Buy From Dust

I FIXED IT!

To everyone that keeps saying that Uplay crashes and that you can't play this is what you need to do:
1) Uninstall the game and Uplay (AKA Ubisoft Launcher)
2) Install Uplay from Ubisoft's site.
3) Login with your account (on Uplay) and make sure you're online.
3.1) There is an option to activate game, choose it.
3.2) Copy the game's activation code to it (the one Steam provides you)
3.3) It will ask you if you want to activate From Dust to that account, choose yes.
4) In Uplay, choose "Go Offline", and that's it (but don't close Uplay).
6) Install the game on Steam and play
Note: In Uplay's settings I recommend that you choose "Always start Offline" and disable any synchronization to Uplay (specially the save files), because it is absolute garbage, you should also disable overlay.

For those wondering, the problem is the interaction between Steam and Uplay, and the fix is launching (and installing) Uplay by itself instead of letting Steam do it.

The game itself is a lot of fun, it sucks that Ubisoft had to ruin it, I would recommend the game, but not the company.

A good god sim where the only thing more powerfull than you is Uplay

While most others complain about Uplay its not all that bad. You can get the game easily working within 5 minutes, you just have to uninstall the uPlay that comes with the game, and instead use the one from the official website.

Beyond uPlay this game is fantastic. With the completely terraformable worlds and amazing powers and gameplay its a definite buy in my opinion. I personally like the water physics most. Its just very intricate and well scripted, even on a large scale when the lakes and tsunamis are involved. And who can resist taking a large glob of lava and setting your village on fire?

The game was really good, but it's ruined by cursed U-PLAY...

U-Play's latest update prevents the game from loading up. Why studio's feel the need to use U-Play is beyond reason.
Totally uneccesary!!!

From Dust gives you a place you can design on your own. Throuugh the story you will unlock more powers and so you can shape the land stronger. The Story is perfectly told and hides many secrets you will uncover. A negative point is the lack of a Sandbox mode. You are in a quarter and you can only form the land in that quarter. In conclusion this game is worth buying though you shouldn't expect much from it.

An amazing adventure, magical humble little game that puts you into role of a god that guides mysterious tribe on journey to discovery through the power of terraforming. Every mission is essantially a puzzle to solve and with increasing difficulty it results into about 10 hours of top notch entertainment. Some people throwing temper tantrums because of the uplay, I had no problems with it at all (I never had uplay crashing or anything those guys are "experiencing").

The important thing is that a review that only lists problems with uplay is not a review of this game at all. The game is an overlooked gem, it has amazing aesthetics and so much charm most of the other titles would be envious. It's not a groundbreaking title, as this was done before, but it's done really well.

Two reasonable criticisms - mouse controls are not that good, and while your villagers aren't exactly lemmings, they can be pretty dumb. Neither of those are serious issues and will only take a few moments to get used to it.

Was entertaining for awhile, but it got old pretty quick. Level after level, it had the same exact intro sequence; some people crawling out of a hole in the ground. It definitely got challenging, but at that point I had lost interest.

Maybe it will work this time?
Aaaand uplay launcher has stopped working.
Great, back to Dota then.

From Dust. 9 / 10
Shape the Land, control Water and Lava protecting the people from Tidal Waves and Volcanos. Provide natural protection for their societies to evolve.... This should be called A "Mother Nature" game.

This is a Unique game - and if you like a variety of games then this is a TREAT : ))

Many people don't "get" this game.... that's ok; they don't "get" it. That's why the scores on Metacritic are all over the place - score variability is high - because Gamer Type is widely variable.

But make no mistake.... This is a Great Game. I have played for 20hrs+ (offline)

Last thoughts: Uplay is badly messed up.... I can't get it to work anymore..... Ubisoft has this way ehrrr... I have unfriended Ubisoft, you know what I mean? You should get this game not on Uplay if you can find it....

Peace.... now I gotta get back to killin' Orcs in Shadow or Mordor.

While this is a recommendation in favor of From Dust, it comes with a lot of qualifiers. This is not a game that is worth full price. Yes, the graphics and production value are above average. And yes, this is a well designed God Game. And yes, because of the dynamic way in which the world behaves in reaction to your choices can drastically change the playthrough of any particular level. And ultimately yes, the levels (what few there are) are well designed.

But that brings me to my first complaint: There are only 12 levels (not counting the finale which doesn't really count since you can easily win simply by not using anything but the Breath of Earth.) For a full priced game, this is scaled more as a tech demo and paying full price is outrageous. (And I mean that to be a bit dramatic, because Fromt Dust is offensively short.)

It took me roughly 6 hours to beat the game (And I had to play at least three maps over.)

Which leads me to my next complaint: There are no saves. If you fail, you have to start over from the beginning of the level. That's not horrible, but it is made painful by the unskippable cutscenes and monologues at the beginning of each level. If you're not beating the level in the first or second try, the tedium of unskippable cutscenes is likely to drive you slightly mad. The cutscenes are "cute" the first time through, but after that they start to grate on your nerves. Your followers don't speak English. Everything is subtitled. While this seems like a novel idea at the beginning, people speaking gibberish at you on the start of each level (coupled with the fact that you cannot bypass it) quickly becomes annoying. This annoyance is mercifully mitigated by the short "single player campaign." (Of questionable value, since it also means there isn't much meat on the bones of this game.)

