Reus 10th Birthday!
Fellow giants!
Today it has been 10 years since Reus released on Steam! A mere speck of time for ageless titans like yourself, but still worthy of celebration. If you haven't seen it yet; the celebration starts off strong with Reus 2 being announced last week! The monks of the Abbey and the gentle folks at Firesquid are teaming up for this one. Together, we hope to bring Reus to the modern gaming era, but without losing its charm.
That gives us the perfect opportunity to look back at Reus. What are we proud of, and do we want to take with us to the next game? And where do we see room for improvement?
[h2]Top: The Giants[/h2]
These handsome elemental titans sure pulled their weight for us! I mean, look at that handsome line-up! This is definitely something we wish to expand upon in Reus 2. Although some of them could use a small make-over...
[h2]Flop: Time Pressure[/h2]
I think the single feature we got the most complains about, was the time pressure. Even veteran players couldn't play the game without frantically mashing the spacebar to pause the game. There is an endless mode, which removes this challenge. But choosing between RTS madness or little challenge at all is not really fitting for Reus.
In Reus 2, we hope to bring you a more relaxing experience, where the challenge comes from how well you do your actions, not from how fast you do them. Let the spacebar get some rest.
[h2]Top: Symbioses[/h2]
These are the bread and butter nature actions of your giants. It worked quite well, with many different combinations and strategies to play with. In Reus 2, we definitely want to expand on this more. More animals! More biomes! More ways of interacting! More more more! Here's a little sneak-peek...
It worked so well, because it is simple to understand, but hard to master. Ok, not all combinations were hard to master. Who hasn't filled their swamps with White Willows? And not everything was easy to understand, because....
[h2]Flop: Arcane Progression[/h2]
How do I unlock the darn snow leopard?! Ok, a musk deer with a Predator aspect. Oh, it wants to be next to a Yak? Ok, how do I... oh, I can't unlock it anymore, because I committed towards something else with my Ocean giant... sigh...
No, I don't want to memorize this...This was the #1 frustration that we didn't solve in any way. Unlocking new natural sources required a wiki, and even then you could plan wrong. It was cute at first, but it soon made people stumble a few hours in. This one has been very high on our fix-list for Reus 2. I can safely say now - the upgrades are going to be vastly different from Reus 1!
There are many more things to talk about. But for now, let's enjoy this decade or Reus. Who knows what the next decade will bring! If you're interested in more Reus, don't forget to check out the Reus 2 store or join the discord! Hope to see you around!
- Adriaan and the monks of the Abbey