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As we posted yesterday, Peter Molyneux’s followup to Curiosity, Godus (Free) is now available on the App Store worldwide. Originally fueled by a £526,563 (Roughly $900,000) Kickstarter, Godus was sold to backers as the god game to end all god games. Peter Molyneux created Populous, so he had clout to spare when it came to boasting about wanting to make the most amazing god game ever.

Unsurprisingly, like most early Kickstarters with a big name behind them, it quickly exceeded its goal and backers eagerly anticipated what many assumed would be the next huge leap in Populous-style games. Check out how epic the original pitch video was:

Hype for the game hit critical levels as Minecraft ($6.99) creator Notch chimed in with “Money spending mode: ENGAGED." Here’s how 22Cans pitched it:

Half a living sandbox world, and half a strategy game, players can choose to explore the power of the almighty however they wish. Whether it’s granting the power of life and blossoming the world around your believers, or using godly powers to wreak havoc via natural disasters to defeat the armies of other gods, prepare for the Ultimate God Game: Single Player, Multiplayer, Cross-Platform gameplay, sandbox worlds, strategic battles, living populations, and the power to create, change, and destroy the very structure of the world.

…And what was eventually delivered basically amounts to a free to play farming game published by notorious monetizers Mobage. Kickstarter comments have been on fire ever since the game went live, as free to play timer games are basically the exact opposite of what core gamers who front money to back Kickstarters enjoy at all. Other corners of the internet, like reddit and even our own forums are filled with similar disgust.

The cruel irony of it all is that not long ago, Peter Molyneux himself called the EA’s similar timer and currency packed reboot of Dungeon Keeper (Free) “ridiculous" in an interview with the BBC:

“I felt myself turning round saying, ‘What? This is ridiculous. I just want to make a dungeon. I don’t want to schedule it on my alarm clock for six days to come back for a block to be chipped,'" he told the BBC.

Considering you need to use the “Belief" energy system in Godus to flatten land, one of the most basic tasks in a god game… These comments are pretty incredible. Similar to how Molyneux just wanted to make a dungeon, I think gamers (and particularly Kickstarter backers) just wanted to play a god game. Now, it’s entirely possible that everyone is currently in the timer-laden “tutorial" phase of the game and Godus eventually opens up in to the wildly deep game that was originally pitched, but, that’s sort of hard to believe with “Mobage" on the front of the box, isn’t it?