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First Impressions: From Dust

08/02/2011|Matt "Steerpike" Sakey|Impressions18
Home » Home » Impressions » First Impressions: From Dust
First Impressions: From Dust

The Nod Problem: if God is all-powerful, can God create something too heavy for God to lift?

I’m nearly finished with From Dust, so once again I violate the implications of our “First Impressions” category, but I didn’t want to shoulder in on any other writers in case they wanted to do some impressions. So here are mine.

Very quickly: Eric Chahi.

This gentleman is considered one of our auteurs – more independent and unpredictable than your Miyamotos or Schafers, a bit of a rogue, or a roguelike perhaps; he reminds me of Jason Rohrer without the whole I-live-in-a-meadow-and-eat-only-lentils thing. Chahi gave us Another World, he gave us Heart of Darkness. His games are ruminative meditations, experiential environments, ponderings and musings.

I’m making his games sound boring as hell, aren’t I?

I’m sorry. That’s just the way I talk. Chahi’s games aren’t boring at all, they’re delightful. Another World innovated the 2D roto-style platforming we first saw in Prince of Persia and then saw perfected in Flashback. Heart of Darkness gave us plenty of rich narrative coupled with a brutality toward the protagonist that’s aped even today, in games like Limbo. So yeah, disregard what I said earlier. Chahi’s games are deep, but they’re fun too. And I’m pleased to report that From Dust doesn’t deviate, not in the slightest.

From Dust is his latest, the first outing the French gent has made into games in many years. This Ubi-published 360 Summer of Arcade title (coming soon to PS3 and PC) has been misleadingly characterized as a Populous successor, or possibly a Black & White successor, or both. Really From Dust is more of a puzzle game, though you’ll see obvious influences from those two.

Your objective in From Dust is to shepherd a neolithic tribe safely throughout its Journey. While said Journey is presented as a geographical meandering, it’s also a matter of self-discovery, of mastery over their surroundings, of learning how to touch the divine. The Tribe visits lands left behind by ancient forebears whose secrets they’ve forgotten, and attempts to settle each. As the Breath – not God, exactly, just an entity, a being of power made real by the faith of the tribe – you’ve got to help them. Because the Ancients left these lands in a sorry state, and the Tribe lacks even the most basic tools to make the earth livable.

So you must manipulate the land, moving soil and water and even lava; redirecting rivers, creating islands, undermining volcanoes, delving for springs, so the Tribe can settle each of the monuments the Ancients left behind. With each monument settled, the Tribe creates a village, and you gain extra powers, either specific or general: the ability to slurp up more material, to destroy matter, to evaporate water or quench fire. These powers, in turn, make it possible for you to make it possible for the Tribe to continue its Journey.

From Dust’s unique conceit is that you have exactly zero influence over the Tribe’s development. All you can do is tell them when you want them to go somewhere. You don’t expand their territory, as in Populous, you don’t give them new structures or send them to war as in Black & White. All you do is manipulate the topography of each map to maximize the Tribe’s capability to survive there.

Which is why From Dust is a puzzle game, not a “god game” in the usual sense. Each map has the same objective – settle all the monuments, then get your Tribe through a gateway to the next land. It’s the makeup of these regions that offer the challenge. There are no rival tribes, no dangerous animals, no tech tree, no nothing, really. You barely pay attention to what the Tribe’s up to. And this may be Chahi’s greatest accomplishment with From Dust, a game that is nothing but great accomplishments. After all, God doesn’t pay that much attention to us, no matter what we might elect to believe. God could give fuck-all whether you choose to have an abortion, or whether someone’s written a scripture, or whether you even believe. Only our monstrous egos convince us that God is focused more on we puny nonentities than on gravity, or time, or the movement of galaxies.

And, I might add, God doesn’t love universally or deliver vengeance or any of the bullshit conventional boneheadedness would have you believe. God just is. God is doing God’s thing; you do yours. In From Dust, you get a chance to do God’s thing, while others do their own. Now, in fairness to God, you do get to part seas in From Dust. In fact you’ll part so many seas it’ll be as miraculous as Wednesday. But you’re not doing it for them. You’re doing it because you are.

