Populous™: The Beginning
Populous™: The Beginning
Game
Game2024
Populous™
Developer Bullfrog Productions
Populous is a video game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts for the Amiga in March 1989, then quickly the Atari ST and MS-DOS. Many conversions followed, including for the Genesis, Super NES, and PC Engine consoles. Populous is considered the first god game. With over four million copies sold, Populous is one of the best-selling PC games of all time. The player assumes the role of a… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
60 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Mastodon, Bluesky) · newest Oct 11, 2026 · last updated Oct 12, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
83
LovedLoved
33 positive · 7 negative
95% range 68–91%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 33 | 7 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 8 | 0 | 9 |
| Bluesky * | 1 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Positive
36 of 45 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
83% recommend · 33 yes, 7 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 40 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (56 of 66 positive).
Many players praise the game for faithfully recreating the original experience. [1][2][3] Some reviewers criticize the changed soundtrack and missing sound effects. [4][5][6] Several players note the lack of a tutorial and outdated interface. [1][7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [12]
Populous™ on Steam feels like yet another lazy EA cash grab. Don’t get me wrong—back in 1989, Populous was a groundbreaking game that essentially created the god-game genre, giving players the power to manipulate terrain and command followers as a divine being. But in 2024? EA re-releases the game with almost no effort to update it for modern standards, which is seriously disappointing. The UI and resolution options …
- [1]
Oh man, this brings back memories. I remember playing this game on my Amiga when it was new. It's just like how I remember it. No instructions even if you select Tutorial (read the manual!), the same song recycled over and over, and a carpal tunnel-inducing reliance on the mouse to click, click, click as fast as you can, fighting against the AI as they also raised and lowered your own land borders. Absolutely …
- [4]
If, like me, you played this on the Amiga and your fond memories of this game heavily revolve around the music and sound effects (heartbeat, wind, choir-like sounds) please be aware, they are not in this version of the game. It is instead some poppy, upbeat keyboard music; I thought something was wrong with my computer and the sound was coming from elsewhere! The nostalgia I was hoping for just isn't there and it is …
- [7]
Good for nostalgia/retro players. The tutorial did not work for me, but you can play the Conquer mode just fine. Seek out the manual online; you'll be lost without it. You need to know what the different tools are to do anything. This is mainly recommended for old people who played this game when it originally came out. Alternatively, there are aspects of Minecraft here that you might like.
- [2]
This was one of the first PC games I ever played. It's exactly the way I remember it. I looked for this game for years, and it is the reason I love colony builders. It's still so much fun to obsessively create new terrain for my lil guys to populate.
Summarised from 34 of the 62 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Populous™ talk about faithful to the original game; those who didn't talk about changed or missing original music and sounds. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Populous was released in 1989 to almost universal critical acclaim. The game received a 5 out of 5 stars in 1989 in Dragon #150 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. Biff Kritzen of Computer Gaming World gave the game a positive review, noting, "as heavy-handed as the premise sounds, it really is a rather light-hearted game." The simple design and layout were praised, as were the game's colourful graphics. In a 1993 survey of pre 20th-century strategy games the magazine gave the game three stars out of five, calling it a "quasi-arcade game, but with sustained play value". MegaTech magazine stated that the game has "super graphics and 500 levels. Populous…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 60 · most liked firstI bought this out of guilt. I pirated it back in the 90's.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh man, this brings back memories. I remember playing this game on my Amiga when it was new. It's just like how I remember it. No instructions even if you select Tutorial (read the manual!), the same song recycled over and over, and a carpal tunnel-inducing reliance on the mouse to click, click, click as fast as you can, fighting against the AI as they also raised and lowered your own land borders. Absolutely perfect, they didn't change a thing.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Populous™ on Steam feels like yet another lazy EA cash grab. Don’t get me wrong—back in 1989, Populous was a groundbreaking game that essentially created the god-game genre, giving players the power to manipulate terrain and command followers as a divine being. But in 2024? EA re-releases the game with almost no effort to update it for modern standards, which is seriously disappointing. The UI and resolution options are incredibly outdated. Yes, you can bump it up to 1440p, but considering…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This was one of the first PC games I ever played. It's exactly the way I remember it. I looked for this game for years, and it is the reason I love colony builders. It's still so much fun to obsessively create new terrain for my lil guys to populate.