WorldBox – God Simulator
EARLY ACCESS PREVIEW
Then there are the humans. Meet Vuk,
who is 27 years old and has seven
children. Vuk is a member of the Ulygash
Hegemony, and lives in its capital of
Ashombe (current size: one hut). It’s all
been generated by the game since Vuk
was placed, with some sheep, chickens,
and two other humans, around a beehive
in the centre of an island. They were
then left to get on with it, the
expectation being that, humans
being humans, a large honey-glazed
barbecue would break out.
WorldBox likes to surprise you, and
these humans prefer berries and tea to
wings and ribs. The animals are also
outbreeding the humans, despite Vuk’s
heroic efforts, so some wolves might have
to be introduced for population control.
What could go wrong with that? Humans
are rather better at building huts, mining,
and cutting down trees, however, and
soon a civilisation begins to come
together. The low-res pixel graphics give a
basic idea of what’s happening, but
clicking on an individual gives you a load of
stats on how they’re feeling, their age,
their name (it’s hard to tell individuals
apart, though a map filter will show you
the leaders), and which kingdom they’repart of. Villages and whole civilisations
have these stats too, rulers are born and
age, and wars break out.
That’s not the only way your pets can
die, however. The odds are stacked
against Vuk and Bah, as rather than the
interventionist god of Populous, the
player’s role here is as a hands-off deity.
WorldBox is marketed as a ‘god
simulator’ rather than a ‘god game’ for a
reason: you have little control over the
creatures you place other than
influencing their mood, cursing, or
healing them, and there’s not much
actual ‘game’, no objectives or enemies
other than those you create yourself.DIVINE WRATH
The godly powers at your disposal also
offer much more destructive potential
than creative: sure, you can skip through
the meadows sowing berry bushes, or you
can unleash demons, zombies, nukes,
dragons, volcanoes, houses with legs (one
day we’ll tell the tale of Hamo, the house
that killed eight buffalo), acid rain, evil
wizards, rhinos, a single enormous crab...
there’s even space for more things to be
added to this panoply of
pandemonium.
There’s a full fantasy trilogy of
orcs, dwarfs, and elves on offer,
some of whom dislike each other, and
they’ll all build societies if left long enough.
Eventually, roads snake between
destinations, fires burn among the forests,
humans cut down trees to clear land while
elves build tents among the branches.
High-ranking leaders are kitted out with
legendary weapons, and you can see the
number of kills they’ve made in wars.
There are several options at this point. I
can raise a land bridge to close the watery
gap between humans and elves, to see
how the inevitable war plays out, or I can
unleash a dragon or zombie apocalypse,
or I can spin up a new set of islands,
populate them, and see how these
develop differently from the first.
WorldBox’s graphical style might take
a bit of getting used to in these days of 4K
and ray tracing, but as a sandbox filled
with ants for you to nurture, feed,
terrorise, and burn as you see fit it has a
lot of potential for entertainment. And the
dogs? Dogs are called Waaf.
Ian EvendenT
he subject of the names sheep give
themselves is not one that has often
troubled the minds of PC Gamer, but it
turns out some sheep are called Bah.
Others Byyh. Still more take the name Boh, or even
Baah. And don’t get us started on the chickens.
Spooky action at a distance
WORLDBOX – GOD
SIMULATOR
THERE’S A FULL FANTASY
TRILOGY OF ORCS, DWARFS
AND ELVES ON OFFER
EXPECT TO PAY
£20
DEVELOPER
Maxim KarpenkoPUBLISHER
In-houseLINK
superworldbox.comNEED TO KNOW
PLAYED
IT