5 games you should totally try during the UPlay+ free trial

From Dust

This recommendation comes with one major caveat: if it works. The original PC release of From Dust was plagued by DRM issues and technical problems and it would be a shame if those are still present more than eight years after its release.

From Dust is kind of a god game in the vein of Black & White, but not really. While Black & White allowed players a great deal of control over what they could do, From Dust is essentially a glorified map editor. Players guide a tribe through trials and tribulations by keeping forces of nature at bay and allowing the tribe to survive and regain lost knowledge. This includes repelling natural disasters such as tsunamis.

The game starts out simple but quickly gets more complex as it begins to sprinkle in more and more elements for players to handle. Despite this, the game has a smooth difficulty curve. It doesn’t quite hold your hand, but each map allows players to figure things out for themselves.

The story is perfunctory; you’re supposed to lead a tribe through the different levels to discover what happened to their forebears. The tribe functions more as a reason for the game to have a fail state than a truly compelling reason to play. From Dust’s real draw is its physics engine and in that, it excels.

Just make sure it works first.