Reus (video game)

Reus

Reus logo
Developer(s) Abbey Games
Publisher(s) Abbey Games
Designer(s) Adriaan Jansen

Dennis Pullens
Nick Witsel[1]

Programmer(s) Bas Zalmstra

Maarten Wiedenhof
Manuel Kerssemakers
Dennis Pullens
Tim de Jager
Jacco Krijnen
[1]

Artist(s) Maarten Wiedenhof

Marlies Barends
Ronnie Dieleman
Rick Sorgdrager
Mitchell Tummers[1]

Composer(s) Joni van der Leeuw
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows,Linux,Mac OS[2]
Release date(s) Windows
  • WW May 16, 2013
Genre(s) God game, simulator
Mode(s) Single-player

Reus is an indie game produced by independent game studio Abbey Games. Reus is a god game in which the player controls giants who can modify the nature of the planet through terraforming, creating life, and altering genes.[3] The game was released for Microsoft Windows on May 16, 2013.[4]

Gameplay

A screenshot of gameplay showing two giants in the background of the planet

Reus involves guiding four elemental giants who have the ability to shape the two-dimensional planet. The giants can provide resources on each "patch" of land, such as animals, plants, or minerals. The goal is to provide support to the planet's humans, who act on their own and cannot be directly controlled. The actions of the player can influence the humans' behavior; for example, providing humans with too many resources can cause them to be greedy and wage wars with each other.[5][6]

Development

Reus was officially announced by its developer, Abbey Games, in a blog post on their website on June 21, 2012.[7] On January 14, 2013, Abbey Games released an in-game trailer on YouTube outlining the game and revealing gameplay.[8][9] On April 16, 2013, Abbey Games released another video on YouTube, which revealed an official release day of May 16, 2013, exactly one month later.[10][11] The game was released as planned on the 16th, and is currently available on Steam, Desura, GOG.com, and GamersGate.[4] The game was also made available to purchasers of the Humble Indie Bundle X who spent more than the average price.[12]

Reception

Reus received generally favorable reviews. GameSpot awarded the game with an 8.0 out of 10 score, citing that "Reus grows into a game that presents complex challenges, a great deal of flexibility, and the freedom to determine your own standards of success, or to simply enjoy experimenting with the landscape and toying with humans."[5] IGN gave the game a lower score, awarding the game with a 6.8 out of 10. The game's art style was praised, but its repetitiveness along with its "needlessly complex and unintuitive system of synergies and transmutations" were cause for criticism.[6] Destructoid praised Reus and gave it a score of 9 out of 10; while flaws were mentioned, the game was cited as being "a delight to play at every turn, and it strikes the perfect balance between providing new content and not overloading players."[13]

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings73.29%[14]
Metacritic75%[15]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid9/10[13]
GameSpot8.0/10[5]
IGN6.8/10[6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Reus Credits". Abbey Games. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  2. "Reus Purchase page". Retrieved 9 Sep 2014.
  3. "Reus". IGN. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  4. 4.0 4.1 "About Reus". Abbey Games. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Petit, Carolyn. "Reus Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Cobbett, Richard. "Reus Review". IGN. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  7. "Reus Announced!". Abbey Games. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  8. "Reus Release Trailer". Abbey Games on YouTube. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  9. Savage, Phil. "2D god game Reus released - launch trailer warns of mercurial mankind". PC Gamer. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  10. "Reus Release Announcement". Abbey Games on YouTube. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  11. O'Connor, Alice. "Reus trailer invokes release date". Shacknews. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  12. "X marks the spot: Name your price for 6 awesome games in Humble Indie Bundle X". Humble Bundle. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Brown, Fraser. "Serving and smashing tiny societies". Destructoid. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  14. "Reus for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  15. "Reus Summary". Metacritic. Retrieved 10 May 2014.

External links