GAMER GIRL WEEKENDS: From Dust

E and I love Steam. We are both gamers and it keeps our gamer geeks happy. Recently he picked up From Dust for me. It looked interesting and visually quite pretty plus I love the whole world building thing. With obstacles.

FROM DUST is as follows: "From Dust is the latest original game concept by Eric Chahi, creator of the cult classic, “Another World / Out of this World”. Immerse yourself in a world as exotically beautiful as it is dangerous! You control the destiny of a primitive tribe against the backdrop of a world in constant evolution—a universe where mighty Nature reclaims what is hers; and your mastery of the elements is your people’s only chance of survival...

Ground-Breaking Technology - Play in the sandbox of one of the most advanced real-time nature simulations, where everything you see and interact with evolves dynamically, offering a constantly renewed experience.

Unique Art Direction - Discover a large variety of environments: Tropical islands, volcanic landscapes, deserts and so much more.

Rich Story Mode - Explore 13 breathtaking territories of emergent gameplay. Master the natural forces at play on a mysterious archipelago and help a primitive tribe to recover the lost powers of their ancestors.

Confront Mighty Nature - Protect your tribe against Nature's most devastating attacks. Face down tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes, volcanoes, torrential rains Master Godlike Powers . Control the forces of nature to sculpt the world in your image. Hold back lava, stop raging waters, empty lakes, grow forests and raise mountains!

Live Up to the Challenge - Race against the clock on 30 additional maps in Challenge Mode. Each scenario is a puzzle-like challenge where time is of the essence.


My thoughts: I really quite enjoyed this one. Basically you are the tribe deity with the power to help your followers survive. You are the breath and you have the ability to shape the world for your followers. You begin with the ability to create mountains, hills or beaches by moving the earth as well as the ability to siphon water away from your followers. As your worshipers develop little villages and grow as civilizations this allows you to have other powers such as solidifying water, putting out fires and repelling liquid hot magma.

I think it is the graphics and physics of it all that make it worth playing. I loved creating these hills and valleys, watching how rivers were created or tide beds. Seriously I would be content just playing with that for a bit. Over time you have the effects of erosion, the destruction caused by tsunamis or volcanoes. I really did love the mechanics of the water, earth and lava. Sometimes water can put out fires, can create lush areas of vegetation in what seems like a barren desert bringing game for your villagers (which look like cute little trilobites) to eat and thrive on. But it can also wash away your soil and earth and create impassable rivers. Lava can create soil, new islands to connect your villages and craters which can become lakes, but it can also start fires and create impassable mountain ranges.

There are some problematic things that can be frustrating, such as the tribal AI. Seriously some of my followers were dumb as bricks. Why take the easy way to the next destination when they can go the long and dangerous way instead. Admittedly sometimes I sucked at being a God. My villagers kept getting swept away by floods or I didn’t quite work a volcano just right so it burned down villages once it hit vegetation. Seriously sometimes that little clock that signaled the next great flood would send me into rage fits as I couldn’t seem to get my dumb little followers to head the easy way to the next totem. But it made the game challenging and for that it gets a star.

3.75 out of 5 controllers.