Last week, we showed the most important gameplay differences between Reus and Reus 2. This week, we would like to highlight the differences in content and nature, as Reus 2 will be releasing next week on May 28th!


These are the biomes you can find in Reus and Reus 2:


We’ll highlight a few key differences.

The biggest difference between Reus and Reus 2 biomes is what place they take in the game. In Reus, the Forest and Ocean yielded more food, the Desert more Gold, and the Swamp more Science. The villages settling there always gave projects that fit with where they settled.

Reus 2 takes a different path. The villages have a will on their own, and you will decide where they’d fit best. Because of that, we wanted the differences between biomes to also be highlighted by biome mechanics. You’ll see what I mean as we go through some examples.

Another big difference is that the Biome itself is now something referenceable. Many biotica will check whether something is available in this specific biome. This means there is a real difference between making a huge biome, or multiple small biomes! Your planet layout is also saved in space!

Lastly, there are just much more Biotica per biome, and the minerals are also more unique. The number of unique biotica per full Biome went from roughly 25 in Reus, to 45 in Reus 2.


Biome mechanic: Mystery, Shallows and Deep.
Resources: balanced
Maybe one of the most requested features of Reus was to add more diversity to the Ocean, since the Oceans only had animals in them. In Reus 2, be ready to make corals and minerals in the ocean too!

Their biome mechanics are Mystery and the Shallows/Deeps. With the Shallow and Deep, you have to keep in mind where in the biome you place biotica. The patches close to land have more shallow waters, while those faraway are deep. An anglerfish will only live in the deep waters, while most coral prefers being in the shallows.
Be thoughtful of the layout you create!

Mystery you will have to demystify by yourself!



Biome mechanic: Biodiversity
Resources: science
There is one victim biome in Reus 2: The swamp has been replaced by the rainforest. While the swamp was a personal favorite, it made less sense than the rainforest biome as a part of the world. You’ll find many of the Swamp biotica in the Rainforest, like the Tapir or Coffea.

Their biome mechanic is that unlike other biomes, they reward having a surplus of biodiversity quite often. The more diverse your rainforest, the more science it will yield!




The mountain has received a vastly different role in Reus 2. Where in Reus was a limited but real biome, a mountain is now a terrain feature which can be added in most Biomes.

When you place a mountain in Reus 2, it will add an extra layer of slots on top of 3 patches. This means these slots have more adjacent slots (5 or 6 instead of 4) and you can squeeze in some extra biotica in that biome! There are 2 other terrain features: Sanctuary and Creek. We can’t wait to show them to you!



As you can see, most things we haven’t even covered yet. We do hope that this post informs you as a Reus fan what to expect in Reus 2. Hopefully it interests you enough to follow, wishlist or play the sequel we worked on with so much joy!


Hope to see you there!
Adriaan and the Monks of the Abbey

Hello giants,

You might have looked at Reus 2 and thought: "What is the difference with the original Reus?" With Reus 2 releasing within weeks, it's a good moment to compare it with the original and highlight the many improvements we made!

Also, it's 11 years ago that Reus released and participated in the Berlin A MAZE festival. We're celebrating with a 60% discount and participation in the A MAZE Steam fest.

In short:
And more!

The first thing you'll notice is the pace of the game. Instead of having to worry about each second, Eon (representing time) only moves forward when you place Biotica (e.g. Plants, Animals, Minerals). Your goal is not to reach your goals within a timespan but with a set number of Eon. Having more cities on your planet will give you a higher Eon limit and more actions.

This means no more need to press the space bar to pause the game with each action or be afraid to take a break. Don't worry about replacing things either: Replacement only costs 1/5 of the actions that a new placement costs.

This makes the game adapt to your speed of play: You're the master of the universe and time after all!



Another immediately noticeable change is the grid on the planet. Instead of playing on a single line, there is a small hex grid. This means that most slots will have 4 neighbors instead of only 2, vastly increasing your options and strategies.

There are even ways to expand the grid. Place a Mountain to add three slots on top, or expand the planet to have more room for your Biotica.



