Last updated on November 29th, 2025 at 01:10 am
Evolution Board Game – Board Game Review
Evolution Board Game is a Board/Strategy game from North Star Digital Games LLC, first launched in 12th February 2019.
It’s rated 9+ and currently has 4,713+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Evolution Board Game Stand Out
Evolution continues to evolve! New changes mean faster, fluid games and more content to explore. Adapt, survive, and thrive in a changing world enhanced by incredible art and thoughtful, balanced mechanics. Inspired by the award-winning board game with more than 3 million players, Evolution has arrived on iOS.
"#1 Digital Board Game of the year" -Ars Technica
"Best Mobile Strategy Game of the year" -Pocket Gamer
NATURAL SELECTION IN ACTION
In the game Evolution, you adapt your species to survive and stay one step ahead of opponents.
-Watering hole running dry? Evolve a long neck to reach food in the trees.
-Staring down a Carnivore? Develop a hard shell to fend off an attack.
-Evolve up the food chain to become a the most successful species.
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!
Unlike most board games, evolution lets you try the game for free first. Freeplay includes the tutorial, the easy and intermediate AI opponents, five campaign levels, and 1 multiplayer game a day. Pay a one-time cost to unlock unlimited functionality such as the Weekly Challenges, the Hard & Expert AI, Pass and Play, the full Campaign, Private Multiplayer Games and Asynchronous Games, and unlimited Matchmade Games.
CHALLENGING AND ADDICTIVE
Do you evolve protection from Carnivores, or find a way to eat if there is no Food in the Watering Hole? The ecosystem is constantly changing, and you’ve got to figure out what your opponents are up to.
INTERACTIVE TUTORIAL
Our friendly professor will guide you from one watering hole to the next on our learn-as-you-play tutorial, showing you how to survive in evolution before sending you off to make a name for yourself. Hone your skill as you progress from lowly Biology Intern to competing for the Nobel Prize!
EXPLORE THE CAMPAIGN
Explore the mysteries of Evolution Island and discover distinct Boss opponents. As you move through the campaign you’ll unlock new “Apex Species” that are masters of specific strategies; defeat them to add them to your menu of single-player opponents.
MATCH MADE MULTIPLAYER
One click and the game will match you with players of similar skill in a fast paced online game. Make friends in the game and set up custom games, or rank up in the ongoing seasonal tournaments and see how far you can go.
ENDLESS REPLAYS, ONE PRICE
This isn't a collectible card game, the full set of cards are included in the base game. Thousands of possible species combinations evolve from 17 unique trait cards, meaning no two games are ever the same.
PACE & POLISH
With a smooth user interface and fast, informative animations, Evolution was built to satisfy a quick fix of intense strategic battles. Easy to learn, almost impossible to master, one game and you’ll find yourself addicted. Evolution isn’t just a top tier strategy game – it’s a whole new animal.
"Best Digital Board Game of the year" -Vulture
"A powerhouse game poised to steal the thunder of some of the most popular games on the app store" -Touch Arcade
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Evolution Board Game is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 10th June 2025
Recent improvements include:
Ultimate bundle added, get a sizeable discount on all the IAP for the game.
Events added.
Multiplayer bug fixed when players were putting the game in the background.
Download & Availability
Evolution Board Game is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Evolution Board Game on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Congratulations to the developer.
Its a good game, very enjoyable but a lot of the games have 4 CPU players and it seems like they dont target equally, it feels like they target you more than each other. It feels like a 1 vs 3 team up.
The game looks very nice, but your cards are hidden. To read them you have to tap each individual card to read it, then its immediately tucked back out of sight. So if youre trying to decide between a card, the screen is constantly flickering. Its like a graphic designer who has never played a game designed the app. Please make it so you can actually see your cards and read themall at the same time. On the positive side, they actually made the text side readable unlike a lot of apps that make it light grey and italicized.
Its a really good game that really represents genetic selection and these species by the watering hole trying to adapt to their surroundings and its pretty simple and we really like it. Its a really good recreation of the North Star game Evolution.
We were playing a boss fight and it was so HARD it was not us it was the game and we are disappointed because our mom wasted her money on a in app purchase and it didnt work.
A good strategy and thinking game but multiplayer cost 6.99$.
This should be an awesome app. The game is great; the app is gorgeous; there was a lot of effort and detail put into it. We wanted to give it 5 stars. However, this app is constantly crashing when on airplane mode or not connected to the internet. We tried to play on an airplane and the app crashed nearly every round. Moreover, we got logged out, so we couldnt continue our campaign or use any of the features we paid for. Also, the app goes out of its way to say that they promise not to spam you with notifications, but we get one every night.
