God game recommendations?

[Brother Oni]

I've always been a fan of the whole 'look after your people' routine in games, and reading American Gods recently has put me back in the mood for me to nurture/torment my worshippers as I crush the opposition.

Anybody have any suggestions for a game that will help me satisfy my omnipotent being desires?

I'd prefer something with a plot or some sort of story involved, and not something from the RTS (all played out on those at the moment) or the 4X/management genres (too impersonal for this).

Platform-wise, anything for the PC or Xbox 360, although I have access to a DS, PS2, GC and a PSP as well.

A list of games I've already played or considered:


Actraiser
Age of Mythology - I want something from the other way round
Black and White - couldn't get the hang of the mechanics
Civilisation (too impersonal)
Doshin the giant
Dungeonkeeper series
Okami series
Populous
Sim city series (too impersonal)

[Eldan]

Too bad that you are ruling out strategy games: Dominion 3 is amazing. (Not real time, though. And damn complicated, until you "get" it.)

Tried the later Populous games?

[Trekkin]

I never liked Black & White either, predominantly because the mechanics were so odd. The sequel streamlined everything considerably, in my view, and might be worth a look.

Dwarf Fortress doesn't make you omnipotent, but it does let you get into the (surprisingly detailed) mind of the little fellows and help/hinder them in a variety of entertaining ways.

If you can find it, Creatures was far from impersonal. It was limited in scale, but it's absolutely beautiful and the Norns were designed from the ground up to be accessible from a wide range of perspectives, including that of "capricious superbeing".

Finally, this list might be helpful. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_god_video_games)

[pantoffelheld]

The first thing I thought of was Black and White (1 and 2), but I see you've already tried them. It's a shame you couldn't get into them, I found them to be pretty entertaining.

Something you might want to keep an eye out for is From Dust (http://www.fromdustgame.com/), a game which should be released in fall this year. It's a God game where you control the lands and shape them the way you want to be, in order to let a tribe of humans survive. It's essentially a giant sandbox, but the graphics (the water flows beautifully) and options you have should provide fun to those creative enough.

...That's all I can think of right now. There really aren't many God games on the market, are there?

[Brother Oni]

Too bad that you are ruling out strategy games: Dominion 3 is amazing. (Not real time, though. And damn complicated, until you "get" it.)


There's a difference between nameless protagonist who micromanages his troops to victory and semi benevolent god who tries to lead his followers. Real time doesn't matter, it's just the feel of the thing I'm after.

A quick look at the RTS games within arm's reach of my desk:
Dawn of War 1 plus all expansions
Dawn of War 2 gold
The Settlers Heritage of Kings gold
Company of Heroes plus all expansions
Age of Empires 3
Sins of a Solar Empire
Homeworld 2
Warrior Kings
Armies of Exigo
Total War (Rome, Medieval 2)

Plus a whole bunch more stashed away on shelves up in my bedroom


Yeah, I'm pretty much burnt out on RTS games at the moment.

Which reminds me, I forgot to mention Patapon in the list of games, since you're the god of the Patapons in that.



Tried the later Populous games?

I've played the most recent remake of Populous (Populous the beginning according to wiki), but I suspect my computer will loathe anything earlier and I really don't want to go through the rigmarole again of dual booting with my Windows 7 machine.


Black and White 2
Dwarf Fortress.
Creatures.


I might see if I can pick up B&W 2, if it's as streamlined as you said.
Haven't tried Dwarf Fortress and Creatures look interesting, but appears to require a VM of an older version of Windows or dual booting.



Finally, this list might be helpful. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_god_video_games)

I've seen that list already, but I was hoping that there was something that was missed.


Black and White (1 and 2)
From Dust

...That's all I can think of right now. There really aren't many God games on the market, are there?

I've only played the first B&W and I didn't bother with the sequel since I didn't enjoy the first. I've had two suggestions to try B&W2 though, so I might see if I can find it for cheap somewhere.

From Dust looks like it's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for, thanks for that. Roll on autumn... :smallsigh:

I agree, there aren't that many God games. I guess the RTS and 4x/managment genres have that market pretty much sewn up, not to mention the religious aspect probably turns off most design studios.

[Gaelbert]

Dwarf Fortress runs with ease on my Windows 7 laptop. I highly recommend it, although I don't quite know if it has the "God" feel to it. It's more of a city building simulation where you see everything, give instructions to people, and can see inside their minds. You will have a lot of Fun.

[skb]

Dungeon Keeper or Startopia may be up your alley. The campaigns are extended tutorials, there is a wicked sense of humour in the former and incredible charm in the latter.

They're both "build your base" types of game, fyi.

One thing to keep in mind is that Dungeon Keeper 2's an absolute bitch to get to play on modern computers - this is coming from a guy who tried to get them running on XP!

edit: startopia is more of an economy game than a strategy game though - a bit like Dwarf Fortress in that your personnel will do what they wish, but not nearly as annoying to control.

[Ailurus]

Following up on what skb said, you could look into Evil Genius as well. There's no religion aspect in it, and granted it is geared more to dealing with the pitiful agents of justice who dare attempt to infiltrate and destroy your evil lair than tormenting your own minions (though there's nothing stopping you from tormenting them if they fail you or for fun, and (especially the lower level ones) are rather often stupid enough to set off your own flamethrower and pirahna traps).

Plus, its on GoG, which means cheap and they did all the work for you in terms of getting it running on windows 7 (well, they claim they did at least, and it works for me fine on Vista). (think its on steam too, if you prefer that)

edit for link: http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/evil_genius

[Brother Oni]

One thing to keep in mind is that Dungeon Keeper 2's an absolute bitch to get to play on modern computers - this is coming from a guy who tried to get them running on XP!


I've listed the Dungeon Keeper series in my original post and it works in Windows 7 64 via some registry alterations, although it still has some stability issues and glitches.

I had no issues in getting it to run under XP, although it refused to save my progress outside of saved games while inside a level.



edit: startopia is more of an economy game than a strategy game though - a bit like Dwarf Fortress in that your personnel will do what they wish, but not nearly as annoying to control.

Startopia looks more like a management style game, which isn't what I'm after, but I'll see if I can find a demo of it somewhere.


Evil Genius

I tried the demo for this already and I don't know whether the demo was bugged or just hated my machine.
It's similar to Dungeon keeper, so it's worth picking up for that aspect alone, but isn't what I'm really after.

[Leecros]

If you can pick up a copy of Majesty from somewhere i highly suggest it. If you don't mind the really crappy graphics. It's a brilliant game, moreso than Majesty 2(and it's 8 billion expansions) are.


One thing to keep in mind is that Dungeon Keeper 2's an absolute bitch to get to play on modern computers - this is coming from a guy who tried to get them running on XP!

If you still have an older OS disc, you could set up a Virtual PC for it and install it on that. That's how i got DK2(and any other older games) to work on my Vista.


Blarg Vista.:smalleek: