Reus

Reus is a very good, well balanced game. The developers understand the essence of a godgame like no other and gave the genre a new twist. An original and challenging concept with which the Dutch Abbey Games put themselves on the map.

Reus brings something entirely new to the god game genre but still manages to feel and look familiar. It's complex and well balanced system will keep you busy for hours as you watch the different civilizations develop themselves.

It may not be filled with as much variety as I would have liked to see in a god game, but Reus nails down its core mechanics and creates a very enjoyable game in the process.

There are some truly brilliant concepts on display here, and this is the first fantastic god game the genre has seen in a long time. It’s a shame that the lack of game modes hinders Reus so much, as it’s really something special.

Synergistic puzzle gameplay is headmeltingly addictive (and beautiful), though it's more like gardening than being a god. [Aug 2013, p.82]

Sowing the seeds of a flourishing planet and a prosperous populace is a wonderfully welcome challenge in Reus.

As delightful and clever as Reus is, the intensity of the play when you find yourself juggling multiple projects unfortunately lets it down, as it doesn't feel built to support such action.

Does it sound complicated? It eventually is. It takes a while to get here, and there are plenty of lower level achievements to chase. Once you get to the harder challenges, Reus can be a little bit brutal.

Reus might be seen as a god-game if you consider accounting management specialists are gods. Pretty, poetic, green, even slightly educative, Reus hides a super complex puzzle game behind its planetary beauty. You'll try to help humans to grow civilizations, but as one learns from real life, they will most certainly bring chaos in all your planing ; and this is what's the game is all about.

Reus is a game of giants walking the earth, and an epic contraption whose pleasantly rewarding output wrests a world teeming with life from a dead planet’s skin.

Most of the times it takes too much effort to make all the small things of your world run smoothly, but when it happens, it's a rewarding accomplishment.

Logical and inspired.

Challenging and clever, Reus asks that you make the most of its rather small toolset. Gratuitous repetition and the absence of a fast forward button take some of the fun out of its demanding formula after a dozen hours or so. While there aren’t enough possibilities here to influence and care for the people of your planet as would befit a true god game, Reus certainly is an impressive effort and puts indie developer Abbey Games on the map.

An interesting experiment, Reus is more a puzzle than a god-game. That might turn off some genre aficionados, but doesn't make it a bad game, far from it. If you can appreciate its hidden complexity and peculiar mechanics, Reus will definitely capture you.

Reus is a math puzzle dressed as a god sim. Do not mistake it for a laid-back economic strategy game - playing Reus is never a relaxing experience. It is too bad that some of the challenges crop up because of the poorly-designed UI.

A game that’s very friendly in terms of visuals, yet very complex when it comes to gameplay mechanics. There’s a lot of information you need to memorize to be efficient, which makes you more of an accountant than a god. [CD-Action 08/2013, p.80]

Reus is an interesting puzzle game with strengths and weaknesses; difficult to understand for anyone who not lives the indie games world.

But the world simulation isn't particularly deep either, and juggling resources makes you feel more like a manager than a god. [Oct 2013, p.65]

Reus is a gorgeous-looking, imaginative game which suffers from over-baked mechanics, but those hungry for to play god are still likely to find one of their favourite Populous-style games in a long while.

It’s a shame there isn’t some sort of message integrated in the game, because as it is now, it seems unambitious. A plot of some sort would have helped here.