Reus 2 is Abbey Games’ long-awaited sequel to their 2013 hit god game of the same name. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Reus 2 Review Overview
What is Reus 2?
Reus 2 is a unique strategy god game where you play as a deity creating worlds through careful placement of elements called biotica (plural for bioticum). These biotica can synergize and interact with each other in compoundingly complex and lucrative ways, providing resources for your people.
With elemental Giants enacting your will on the planet and devout citizens awaiting your assistance, it is by your grand design that these civilizations flourish into prosperous unity.
Reus 2 features:
⚫︎ 100+ unique biotica to unlock and discover
⚫︎ Countless synergies and interactions to exploit
⚫︎ 6 unique giants with their own synergies and playstyles
⚫︎ Free Play Mode for those who prefer to get creative
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Reus 2's gameplay and story.
 Steam |
$24.99 |
Reus 2 Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Intricately Layered Game Design Cute Premise Made Charming |
Takes Its Time to Get Going Could Use More Eras |
Reus 2 Overall Score - 88/100
Reus 2 exemplifies efficient game design at its finest. Every gameplay element is deliberate and purposeful, providing a clear path forward while maintaining the balance of its numerous synergies and progression systems. There are no wasted ideas, even in the character design, though there are still minor areas for improvement. Overall, this is the kind of game one might imagine an all-knowing deity would create.
Reus 2 Story - 8/10
It’s hard to expect a good story from a god game, but Reus 2 took such low expectations as a challenge. It delivers plenty of personality through character design alone and still manages to follow up with good characterization and storytelling by giving each Giant and Leader their own personality. It’s about as good a story as you can get from this genre.
Reus 2 Gameplay - 10/10
Reus 2’s gameplay is an incredibly layered, tightly woven mesh of mechanics and synergies that refuses to let a single idea stand unsupported. Every feature feels and functions like a deliberate and planned choice, never once allowing me to feel wanting or unsatisfied. Moving forward, this will come to mind whenever I encounter the concept of a god’s grand design.
Reus 2 Visuals - 8/10
Like its gameplay, Reus 2’s character designs are deliberate, efficient, and effective, evoking the deific grandeur of these giants without being too ostentatious. The sprawling landscapes look great despite their cookie-cutter nature and the Giants’ animations have an appropriate amount of heft. My only gripe is that it sometimes gets visually cluttered, especially with the game’s UI in full view.
Reus 2 Audio - 8/10
Reus 2’s audio is a calming blend of nature sounds and choral hymns—perfect for evoking the divine nature of the Giants and their works. It’s perfectly effective for what the game’s going for and some tracks are actual earworms I’d gladly have on repeat. Perhaps it could’ve benefitted from some voice acting, but it’s good enough as it is now.
Reus 2 Value for Money - 10/10
With its endless permutations, diverse biomes, and numerous unlocks, Reus 2 offers incredible replayability, making it an absolute steal at just $25. The game is densely packed with content, and even though a full playthrough for each planet takes about half an hour, you'll find yourself immersed for tens of hours before uncovering all it has to offer.
Reus 2 Review: Talk About A Grand Design!
"A single thread in a tapestry, though its color brightly shines, can never see its purpose in the pattern of the grand design." I want you to keep that quote in mind as we continue with this review because not only does it describe Reus 2 to a tee, but it also describes its gameplay, visuals, character design, and overall charm.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter where I begin with this review because all of Reus 2’s elements are so interwoven and fleshed out that I’ll always eventually get to the core of its being. That being said, I like a bit of structure, so let’s begin at the apex of its excellence: it’s god-like game design.
Whether or not you’re familiar with the original Reus, Reus 2’s complexity might catch you off guard. It’s essentially the first game minus all of its shortcomings, with a few bells and whistles attached to make it more appealing to the modern audience.
The core gameplay loop of placing down elements called "Biotica" and reaping the rewards of their synergies with other biotica remains the same; it’s the synergies themselves and their subsequent layers that the devs chose to focus on, and—oh boy—did they pile a lot on here.
