- Studio: Bullfrog Productions
- Design: Peter Molyneux
- Music: Rob Hubbard
- This Game is: 36 year s old / 1989
- Console: Sega Master System (SMS)
Description
Populous, created by Peter Molyneux and launched by Bullfrog in 1989, is hailed as the original god game. As the first in the Populous series, it set the standard for the genre. Through an isometric perspective, you view a 'tabletop' world filled with command icons, a map, and a bar showing your divine power level or 'mana'. Progress through 500 levels, each presenting a new land to conquer with your followers. Utilize divine powers such as raising and lowering land, creating natural disasters, and transforming followers into knights to eliminate enemy followers and expand your realm. As your followers build more houses and multiply, your mana level rises, unlocking even more divine powers to interact with the landscape and population. This captivating strategy game blazed the trail for subsequent god games and remains a beloved classic.