Completed the game last weekend. It was pretty good, refreshing and interesting. And from what I gather, it seems to be a different concept altogether! The game plays like any other RTS title but a stripped down version at that.
The concept of the game is simple - the player is in control of a group of tribal nomads who are lost and must help them establish a civilisation or a village on a small piece of land. And to do so, the player must manipulate and simulate the forces on earth viz. water, fire and earth, using what is referred to as the 'breath' which takes the shape of a circular entity. By doing so, the earth's terrain is altered which may or may not adversely impact the civilisation itself. For instance, soil can be sucked from a certain region on the map and can be spread over a piece of rock or a small area filled with water. By doing so, vegetation spreads gradually over the terrain. As the vegetation spreads, certain species of animals evolve from the soil which helps in rapidly spreading it. But the downside here is, a fire that may break out as a result of lava spreading in the event of a volcanic eruption will cause the entire vegetation to burn and may wreck havoc in the established village in the vicinity. Unless the fire is put out by means of water. Similarly, molten lava that flows out of a volcanic eruption can be used to create solid walls on earth or land on water. Natural disasters may occur in the course of a campaign such as a tsunami, volcanic eruption or a flood as a result of rains. The user is alerted well in advance before it occurs and the village needs to be protected from these disasters using the several powers available to the user.
There are 13 campaigns in the story mode with distinct maps. The ultimate objective of each campaign is to capture a totem, establish a village at each totem and finally get out of the land using a portal that opens when all the totems are captured. When a totem is captured, it may grant a power to the tribes. A campaign can have a maximum of 4 totems to be captured. 6 powers are available in the course of the campaign which lasts for a specified period of time from a few seconds to as high as a minute. 'Jellify water' solidifies water for a brief period of time and in the event of a tsunami, this power aids the user to avert a possible destruction of the village. This power can also be used to create a path across water when the breath is used to suck water after the power has been activated. 'Put out fire' is self explanatory - aids the user to extinguish fire on any part of the map and prevent it for a brief period of time. 'Evaporate' dries the entire water on the map for a limited period of time - this maybe useful for creating paths from an island to another or avoid floods. 'Engulf all' is similar to a black hole which absorbs any matter for a limited period of time. 'Amplify the breath' increases the amount of matter sucked by the breath for a limited time. Other abilities such as 'repel lava and fire' and 'repel water' need to be picked up from the map. A villager is sent to pick that power and he returns back to the village and spreads the idea to the other villages as he travels across the terrain. If a village is lost, the power attributed to that totem is lost and the totem must be reclaimed to acquire that power back. Totems can be relocated to another part on the map provided the terrain is even.
Some of the maps on the campaign are so well designed, it requires the player to think and take decisions as to which totem needs to be captured first and how he/she must progress to capture the remaining ones. On multiple occasions I had to restart the map knowing that the strategy wouldn't work out. Chapter 12 deserves a mention here! I had to do this map at least a dozen times to get it right. The map is very simple alright. Four totems to be captured and all the four are located inside the crater of a volcano! To make matters worse, the terrain experiences floods as a result of massive showers once in a while. A mix of floods and lava pouring from the craters across the boundary made this an extremely hard level! But nonetheless, it was a brilliant map. The last map of the campaign was also good as the player is granted all the super powers.
The visuals were pretty good considering how the different terrains and several forces of nature were designed. For instance, when a volcano erupts and lava flows, the distinctive pattern of the flow is notable. And it varies from terrain to terrain. As the red molten lava flows to an ocean or a small river, the lava turns itself into rock and sediments with the vapors extinguishing the flames. Similarly a tsunami that builds its force and lashes a terrain pillaging the land and people, vegetation that gradually propagates across a piece of land etc.
A very distinctive and interesting game if I may add. Loved playing it. Wouldn't last beyond 6 hours IMO but is definitely worth a play.