Eufloria is an independent real-time strategy game for the PC created by Alex May, Rudolf Kremers and Brian Grainger. The concept behind the game is based on a theory by physicist Freeman Dyson, who suggested that a genetically engineered plant – a Dyson Tree – could colonize a comet and produce a breathable atmosphere.
Players are set the task of colonizing various asteroids with seedlings. When enough seedlings are on the surface, a tree can be planted – shooting a deep root into the interior of the asteroid which lazily curls around the core. That tree then generates new seedlings slowly over time.
Different asteroids are different sizes and the larger the asteroid, the further the seeds are able to travel. Different asteroids can grow different types of seeds, too – some are fast, some are strong, and some are able to take control of hostile asteroids more quickly.
The game’s art style is very distinctive. It takes a minimalist, almost diagrammatic approach to displaying the cosmos that you’re battling in. Your seedlings have a stalk, wings and a body area – and they change in size depending on their strength, speed and energy attributes respectively so you can see at a glance what’s happening. Asteroids are rendered as giant cell-like circles that are penetrated by seedlings when they take control.
The team that created Eufloria say: “The game allows the player to explore a beautifully realized universe rendered in a style that is both unique and compelling. Eufloria’s aesthetics are reminiscent of children’s books like The Little Prince“. That’s certainly visible in the game.
It’s deeply relaxing. The sound direction is superb – all ambient chimes and dings. The music, by Brian Grainger, is similarly ambient, taking cues from Brian Eno, Eric Satie and John Cage to envelop you in a soft, velvety cushion of noise, perfect for headphone play late at night.
The low, low difficulty contributes to the relaxing feeling, too. You’ll likely finish each level first time, and the pace is such that you can alt-tab to a browser window to read websites while waiting for your army to build, and you’re not wasting time. In fact, a very viable strategy is to send all your seedlings to one planet and then just wait and build. You’ll eventually create an army of overwhelming size.
As a result of the minimalist design, you feel very detached from the action. Although your seedlings are waging fierce wars, fighting and dying on the surface of these asteroids, its as if you’re cocooned in a command centre an immense distance away. That recalls the “Death from Above” mission in the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, where you slaughtered hundreds of enemy soldiers from an infrared viewscreen on board an attack helicopter. It was a powerful statement about how soldiers can be conditioned against feeling remorse for taking by distancing them from the action.
But I digress. Eufloria is a great little game. It won’t challenge you – you won’t spend your time cursing and banging your fist on your desk. Instead, it’ll relax, calm and chill you out in a way that is all-too-rare in a world of videogames that try and thrill you at every step.
In the same way that organizing your bank in World of Warcraft can be a great way of calming down after an intense PvP session or a raid, a quick game of Eufloria is a great way of quelling adrenelin from a round of Team Fortress 2 or Modern Warfare 2 so that you can go to bed. Eufloria is a calming, ambient, beautiful title, well worth having in your Steam account.