go through.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Graphics
Humans, and other complex living organisms, their models are pretty basic, like in the early ‘00s computer animations…
As mentioned, CtS looks more like an educational simulation than a video game, or something in between. With that said, it looks sufficient to accommodate for what it’s attempting to do, but after you evolve to dinosaurs, humans, and other complex living organisms, their models are pretty basic, like in the early ‘00s computer animations. They are in 3D, but the rendering and the textures are almost nonexistent. The important things in this game are visual queue and they are clear, organized well, intuitive, and promote the educational aspect of the game. The interface is clear, with no clogs or fuss, and the player does get to participate in the educational process.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Tech Compatibility
This is one of the lowest-demanding games in terms of hardware or software…
Since its basic 3D models, low rendering, no lighting, and basic textures, CtS is one of the lowest-demanding games in terms of hardware or software. PC requirements go as low budget 3D graphics cards, while any Smartphone made in the last decade can run this game. Even when the Earth gets overcrowded with dinosaurs, lizards, humans, monkeys, and other creatures, it still won’t even come close to touching any new GPU or chipset on any Smartphone made in the last 5 years.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Free-To-Play friendly
The game is a free-to-play, no two words about it…
CtS is a free-to-play game, no two words about it. The currencies in-game required for everything you might need are also free and are gained by playing the game. Unfortunately, in this case, this means endlessly tapping away at the screen, or clicking if you play on PC, which may turn out to be too much for some. The game offers some premium currencies for the standard prices. And, thus, it offers the previously mentioned Darwinium as its premium currency. The prices for Darwinium cubes are as follows:
- 50 Cubes – $1.99
- 150 Cubes – $4.99
- 250 Cubes – $7.99
- 800 Cubes – $19.99
Now being free, the game uses in-game ads in an attempt to get a return on the effort and the ads are offered on different points in the game, but not as an obstacle, but they follow a much better model. Ads are usually offered when the player reaches a certain reward, with the option of watching the add to increase the gain. Also, being an endless clicker, there are Boosters offered that make the gameplay somewhat easier, and they are sometimes unlocked by watching the ad but other times cost premium currency, and they are as follows:
- Quantum Charge – Boost Entropy and Ideas gain; Cost 1 Darwinium Cube
- X2 Boost – Doubles production; costs 2 Darwinium; watching an Ad can prolong this bonus for 4 hours; watching more ads increases the bonus to x4
- Auto Clicker – This is the best booster in CtS in our opinion; costs 2 Darwinium; automatically performs clicking for 2 minutes, 2 times per second; you can watch an Ad to recharge it or wait 30 minutes
- Shooting Star – x30 on Entropy per Tap gain for 15 seconds; found in Space; costs 2 Darwinium to trigger
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Verdict
We are expecting more from Computer Lunch, but thus far everything is okay…
It is doubtful that the gameplay will evolve in any other direction that what was already presented in our walkthrough, though it will naturally expand as we hope. We like to encourage the development of such games and gaming genres which blend education with fun, so this game gets two thumbs up for that. The core gameplay needs expanding and we are expecting more from Computer Lunch, but thus far everything is okay, and the music in the game was a good idea!
Cell to Singularity guides and TIPS
How to improve your gaming experience and gameplay…
Note: Use the button “GUIDES” in the lower right corner to jump back to this section.
After giving you our take on the game, we’ve done some digging and comprised a walkthrough for important things we found on the web, like guides, achievements, and more. The CtS player community is growing fast and everyone is mostly asking questions about the dinosaurs, or asking for guides on metabits, ideas, and other stuff. The most frequently asked questions we found related to guides are as follows:
Use links below to jump to the guide sections. Use links in the lower right corner to jump back.
FAST LINKS:
- How to reboot?
- How to get dinosaurs?
- How to get/unlock mysterious rock?
- How to get/unlock cyborg?
- How to get ideas?
- How to get metabits?
