Populous™: The Beginning

RTS games are not my cup of tea, however this one has such awesome magic and climate that instantly made me love it. I think that at first I got along with Populous 3 in some demo version from PC Gambler magazine in 90', few years later encountered box version in classic collection promo. Instabought and just like in demo - totally sinked in gameplay. What is so special about Populous The Beginning is feeling of power and freedom, every "planet" may be finished in so many ways that everyone should find something fitting their own style. For me it's focusing on shaman and her fast spell regeneration by regular citizens protected by self-made heaps of land and then massive magic attack of hostile village. Whole geomorph concept there deserves separate description. Game let's you do literally everything with landscape and proper use of spells responsible for it may be a real game changer, not only spells matter but exact place of using them, the higher you are, the bigger radius you get. Joining mountain peaks together, placing towers with fireshooters on it to protect your ground and preparing army for battle on safe (for a while) side, wow, it's just awesome and contains even arcade elements. What's annoying is AI of your units, sometimes they just walk around senselessly or stan still with hands up waiting for death, but here's arcade element - sometimes units can't find patch to, for example, climb a mountain, but if you show them way slowly and in small parts - then they get there! Sometimes annoying but very satisfying at once, especially when you get to the top before enemy and then take advantage of enhanted radius. Of course when I saw it on GOG I also instantly bought it as ancient one has some colour problem in the menu on newer operating systems and well, my newest pc doesn't even have CD anymore. :P Thx GOG!

This is one of my all-time favorite games! Every RTS I've played since has been judged against Populous: The Beginning. This game has it all: resource management, a good selection of simple balanced units, town building, (including strategic use of landscape and defensive structures) a balanced escalation of magical attacks and technological advances, (boats and hot air balloons ftw) and minion control that I find lacking in some modern RTS games. For example the ability to assign multiple directives at once to a group of units (i.e. collect resources then build building WITH gathered resources) as well as assigning patrol routes for guards. The fact that this game has been made available to modern PC gamers is a blessing. Thank you so much for the nostalgia!

The first two Populous games are some of my absolute favorites. They were Awe Inspiring when they came out. When they announced this new sequel, we were thrilled. It came out, I started playing, it was fun but ultimately I was disappointed. It just did not thrill us the way the previous two did. We most likely expected too much. As a game, it is great. As a Populous game is was fun but a letdown. It is well worth the price.

Not the most complex of RTS's, but one of the most enjoyable and underrated of the 90s. It's addictive. Magic gives you such a sense of power, and it has a charming, intriguing visual and auditory style. I'm very fond of this game.

One of my favorite games as a kid! My best friend and I only ever had the three-mission demo, but we must have played through those three levels a thousand times! It was a complete blast from the past when I found Populous: The Beginning here on GOG. Plus I finally get to play the full game some 20 years later lol! It's like being 9 years old again! This game was clearly influential to games made after it such as Black and White and deserves to be immortalized as one of the best of it's genre. And for only $5.99, this game belongs in everyone's library. Whether you remember it from when you were younger or you've never played it before, this game will hook you in the second you cast that first lightning bolt!