Creo God Simulator review — Ambitious Ideas & Prosaic Divinity

Creo God Simulator, developed by indie developer Estenban Hernandez, is a city building simulator that grants you the ability to wield godly powers. Described as “inspired by the game Black and White”, Creo God Simulator  has been available in early access on Steam since  2019 but just recently became a full release January 23, 2025. Despite the recent departure from beta status, I can’t help but feel that choice was premature due to the slow gameplay and uninspired graphics featured throughout. 

Assuming the role of the Creostrider, you are the leader of your kind who has the power to reach the gods and command their divine intervention. You’re given an assortment of godly power ranging from the likes of blessing crops with rain to smiting villagers with lightning. God abilities require the use of will power to summon them, which is rewarded by actions or accomplishments that increase the faith of your people. 

The game relies on you to gather a variety of goods and materials in order to please both the gods and your fellow villagers, which can be rather tedious at times. Materials include wood, stone, and metal, which can be used to build structures like houses, farms, and windmills. Crops are utilized to produce food to feed your villagers. I found myself keeping the game idle and multitasking while I waited for my resources to regenerate, as the speed of the game is ever so painfully slow, even with the ability to increase the gameplay speed. High building costs make matters worse and causes gameplay to continue to stagger. 

There are also random procedurally-generated events that can occur, adding a bit of variety to gameplay. There are weather events that can trigger like tornadoes, which are supposedly devastating, but none have spawned even near my villages in any of my playthroughs. Rain can also occur, but it is no different than the god ability to summon rain. Essentially, there’s a random chance your crops could get watered. Very anti-climatic.

Visually, the game features a blocky aesthetic that is similar to Minecraft. Not much of the game’s appearance  seems to have its own distinct identity- including the UI which is derivative of City Skylines. Creo God Simulator is described as “inspired by Black and White” , but unfortunately none of that transferred to the visuals. I feel like a more abstract fantasy aesthetic would have been more fitting for this title than the blocky one that we got. The audio design, however, is excellent. The soundtrack is atmospheric, calming,  and immersive, alongside fitting sound effects. Whenever thunder strikes, it’s loud and commanding. 

Despite the game’s shortcomings, there were certainly some enjoyable moments once I grit my teeth and grinded through some of the slow patches of the game. The fruits of my labor were rewarded once I gained enough resources to build a large village and accumulated a plethora of will power. By the end of my playthrough, to say my villagers learned to respect and fear the might of the Creostrider would be an understatement.