by theygamesI try to be a benevolent leader, but sometimes in Cities Skylines 2 I just want to punish everybody. Raising taxes or bulldozing the only road connected to their driveway feel a little flat, a bit impersonal. I long for the days of the classic PC god game, formative icons like Populous and Black And White. I want bolts of lightning. After five years in the making, a new city builder has finally hit its 1.0 launch on Steam. Though the central goal is to build a functioning metropolis, you also have the powers of a god, and can lead your people into either nirvana or despair. This is Creo God Simulator.
Created by solo developer Esteban Hernandez, Creo God Simulator is a hybrid between city-building games and god games. Visually, it’s reminiscent of the criminally underrated Urbek City Builder – bright colors, chunky voxels, and particle-level destruction and construction. Mechanically, however, it feels closer to the sophomore works of Bullfrog and Lionhead. You aren’t building just for the sake of it. The goal is to construct their Tower of Babel-esque megastructures in your image, which you can only accomplish by completing objectives and quests. Check out the game’s 1.0 launch trailer, which has been shared exclusively with PCGamesN.
And it’s not just about your people’s practical needs. To ensure long-lasting deification, you need to keep them spiritually fulfilled and morally obedient. If you want to use your strongest godly powers, you need to accumulate an enigmatic blue mana. Perform miracles, such as instantly bestowing upon your people new technology, and their faith in you will increase. However, if you’re always kind, they might see you as complacent, and slack off when it comes to doing your bidding. Using the same mana, you can smite the smite-worthy and put fear back in their hearts.
But there are more motions to this delicate dance between warmth and vengeance. Firstly, random events like earthquakes, swarms of locusts, or even the inexplicable arrival of a herd of domestic cats can dash your carefully cogitated plans. Secondly, if you punish your citizens too much and too often, they will become overly fearful, and their fear attracts demonic creatures which arrive during the night to sap them of any remaining happiness or faith.
After launching onto Steam Early Access back in 2019, the full version of Creo God Simulator is out on Steam today, Thursday January 23. If you want to try it for yourself, it’s yours for $9.99 / £8.50. Just head here.
Otherwise, you might want to try some of the best strategy games, or maybe the best RTS games available right now.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or join our community Discord to stay in the know.