Populous
Shares rank 16 of 24 strategy games by recommenders
People recommend it for its unique, distinctive feel and the charm that has kept it memorable for years. The recurring caveat is that it is not very replayable.
People recommend it for its unique, distinctive feel and the charm that has kept it memorable for years. The recurring caveat is that it is not very replayable.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Unique, distinctive feel
“the whole feel of that game was just so unique and fantastic”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “The Lost Treasure of Sid Meier's Pirates” “All of the big Bullfrog games were unique”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “The Lost Treasure of Sid Meier's Pirates” Charm and lasting affection
“Populous has been the first game to wow me and will forever have a place in my heart.”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “The Lost Treasure of Sid Meier's Pirates” “There's some charm in the first one that I love.”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “Serflings is a remake of The Settlers 1”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Not very replayable
“Populous was also quite decent but not quite replayable”
Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Porting my 1993 Amiga game to Godot, with an LLM reading the 68000 assembly”
Other strategy games people recommend
The four most recommended other strategy games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle for Wesnoth | 39 | 4 | 91% | 4 | 10 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Sid Meier's Civilization | 25 | 9 | 74% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Sid Meier's Civilization III | 20 | 10 | 67% | 3 | — | — |
| Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri | 16 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| PopulousThis page | 7 | 1 | 88% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Populous was also quite decent but not quite replayable”
“didn't have the succinctness Populous had”
“Populous has been the first game to wow me and will forever have a place in my heart.”
“the whole feel of that game was just so unique and fantastic”
“All of the big Bullfrog games were unique”
“Populous is inaccurate too.”
“There's some charm in the first one that I love.”
“This was the very first game I ever bought even though I didn't have an Amiga but had one that was very accessible.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.