Populous is a game developed in 1989 by Bullfrog. Populous is regarded by many as being the seminal god game. Populous was awarded with “Origins Award for Best Military or Strategy Computer Game of 1990” as well as “1990 Computer Game of the Year”. It was the first game in the Populous series and preceded Populous 2 and Populous: The Beginning.

In this game, first developed for the Amiga, PC and Atari, the player adopts the role of a deity and assumes the responsibility to shepherd people by direction, manipulation, and divine intervention. The player has the ability to change a landscape and grow their colony with the overall aim of having it conquer an enemy force. The player rules over a variety of different civilizations, including Ancient, Medieval and Prehistoric.

Populous was extremely successful, and spawned a number of sequels. It was released on the PC, SNES, the Sega Master System, the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and other platforms.