Niche

Niche is a genetic survival game developed by Stray Fawn Studio. It successfully secured funding on Kickstarter in May 2016. The game transitioned to a full release on September 22, 2017. Niche was created as a final graduation thesis for a game designer named Philomena Schwab who had an equal interest in biology. After her graduation in 2014 a team of three was formed around the game, and development continued. Since then, the team has founded a collective of nature/biology game indie developers, calling themselves "Playful Oasis." A mobile spin-off, called Niche - Breed & Evolve was released in 2021.

Overview

Niche is a mixed-genre game about the scientific topic of population genetics. The last line of the game's description in the Steam store states, "Shape your own animal tribe and find an ecological niche for it to live in." The main goal is to keep your tribe alive against all odds, such as hungry predators, climate change, and spreading sickness. Resource management and smart breeding based on real genetics are the main mechanics of Niche. The worlds and animals are procedurally generated. Niche is played from a top-down perspective, giving the player a birds-eye view over the board.

Rounds are represented by a day cycle. All animals of the tribe can be moved and used to perform actions (collecting food, scouting a new field, mating, attacking a predator, etc.). Animals have a limited lifespan, which means offspring are needed in order to prevent extinction. An animal's characteristics are defined by its genes, which can be passed on to the next generation. Countless new genes can be found, unlocked, mutated and combined.

The game world consists of multiple islands. In order to beat the game, the player's tribe has to reach Adam's Home Island.

Updates

Main article: Updates

Over Niche's development in early access and post launch it has received a number of updates, adding new mechanics, genes and creatures.

Niche

Contents

Overview

Updates

Media

Images

Videos

References

Fan Feed