A fledgling race of tiny humans has emerged from beneath the sands, and they need your help to survive. But you won't be defending them with guns or turrets: From Dust isn't an action (or adventure) game. It's a giant sandbox, letting you use your ability to scoop up and dump mass quantities of dirt, lava, and water to customize the various in-game stages in a way that ensures the civilization thrives.
To succeed, you'll have to play middle man between their welfare and Mother Nature's cyclical destructive shenanigans. Is an impending wave about to demolish a recently established village? Judiciously place lava (which cools into hardened rock) on the surrounding mountain range to build a barrier against the liquid-y elements. Is too much of the wet stuff springing from hidden fonts and flooding the newly inhabited plains? Stack some dirt atop the springs to block them, or elevate the plains above water level.
But playing god isn't as easy as simply shifting sand or dropping some volcanic goo. You're also responsible for leading the humans to a varying number of totems on each of the game's 13 stages. At least five humans need to reach a totem for you to establish a village, but getting people safely from one totem to the next is tricky, as is giving them a safe window from harm so a village can flourish. Some areas in their initial state gave us heart palpitations, with totems placed in seemingly impossible locations amid lava or submerged.
Once you "activate" some totems, you'll have access to temporary abilities (like "Infinite Earth") necessary for completing stages. Meanwhile, secondary discoverable spots grant your little fleshy burdens the power to repel water or fire from their villages on their own. You'll find yourself retrying areas over and over, attempting that perfect world design while hastily beating back nature (and the limited camera options).
From Dust's malleable world is intoxicating to wield power over, even if your control feels more like work than actual fun at times. Juggling resources and racing against the cycles of nature isn't for everyone. Though stages grow progressively harder, the game doesn't really have a climax to break up its even-keeled rhythm, making it less of a thundering ride and more of a blissfully Zen, workman-like process. Nevertheless, it's a welcome change of pace.
+ Incredibly flexible virtual playground to shape as you see fit.
+ Plenty of value in story mode; lots of one-off challenge maps.
- Having only two camera viewpoints can feel limiting; grabbing materials quickly can be imprecise.
? Is anyone else terrified of the Trilobite-like "wildlife" roaming the vegetation?
