Highlights
- Genetic manipulation has become a significant breakthrough in modern science, with applications ranging from altering crops to gene therapy.
- Video games have explored the concept of genetic manipulation, allowing players to cross-breed species or evolve organisms as gameplay mechanics or integral parts of the narrative.
- Games like LEGO Jurassic World: The Game, Spore, and BioShock incorporate DNA mixing in various forms, allowing players to combine dinosaur DNA, create and evolve organisms, and experience the consequences of genetic manipulation.
One of the most consequential breakthroughs of modern science is genetic manipulation. It has myriad applications, from altering crops to gene therapy. Also, gene-editing tools like CRISPR have radical implications for the future of the human race.
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Video games have explored the subject of genetic manipulation. This ranges from cross-breeding species to evolution. These events can manifest themselves as gameplay mechanics or serve as integral parts of the narrative. Some would say, as chaotician Ian Malcolm would, that these games were “so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Here is a range of games that, in some form or another, mix DNA.
8 LEGO Jurassic World: The Game
The Jurassic Park franchise legacy has seen a variety of video games. Take, for instance, TT Games’ LEGO Jurassic World, which applies LEGO’s quirky sense of humor to the first spectacular film by Steven Spielberg, as well as the sequels up to Jurassic World.
One gameplay feature LEGO Jurassic World: The Game introduces is the ability to play as the park’s dinosaurs, as well as combine their DNA in the genetics lab. Creations can include a T. Rex with Triceratops horns or a silver raptor. The only downside is the dinosaurs lack scientifically accurate feathers.
7 Spore
Will Wright and Maxis’ Spore popularized the concept of an evolution video game. While it fell short of many’s expectations, the final product is creative and ambitious, taking a single-cellular organism from a primordial pool to sentience and beyond.
Each time a creature breeds, new physiological traits and components can be added to the next generation. New attributes can be uncovered by exploring the game’s alien environment. Hundreds, if not thousands, of combinations can be created, and creatures from other players’ games can appear in each other’s evolutionary adventures.
6 Thrive
Thrive is heavily inspired by the premise of Spore. A single-celled organism must fight for survival, consuming as many resources as possible, while also competing with other microbes. While Spore is more user-friendly in its approach to evolution, Thrive is more rooted in real-world science. Each organism must obtain the right balance of elements to maintain cellular functions.
Thrive’s cellular editing is also much more detailed than Spore. The game allows for altering any number of cell features. These could include flagella for greater mobility or other organelles for better energy production. The game is completely free and open source, and it can be bought on Steam to support the developers.
5 BioShock
The sign that greets protagonist Jack of BioShock’s undersea city of Rapture reads “No God or Kings. Only man.” This summarizes the philosophy of its founder, Andrew Ryan, who sought to create a city where wealth was not taxed, and scientists had no moral or ethical limitations in what they could explore or achieve.
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One unfortunate product of this mentality was ADAM, a substance that fundamentally alters the human genome. Rapture’s citizens have become addicts to the substance, twisting them both physically and mentally. ADAM could also be processed into plasmids, which gives Rapture’s unwanted guest abilities that can turn the tide of battle in his favor. Gene splicing has turned everything upside down in this terrifying, immersive game.
4 Metroid Fusion
Intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran arrived on the Game Boy Advance in the fourth mainline Metroid game, Metroid Fusion. Samus’s portable adventure puts her up against the nefarious mimic parasites known as X, which infect and morph into their hosts. Samus must also evade the terrifying SA-X, a Samus doppelgänger formed from remnants of her previous armor.
The twist this time around is Samus is now genetically part Metroid. At the start of the game, an X-parasite infects her, nearly killing her. Parts of her armor were removed, and a vaccine was synthesized from the franchise’s titular creature, created by the Chozo race to combat X. This allows her to safely absorb the parasites and benefit from them. However, she is nowhere near strong enough to face the SA-X, so the only option is to run and hide.
3 Slime Rancher
Slime Rancher is a cute sci-fi take on the farming sim genre. It brings aspiring ranchers to the planet known as the Far Far Range, where they rear a variety of Slimes with different characteristics on the ranch. Also, ranchers can sell plorts, the gems that they produce, to purchase equipment and upgrades that will make running things go smoother.
While a variety of base Slimes are available to wrangle, hybrids of Slimes can also be created. If a plort of one species is fed to another species, this creates a larger slime, called a Largo, that will produce plorts of their base Slimes. If a Largo is fed a plort that it cannot produce, it will become a Tarr, which is destructive and must be taken out with a blast of water. Slime Rancher is a good game to play if one is a fan of monster-tamer games.
2 Splice
Splice is a curious little puzzle game that allows one to manipulate and reproduce bacteria to the sound of calming piano music. The presentation is minimalist, with basic 3D models and very little visual flair, making for an elegant experience.
Solving puzzles can seem a little obtuse at first. Each level provides a limited number of moves to pick the right microbes to reposition, which causes the ones connected to them to space out in a particular pattern. The gameplay begins to click after a few tries.
1 Ancient Aliens: The Game
The controversial History Channel program, Ancient Aliens, examines the evidence by many self-proclaimed “ancient astronaut theorists” that extraterrestrials visited the human race in mankind’s early history and were responsible for the advancement of human civilization. Ancient Aliens: The Game gives aspiring investigators past-life hypnosis from frequent guest Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, the high-haired one himself, and puts them into the role of the overseer of ancient Egyptians building the pyramids.
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The game plays out with the basic elements of the average city manager. Resources can be used to build settlements for the workers, as well as advance their civilization. The DNA manipulation comes in when the aliens create stronger workers in the form of human-animal hybrids. This game isn't saying that it's aliens... but it's aliens.