Bacteria
'Bacteria' - A relaxing puzzle game based on the rules of the cellular automaton ‘Life’ devised by John Horton Conway in 1970.
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- Released
- 2016
- Developer
- Sometimes You
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- playable
- Download
- 0.34 GB
What is Bacteria?
'Bacteria' - A relaxing puzzle game based on the rules of the cellular automaton ‘Life’ devised by John Horton Conway in 1970.
Description as published by the developer on its own store page, read 30 August 2026. It is marketing copy, not our assessment.
The record
| First released | 22 March 2016 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Sometimes You |
| Publisher | Sometimes You |
| Platforms | PC |
| Genres | Puzzle |
| Languages | 1 supported |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata , seeded TBA. Store data from Steam, read 30 August 2026.
How was Bacteria received?
Method. Player figures are Steam's own totals for the PC version, read 30 August 2026. The Metacritic score is the one Steam publishes on its store page and can lag the site itself. Neither is our opinion. We have not published a review of this game.
What does it support?
| Capability | Support |
|---|---|
| Controller | Not stated |
| Cloud saves | Yes |
| Cross-platform play | No |
| Mod support | No official workshop |
| Online play | Single-player only |
| In-game purchases | No |
| Steam Deck | playable |
| Download size | 0.34 GB |
| Add-on content | 2 DLC listed |
| Age gate | None |
Method. Read from the publisher's Steam listing on 30 August 2026. Describes the PC version. Console versions differ.
What does it cost?
Steam price in US dollars, read 30 August 2026. Prices move hourly and vary by region. Check the current price.
Is Bacteria worth it?
58% of 422 Steam reviews are positive, which Steam rates Mixed. It costs $0.49 on Steam, on sale from $0.99.
That is the data, not a verdict for sale: whether it is worth it depends on the price you pay and what you want. We have not published our own review of this game.
How long is Bacteria? How long to beat it
Total play time for Bacteria is about 2.5 hours to do everything, and around 2.5 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 2.5h | 7 |
At its current price of $0.49, beating the main story works out to about $0.20 per hour. That is the price divided by the hours, a value read and not a verdict: a longer game costs less per hour, which is not the same as being the better game.
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Bacteria system requirements
The minimum requirements from Bacteria's Steam page. These are what it takes to launch and be playable, not to run at high settings.
| Memory | 1 GB RAM (other games at this level) |
|---|---|
| Processor | 2.4 Ghz Dual Core CPU |
| Graphics | 512MB Dedicated · runs on a low-end GPU |
| Storage | 0.34 GB (more games this size) |
Where Bacteria sits on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueBacteria plotted on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so its position is its real one. Change either axis to see where it lands.
1 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
How many people own Bacteria
This is an estimate, not a sales figure, and the two are not interchangeable. SteamSpy samples public profiles and publishes a range; the range here spans a factor of 2.0, and that width is the honest part of it. We show both ends rather than a midpoint, because a midpoint would look like a measurement.
Steam only. Console and storefront sales are not counted, so a game that sold heavily elsewhere reads low here. Read on 19 October 2026. Where a publisher has announced a real unit figure, that appears separately and carries its source.
Bacteria price & deals: is it on sale?
We have one reading so far: $0.49 on 30 August 2026. Prices are checked daily from here, and this becomes a chart once there is more than one point to join. A single observation is a price, not a history.
What readers say about Bacteria
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Bacteria appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Bacteria qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Games like Bacteria
24 games overlap with Bacteria on the tags Steam players applied to it, on genre, and on theme. The closest are Puzzle Galaxies, The Room and OneShot.
Common questions about Bacteria
What platforms is Bacteria on?
Bacteria is available on PC. It first released in 2016.
How much does Bacteria cost?
$0.49 on Steam in the United States, read on 30 August 2026. Prices move often and vary by region, so check the store before buying.
Do players recommend Bacteria?
58% of 422 Steam reviews are positive, which Steam rates Mixed. That is players rating it, not our review. We have not published a review of this game.
Does Bacteria work on Steam Deck?
Valve rates Bacteria as playable on the Steam Deck, from its own testing.
How big is the Bacteria download?
0.34 GB on PC, from the storage requirement on its Steam listing. Console versions differ.
Who made Bacteria?
Bacteria was developed by Sometimes You and published by Sometimes You.
Is Bacteria worth it in 2026?
58% of 422 Steam reviews are positive (Mixed), and it is $0.49 on steam. That is the strongest signal we hold; "worth it" depends on the price you pay and what you want, so weigh the sentiment against the current price above.
Is Bacteria on sale?
Yes, right now. Bacteria is $0.49 on Steam, down from its $0.99 list price (about 51% off), read on 30 August 2026. Prices move, so check the store.
What are the system requirements for Bacteria?
At minimum, Bacteria needs 1 GB RAM, a 2.4 Ghz Dual Core CPU, a 512MB Dedicated, 0.34 GB of storage, from its Steam listing. That is what it takes to launch and be playable, not to run at high settings. Check it against your own PC on the can-I-run page.
How long does it take to beat Bacteria?
2.5 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.