Ive been a fan of the physical evolution game series, and this game is just as fun, and has the benefit of being usable anywhere and having exclusive features. We love this game.
Ive played this game a few times and we normally just run through the campaign. Its a fun game, we just wish we were able to turn off the tutorial.
We love the game but we wish you could see the creatures as they evolve and change not just when you have carnivore or flight or blah blah we wish you could really see your whole creature like when it has antlers you see them.
We think they should add better tutorials but thats just us voice acting too.
This game was fun,but we dont get making us pay for the full game.
We love this board game but it has the same flaw that many boardgames have which is a tedious scoring system the app does all the work for you and its so fast and clean that we dont really want to play the physical board game anymore plus you get to customize your game and always play with your house rules so another bonus of the app.
This game fails at the Create Account screen, can't create an account so we can't play the game. There is a workaround by going through the tutorial but if you skip the tutorial you can't play. Update: Thanks for fixing the bug! Fun game.
This game was so good before the update. Multiplayer was gaining momentum and a community of competitors was forming – one with an array of players employing their own strategies. That all went away since the latest update. A BIG reason is the change from the minimum 3 players to start a game to only 2 players + AI. This just made games a more glamorous version of playing by yourself. We were way into this game and now Im out. Ive seen this same behavior with a lot of other seasoned players. Please change that back.
Only complaint is that this isnt that popular so finding other people to play with is a lot of waiting hoping for a match. When we get on,often we see maybe 1-5ppl online. Love this so much so excited that flight has been added.
Beautifully illustrated and plays smoothly.
This is the coolest game ever . The concept is genius and its super fun. Crazy unique we love it . We just wish more people played so there was always people online to go against . Till then Ill be the best player.
Our favorite game of all time. Board game is great for friends too.
We just downloaded last week and Ive gone through the entire campaign. Havent really figured out what to do after that, but one thing we noticed, and we wish you would fix. None of the profile pictures are fat. We are fat. Many humans are fat. We would just love some representation.
We got the base game and climate bundle BUT we ONLY GOT THE BASE GAME no climate your game is a scam the only reason it even gets three stars is because it is a fun game to play.
We have never played the card game, but the game is so good we will be getting the physical copy soon.
This is our first review we have ever left on a rating. Being that, Im almost 2 decades old, and been addicted to our phone and mobile games because our ADHD and boredom. We can tell you as a zoology student. We absolutely love this game. It has a couple glitches here and there, but that doesnt subtract a star for us. They came playing well thought out. Dialogue honestly makes the whole thing amazing. We feel like this is a learning experience to some others, but we wish there were more cards added we wish there is more spice to the game. But overall, this has become our favorite game. And honestly, we want to say that Ive become a master of this evolution game.. Three more challenges.
Amazing game. Our husband and we really enjoy playing together.
Best game ever, brother loves it, so does mom.
Honestly its not a bad game, can be confusing at first, but the campaign can teach you how to play. Downside is there are barely any players online, and you have to buy expansion packs to play multiplayer. The create a daily challenge feature is pretty cool,the artwork is great, and its fun once you get the hang of it, but like we said just never anybody online ( Ive played random times throughout day/night and only ever saw at most 5 other players online). Why would we spend the few bucks to get new cards, if theres rarely anyone to play with.
We like the board game and the played the app a few times. We never can remember how to close the app though and have to go searching so we can resume using our phone. We deleted the app after struggling with this a few times.
Going through tutorial, asked for our name, but taping button it will not let us advance. No errors, no way to back up or go forward, just stuck. Swiped up and started over. Had to swipe up and start over. Going through tutorial again, got to carnivore level on tutorial againthis time we get 4 cards, play 1 for food, 1 for new species, 1 for trait, 1 to increase size to 2, but opponent is size 2 and the game will not let us go forward saying our opponent is size 2 and our carnivore must be larger than 2. How? Im stuck again. It will not let us go forward or explain how Im supposed to get to size 3 with only 4 cards. Had to swipe up and start over, again. Got through tutorial! Playing campaign, and the second round first watering hole it our turn, it wont let us play our herbivore, our carnivore cannot attack more, we ate 2 and the 3 opponents remaining are our size, so we should loose one populationbut the game will not let us advance or go forwardit wont accept us ending turn, it only lets us attack but we cannot, so Im stuck, again Deleted the game.
We really very much like the complexity of this game. Many many hours of fun. Congratulations to its creators, artists, and programmers. The addition of climate and other creature imagery, traits, is impressive. We fly, in airplanes, very often. However, any challenge achieved in the off line game is never registered when we arrive back on Earth. Why? We also enjoy talking with and getting advice from other players live.
