Origins Teaser Poster - Art by Erich Reese.
Origins is a city-building god game, developed by Freefall Interactive. It was released in Turn 28. This was the last FI game to be published by EA, after the game received underestimated sales, resulting in the termination of the contract between the two companies.
Gameplay[]
Origins is an evolution life emulation game, with heavy city-building aspects. Origins is a development of Enodo's tech demo.
Origins dynamically combines the real-time strategy and city-building genres into one game.
Reception[]
Upon release Origins produced a huge learning curve due to the complexity of the game. Players were universally disappointed at this, and so Freefall have confirmed that they have taken this to mind and should start work on simplification and various other features soon.
"We are all disappointed about Origins, as we were expecting larger expectations from it. And lead designer, Peter Henry, got a little to ambitious with Origins; he took it a step too far. We have taken to mind the steep learning curve that Origins boasts over it's RTS and city-building counterparts. As a sorry, Freefall are working on a DLC free of charge to the people who have already purchased the game."
Joseph Finch
CEO of
Freefall Interactive
IGN' "Origins is the latest outing by acclaimed developer Freefall Interactive. After their two smash hits Burnt Skies and Red Faction: Redemption, the bar was set incredibly high for Origins, even though the genre and style was 100% different than either of the two outings. It saddens me to say that, while Origins is a good game, it never hits the strides in production value or polish of either of Freefall's previous titles, and seems overwhelming even after you pour hours and hours into it. The good thing about all this is, even after hours of gameplay, there's always something new. But, the learning curve is so steep, that even RTS vets and hardcore strategy gamers will have trouble maintaining focus: It's fun in bursts, but far too overwhelming. Origins has some great ideas, and some of them are presented in a streamlined, easy-to-access fashion, ala Sim City, but others are so complicated that, even after the extensive tutorials, you'll have no idea how it works. The graphics are good, but not great, same with the sound design. This is definitely a step down for Freefall, but this isn't a bad game. It's just not as good as their previous games. As it stands, city builders and vehicle sim fans should check this one out, but be prepared for a hardcore, and I mean hardcore, learning curve." OVERALL SCORE: 7.5/10
Concept[]
Origins was originally supposed to be a development from the Enodo tech demo, but since Freefall took over development, designer Peter Henry decided to take it a step further.
"I've always been a fan of the Empire Earth series, as well as SimCity, so I thought, why not have them both together? With the right people and the right technology, I've been able to make mine - and I am sure other peoples - dream come true, and I hope that I have achieved it when Origins does release."
Peter Henry
Lead Designer
Freefall Interactive