Hello giants,
You might have looked at Reus 2 and thought: "What is the difference with the original Reus?" With Reus 2 releasing within weeks, it's a good moment to compare it with the original and highlight the many improvements we made!
Also, it's 11 years ago that Reus released and participated in the Berlin A MAZE festival. We're celebrating with a 60% discount and participation in the A MAZE Steam fest.
In short:
And more!
1. Play at your pace
The first thing you'll notice is the pace of the game. Instead of having to worry about each second, Eon (representing time) only moves forward when you place Biotica (e.g. Plants, Animals, Minerals). Your goal is not to reach your goals within a timespan but with a set number of Eon. Having more cities on your planet will give you a higher Eon limit and more actions.
This means no more need to press the space bar to pause the game with each action or be afraid to take a break. Don't worry about replacing things either: Replacement only costs 1/5 of the actions that a new placement costs.
This makes the game adapt to your speed of play: You're the master of the universe and time after all!
2. Grid on the Planet
Another immediately noticeable change is the grid on the planet. Instead of playing on a single line, there is a small hex grid. This means that most slots will have 4 neighbors instead of only 2, vastly increasing your options and strategies.
There are even ways to expand the grid. Place a Mountain to add three slots on top, or expand the planet to have more room for your Biotica.
3. Biome & Tag Symbioses
The original Reus had symbioses based on names, for example: "next to a Chicken." Reus 2 is very different; instead, it uses tags like "bird" or "tree". This gives you much more freedom to create your ecosystem.
Another addition is the concept of Biome-wide Symbioses. These will trigger on Biotica as long as they are in the same Desert, Forest, or other Biome. There have never been so many options and combos to make!
4. Biotica Drafts
Instead of having to memorize an arcane web where errors would mean restarts, Biotica now unlock through drafts. You will earn these drafts by helping humans as usual. But then you can use them to unlock a set of Biotica for one specific Biome. Your options will be semi-random. You can use rerolls however to search for that Tiger you want so badly.
This way, no game will be the same, but it will be much easier to make decisions on what you want next! An added benefit is that all combinations of Biotica are now also possible!
5. A peaceful Experience
War and giant hunting were never a fan favorite of Reus players, even though the fantasy is cool. We decided to remove these features from Reus 2 altogether until we know how to add them in a way that fits well with the rest of the game. This needs a lot more work, or else we will just end up with the same nuisances as in the original.
Enjoy your peaceful time on your planets!
6. Much more content
We more than doubled the content for Reus 2! I'm not going to spoil all there is to find, just know there are unlimited possibilities and configurations on how to create your perfect planet!
7. Human Eras
Instead of playing games of 30 minutes to 2 hours, in Reus 2 you will go from Era to era. There are up to 3 Eras per planet. Every Era has its own vibe and goals. Will you help humans go to space, or will you support their revolution? Do well on the goals and you'll be rewarded with a little happening!
Your achievements will also be tied to which Eras you've completed. Try to get 3 stars on all of them and see all that humanity has to offer!
And we have much more! Planets in space, unique mechanics per biome, characters, and more improvements! We hope you will find all the content and mechanics the game has to offer, and enjoy your time to create a universe full of life!
We can't wait to see what you make!
Adriaan and the Monks at the Abbey
