Parent's Guide: From Dust - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

From Dust is a downloadable game that puts your child in the shoes of a God, watching over a group of villagers, who they'll need to guide to a set of totems in each level. Each level plays out like a puzzle, as your child will need to figure out the best way to get their villagers to each totem, navigating a number of natural obstacles in their way.

Through using a power called "the voice", your child will be able to pick up giant, floating spheres of sand, water, and lava, which they can then use to dam rivers, build causeways, and drain lakes, to allow their villagers to move from one island to the next. With a variety of challenges to overcome, and new obstacles being added in every level, it's a game that'll make your child's brain work, but the realistic nature of the puzzles, that requires lateral rather than logical thinking, means they'll probably be able to manage it.

With no real violence or combat, and no swearing, sex, or drug use, the only real mature content here is that sometimes, when a tsunami hits, or a river gets routed incorrectly, your people will be swept out to sea on the wave - although mostly, they seem to survive this, and simply swim back to shore. They're also so tiny, you can't really see anything happening anyway.

Sadly, From Dust is an entirely single player experience, with no multiplayer option - although having a second player sitting and offering advice would be pretty relevant here.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Xbox 360