Asmodee Launches Their Own Genesis Device with 4 Gods

If you're as old as dirt me, you'll remember a little PC game from a, then, new developer named Bullfrog called Populous. My kids don't believe that there were computers in the 80's, so every now and then I have to bring out Populous just to reassure them that I didn't wear bearskins and hunt mastodons when I was their age. Anyway, Populous was a "god game" in which you built a world and its inhabitants with the sole intention of messing with them. Last week Asmodee revealed a game that sounds like it should scratch that same itch, 4 Gods. 4 Gods is designed by Christophe Boelinger of Dungeon Twister and Archipelago fame and drops you into one of the titular roles as 2-4 players build a world and then see which of them can spread the most divine influence over their creation. The world is created via tile placement but, unlike games like Carcassonne, the tile placement is performed by all players simultaneously. "Unlike the majority of modern tile placement games, 4 Gods is played simultaneously. From the start of the game, you’ll be competing to quickly and correctly place tiles in the rapidly growing world, building vast seas, winding mountain ranges, thick forests, and arable plains. Each type of terrain is the domain of a different god: the goddess of the elves governs the forests, the god of dwarves controls the mountains, the goddess of merfolk inhabits the waves, the god of humans rules the plains.  During this rush of creation, you can only have two tiles in hand at a time. When you can’t immediately play one, you place it on a track before you, from which you and your opponents can take tiles back into hand when they fit. You can also always draw one or two new tiles from the bag, as long as your hands are free. If you find a place where no tile seems to fit, you can establish there a legendary city that will grant you Divine Influence at the end of the game—if it endures. Players can place tiles over legendary cities, permanently destroying them and earning points for the act of destruction." Points are earned by the placement of cities and prophets as well as getting larger tracts of your terrain type on the table. 4 Gods will be released in Q4 of 2016, but will be available to demo at Gen Con 2016 which is only a few weeks away.