Populous™ II: Trials of the Olympian Gods

A pleasant surprise to have this on Steam! Fond memories of playing this on a friend's Amiga back in the day. Simple but fun gameplay, with some good variety and lots of replay value. Quick tip: You're going to want to turn down the game speed, at least in the beginning.

Das Spiel ist grafisch überarbeitet und sieht besser aus als die Original Amiga Version. ABER ... es hat leider keine Prozessorbremse, die das Spiel in Originalgeschwindigkeit laufen lässt. Der Computer macht einfach mal (geschätzt) 30-50 mal so viele Klicks pro Sekunde als es ein menschlicher Spieler kann. Im Original konnte man Feuersäulen und rote Menschen ertränken, indem man ihnen den Boden unter den Füßen wegsenkte. Das geht nun nicht mehr. Man kann nicht so schnel gucken wie die Säule die Richtung wechselt und der Computer seine Bevölkerung durch sofortiges Boden anheben schützt. Somit ist ein an und für sich gutes Spiel komplett entwertet worden. Frage an die Entwickler: Testet ihr eure Spiele auch mal, oder haut ihr sie einfach nur raus? Es muss doch jemandem aufgefallen sein dass man schon die 2. Karte verliert und ein Skirmish innerhalb von 3 Minuten vorbei ist.

Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods is one of those re-releases that feels more like a lazy cash grab than a nostalgic treat. Yes, it’s a legendary game from 1991, but let’s be honest—charging €5 in 2024 for a game that hasn’t been updated or enhanced in any meaningful way is a tough sell. If you played it back in the day, sure, there’s a bit of a charm to reliving the old days of god-game strategy, wielding powers and outplaying the Greek gods. But in the context of today’s games, Populous II really struggles to hold up. The graphics are ancient, the interface is clunky, and the gameplay feels repetitive by modern standards. The game relies heavily on DOSBox for emulation, and while it works, it's hardly optimized for current systems, especially given that it’s a paid release on Steam and EA's platform​. The worst part is that EA didn't even bother to include any quality-of-life updates. No remastered graphics, no UI tweaks to make it less of a hassle on modern resolutions, and the controls are as clumsy as they were 30 years ago. For a company that can afford to update their classic titles properly, it feels like they’re trying to squeeze every last penny out of old IPs without any real effort​, Unless you're a die-hard fan of classic Bullfrog strategy games, it's hard to justify picking this up in 2024. If you're just looking to experience retro god-game action, there are better, more modern alternatives out there. It feels like EA missed a real opportunity to make Populous II more accessible and enjoyable for a new generation of players.

No where near as good as the original. Not nearly as much fun to play. Not compatible with steamdeck. Do not buy even on the sale

This is one of my top favorite games of all time!!! Probably have 500+ hours on it and went through most of the 1000 levels. I played it when it came out originally and this version is the same. You just need to know a couple of settings to get it to run right on newer machines. alt+enter makes the dos emulator go full screen. In the game click the little globe and set game to full screen as well and then on the options menu set the game speed to half way. This game is a true classic. So glad to see it on Steam.

For $2? Ya. If you played it back in the day, it brings back the good ole memories. Also, it's woke-free!!!

[i]Populous™ II: Trials of the Olympian Gods[/i] is yet another product of Electronic Arts' attempt to sell video games from bygone eras without having ensured that their engines are up-to-date with modern operating systems. In the case of this product, the emulator experiences issues with its frame rate, leading to the game running at 500% of its natural speed than usual. Other than the technical issues, the game plays much the first wherein players must compete with a rivaling god for dominion. If players have read and understood the first game's manual and mechanics, then they've not much else to learn in this sequel outside of allocating experience points to specific powers of nature. The only discernible difference is the improvement in graphics and evidence of progression. As a principle, these sorts of products should be avoided as they lack the necessary refinement to justify their rerelease on contemporary platforms with consumer bases that primarily operate modern devices.

Bullfrog - Molyneux - Lionhead

Despite the updated graphics and attempt at improvement, the original Populous is superior. The game play and UI are a downgrade from the first game. Worth the $2 I paid for it but not worth full price.

日本ではSFCでも出ていたポピュラス2、それのPC版 色んなバージョンが出てるそうだけどこれはIBM-MS-DOS版らしい ゲームを起動するとDOS-BOXで起動 ゲームの説明書はPDF形式でインストールディレクトリに入ってる 最近はGoogle翻訳にPDF投げ込むだけで雑だけど翻訳してくれるのはありがたいよね 【ゲーム内容】 クォータービューの視点で神となり、自分を信仰してくれる民（青）の為に整地して人口を増やす 溜まった信仰（マナ）を使ったりして相手の神の民（赤）を抹殺するのが目的 どこで聞いた言葉だったか、雑に言うとレミングス＋ピクミン 基本的な遊び方や技の内容などはSFC版のがそのまま使えるのでこれから始める人はSFC版を調べるといいかも 【SFCと違う点】 ・CPUお助け機能 有効にすると民の住居の周辺を自動で整地してくれる超便利機能、ただしあくまでその建物の高さに自動で合わせるだけなので過信はできない またそのすぐ下にCPUvs人間切り替えボタンがあり、これを押すとCPUvsCPUになる こうなると自軍側CPUも必要に応じて技を使ったり民への指示を変えたりと完全自律になる そのまま眺めて終末戦争を見守ってもいいし、逆に自分がCPUの手伝いをするという手もある 慣れない内にCPU対戦にして動きを見て学ぶのもあり ・全1000ステージ バカかな（褒め） ・セーブ機能 1データだけだけどセーブ機能がある 勿論パスワード形式にも対応してるのでバックアップ取り放題 再開時にはちゃんとロードしてね 【気になった点】 ・BGMや演出が無い 厳密にいうとプレイ画面での心臓音が無くなってるのでマジで音が無い クリア後のリザルト画面も無音でどんな感じで地形が動いたかが見れるだけ 敵と殴り合って勝った後の負けた人間のｳﾜｧｰも無い、ちょっと寂しかった