Just wish to see some new card additions and campaign levels.
So much fun, and so well-designed.
Games fail to load without multi restarts if app is closed suddenly for any reason.
If you like the idea of Pokmon card game but hate the execution, try this.
An excellent game, an excellent App version. Good methods to understand and evolve our own game play needs.
We have played for the past few months and we have no regrets and such an intriguing concepts executed amazingly our only wish is in climate. We wish it to have 1. More cards (Difficult but we love the game so we will hold out) 2. Fat tissue to have an affect climate wise, like for every food blip of fat tissue that is filled, gain half a population protection from the cold and half a point vulnerability from the warm or something. (And maybe something to do with fat tissue protecting against claws, then you could add serrated teeth to counter the fat tissue) also warm blood to gain a resistant point in weather. We have so many ideas, and this is dragging on but; we hope you know we love the game.
This is a great game and the app does a great job of everything except allowing you to add AI players in multiplayer games. So you could be stuck playing two-player which isnt nearly as much fun. Developers, get on it.
This game is so amazing we not only bought the online version but the physical game shortly thereafter. The multiplayer is lack luster and you will have more fun with pass and play. More single player and co op vs computer to get achievements vs only waiting for other players.
Wonderful game! Amazing artwork! We cannot play the 5th watering hole as it just will not load.
Hey, we love the game but we encounter a never ending loading screen on the campaign. Ive tried restarting our iPad twice but still have the problem. Will up stars when patched :).
We cant even get to the tutorial. We use iPhone SE. Please fix, this is incredibly infuriating.
Game is cool and introduction works well as does the training, but the point when training is over and the game asks for our name the game will not proceed any further. On iPhone.
We wanted to play Evolution on a flight, and when we opened the app in airplane mode, we only saw a black screen. We restarted our phone in a long shot effort to fix whatever issue the app had, and it loaded this time – without our IAPs. We tried to play the Climate expansion and the app directed us to the store to purchase it (we already had purchased it). Presumably, the app wants to verify our purchase by reaching out to North Star servers, but that cant happen on an airplane. Giving 1 star for requiring internet activity to use the app.
We enjoyed this game until it started causing our phone to restart every few minutes and every time we delete it, it mysteriously redownloads itself. This is a glorified virus, definitely do not waste either your storage or your money on it.
We read the rules and still dont understand the game and every time we end a game and want to begin a new one, it freezes.
We love the game play of the campaign. It has a Great tutorial and multiple AI type to make AI games fun. You can chose how many AI players you want the difficulty and the personality of the AI. And that just the free stuff.
Big issues with navigation. What we can play is often derailed by the issues with sluggish controls. Enjoy what we can access. Seems control issues not intuitive. If this game were easier to play we could give it at least 3 more stars.
We love this game so much, and we dont mind paying for the game, and the developer had a fantastic job of giving us trial version before we decide if its worth it or not. That said once we paid for the game, we expect to have all the features and not be bombarded with dlc ads. That said, we know the developer needs money and a suggestion would be if the developer wishes to put additional prices on dlcs, they should at least give us trial plays on those dlc so we can decide if its worth it or not. Also the price should not be as near as the base game, its an extension, not another game. For those reasons its a 3 from us now unless the developer at least gives dlc trials.
The game in single player mode is quite good; very good, in fact. Gameplay is magnificent. Everything falls apart when trying to experience this online with ones friends though. We set up accounts for our boys to play with us or at least tried to. The first time the account is set up, it doesnt persist correctly. To get an account set up to the point one can actually log in and out with, you have to reset the password. Even still, with accounts that now worked and linked to Game Center, the friends functionality was completely borked. Game Center friends do not show up. One can search for friends using user name or email and these will show up, but adding them only ever displays friends as offline. After an exit and restart, those friends previously added will be missing. You can try to add them again, but after finding them a second time nothing happens when trying to add them to the friends list. Not that it matters much though. The only time we were able to get a full list of friends we attempted to do an async game. The invites went out as notifications, but clicking them did nothing. Not sure if Timed Games has the same issue; with out a friends list we cant start a timed game. We really do like Evolution and highly recommend it for the single player experience. Everything else is unfortunately a hot mess.
The climate edition of this game should be free if you paid for all the other expansions.
Might be a good game but it wont load and the text is so small its unreadable. Moving on.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 3.0.55
- Size: 537.04 MB
- iOS: 13.0 or later
- Languages: DA, NL, EN, FR, DE, IT, PT, RU, ZH, ES, SV, TH
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Developer: North Star Digital Games LLC
Last updated: 10th June 2025 | Genre: Board, Strategy | Developer: North Star Digital Games LLC