God games are the games you manipulate the earth, create living beings, and control their fate. In fact, it’s a genre. Very underrated though. Not many God games being released in recent years. Back then there were many though. Such as Black & White, Populous, Utopia, Creatures, etc. Some are still playable and can be found in the best God games list below.
You can be religious, atheist, deist, agnostic or whatever, doesn’t really matter. Anyone can enjoy God games regardless of their choice of life.
> OCCULT GAMES <
I’ve compiled the 20 best god games below. I hope you the list:
1. Black & White Series
In Black & White games, you take the role of a god ruling over the villagers. You can interact with environment, influence people, cast miracles or curses. Your actions will determine if you’ll be seen as a good God, or an evil one.
You need mana to perform most actions, which can be earned with prayer. So, better make sure many people worship you.
- Black & White 1 (2001). Better atmosphere, more creation, focused on God aspect.
- Black & White 2 (2005). Much more smooth mechanics, better graphics, city building, less sandbox and more RTS feeling.
You will physically be represented in the world as an avatar-like creature in Black & White 2. Your avatar can grow to an immense size and adopt good or evil personas.
2. From Dust
From Dust is a God game from 2011. It’s developed and published by Ubisoft however it’s highly underrated. Guess it was an experiment for Ubisoft, that’s why they didn’t do a big marketing for it.
Anyways, From Dust is a game where you control the destiny of a pre-historic tribe. Main purpose is to survive in a universe where mighty Nature reclaims what is hers. Your mastery of the elements is your people’s only chance of survival.
So, control the forces of nature, sculpt the world, hold back lava, stop tsunamis, empty lakes, grow forests, raise mountains, and save your people.
What is the reasoning behind the negative reviews of From Dust? When you buy From Dust on steam, download it and then click play, it launches the Ubisoft Launcher instead, hence people give it negative reviews. At least that’s the major reason.
3. WorldBox
Do you want to become the God of Lord of the Rings Universe Eru Ilúvatar? WorldBox will let you! In this game you can create Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and Maiar!
There is no objective in WorldBox. You literally create a world, plants, and living beings. Then, see how they grow in population, build cities, and fight with each other. Of course, you can manipulate their lives the way you wanted. You’re their God after all.
Sometimes civilizations of your world build a shrine dedicated to you (player) in a shape of cursor. Fun stuff ha ha.
4. Fata Deum
Fata Deum is inspired by the god games of old like Populous. It lets you mold settlements and townsfolk in your image. Will you raise the settlements to splendor, or spur them on to violent debauchery and demons? The choice will be yours.
Planned release date of Fata Deum is 2023. Its demo was available on Steam but the took it off now. Guess its because the game is pretty close to release.
5. Spore
Anyone who are slight into God games know about the Spore. It’s the best game about evolution without a doubt. There are some Spore like evolution games but Spore is something else.
In case you haven’t played before, Spore is an evolution game where you start as a single cell organism and evolve through stages. As a benevolent God, you’ll be overseeing your species journey throughout eons.
God game Spore’s evolution stages:
- Cell Phase: Start as a single cell organism. Then become a multi-cell, evolve, and leave the water as a tetrapod.
- Creature Phase: Find yourself in the jungle as a primitive species. Form your pack, mate, and evolve more! In this phase you can befriend or devour other creatures.
- Tribal Phase: Your brain keeps getting bigger. Now you can walk with two-foot, talk, and form a tribe. Struggle never ends, there are other tribes too.
- Civilization Phase: Your civilization is formed. Fight with other civilizations to conquer entire planet.
- Space Phase: Congratulations, you’ve become a galactic lord. From single cell organism to Kardashev type 3 civilization.
6. Populous
You’re a Shaman, a deity destined to become a God. But it’ll not be easy, especially for your followers. To become the ultimate God, you must conquer all 25 planets of the system and defeat every other tribe and their Gods.
So, build mystical cities, unleash devastating spells, harness volcanoes and tornadoes, and shape the face of the planet for your ultimate goal.
Populous™: The Beginning is one of the best RTS games of all times. But it’s released in 1998 and pretty old. Not everyone can handle it.
The game is not available on Steam anymore, but you can find it on GOG.
7. The Universim
The Universim is a God game where you guide a civilization through ages, all the way from pre-historic to space age. It’s set in a small-scaled round world which is pretty cute.
In its current state (early access), The Universim offers 5 hours of gameplay for each run. But of course, that can change with the full release.
