From Dust

From Dust is a game in which the player takes the role of "The Breath", a god-like entity who is in charge of a nature tribe. During the 13 campaign mission (plus 30 challenge maps) he needs to ensure the well-being of his people, e.g. by granting safe passage to another point or by defeating disasters so they can build a village.

The Breath can do only one thing: rearrange the landscape. He absorbs things and spits them out in another place, for example for building a dam with lava rocks. Later in the game he also gets additional abilities like a spell which freezes water. Similar to Populous the tribe people act independently. Parts of the game, especially the challenge maps, are close to puzzle games because of the tight time limits.