Not only do biotica interact with keywords like "Critter" or "Fruit", they also gain additional bonuses based on their biome, biodiversity, adjacency, distance from the nearest city, type of biotica, and number of biotica present within a certain range.
Now, you may have misunderstood what I meant by that, so allow me to clarify: each of those biotica interactions is its own system with its own synergies, biomes, giants, and buildings. That’s not even factoring in the passive bonuses you get from each planet’s soul, micros, the planet shop, and era bonuses, so you’ve got a whole lot of things to consider before you place one down.
And so, no longer is it just a matter of placing down biotica and seeing what happens, much like in the first game. Reus 2’s core gameplay now emphasizes planning and forethought, although the sheer number and variety of unlockable biotica prevents the player from hitting a dead end; it’s now just a matter of figuring out how to work with what you’re given.
This is the genius behind Reus 2’s grand design and it harkens back to the quote at the beginning of this review. A single thread—a biotica in this case—might not see its worth when it’s initially placed down, but seeing its place in the grand design, you’ll understand that it was important to the overall result.
One by one, you’ll put down these biotica and see the numbers go up, eventually culminating in a finished planet made from compounding deliberate decisions. There truly is nothing as satisfying as seeing your predictions come true and reaping the reward of a well-woven net of synergies. In many ways, it makes you feel like a god, which is, as you may have guessed, the point of a god game.
Intricate gameplay is only good if the player understands it enough, however, and many games miss the mark by being too utterly complex to be enjoyable. Not Reus 2, though, as its drip feed progression system requires prosperity points to advance, which means that unlocking complex features like terraforming and new eras necessitates a thorough understanding of existing gameplay.
You’re going to have to go through a few planets to fully spread your godly wings, but you’ll have one heck of a time leading up to that point. This gradual yet entertaining progression keeps you hooked without allowing you to get complacent, eventually letting you do as please with your full arsenal.
Moving on from gameplay, Reus 2’s visuals reflect the same efficiency and deliberate design as its gameplay. Although the characters aren’t voiced and don't participate in an overarching narrative, they effectively convey their purpose, themes, personalities, and preferences through character design alone
The Giants, in particular, are instantly understandable in their roles the moment you see them. They strike a perfect balance: imposing yet not ostentatious, ensuring their purpose is clearly communicated through their design.
In terms of audio, Reus 2 is truly divine. Its music harmoniously blends natural sounds, choral hymns, and grand fanfare, all of which convey the divine nature of your creation. This entrancing OST is complemented by convincing sound effects and a distinct focus on setting the scene, leaving no room for complaints apart from a lack of voice acting.
And that’s the grand design of Reus 2 in a turtle shell. It’s an intricate game artisanally made to give the best creation myth experience through efficiency, synergy, and purpose. No move, neither from you nor the devs, ever felt pointless, and the only gripes I have come from wasted potential rather than actual lapses in game design.
Reus had its shortcomings and left me wanting despite its classic indie status, so I wasn’t expecting much with Reus 2. Then I saw its grand design, and now I’m a believer.
Pros of Reus 2
| Things Reus 2 Got Right |
|---|
|
Intricately Layered Game Design Cute Premise Made Charming |
Intricately Layered Game Design
I’ve spoken about this game’s intricate game design already so allow me to show you just how layered it truly is by going through just one of its many synergies. Let’s use the Ostrich bioticum as an example.
The Ostrich bioticum has a base yield of 10 food and 10 wealth as well as the Bird, Prey, and Herbivore tags. It’s a desert biome exclusive and has the Running Space ability, which grants an additional 10 food and 5 wealth per adjacent empty space.
This bioticum synergizes extremely well with the Mudcrack bioticum, which grants +10 science and +1 biodiversity if adjacent to an empty space. Here’s the kicker, the Mudcrack bioticum also has the Barren ability, which makes it count as an empty space, allowing both the Ostrich bioticum and fellow Mudcrack biotica to trigger their abilities while they are adjacent.