The original Reus had symbioses based on names, for example: "next to a Chicken." Reus 2 is very different; instead, it uses tags like "bird" or "tree". This gives you much more freedom to create your ecosystem.

Another addition is the concept of Biome-wide Symbioses. These will trigger on Biotica as long as they are in the same Desert, Forest, or other Biome. There have never been so many options and combos to make!



Instead of having to memorize an arcane web where errors would mean restarts, Biotica now unlock through drafts. You will earn these drafts by helping humans as usual. But then you can use them to unlock a set of Biotica for one specific Biome. Your options will be semi-random. You can use rerolls however to search for that Tiger you want so badly.

This way, no game will be the same, but it will be much easier to make decisions on what you want next! An added benefit is that all combinations of Biotica are now also possible!


War and giant hunting were never a fan favorite of Reus players, even though the fantasy is cool. We decided to remove these features from Reus 2 altogether until we know how to add them in a way that fits well with the rest of the game. This needs a lot more work, or else we will just end up with the same nuisances as in the original.

Enjoy your peaceful time on your planets!



We more than doubled the content for Reus 2! I'm not going to spoil all there is to find, just know there are unlimited possibilities and configurations on how to create your perfect planet!



Instead of playing games of 30 minutes to 2 hours, in Reus 2 you will go from Era to era. There are up to 3 Eras per planet. Every Era has its own vibe and goals. Will you help humans go to space, or will you support their revolution? Do well on the goals and you'll be rewarded with a little happening!

Your achievements will also be tied to which Eras you've completed. Try to get 3 stars on all of them and see all that humanity has to offer!



And we have much more! Planets in space, unique mechanics per biome, characters, and more improvements! We hope you will find all the content and mechanics the game has to offer, and enjoy your time to create a universe full of life!

We can't wait to see what you make!
Adriaan and the Monks at the Abbey

Hello Titans!

As you might have heared, we're currently working hard on a sequel to our beloved giant franchise! This week, during the Steam Strategy Fest, you will have the chance to check it yourself with our first demo!

We have many ambitions, improvements and new things to show off, but most of all we're interested in hearing about your feedback!

So grab your giants, and play the limited Reus 2 demo, available today!



- The monks of the Abbey

Fellow giants!

Today it has been 10 years since Reus released on Steam! A mere speck of time for ageless titans like yourself, but still worthy of celebration. If you haven't seen it yet; the celebration starts off strong with Reus 2 being announced last week! The monks of the Abbey and the gentle folks at Firesquid are teaming up for this one. Together, we hope to bring Reus to the modern gaming era, but without losing its charm.

That gives us the perfect opportunity to look back at Reus. What are we proud of, and do we want to take with us to the next game? And where do we see room for improvement?


These handsome elemental titans sure pulled their weight for us! I mean, look at that handsome line-up! This is definitely something we wish to expand upon in Reus 2. Although some of them could use a small make-over...



I think the single feature we got the most complains about, was the time pressure. Even veteran players couldn't play the game without frantically mashing the spacebar to pause the game. There is an endless mode, which removes this challenge. But choosing between RTS madness or little challenge at all is not really fitting for Reus.

In Reus 2, we hope to bring you a more relaxing experience, where the challenge comes from how well you do your actions, not from how fast you do them. Let the spacebar get some rest.


These are the bread and butter nature actions of your giants. It worked quite well, with many different combinations and strategies to play with. In Reus 2, we definitely want to expand on this more. More animals! More biomes! More ways of interacting! More more more! Here's a little sneak-peek...

It worked so well, because it is simple to understand, but hard to master. Ok, not all combinations were hard to master. Who hasn't filled their swamps with White Willows? And not everything was easy to understand, because....



How do I unlock the darn snow leopard?! Ok, a musk deer with a Predator aspect. Oh, it wants to be next to a Yak? Ok, how do I... oh, I can't unlock it anymore, because I committed towards something else with my Ocean giant... sigh...

No, I don't want to memorize this...

This was the #1 frustration that we didn't solve in any way. Unlocking new natural sources required a wiki, and even then you could plan wrong. It was cute at first, but it soon made people stumble a few hours in. This one has been very high on our fix-list for Reus 2. I can safely say now - the upgrades are going to be vastly different from Reus 1!


