From Dust

It must say something about the nature of man that we seem so interested in playing God. Something in our bones yearns to create, manipulate and destroy. Whether it’s building sandcastles on the beach or maintaining an earthworm colony for a school project, there’s something inherently empowering and entertaining about building a world and watching it evolve. This human trait is the the reason for the existence of the god-game genre - a once popular genre which hasn’t been getting much attention of late - and as such it forms the premise for From Dust, the Xbox LIVE Arcade title from the mind of Another World creator Eric Chahi.

From Dust’s story is one of discovery and exploration - you preside over a nomadic tribe seeking to learn the ways of the Ancients who came before them and to find their place in a volatile, undeveloped world. The tribe must carve an existence into the hard rock and barren landscapes, populating each area before moving on in their quest. As The Breath, the omnipotent protector of the tribe, it falls to you to manipulate the world in such a way that your tribesmen survive long enough to reclaim the lands.

The idea of repopulating the world one dusty island at a time may sound daunting, but progress in From Dust is formulated in a way that keeps things moving at a surprisingly nippy pace. Once your tribe shows up on a new stretch of uninhabited land, it’s your job to direct them to a number of totem poles where they can construct small villages. Secure each totem on the map, and get a few of your spare tribesmen over to the ominous-looking tunnel gate, and the story continues on to the next land.

The world of From Dust is laden with clever physics and environmental effects, and it’s the way you manipulate the various elements that will leave such a lasting impression on the player. Using the left trigger, your spiraling on-screen cursor can inhale a ball of matter and then exhale it somewhere else using the right trigger. In terms of a control-scheme, that’s just about all you need to know. It’s a simple mechanic, but with almost endless potential for world-crafting.

The beauty comes from the way that the different elements interact and affect one another - water erodes the earth, carving pathways and valleys and solidifying flowing lava; shifted earth lets you build pathways and dams, diverting rivers to avoid drowning your villagers; while glowing red lava can be redirected to create unbreakable walls of rock, either to protect against thundering tsunamis or to avoid a nasty bush fire ravaging your populated areas. These basic elements, when put to use in From Dust’s physics-laden world, turn what would otherwise have been a rather simple god game with a puzzle twist into a beautifully balanced sandbox geology simulator.

There are more complex tools which will come in handy throughout the game, each activated by taking control of the various totem poles. Powers like Jellify Water, Evaporate and Repel Water help to control the ebb and flow of the tides, while the Infinite Earth power gives The Breath an unlimited earth stream for a limited time - very useful when you need to build a dam in a hurry. These and more powers are yours to use as long as your villages are functioning, so you'll need to protect the areas around the village totems, because without these powers, it becomes far more tricky to keep the forces of nature at bay.

From a distance it may seem as if there is a basic base-building RTS component to From Dust, but thankfully your tribe take care of things on a micro level. Setting up camp is a matter of simply pressing a button over one of the totems and watching as your little followers get to work, banging their drums and chanting as the ground ruptures with new life. Where the challenge comes in is figuring out how to guide your tribe to each totem - and to the end level portal - without them being set alight, swept out to sea or engulfed in smoldering lava. There is usually one pretty obvious solution to each situation, making use of a combination of the powers at your disposal, but From Dust rarely forces you in a set direction. In fact, it’s those times when you perhaps overlook the obvious solution and are forced to think outside of the box that the game really shines, because it’s when you are experimenting with the world-shaping tools that you will feel at your most godlike.

While you are free to toy with the geology of each level like it’s your own personal sandpit, there is a sense of hurried progress which in some ways damages the overall experience. You are never really allowed to forget that what you are doing is playing a video game - there is always the thought lurking in your mind that you are here to win. Of course, it is a game, but it’s also a game with such a sublime concept and execution that it really lends itself to being less structured. The addition of unlockable challenges - tricky scenarios which limit your available powers and test your problem solving skills to the limit - are a distraction, but seem somewhat out of place next to the more meaningful nature of the campaign. A fully featured free-play sandbox mode would have been a welcome inclusion, but what was really needed was a more subtle implementation of the underlying game mechanics. Still, this is a criticism in its mildest form.

There is a sense of drama which comes with trying to save your tribe from a gargantuan tsunami or fast-rising tide, a feeling of concern for your little virtual people which you don’t get from just any game. The result is that this is not just any game, it's a sublime blend of brilliantly implemented physics-based terraforming together with a believable tribal culture to care for, making From Dust another example of the innovation with which the downloadable game space is becoming known for.

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