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gameplay is how I recall from the 90s, but they nixed all sound effects which is really odd. They also changed the music to some midi soundtrack that sucks.. If you want the original game, this isn't exactly it.. It's a crappier version of the OG.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very few games will release on steam that many people can say stops them in their tracks with memories of days long since past as a kid; but this is one of them, way to many days spent booting this game up on the snes and spending hours playing it to get to my favorite levels ( The mice making houses and castles out of cookies and crackers or the aliens fighting with towns made of SNES, Atari, Game boy, and Sega Consoles). This game can't be beat and is probably the reason for my RTS and town…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →wow, i had a version of this on SNES and i logged several years of playtime. the pc version is a little different. the game loads fine but doesn't minimize and maximize well. the music that opens the game is deafening loud and cant be turned off tell you start a game. once in game the music muted. your going to want the fx sounds on for keeping track of battles and spells cast. you cant control the volume levels inside the game, its just on or off. the arrow keys are used to move the map, i…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If, like me, you played this on the Amiga and your fond memories of this game heavily revolve around the music and sound effects (heartbeat, wind, choir-like sounds) please be aware, they are not in this version of the game. It is instead some poppy, upbeat keyboard music; I thought something was wrong with my computer and the sound was coming from elsewhere! The nostalgia I was hoping for just isn't there and it is disappointing. Other than that, this is the game as I remember it, and I am…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Populous™" was a groundbreaking title for its time that introduced the god game genre to the world in 1989. As a deity, you manipulate the landscape, guide your followers, and clash with rival gods in a bid for dominance. The game’s innovative mechanics, like raising and lowering terrain to influence your people, were revolutionary at the time and laid the foundation for future strategy games. While the graphics and AI may feel outdated by today’s standards, "Populous™" still holds a special…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have purchased the game as is one of my favourite games of my chilhood. sadly it only shows the launcher logo and gets stuck there, I oppened a comunity discussion asking for help there, and nothing, zero acivity, game wont start, seems a scame to get a little bit more of money from the comunity. Fix this and make the game playable and will re-review this feedback.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Four of my favorite games released in 1989 🤩 What are yours? #RetroGaming #Populous #IndianaJones #PrinceOfPersia #FutureWars
neutral · AI labelView post →Just let it stay in memories.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Populous: The Promised Lands 🚩 (1989) I had a lot of fun with this expansion, which added 5 new worlds and 500 levels! 😀 Did you know that the Atari ST and Amiga versions were released on the same disk? #Populous #Bullfrog #RetroGaming #AtariST #Amiga #DOSGaming
positive · AI labelView post →It took some fiddling with DOSbox to get this working: specifically, changing from output=overlay to output=opengl, or else it would just crash in fullscreen mode. The other change worth making is changing scaler= to tv2x, as this is an *old* game and it looks awful without scanlines. It plays almost exactly as I remember, which is great. Bullfrog nailed the mechanics on this one: it's easy, approachable and intuitive. Every game after (PowerMonger, Populous II, Syndicate, Godus, B&W) was…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sadly no remakes have been made for this old version. The Super Nintendo had the last best version. I discovered you can only save 1 game on C:1, if you try to save on the 1st 2,A & B it won't save or give error. If you just got this game , try saving on C:1 or try them all until at least 1 of them works.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is such a classic. Was probably playing it on SNES way back when. There has never been a God game like it that captured the vibe since. Cool landscapes and characters. Glad they brought this to Steam officially! Consider looking at From Dust also if you're into this.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even more fun: in the Bit Plains world, you play Commodore against Atari if you're playing on Amiga! 🤜 ⚡️ 🤛 Or vice versa, if you're playing on Atari ST (look the flags) Which side are you on? 😁 🧵 2/ #Populous #Bullfrog #RetroGaming #AtariST #Amiga #DOSGaming
neutral · AI labelView post →Bullfrog - Molyneux - Lionhead
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game…😁👍 #amiga #populous #retrocomputing