- Cell to Singularity Walkthrough Conclusion
How to reboot
Do not forget that this game is a simulation and it is thought out as such. It is an educational and fun experiment of how things might have happened and might happen in the distant to the near future. However, there are certain upgrades and perks you can affect only when you restart your simulation. They cost metabits and can only be evolved once you are in the process of restarting. Thus, it is best to wait for later stages of the game if you plan on acquiring plenty of these upgrades. Some players report that you should at least evolve until Android before rebooting, but all agree that you should only reboot if you have enough metabits go purchase upgrades for the reality engine.
The 1st reset happens the 1st time a player purchases the singularity, which unlocks the screen for Metabit upgrades and lets you start again with the upgrades you choose to purchase. After this, a red button will appear in the top-right corner of the main interface screen, and you can tap it anytime to reset the simulation.
There is much deliberation in the player community about whether or not this is a good mechanic or not. But, all these idle/clicker games have a similar mechanic, mostly referred to as the “prestige”. Here, this prestige works nicely with the fact that the game is still in early access, so there isn’t that much content beyond what the players have already explored. Also, it becomes nearly impossible to advance evolution, once you reach certain stages, so you must reset to have some metabit upgrades at this point.
How to get dinosaurs?
During your process of evolution, a mysterious rock will appear sometime around when first life crawls to dry land. You will be allowed to unlock a separate sim with dinosaurs, with its evolution tree, its currency, and upgrades. It is a completely separate simulation than your main one, and you can switch between your main tree and the additional simulations whenever. The dinosaurs have their evolution tree, upgrades, and, as mentioned, currency, and can yield achievements and additional traits.
How to get/unlock mysterious rock?
Every once in a while during your evolutionary chain, a mysterious rock will appear. According to most player feedback, it appears around when the first creatures crawl out of the sea to dry land. The mysterious rock will not need you to pay any currency to get to it, but you need to click it several times to unlock it, sometimes a lot more. It unlocks the dinosaurs and their separate simulation.
How to get/unlock cyborg?
Cyborg is a part of what is called the Generators in the evolutionary chain of CtSs main simulation. They generate resources but also cost a significant amount, which is increased exponentially according to their evolutionary position. Generators cost Entropy or Idea, and each new Generator will cost 15% more than you paid for the previous one. This means that every 10 levels, Generator costs increase x4, every 50 levels by x1000, and every 250 levels by x1.5 Quadrillion. This is what makes this game so challenging as the costs grow so large it is impossible to get through the evolutionary steps without getting the metabit upgrades.
Cyborgs come after the Human Generator and cost 4.42 Qa entropy. They produce 826.08 T entropy by default, without any upgrades, and enable you to further evolve to Superhumans, and then Humanoid Colonist. This is a point when the evolutionary upgrade costs have already skyrocketed and the developers of CtS are perhaps going to do something about it, as in this stage the figures are too high to keep track of.
How to get ideas?
Ideas are the 2nd primary currency in CtS. They are mainly used to progress through the Ages and for upgrading them. Ideas first begin coming in after you research the First Idea upgrade in the evolutionary chain. They are mainly produced by tapping on the brain, the civilization gardens, or the evolution of technology tech tree (but after you get to the Stone Age).
How to get metabits?
Metabits are the rarest currency in CtS and are exclusively awarded after you reboot or reset the simulations. This is why it is important to do so, for not only are you awarded metabits, you can only spend them on upgrades in the menu available just after you reboot. After you begin a new simulation, the metabit upgrade menu won’t be available until you reboot again, and so on, but any upgrades purchase will be active throughout your new simulation.
The number of metabits awarded is determined by the total number of a player’s Entropy and Ideas in the single universe/simulation currently rebooting, and the Simulation Level. Metabit currency is what is called the “prestige” in similar genre games. They are spent in the Reality Engine, which offers a separate tech tree, as mentioned, only available in the reboot sequence. The metabit upgrades in the Reality Engine mostly advance production and click value.
Cell to Singularity Walkthrough Conclusion
As far as our current walkthroughs for Cell to Singularity go, we’ve reached the ending as this is what we’ve gathered so far. As mentioned, the game is in Early Access so it is bound to expand and we shall expand our walkthrough. We will compose new guides after new content is introduced or something significant is changed in-game.