Dyson (PC)—RTS meditation (now called Eufloria)
When you hear a game described as an RTS, a few staple images are conjured—elfs and orcs fighting in forests, tanks blasting insectoids out of their burrows, the desolate landscape of Arrakis. So when I heard about the indie RTS Dyson I was kind of intrigued—indie games at large largely call upon platformers, RPGs and the ambiguously titled interactive story genre. How would this game explore, deconstruct or expand the genre as most indies are want to do?
Predictably, Dyson is very different to what you’d typically classify as an RTS. Sure, it’s got several usual tenets—resource-gathering, army-building, diversification—but it lacks many of the complexities. For example, your army self replicates cutting out much of the macro associated with most RTS games. Likewise, unit attack automatically eliminating micro. But this is not a bad thing!
Dyson was nominated in several categories at the Independent Games Festival including the Seumas McNally. You see, Dyson is such an immersive game. Not immersive in the way BioShock is, but in a highly aesthetic sort of way. It’s visually very simple—solid lines, few colors—and it’s built around a neat engine which provides smooth animation and action. Your units are little seedlings. They glide around in circles and stream from planet to planet as you amass more and more. Mix this with an ambient soundtrack—which is unusual for video games—and you have a highly meditative experience. Imagine Atlas Sound spent two years in a monastery then made a video game—that’s what Dyson is like. It’s peaceful, almost abstract and aesthetically-focused game.
But Dyson is very much for the indie-gamer. If it’s hardcore gameplay you’re after, you won’t get much out of the experience. In the current build there is no online play and I can’t see it being particularly conducive to Dyson. But I don’t think that’s the point of Dyson. While I wouldn’t say it necessarily deconstructs or explores RTS like The Path did RPG, it does expand it by generating a very different experience. It’ll be interesting to see how it’s received once it gets a final retail release in October. Will other indie games look to the RTS; how will its aesthetics be perceived?
There is currently a free build available.
Wow, any chance of multiplayer?
I'd love something like this for my Mac and a basic co-op facility.
James, the exact same thought ran through my head.
You know you should not say "for my Mac". No one should care if you have a "Mac" or if your running Windows.
Besides that i would like to play this game. It looks fun and simple, that wont take so much time to play.