Populous™: The Beginning

This was my very first RTS, and Populous game, and what can be said about this game that hasn't already been said about this underrated Gem, You control a Goddess, and you will have to build a village, build up an army, and take down the opponent, classic RTS fare, only that this game has some VERY unique elements, as a goddess you also have different powers, burn down the opponents village, what about a tornado? what about some lighting bolts? or a plague? this game had some unique elements that still hold up to this date, because THIS is what a real RTS is, and i can't recommend this game enough, its just an amazing experience from start to finish, this review might not do the game justice though, but i really want you to buy this game if you have never tried it before, i certainly will for the nostalgia :)

A very good game I almost play every 1 or 2 years and don't bore me. Fans keep this game running you must found the patches to run in W10. For run in W10, you go to the folder where is installed and use the file: popTB (you can create and access direct) But the graphics are low, but if you can install the patches and expansions you have a great time!!! Fan Populous game web page (Patchs, expansions, mods, forums, etc) https://www.popre.net/forum/populous-the-beginning-software-patches-t9537.html

It's a fun game with good mechanics, but I find that the best way to win is to just spam Priests and snipe enemy towers / Shaman with Lightning while your Priests convert the entire enemy tribe. Doing this has always earned me victory, whereas trying to play the game in a more diverse way tends to lead to ruin or problems when the enemy comes with their own Priests. Honestly, the Priest unit is kinda unbalanced and the game would've been a lot better without them. The music is also worth a special mention as it is incredibly atmospheric and cool, easily one of the best aspects of the game. My guess is that this game would be a lot more fun if you played it online vs friends where you can setup your own custom rules, but that's unfortunately not a possibility for me.

I was waiting and hoping gog would add this as it's one of my favorites of all time and spent months playing this as a kid. Lo and behold I saw it today and knew it was an instant buy. The game functions a little differently from other rts games as the only real resources are trees and mana. You get mana from your followers and you carefully have to balance your fighting forces since only basic villagers give it. Of course what I enjoy most about the game is the spells. Nothing like taking your shaman to the enemy village, dropping some swarms, tornadoes, and lightning bolts then watching as your fighting forces attack in the chaos. The only thing I feel this game is missing is some sort of skirmish mode with additional maps where you can face off against the computer. But otherwise a solid game that will keep you entertained for hours

control layout is archaic, but the gameplay and visuals hold up remarkably well. cutscenes are decently voiced, the terrain deformation still has not been stolen by other RTS the spells are up there with sacrifice in terms of gameplay punch while the standard (for its time) control scheme means it's a lot less of a hot-mess once you get into combat versus sacrifice and it's third person instant-area-death moment to moment combat variability. buy it, play it for RTS kick that the console generation tried it's best to bury (oddly enough this would work ok on a controller, not that I personally would) oh and it has lightning, fireballs and the ability to sink your enemies land into the cold grasp of the uncaring sea, what's not to love?