The first three or so hours of From Dust offer gentle hand-holding and ramp up to the mind-bendingly tough final four or five maps, the solutions to which require immense planning and foresight… almost as though you’re expected to understand the universe. Between each mission you’re treated to the same cutscene, which is unskippable, but brief enough that it hardly matters; another objective is to track down the “story” of your Tribe, which means gathering knowledge of the land, of animals, of vegetation and the tides, and – of course – of the Tribe’s forgotten history. These are secondary objectives, and the game is so cleverly conceived that you don’t have to do any of it if you don’t want to: in each map you’re busily doing what needs to be done to complete it, and once you’ve met that objective you can move on immediately if you like. Those who take the time to spread their Tribe’s influence across enough of each map unlock challenge levels that add significantly to the game’s six-hour singleplayer.

Pick up dirt, put it down. Pick up lava, put it down. Pick up water, put it down. That’s From Dust in a nutshell. And… it’s hypnotic.

This is unquestionably one of the most beautiful XBLA games I’ve ever seen; the water effects alone are worth $14.99. Watching plant life spread across islands as your tribe’s influence grows; replanting special flora to control (or set) wildfires and bring down mountains; and, of course, zooming to individual Tribespeople to watch them dance and sing, carry knowledge from village to village, or just stand there (hey, just because God doesn’t watch everything all the time doesn’t mean there’s no zoom-in button), these simple actions are pleasing.

Now, From Dust does have a few glaring issues that might drive you crazy, depending on your personality. First and foremost, thumbsticks are not the ideal control mechanism when you’re trying to precisely lay a line of soil to create a path from one island to another, where once there had only been raging sea. I’ll admit that my thumbstickery has dramatically improved thanks to playing this game, but From Dust cries out for mouse controls and I’m eager to see what the August 17 PC version brings.

The other issue is that the Tribe, while purposely ignorant and helpless, is pretty god damned ignorant and helpless. I don’t mind their inability to cross running water, but refusing to climb even subtle grades or running straight into the caldera of an active volcano is a little less forgivable. It’s not annoying,  per se, because if you’re playing properly you don’t really need to care what they’re up to except in a general sort of way, but it will make you want to smack them.

Beyond that, though, I can’t think of a single reason why you haven’t already bought From Dust. What’s the matter with you? Here’s a game that offers a profound meditation on the relationship between man and God, a brilliant series of puzzles, a beautifully executed game engine and a top-notch dollar-to-doughnut ratio. Yes, it’ll be nine cents on Steam during the holiday sale, but sometimes we have to contribute so the special stuff can survive. I’d hate to see From Dust go the path of Child of Eden, so take out your credit card and do the right thing.

Send an email to the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.

07/18/2012 Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

About the author

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Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

Tap-Repeatedly Overlord Steerpike is a games industry journalist and consultant. His earliest memories are of video games, and hopes his last memories will be of them as well. He’s a featured monthly columnist with the International Game Developers Association, and is internationally published in an assortment of dull e-Learning texts and less dull gaming publications. He also lectures on games at various universities.

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18 Responses to First Impressions: From Dust

  • Avatar
    Amanda Lange 08/02/2011

    Loved this when I previewed at E3, and that was before I realized Eric Chahi was involved.  But I’m waiting for mouse controls…  I just have to agree that the thumbstick isn’t what this seems to be made for. Looking forward to snagging it provided the PC version isn’t delayed again!

  • Avatar
    Jarrod 08/02/2011

    To be honest, I’m not very interested in B&W…  but a puzzle game is a different story.  This sounds much more like Lemmings, insofar as the tribe keep doing their thing, and you have to help them get from A to B without them dying.  Lemmings was pretty cool in its day, so I’m more interested in giving From Dust a try than I was when I first heard about the game.

    I’ll check out how much it costs down here on the PS3 when it becomes available.

  • Avatar
    Max "xtal" Boone 08/02/2011

    Hefty first impressions, Lesser One. I played about three levels of the trial before I had to go to work on whatever day it came out, I haven’t had a chance to go back and finish that up, but I do intend to go full version at some point, for sure!

  • Avatar
    Gregg B 08/03/2011

    This sounds excellent! August 17th y’say?

  • Avatar
    Matt "Steerpike" Sakey 08/03/2011

    Yes, Aug 17 on Steam, and I think around the same time for PS3. I’m definitely going to buy again on Steam, just to see how the mouse controls work. They may actually make the game too easy, but it’s not really about challenge anyway.

  • Avatar
    Toger 08/03/2011

    Just buy the game. Really. It’s all that Steerpike says and more.

    I would add that although it’s true you don’t need to pay attention to what the Tribe is doing, if you’ve not planned appropriately villages will be destroyed which may close off the Passage to the next level. Hearing them screaming as a village burns to the ground over and over and over again until I get it right is annoyingly entertaining (if there can be such a thing). But then, I’m a harsh goddess.

