From Dust Review

On the first day, God said “Let there be light!” and there was light. On the second day, God said “Let there be land!” and there was land. On the third day, God had to move some water so a group of Tribesmen could cross a river to reach a totem where they could build their new village. In From Dust, the latest downloadable title from Eric Chahi, you play as the Breath, helping a group of Tribesmen moving around the world, manipulating the elements so they can succeed in populating their world.

As the Breath, you can manipulate certain elements, such as water and earth, to change the environment so that the humans can cross the landscape to the Totems, where they create villages and learn new powers. Absorbing some soil will allow you to add in bridges, forming new paths that the Tribesmen can then traverse. Soaking up the water and then placing it elsewhere allows you to create whole deserts where vegetation can therefore grow. And removing lava from the top of volcanoes can then be used to erect whole walls that can block tsunamis and protect the villages.

The moment you start playing From Dust you notice just how beautiful the game is; each of the thirteen stages looks completely different and they all combine to create an incredible world where nature rules and survival is the top of the agenda. But no matter how good looking the game is it counts for nothing if the natural elements, which play such a huge role in it, don’t look incredible too. Thankfully, they are all visually amazing.

Sand raises up then slowly slides back down like you would imagine it to and lava burns away at everything it touches. The water, however, is easily the star of the show. Getting the movements and the viscosity of the liquid right in games nowadays is incredibly difficult but From Dust and the developers at Ubisoft have done it perfectly. There was a spring atop a huge mountain but the water was secluded and was having trouble reaching the vegetation below. By removing some of the banks surrounding the liquid, I opened up the side of the spring, allowing the water to be free. And it cascaded down the gap, flowing up the sides of mountains and into a huge hole at the base of the rock. It was breath-taking to witness. In games these days, water is just there and doesn’t feel like a living, breathing element; in From Dust that it completely different.

Alongside the beautiful graphics, special note should be taken to the soundtrack; it’s actually really good. It’s hectic at parts when your blood level rises whilst being peaceful when nothing is going on. The calmness of the waves and the danger of the fire are captured perfectly in a musical score that, like the one found in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, really helps the game and makes it better to play. The presentation (the music, the graphics and the menus of From Dust) is just outstanding.

From Dust might sound incredibly simple; pick up elements, move them elsewhere and create a path for your Tribesmen, but with the addition of tsunamis and wildfires, it suddenly becomes immensely complex. Blood levels rise and you frantically manipulate lava so that you can build a wall to protect your village as the timer ticks down until the tsunamis arrival. Be successful and the village is saved, but fail and the Tribesmen’s homes are lost forever, forcing you to restart. It’s this level of franticness that gives the game a strategic feel.

But with this quick pace also brings the game’s biggest problem; it suddenly becomes a little too hectic and therefore becomes frustrating. Sometimes the AI isn’t quite good enough to fulfil your wishes; one too many times, the Tribesmen have refused to walk up a mountain that is obviously climbable and have instead gone another way which leads them straight into a huge body of water, killing them all. I understand that nature is incredibly powerful, but you sometimes get the impression that the Tribesmen are made of paper and can be destroyed by anything.

At some points this can hinder your enjoyment of the game, but at the times when it’s slow and you can appreciate From Dust for what it is, the game is very, very good. For a downloadable title, this sets the bar incredibly high and the beautiful graphics of the elements, especially water, really starts a fight with some of the full retail titles that are available right now. This isn’t a game about destroying life with bullets and bombs but instead a game about creating it and appreciating it. It not only breathes life into the world of the Tribesmen but also injects variety and freshness into a world dominated by first person shooters and other generic games. For on the eighth day, God created From Dust.