My third complaint is that it requires Uplay, Ubisoft's DRM. Ubisoft's DRM is draconian. There are multiple features in many games that simply do not work if you do not have an active internet connection (as opposed to Steam, where that connection is only required on first activation.) Additionally, Uplay fails to install correctly when installed through Steam and you have to jury rig it to work (I put a guide together under From Dust for anyone who buys this and runs in to the installation problem and goes looking for the solution.) While Ubisoft has removed some of the other unpalatable elements of Uplay DRM, it still remains the poster child for "what not to do" among game producers.

However, if you catch this on a sale ($5-10 tops) and you can tolerate dealing with Uplay, you will find yourself faced with a few (very few) enjoyable hours with Fromt Dust.

The gameplay that derives from wielding god powers (water, warth, fire and life-- no air here) is enjoyable. The sense of urgency that derives from the interaction between floods and earth washing away, or between a lava flow steadily working its way into your followers-- these interactions are compelling and interesting.

Unlike Molyneux's "God Game Remake in Godus" there is no farmville experience here. You really are left solely with Godly concerns. How do you unlock your next power?, how do you expand your followers across the world in the face of looming environmental disaster?, how do you help them escape the world before the tenuous balance you've maintained comes crashing down around you and your followers?

The story is nothing special. It starts as a question, and it ends as a question.

The graphics are pretty spectacular (for what it is). There's not a ton of individualized follower behavior (You typically zoom all the way out and do your best to stay on top of the floods, or the tsunamis, or the volcanos that are poised to end your followers.) But the environmental effects are pretty interesting. Water that is volumetric and looks like water. It has waves, it feeds plant life, it cools lava. Lava that is equally volumetric, and which cools when it thins, leaving behind a layered rock strata on which the next wave of lava will rise over it. Each river, be it water or lava, is unique and behaves according to physics which seem realistic (so long as you don't analyze them too heavily.)

The game performs well (one crash of the game, one crash of Uplay before I applied the installation fix I mentioned earlier). The audio is well designed, if a bit shallow and repetative. The digeridoo sounds are thematic and interesting (but if you don't like them, they become fairly constant in late game and that is likely to get on your nerves.)

All in all, despite its many flaws, I would give From Dust a positive rating-- at a much lower price point.

If you happen to see this on sale and feel like a few hours with a novel take on the God game genre, then give this a try. (But don't get it except on sale, because there just isn't much under the hood to justify the cash expenditure.)

Wonderful game! I expected a sandbox game but From Dust turned out to be refreshingly challenging and I just love the smooth graphics and interesting gameplay.

I did have some problems with Uplay, as first the game wouldn't launch at all and Uplay was being glitchy. However, it's a common problem with this game and steam community had found a good solution to it, and simply by following simple instructions I got the game working. And it was worth it.

A rather short game but fun all the way down. It is as fascinating to watch as it is to play. The fantastic idea gives you the power of being the protective creator of a tribal group of people by modelling nature and landscapes. Even if the main action of piling up and excavating the level's territory may not sound spectacular, I already played it through several times. Not least this is due to the physics which grant sensible effects from all my godlike actions. You have the power over lava, earth and water with which you can shape the landscape in favour of the tribe. The goal is to create a save passage over the map to some ruins which grant access to the next scenario. In this sandbox nature is your persistent opponent. If you are not careful fire burns your village down or flood washes your people away.

A real downside of this game is the story. Actually there is no notable plot which could be called a storyline. Other than the campaign you can also play in custom empty map where you can build your own landscapes.
It has also to be stated, that the game requires UPlay since it is an Ubisoft game.

So it is a game that is different. Unfortunately it is not complete, neither by its extent nor by its plot. Nontheless, it reminded me as well of endless hours in the sandpit during childhood. Not least thanks to the still pretty graphics I recommend this terraforming god game.

You Have to register for an account in which you do not want to play this Game and it takes 1hr to load because it constantly updates itself.... the game is amazing just not the company and uplay should not exist...

Kill your own civilization simulator
genocide/10

I dislike having to go through this stupid uplay account to play the game, everytime i try to access it the game gets to the uplay browser and shuts down giving me an error message, game looks good, but uplay freaking sucks.

What happened when God is a human, and that human is you.
6 out of 10

When this game announce their first gameplay preview I was extremely excited as if I were a little kid who sees the first movie of iron man. However when the game came out and after about 5 hours playing the game, it does bring disappointment; Such how the sandbox mode being executed, the number of levels, difficulty level, challanges and other factors of the game that makes it really disappointing.

Does it worth the money?
I wouldn't really suggest you to buy the game, but if you want to support the game developer for the gorgeus art and physics, you might consider your 20 bucks for it too.

Wonderful game! Hours and hours of fun, there's even a lot of quality end-game stuff to do too!

As many great things as I have heard about this game i would love to give it a great review. That is if I were able to play it at all. My cumputer has a substantial amount more of all of operating system requirements needed. But the game will only run through Ubisoft's Uplay launcher, which has crashed everytime. I have downloaded this game 4 times now in an attempt to play it at least once and to no avail. So sorry for all those who want to try the game Ubisoft apparently doesn't want us to use the products we pay for.

Now requires a forced UBISOFT account to play the game.

As god my mission was to lead my people to safety.
Man did i ♥♥♥♥ that up.