    And their path-finding can be nigh on stupid. If I spend the time blowing a trail through a mountain range, why in the name of God (heh) would they try crossing the mountain where there is clearly no path?!

    But I am mesmerized by the advance of the palms (their sphere of influence) and will delay going to the next level until I get 100% coverage. It’s calming.

    Buy the game. Play the game. Dream of jellifying water in real life. 😀

  • Avatar
    Amit 08/03/2011

    Cant wait for Aug 17th now…..
    The wait is agonizing…..
    How’s the music?
    Populus had an amazing theme tune that really set the mood for an ‘Early Man’ rts…

  • Avatar
    Matt "Steerpike" Sakey 08/04/2011

    The music is tribal and Minimalist. It works perfectly for the game. Hope you enjoy it as Much as I have!

  • Avatar
    Amit 08/20/2011

    Got it, played it…but I am still unable to come to terms with what I feel is a wasted opportunity.

    Though I would definately prefer gameplay over gfx, looks to me like the initial videos were FAR preetier looking than whats here.

    Theres just something very amatuerish about what has been delivered….the lack of a proper initiation to the story, samey cutscenes after every level, wonky camera, stiff animations (not that the tribesmen have many), imprecise mouse button control among others.

    After playing games from small indie developers like Trine/Limbo/Defence Grid/Anamoly i was expecting more polish from From Dust.

    It appears as if the designers had a wonderfull idea of what to present but somehow simply were not able to do so in practice.

    Better graphics could have brought the world to life but what’s there is imo simply not good….not for 2011 at least.

    some of hthe challenges just give you enough breathing time for ….like 10-15 sec’s.I unerstand that this is supposed to be ‘Challenge’…but a mission getting over in 20 odd secs definately questions the developers logic.

    The concept is definately good and unique in some ways but it simply was not allowed to develop and mature.

    This still is a concept that has a LOT of untapped potential.
    I am hoping it gradually gows on me.

  • Avatar
    Matt "Steerpike" Sakey 08/21/2011

    For what it’s worth, I’ve heard horrible things about the PC port. As much as this game cries out for mouse controls, it seems Ubi really dropped the ball when making a Windows version.

  • Avatar
    Zach "Ravious" Best 08/22/2011

    I won’t be buying it for awhile until they patch the PC version or it drops to $5 sale. I was going to buy it immediately when it dropped, but I’ve been hearing such bad things about the PC port. I’d rather buy a bad game for PC than a bad port, honestly.

  • Avatar
    Matt "Steerpike" Sakey 08/22/2011

    I’ve seen a couple Tappers on Steam playing it, but haven’t heard much input yet. Armand mentioned that he’d already asked for a refund, largely due to Ubi’s satanic DRM. It’s such a pity that the game worked fine on 360 – an environment not suited to it – but was so mishandled on PC. Here’s hoping for a big patch.

  • Avatar
    Amit 08/22/2011

    If they dont want to focus on the PC market, they should at least be open about it.
    No point in delivering a sub par product to PC gamers who are used to a certain way and expect it that way.
    The DRM is so atrocious….it defies logic.
    And to top it all, it was cracked the same day the game was released to the ‘paying’ customers.
    Since a lot of customers have gone in for a refund, a patch now seems highly unlikely.
    The saddest part is that there is a REAL GEM hidden inside this mess.
    Dont know how much Mr. Chahi gets from this game and how much Ubi keeps, but the only way now looks like getting it for $15 and using the offline crack.

  • Avatar
    Armand 08/23/2011

    Ubisoft announced they would be doing away with the DRM soon today. Not that it helps me seeing as the game stopped working after a couple days anyway.

  • Avatar
    Amit 08/23/2011

    Just wondering ….are the XBox gfx better than those for PC?
    The youtube videos that I saw had amazing water effects and a general level of smoothness in the gfx which I dont see on my pc.

  • Avatar
    Matt "Steerpike" Sakey 08/25/2011

    The 360 graphics are stunning – water, sand, all gorgeous. I don’t know about the PC’s quality, but I can speak from experience with the console version.

  • Avatar
    Armand 08/25/2011

    I haven’t been to thrilled with the graphics on the PC myself.

  • Avatar
    Mat C 08/27/2011

    Is that because you’re generally used to superior graphics on PC elsewhere..?

    [/Devilsadvocate]

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