positive · AI labelView post →Good for nostalgia/retro players. The tutorial did not work for me, but you can play the Conquer mode just fine. Seek out the manual online; you'll be lost without it. You need to know what the different tools are to do anything. This is mainly recommended for old people who played this game when it originally came out. Alternatively, there are aspects of Minecraft here that you might like.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Basically the same game as I played on the SNES, but they ruined it by changing the background music. The music was awesome before, and added to the theme, but now it's just stupid. Still, for the price and nostalgia, a good deal...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of my favorite games from the prehistoric times. There are manuals online if, like me, you forgot how to play. The game play is simple: flatten land more quickly than your opponent and when you finally meet, use spells and alter land to gain the advantage. Destroy your enemy's followers to become the only god standing. It was revolutionary for its time and still holds up as a god game. So many in the god game genre have tried and failed over the years by attempting to make things…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Here are two more screenshots! The first shows the sprites for the characters 🧍 The second shows the untextured tiles 🌍 There are 2x16 tiles. The first 16 are used above sea level and the other 16 at sea level (check the screenshot in the previous message) 🧵 2/ #RetroGaming #Populous #Bullfrog #IsometricGame #PixelArt #GameDev
neutral · AI labelView post →Oh yes. Yes to this and the late 80’s.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Choose 20 games that greatly influence you. One game per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, no particular order. Day 2: Populous - The Beginning #GameChallenge #Populous
neutral · AI labelView post →A true classic RTS from the legendary Bullfrog. I hope more Bullfrog games are brought back to life.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I can't help but think of Populous when I see this video of Terra Nil 😀 Well yes, Terra Nil is a different game, but visually it's close to what I would expect from a modern remake of Populous 🥰 #TerraNil #Populous #Bullfrog #Terraforming #IsometricGame
neutral · AI labelView post →Older than heaven and better than hell.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun! Only version I ever played was the SNES game. And that was a loooong time ago. Had to go find a manual online and read up on what all the command icons did, but once the refresher course was over it all started to come back to me. I still suck at the game, but man is it fun. Getting it for $2 was a bonus.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →oh the memories, so fun
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I absolutely loved this game as a kid (the SNES version), and I still find it enjoyable. The graphics and interface are primitive, but there's challenging fun to be had if you're willing to look past it. Ultimately, I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre and late 80's/early 90's gaming era.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The maps in #PopulousTheBeginning aren't just 2d, they're fully 3d spheres that you can even witness from space, it's a very cool feature rarely used, the only other one I can think of is Planetary Annihilation #gaming #videogames #pcgaming #retrogaming #Populous
neutral · AI labelView post →Populous, developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts, is a pioneering strategy title that helped define what would later be known as the god game genre. Released at a time when most strategy games focused on direct control and micromanagement, it introduced a radically different idea: instead of commanding individuals, you influence an entire civilization by shaping the world around them. This shift in perspective gives the game a distinctive identity that still feels…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This holds up better than I expected for such an ancient game. We should never forgive EA for what they did to Bullfrog. I hope EA get woke AF so that they go bankrupt.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Populous™ is certainly a forefather within the "god game" genre, but not much else can be said for this decades-old product that Electronic Arts arbitrarily put up for sale on the Steam store in modern times. Essentially, consumers will be purchasing a relic that requires reading of an [url=https://archive.org/details/populousmanual/Populous-Manual/page/n33/mode/2up]off-site manual in order to understand its 8-bit visuals and peculiar mechanics. Once players have adapted to both the visuals and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Back on the ol’ Amiga and having a bash at Populous. I haven’t played this in a while. #Amiga #Populous #RetroGaming #BullfrogGames #GodSim
positive · AI labelView post →How about a nice game of pillaging villages, also known as Populous? #retrogaming #sega #gamegear #populous
positive · AI labelView post →Time for a quick game of Populous! #AtariST #Populous #RetroGaming
positive · AI labelView post →remember Populous? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game) for some reason, this game comes to my mind at this time. let's think strategically! #populous
neutral · AI labelView post →I want to give this a thumbs up as Populous was a ground-breaking game that has earned its place in gaming history. It was also one of my personal favourites on the SNES system. Unfortunately though, it seems that little to no effort was made to ensure this version would be an enjoyable experience for a modern day audience. I was particularly disappointed with the soundtrack. The original SNES soundtrack had a racing heartbeat with mystical sound effects that made for an unforgettable gaming…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Crap. Doesn't work. Can't make a knight, cast a volcano, can't customize a game. Game doesn't work.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For me, I only grabbed Populous. Never had the others as a kid, so I don't know if I could get into it at this point. But this has been faithfully ported to PC. If you played the game and enjoyed it, its a no-brainer purchase.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Here's my top 5 favorite #GenX PC games from 1981-1992: ✅#Starflight ✅#StarControl2 ✅#StarWarsXWingvsTieFighter ✅#AncientArtofWar ✅#Populous Anyone else?