But wait, there’s more! The Sandgrouse bioticum also has the Barren ability and a base yield of 20 food, which means that it can synergize with both aforementioned biotica. But wait, we can go further!
The Sand Cat bioticum also has the Barren ability, a base yield of 5 wealth, and the Rogue ability, which grants it a +20 bonus to its wealth yield if there’s a Critter anywhere in the biome. Lo, and behold, the Sand Grouse has the Critter tag.
So, imagine 4 adjacent spaces in the desert biome in a square formation. Put the Ostrich on the top left, two Mudcracks on the lower corners, a Sand Grouse on the top right, and a Sand Cat anywhere else in the biome. What should have yielded 30 food, 10 science, and 5 wealth ended up yielding 60 food, 40 science, 45 wealth, and 2 biodiversity.
That’s not even counting any planet bonuses, any other adjacency bonuses, buildings, era effects, or micros, so that number can go way higher. I told you, this game was made with planning and forethought in mind.
Cute Premise Made Charming
Reus 2 is a god game unlike any other for a few good reasons, most of which it got from the first game and has since ascended to godliness. Among these reasons is the childlike wonder you get from just placing things down and seeing what happens. Reus 2 rewards such wayward creation less now, but I can argue that this is the next step in elevating its charm as a game.
No longer are you just a child mucking about, you’re a god creating with care and purpose. It’s no less satisfying and much more streamlined than its predecessor.
The Giants do a lot to preserve this charm as well, serving as visual representations of your will on this planet and providing some much-needed concreteness to the often disembodied effects of your godhood. They also make great poster-boys and the next-gen glowup only made them more iconic.
Cons of Reus 2
| Things That Reus 2 Can Improve |
|---|
|
Takes Its Time to Get Going Could Use More Eras |
Takes Its Time to Get Going
Reus 2 offers a wealth of content, with hundreds of biotica and their countless synergies and permutations. The game carefully introduces these concepts at a manageable pace, but the sheer volume of things to learn and unlock can make it feel a bit overwhelming at times.
It’s never boring, of course, but not everyone has the luxury of time to pour into this game. At the very least, you can just pause, save, and play at a different time. Good luck remembering what synergies you had going, though.
Could Use More Eras
This is less of a downside and more of me being greedy. The game currently has three eras available to each planet, with various era types to choose from depending on what you accomplished in the previous era.
Every era is more complex than the last and thus takes longer to finish, but an experienced player like myself can crush these in an hour or less. I want a fourth era—something to flex my micromanagement muscles with and fail to achieve for countless hours. Seeing that this game isn’t in early access, I wouldn’t count on it, but here’s hoping that it happens.
Is Reus 2 Worth It?
Worth The Wealth
Quit simply, yes. Reus 2 offers so much content and synergistic fun for a mere $25. This game is so densely packed and replayable that, even if a planet takes you thirty minutes to finish, you’d be playing by the tens of hours before you grow tired. I can recommend this to any god game enjoyer, as well as anyone who enjoys micromanaging every aspect of their setup. You won’t grow bored, I promise.
| Platform | Price |
|---|---|
| Steam |
$24.99 |
Reus 2 FAQ
What Are Giants Called in Reus 2?
Reus 2 features 6 giants, each with their own unique synergies, biomes, and biotica sets. In order, the giants governing the forest, swamp, ocean, desert, taiga, and savannah biomes are named Satari, Reginald, Khiton, Atlas, Aegir, and Jangwa, respectively.
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Reus 2 Product Information
 |
|
| Title | REUS 2 |
|---|---|
| Release Date | May 28, 2024 |
| Developer | Abbey Games |
| Publisher | Firesquid |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam) |
| Genre | Strategy, Simulation |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | Reus 2 Website |
