Populous

Populous is the first noteworthy production of Peter Molyneux and his company Bullfrog Productions. The success of this title strengthened the position of both its main designer and the studio itself, as well as influenced the development of the sub-genre of strategy games, allowing to become a virtual god and decide on the fate of people who profess him.

In Populous we play the role of a mighty deity and try to give our devotees a place to develop. We do this by transforming the terrain - levelling mountains with the ground and backfilling valleys. God's intervention is not limited only to making life more pleasant to the friendly inhabitants of the world, who are willing to build themselves on flat areas like a table. The game also lets you make the life of your competitors unpleasant - causing floods and flooding too low houses or creating a lava spitting volcano in the middle of the opponents' village helps to tip the scales of victory on your side.

However, the most important in Populous are people. When you provide them with the right conditions for development and their circle will grow, a hero will be chosen from among the general public, ready to lead the remaining members of the community against rivals. Blessed are the heroes doing real havoc in the villages of the opposite nation, killing its inhabitants and letting go of all buildings with smoke. The victory of a tribe is tantamount to a supplementation of a given deity, because it provides a proof that it is able to take appropriate care of its people.

The main variant of the Populous game is Conquest, in which we conquer new worlds by removing enemies from them who profess a competitive deity. For the purposes of the "Conquest", the authors have prepared nearly 500 ready-made arenas - the outcome of the first scenario determines which of them we will reach after we have completed the first scenario. There is a simple rule here: if we did extremely well in the previous mission, the next mission will be clearly more difficult. The list of available modes is closed with a tutorial and free struggle on a randomly selected map. The rules of the latter can be modified in any way.

In Populous we observe the action in isometric projection. Taking into account the then standards, the visual setting looks decent, the area deserves special attention, which can be deformed in any way. Peter Molyneux's work is widely regarded as the precursor to what are known as 'god games', i.e. games that enable you to play the god. The success of the original encouraged the creators to create numerous conversions, as well as subsequent installments of the cycle.

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Last updated on August 14, 2015