First extinction: when should you reset?

Go extinct when the game offers at least 3 genome and your next meaningful organ or mutation has slowed to a crawl. The first viable extinction is deliberately guaranteed to fund a permanent trait, so waiting far beyond that point is useful only if you are actively enjoying the current lineage.

Published 21 August 2026 · approximately 6 minutes

The right moment

The button becomes useful according to this life’s biomass, not your lifetime total. The first viable threshold is 10 trillion. At that point the game guarantees at least 3 genome, even if the normal recovery curve would have produced less.

That guarantee matters because the cheapest permanent traits cost 3 genome. An earlier version allowed a player to return to zero without being able to buy anything, which made extinction feel like a punishment. The current version always lets the first reset change the next life.

Three signs tell you it is time:

• The Extinction panel shows a positive recovery, normally +3 on a first life.
• Your next purchase takes long enough that you are no longer making an interesting decision.
• You want to turn this lineage into permanent power or preserve it in the garden.

You do not need to force one more mutation. A deeper run earns more genome, but early progress is usually faster when one useful permanent trait starts working immediately.

What extinction removes

The active organism is disposed of. Current biomass, organs, purchased adaptations, the visible mutation lineage and most of the current life’s temporary state return to their starting values. That sounds severe because it is supposed to.

If you choose to preserve the specimen, a canonical snapshot of its lineage enters the Forbidden Garden before the new life begins. The active version is still gone.

What survives

What should the first 3 genome buy?

There is no single compulsory build, but the first purchase should improve the part of the loop you actually want to repeat.

For an active player: Familiar Hands

If you tap frequently, the first level adds 8% to feeding from birth. It is a small but immediate improvement that keeps active play relevant without skipping the opening.

For an idle player: an opening or output trait

If you prefer to leave the jar alone, choose a trait that shortens the opening or improves automatic production. Deep Time becomes especially useful once you can afford it, but its first level costs more than the minimum first payout.

For someone chasing mutations: Prehensile Time

The first level moves mutation biomass thresholds 3% earlier and shortens stabilisation by 2%. It is a restrained but permanent choice if the cards, rather than production optimisation, are the reason you are playing. Stabilisation still has a one-minute floor, so developed lineages cannot collapse a whole mutation tree into stacked dialogs.

Two valid first-life approaches

The efficient reset

1. Reach 10 trillion biomass.
2. Confirm the +3 recovery.
3. Extinct promptly.
4. Buy Familiar Hands or Prehensile Time.
5. Use the stronger second life to pass your previous depth faster.

This route treats the first life as a tutorial and brings the permanent loop online as soon as possible.

The attached naturalist

1. Continue while mutations and new systems are still arriving at a satisfying pace.
2. Record the creature or share its specimen card.
3. Reset when the next wait stops being interesting.
4. Preserve the lineage if the garden option is available and you want the evidence.

This is not mathematically optimal, but the creature is the point of the game. Keeping a memorable first specimen is a legitimate use of time.

What happens after the first extinction?

The next specimen begins stronger and, for its first post-extinction life, under the forgiving Kind Epoch. Later lives roll from nine epochs that alter costs, feeding, mutation speed or offline progress.

Much later, a completed trait tree can spend surplus genome on one of three permanent Strains. That purchase performs an extinction but keeps every trait and all-time mastery. Strains have escalating shared costs and five levels per branch, so they extend the lineage instead of deleting the progress that made it possible.

The intended campaign rhythm is one or two additional forks per life, not reaching all fourteen at once. Genome, traits and discoveries accumulate until biological choices give way to institutions, astronomical states and terminal classification.

If the next life seems familiar for its first few minutes, that is normal. The permanent advantage should carry you through that ground faster, then let you make a different branch choice or push into a part of the tree you have not seen.