Peter Molyneux’s new game has achieved its Kickstarter goal.
One of my favorite games from the DOS era, second only to Sid Meier’s Civilization, was Populous. Designed by Molyneux, the title was the first of its kind in many ways. It was the first alterable-terrain sandbox world and the first isometric view landscape. It was also the progenitor of the god-game genre – a field which hasn’t been plowed properly since.
Lionhead, which Molyneux used to work for, tried with Black and White, and came very close. Close enough to sate the long unslaked desired in my core, but its focus on the creatures as a gimmick drew from the really fun parts. Other attempts have met with similar or less success.
Thus, I’ve been paying close attention to the Kickstarter campaign for GODUS, the spiritual successor to Populous, designed by none other than Molyneux himself under 22cans studio.
The game is intended to be a remake of Populous, done with the same concepts and ludic elements, but with modern visuals. I’ve always liked that the Civilization games get remade every few years with the same basic gameplay in a new engine, and I’ve long wished other favorite games of mine would do the same. Populous is right at the top of that list – followed closely by Fantasy Empires and Dungeon Keeper.
The Kickstarter campaign had a lofty goal at £450,000 (about 700k USD), and it looked for a time like it wouldn’t make it, but with about a day to spare, it hit that target, and so work on the game will begin soon.
The synopsis is thus:
GODUS is an innovative reinvention of Populous, the original god game and delivers exciting global co-operation, competition, creation and destruction to a whole new generation.
Populous was created over 22 years ago, and we believe that to date, nothing has come close to emulating its powerfully godlike experience. It’s this experience we aim to reimagine. GODUS blends the power, growth and scope of Populous with the detailed construction and multiplayer excitement of Dungeon Keeper and the intuitive interface and technical innovation of Black & White. The original Populous hailed from the 8-bit era but GODUS will use the most modern technology the world has to offer.
The game’s main focus will be a single-player experience, like the original, but multiplayer modes will be available, and should be especially dynamic. The game will be controled with ‘gestures’ similar to Black & White.
GODUS will be launched on PC Mac, mobile iOS and Android. A release date has yet to be announced.