There are many more things to talk about. But for now, let's enjoy this decade or Reus. Who knows what the next decade will bring! If you're interested in more Reus, don't forget to check out the Reus 2 store or join the discord! Hope to see you around!

- Adriaan and the monks of the Abbey

After 10 years, we're finally ready to announce Reus 2! This sequel is a decade in the making: Reus was always on our mind, and we never stopped looking for exciting ideas for the game. Now we've partnered up with publisher Firesquid, and together we've proudly announced Reus 2 in the TactiCon showcase!



Since the first Reus in 2013, many things have evolved!

• Giant Roster: This time around, you will be able to select your giants from a roster. Every giant will bring its own niche to the planet.
  
  
• Experiment with Natural Resources: We expanded further on the symbioses and natural resources! There are much more of them, and you unlock them in an entirely new way. There are many exciting strategies and unique symbioses to discover!
  
  
• Observe and Define Your Own Goals: Shape the development of humanity and watch as their societies evolve from primitive tribes to advanced civilizations. Whether they are obsessed space explorers or self-destructive warmongers, who are you to judge their choices?
  
  
• Leave a Lasting Legacy: Each playthrough leaves a lasting legacy in the stars - and inspires new paths to take. Soon, your galaxy will be filled with human life... and some... failed experiments.

We learned a lot during development of Renowned Explorers and Godhood, as well as from playing countless new strategy games in the past 10 years. We always knew Reus had mountains of potential, and at this point we feel we’re ready to make the best version of it. Thank you, to all of you that played Reus or otherwise supported our studio and helped us grow :)

Find more info on the Reus 2 store page. Please wishlist and follow it, so you won't miss any news about the future of Reus.

- Manuel and the monks of the Abbey

Hear hear, tales from a decade ago! When the monks could merely grow hair on their face, and the internet was still younger place...

Our tale begins in Utrecht, where a small group of 4 monks decided to make games in the basement of the university. As was tradition in game development at that time, no sun was allowed to disturb the monks in their creative process. Other students were allowed to take a peek, though!
Abbey is in the right corner, with "concept art" on the wall.

Their dream? Make a god game where humans develop based on the nature you create! To do that, they used their student loan to start up the Abbey. Would this gamble pay off? In any case, they had a plan:

Our first pitch, which we showed to Valve!

Was it hard work? Definitely, but within 18 months Reus was created! It has all sorts of small things no one knows about... For example, sometimes, one of the mountains in the back is replaced by a rocket. It used to be replaced with .... something else, but that was not PG13. Also, to test the game, the monk had to summon a baby on a rocket! It would grant you powers previously unknown...

The rocket baby and another dude.

There also used to be a small chamber in the middle of the planet. One could raise baby giants there for the next generation! That idea never made it to Reus, but it also never left the center of our minds. Later on, Godhood would be a game about raising stuff for the next generation! It's all connected...

The inner chamber, waiting to become a game by itself!

Reus was an absolute success! It went on to sell over a million copies. It heavily influenced us, and still does for the future... The monks hope to revisit the themes of nature, human and the fantastic in the near future!
But the Abbey then progressed through to the era of Renowned Explorers! A game different in scope, but similar in soul. Are you curious what happened next? Friday our next chapter arrives on the Renowned Explorers news!

Who knows what the past might tell about our future...

See you there!

P.S. If you want to chat with us, feel free to join our Discord or follow the Abbey Games Developer!

Hello ancient titans!

The year is coming to an end, and thus comes the ritual of reflecting on the past. As many of you have been following us loyally, we would like to share our thoughts with you! But first; some Godhood news!

We’ve been working on a new update for Godhood, scheduled somewhere early 2021! We’re not going to give away much here, but it will include some new community ideas to add your religion! One important feature that has often been requested is the “Excommunicate” action. Soon it will be much easier to remove an unwanted Disciple from your roster.

Of course, sending a faithful Disciple away will impact morale a bit. But only the best get to serve you!

