From Dust

In From Dust, players assume a god-like, first-person perspective from which they manipulate an archipelago environment in an effort to save and enlighten a nomadic tribe and help them to seek their lost knowledge. With a spherical cursor, the user controls certain types of matter in real time. Lava cools to form solid rock, vegetation propagates in soil and spreads naturally once a village is built, and moving water quickly erodes the terrain. Physical changes to the world occur extremely rapidly, allowing players to restructure islands within minutes.

Campaigns in From Dust are structured as a sequence of missions, whereby completing certain objectives expedites the tribe's progress and bestows additional powers, such as the capacity to jellify water. Tribal shamans alert the player to natural disasters, notably tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, shortly before they occur. These disasters can be inhibited through creative, physical manipulation of the environment: a tsunami can be jellified, wildfires extinguished, and lava flows diverted. Although there is no 'explicit sandbox' mode, Chahi stated that each mission features a distinct map, which the player can return to and manipulate further.

From Dust's story revolves around a tribe which has lost the knowledge of their ancestors – The Ancients. They find themselves located in unknown territory. To solve this problem, the tribe gathers and summons "The Breath", controlled by the player, hoping that it will help them to communicate with nature. However, after the summoning, the tribe desperately want answers to their questions, and have a strong desire to recover the lost knowledge.

The Breath then guides the tribe to different totems allowing them to perform rituals and to construct villages and settlements. A passage will unlock and allow the tribe to discover new lands and places.

On 14 June 2010, Ubisoft announced the development of From Dust at E3, and the appointment of Éric Chahi as the Creative Designer. Codenamed Project Dust, it was marketed as a spiritual successor to Populous, a game developed by Peter Molyneux and Bullfrog Productions in 1989. The development team used the proprietary LyN game engine. Chahi described the game as playing like a sandcastle game, but with elements like lava.

On 16 August 2010, during Gamescom and the European Game Developers Conference in Cologne, Ubisoft unveiled technical footage showing the game's physics engine in detail. In the technical sequence, a narrator explains the user's interactions with the environment, and the effects of each physical element upon the other. During the conference, Chahi presented a lecture entitled "Creating a High-Performance Simulation: A Dynamic Natural World to Play With", demonstrating the world editor that underlies the environment simulation.

From Dust received generally favourable reviews. Metacritic ranks the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions of the game with scores of 76, 80, and 81, respectively. The creator of Populous, Peter Molyneux, also had a good impression of the game.

The game's gameplay was commented on positively by critics. Its controls were praised for being simple, intuitive, accessible, and smooth, though some critics noted that the cursor sometimes suffers from fidgeting and lacks precision. Liam Martin of Digital Spy added that such controls made the game relatively relaxing to play. The game's simulation received critical acclaim.