The “God Game” genre is a special type of strategy game. From Germany comes Fata Deum, a game that aims to follow in the footsteps of Black & White, which was released 24 years ago. MyMMO editor Benedict Grothaus has already played it and couldn’t stop … at first.
Fata Deum blew me away from the first glance. In my childhood and youth, Black & White completely captivated me: playing God was just really enjoyable. Since that game, which was released in 2001, no game has spoken to me in this way again. Until now. Until Fata Deum.
Essentially, you have just a strategy game with a few special features here. You acquire citizens – or believers – and build settlements with the aim of dominating a map and displacing other gods.
Through miracles, you convince people that you are powerful enough to be worshiped: either by helping them or by teaching them to fear. Alternatively, you can give them a good slap with the divine fist. Whether you are good or evil affects how the environment you control looks.
Unlike in Anno and similar games, you don’t have big production chains, but only a handful of resources. You plan most buildings in a settlement with that. A bit more economic feeling comes from cities that you need to supply with resources from villages.
I was already able to take a look at it beforehand and am absolutely thrilled – with a few caveats, which don’t necessarily mean anything bad.
I played an early version of Fata Deum, which will change before release. The Early Access on Steam starts on September 15, 2025. You can see the trailer here:
Tremble, mortals! A new god spreads fear and … love?
In my first round, I start as a young, new god without opponents and have to learn everything first. How do I work miracles and what effect do they have? How do I build and plan buildings? How hard can I throw a person before they die? Important questions for a god.
During the round, I get more and more believers and become stronger. Because more followers mean a higher level with new miracles or passive abilities, sometimes with significant progress:
- Trading posts are only available with the right skill, which is needed to supply cities later. Noble townspeople won’t get their hands dirty in fields and mines.
- If I want to encourage my followers to move to another village, found new places, attack neighbors, or just work harder, I have to learn that too.
- Two particularly cool spells: summoning demons and zombies. For a few measly lives, I can create immortal servants. Perfect for my… morally grey realm.
Other strategy games also have similar progress, just not with levels. That alone provides a new gaming experience. With the new miracles come more ways to influence people. Meteor showers or fireworks, area buffs or curses teach the unbelievers to love or fear me.
What really pulls me into the world and shows me that I am a god are the prayers of my followers. They constantly ask me to bless them, to create a specific building, or to punish someone – with a little slap or with death. As a thank you, there is faith strength and thus more mana for more miracles and buildings.
With certain miracles, I can even spread love directly. I mean really: People go create new believers right away. How exactly, the goblin didn’t want to explain to me. But what I do know: Certain traits like “strong” or “cozy” are inheritable. If a village becomes too large for me, I can also ensure that everyone finds each other unattractive…
Serving the Norns and completing quests until 3 AM
The greatest strength while playing for me was the possibilities for exploration and progress. Instead of a campaign, Fata Deum offers tasks from the fate goddesses Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Depending on whose task I want to accomplish, I must perform good deeds focusing on population, neutral or economic actions, or evil, warlike actions.
I had been eager to play a God Game again anyway, but seized with ambition, I lost track of time and sat down to fulfill tasks late into the night – twice.
In addition, there are special places in the world, sort of side quests. A lost prophet seeks a relic, two people tell a legend about a snake killer with magic beer. Solving these brings unique rewards and very amusing dialogues.
Anyway, the conversations are something that Fata Deum excels at. The goblin who hangs on my mouse pointer gives me voiced tips or makes fun of the developers, has a nicely cynical character. The other gods – fertility, violence, deception, and joy – react according to their characteristics with … sometimes more, sometimes less helpful comments.
The more I play, the more possibilities I unlock: larger maps (by the way, all handcrafted, not generated), starting options for quicker entry, or world features like larger villages or even cities. This adds more spice to new rounds.
Right now I still feel like I’m missing a reason to play constantly – but that means nothing
Fata Deum has some really cool and innovative features. For example, there is a day-and-night cycle: During the day, people can be directly carried and influenced, as well as miracles can be worked. At night, their dreams are more influenced to passively guide them the next day, and you can plan buildings without needing the necessary resources, kind of blueprints.
However, the game is not finished yet. The developers know this and don’t even shy away from it. Special places are spread across the world where there should actually be mini-quests, with rewards like powerful one-time spells.
In my version, these were not yet implemented; instead, my goblin remarks: “Here would be a really cool place for a story. If the developers weren’t so damn lazy, it would probably be in the game already.” Overall, the humor is very fitting, as the game doesn’t take itself too seriously and also throws in a jab or two.
Still, Fata Deum has first lost me after 20 hours in the first three days. Right now there is no reason to play longer. This will partly change when the promised quests and secrets come, but: Besides feeling like a god, Fata Deum doesn’t want to offer much more.
Many players will find that enough, as Anno also works similarly. Keep going, optimize, just build and play. Many players love exactly that and do nothing else for hours. For me… I miss a bit of drive. I like clear goals and rarely enjoy sandbox games.
But that means nothing, because I had exactly the same effect with one of my favorite games: Against the Storm. I don’t play that often, but when I do, then intensely – until I pause again. It will be the same for me with Fata Deum as well: A hidden gem on Steam has kept me engaged for almost 160 hours – always helps when I feel bad
