The Sandbox Evolution: An experimental god game

The year 2012 saw the arrival to iOS (and later Android) of one of the most original games of the past several years. The Sandbox gave players a space to let their imaginations roam free with a virtual experimentation arena where you can make physical elements interact and then see on your screen how physics and chemistry make them react. Basically it’s a type of god game with new features thrown in the mix in the form of levels to beat by achieving certain objectives and even using the worlds in action game settings. All these ideas have come together to give way to Sandbox Evolution, a much more flexible sequel that you can now download on Uptodown following its soft launch in a handful of countries.

You have to try it to really grasp its enormous possibilities. You’ve probably already seen the first game, at least at its most superficial: you choose from different objects and materials and scatter them around the screen however you like. So if, for instance, you make it rain on a field, vegetation starts to grow. And then if you light a fire in the same place, everything will dry up and leave an arid patch of dirt. This workaday example is just the tip of a gigantic iceberg in terms of what you can do with the game.

Draw your own little pixelated character, then put him in a world you’ve created yourself and set him onto any challenge that occurs to you. In fact, the game includes loads of levels to beat that mix physics puzzles with electrical or electronic problems, along with test tube chemical interactions and all sorts of other amazing conceptual scenarios. Make a space rocket launch, bring a virtual organism to life with small electric shocks, feed a bunch of hungry cavemen by bringing nature to heel…. When we say you can do anything we’re really not kidding.

What’s more, all this potential has now been hugely expanded with the new ability to create levels and use them as a base for action or platform games. This feature already appeared in the final updates to the last installment but now it has a way broader scope: more selectable characters, larger dimensions for map creation, and loads of extra preset effects and templates to put together your own game and share it with the community.

You can gradually unlock the nearly 200 game elements using the game’s currency, earned by beating challenges. Though you can also obviously (but completely optionally) spend real money on them instead. In any case, The Sandbox Evolution is now available in APK format for download from Uptodown. Its global launch is set for later this week, but there are no geographical restrictions on the APK anyway.