Just like most people on this planet, we had a pretty crazy year. In January, we were at the point of calling it quits. Because of the disappointing Early Access track of Godhood and general mismanagement, we were at a total low point with no viable business left. Up to that point, Godhood development had been a true ordeal. We had two separate burn-outs in the team, and the quality of the game only improved at a slow pace. By the start of 2020, we had to let go of all of our employees and friends (You can follow a few of them at Roost Games!) whom we shared so many beautiful memories with. We, Maarten, Manuel and Adriaan, were the only ones left of our original team of over 10 people.

However, we thought Godhood to be in an unacceptable state. It was our duty to deliver you higher quality before we called it quits. So we set on a journey to release 1.0. After that, we would reevaluate our situation.

In that period, we re-learned a lot about making games. We had some critical moments where we compared the production of Godhood with that of Renowned Explorers and Reus. In the process, we found our joy back, and the ability to increase quality at a much higher pace. We couldn’t have done it without the support of the community - it was at one point literally the only thing that motivated us to move forward! We’re very grateful for all your kind words, constructive criticism, and all round fun interaction! In particular, we would like to thank the good folks on the Abbey Discord. It has been a joy. We’re proud of the results!

Lucky for us, this increase in joy and quality also changed our fortunes on Godhood! The game welcomed a lot of new players, and we’re happy to see many more people having fun with it. Because of that, we’re now in the position to look at the future!

This newfound joy has motivated us to take a look into the future of the Abbey. We’ve started with cutting down some of our ambitions to focus on bringing better quality games. In the past 5 years, Abbey Games was very busy trying to manage a democratic and safe work environment. However, it seems we went too far. Too many of us were more busy managing and doing HR work instead of bringing you quality gameplay. With the 3 of us, we’re going back to our times during Reus and Renowned Explorers. That means more time developing, less time managing. We’re also saying goodbye to our engine AbbeyCore. It was a fun and enriching project, but we want to focus on our game quality. We hope to use more industry standards to make it easier to deliver our games faster and to more people.

This means we will fully devote ourselves to deep and thematic strategy-likes. We’ve received quite some requests for a sequel to Renowned Explorers and Reus. We have a lot of love for these games, and are exchanging interesting ideas about them! We are also very excited to try new themes, too!

So what does the future bring? We’re going to keep you guys in the dark a bit longer! But know that we’re working on deep and thematic strategy-likes, in the spirit of Reus and Renowned Explorers! We hope to use some of Steam’s new features to bring our new prototype to you as quickly as possible. We believe that together, we can make a really high quality game!


Finally, we want to give you all our best wishes for your (a)religious festivities! We hope you can leave the chaos behind you for a while, and focus on the things that are truly important to you. Be it family, friends, health, or just some really good games! Thank you for reading, and we hope to see you in 2021!

Best wishes,
The Abbey

Hello Giants!

We're releasing a big update for our Early Access title Godhood! To celebrate this joyous occasion, Godhood is now on sale with a 30% discount!

Check out the store page for more info on the update!

- Greetings from the Monks

That's right, young gods, we finally have a release date for our new game!
Two moons from now Godhood will be available for everyone to play!

On July 10th we will launch our strategy god game into Early Access here on Steam. This will be the first opportunity to play our new strategy god game. We're incredibly excited to move to this next stage of development. From July 10th onward, we'll be using community feedback to improve Godhood in our continuing monthly updates. Exciting times for sure!

To prepare for release with us, make sure you wishlist the game on the store page. This will send you a notification once the game releases, and also helps bring the game to a bigger audience! If you know anyone you think would be as into Godhood as you are, we'd really appreciate if you could share the game with them, for example by sharing our launch-date tweet:
https://twitter.com/AbbeyGamesNL/status/1134110185402884096

Follow our development updates here
https://community.abbeygames.com/threads/godhood-available-in-steam-early-access-on-july-10th.188/

~ Abbey Games

Thanks to the community's effort on social media, Kickstarter backers of our upcoming god game Godhood have unlocked a free copy of Reus! Next to that, there's a stream of Godhood later today. Read all about it in this kickstarter update:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/abbeygames/godhood/posts/2422233