8. Deisim
Deisim is just another sandbox game where you are an an omnipotent God. You can create your own world tile by tile and perform miracles on autonomous humans who are destined to evolve from stone age to modern age.
The thing is, Deisim is a VR only game. So, you can skip it if you don’t have the VR equipment.
9. Dungeons 3
Here is something more unorthodox, Dungeons 3 is evil God game. It’s a mix between God game, lair builder, RTS, and simulation.
You simply assume the role of a mighty evil Dungeon Lord and create your own diabolical demesnes underground. Then spawn your hordes of demons to conquer outer world, just like the Morgoth from Lord of the Rings.
10. War for the Overworld
War for the Overworld is another lair-builder / God simulation game pretty similar to Dungeons 3. Naturally you play to carve out your dungeon, spawn hordes, and conquer the Overworld.
If you like God games where you’re the malevolent God, try War for the Overworld and similar lair builders.
11. Sapiens
Are you ready to become the God of primitive prehistoric civilization? I present you the Sapiens, a mix or God game + colony sim genres.
Start with nothing, build towns and industry, and advance through thousands of years of technological breakthroughs.
It’s a 26 Jul, 2022 game but still is in the early access phase. So, you might want to wait a little bit more for a better gameplay experience.
12. Universe Sandbox
Universe Sandbox is a simulation game with realistic physics-based engine. It’s a beautiful science game letting us to learn more about space, gravity, mass, and earths fragility.
It’s actually half-game half astrophysics simulation software. Which makes it much more interesting.
Also, you can use VR equipment to enjoy Universe Sandbox to its full extend. Though VR is optional. You can still enjoy it without VR.
13. Reus
Reus is a game in which you control powerful giants of all forms to shape your planet. All giants have different properties. One can create mountains, other one ocean, forests, sand, etc.
You can control everything in your planet, like environment, plants and animal life. Except the humans! They all have their own virtues and vices.
Your duty is to observe humans and let your giants praise or punish them for their actions.
14. Equilinox
Equilinox is a relaxing nature simulation / ecosystem game with no challenge. You simply create your world and animals, then watch them evolve. You can cultivate and raise hundreds of different species. Watching them interact with each other is very curious.
It’s one of the best relaxing games to play in 2023. Basically, in Equilinox you trigger certain things and watch the nature figure out the rest.
15. Doodle God
Doodle God is a puzzle & world building game where you create the entire universe. Don’t expect a 3D view of your creation though. That’s Doodle God Universe from the same creators which is coming up in 2023. Doodle God is much more simplistic.
Let’s go, combine elements, create unique stuff, and become the Doodle God.
16. Godhood
Godhood is the next game of Abbey Games, creators of another God game Reus, which is number 13. on this list. Reus released in 2013, Godhood in 2020. After 7 years, another great God game released by them.
In Godhood you create your very own religion, raise disciples, and guide them to bring you glory. Main purpose is to defeat other religions and became one true God!
17. The Sapling
The Sapling is a short simulation game where you design your own plants and animals, place them in a world together, and watch the evolution of your ecosystem.
You can always influence evolution by editing genetics in Sapling. But real fun begins when you turn on random mutations and watch your creation evolve.
18. Ecosystem
Ecosystem, an early access ecosystem game since 2021. This one and the game below are quite unique because they use pretty realistic graphics. It’s rare to find evolution / god games with realistic graphics overall.
You grow and modify ocean ecosystem with simulated evolution, then simply watch your creation evolve!
Evolutions in Ecosystem are super random. Just watch its trailer, none of the creatures you see are hand-made. All of them are randomly evolved!
19. Creatura
Have you seen or own a terrarium? Terrarium is a container containing soil and plants. They’re usually sealed but can be opened for maintenance. Watching and experimenting with the ecosystem of Terrarium is super fun. Anyway, video game Creatura is a scientifically accurate terrarium / aquarium simulation.
Form, create, seed, breed, and watch the evolution of your ecosystem. It’s your sandbox after all!
Finally, you can play Creature demo version for free, it’s available on Steam.
20. Ruinarch
Let’s wrap things up and end the God games list with a villain protagonist game in which you’re the malevolent God. Ruinarch is an evil overlord simulator with a focus on story generation. You take control of the narrative by spreading rumors, unleashing monsters, and creating chaos on villagers. The more chaotic energy you create, the stronger you become.
Recent reviews are slightly bad because of the lack of new content. Updates are really slow in Ruinarch. Could that change in the future? Perhaps, perhaps not.