neutral · AI labelView post →This is literally my greatest achievement in living memory. #Populous
positive · AI labelView post →Randomly, I've fallen into #PopulousTheBeginning perhaps because From Dust just flashed into my brain and convoyed me to play something similar, in any case, it's fun to cast lighting bolts and make the enemy tribes man fall into the sea for an instant kill #gaming #videogames #pcgaming #retrogaming #Populous
positive · AI labelView post →cool game but i wish i had read the instructions since this game came out in 1989 meaning no in game guide
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Awesome game! I had this on Sega Genesis back in the day. It's still fun after all these years.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🎲 RANDOM GAME, Populous™ (Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/app/2203860 ⛰️🌊 Move mountains, part seas, and lead mortal armies to victory. Take on the powers of a mighty deity and battle for supremacy against an enemy god. Use thoughtful st... #SteamAndEpic #Battle #GAME #Move #Lead #Experience
neutral · AI labelView post →Like an old car: a little laggy here and a little loose there. Also, like an old car: it's all analogue, direct for the feel and fun to drive. Maybe this is not the best-ever version of this glorious game in existence - but it's still the mind-blowing Bullfrog / Peter Molyneux game from the late '80s that created its own genre. There are some others that had similar mechanics more or less (Populous II obviously, Settlers, Black'n'White) but this was the first of its kind. OG. The gameplay…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →really enjoyed the game when it came out.. many hours of fun vs PC and friends. had a paper manual.. steams version should come with a pdf or something but yoiu can find one around... very primitive interface as they had no 'pointer tips' back then. bought it for 'nostalgia'..not that much fun as the cursor is not smooth when placing/removing terrain
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →yes indeed it's cool
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game. I used to play the Sega Genesis version when I was a kid. This version is good too. It's pretty much the same as what I remembered playing years ago. I will let my other friends online know about this one...And for the price, it's a steal!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →btw, are there other people here who have a world code from the original #Populous game implanted in their brain for seemingly forever? Mine is BUGMPTORY (world 83, the first one I really got stuck at when I first played the game; also had to type it in twice usually because of a German keyboard, but US layout assumed in the game). What's yours (without looking it up, of course)?
neutral · AI labelView post →Loved this game 20+ years ago and it has held up with age!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Streaming more #Populous 3 tonight as I play sequels the Amiga never got. Starting at 8:30pm BST: https://www.twitch.tv/daedalus2097 #amiga #retro
neutral · AI labelView post →A classic...takes me way back
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →cant figure out what the hot key for making things build automatic is. but still a very nostalgic game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nostalgia game, i used to play the snes one, noticed this one has 2 player mode, i wonder if it can detect Lan as this game is so old, steam says it has Lan PVP but no idea how to set it up, look online, no info either.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Admittedly #supertennis is not the best game, but I used to think the idea of those #segacard games was really cool. I am enjoying a bit of nostalgic #populous though
positive · AI labelView post →I picked up a copy of Populous on the Amiga recently. It's a gift for a friend who, in 1990, played it for about 12 hours straight. We played it together all afternoon and I went to bed at about 1am. When I got up at about 9am, he hadn't moved! Things you might not know about Populous: * It was one of the first god-games and an early real-time strategy game. * one of the first cross-platform, multiplayer games * It was spun off from a map editor that could raise and lower land. * British game,…
positive · AI labelView post →
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