Gaia is a 'God game', taking place over the life of a village. In the vein of similar titles like Populous or Reus, Players take control of a ruling force or deity that influences the way that the people of the world interact. While players have limited physical interaction with the world, the primary way they encourage villagers to act is through ideas. Players craft ideologies, comprised of base ideas, that they then 'select' an individual to champion. As villagers ascend the hierarchy of their little village, more and more residents join that ideology. These ideals come from various categories, and the more inclined to one category they are, the village will appear and act differently. For example, if the ideology contains might and strength as cornerstones, the village will be more warlike and hostile. In contrast, if a player opts for more mercantile beliefs of mass production and advanced economics, the villagers will become traders and merchants.

These ideologies influence the way that a village develops as well - if scientifically advanced, a village's end goals will revolve around them achieving a particular development. If militarily inclined, the village's goals will involve dominating the surrounding villages.

Features include:

Power Incarnate - rather than shaping the world, shape the people that inhabit it through their ideas and visions for the future. Create the perfect society.

Responsive Civilisation - experience a civilization that changes according to the choices that you make, and not always in the ways that you expect.

Procedural Goals - Depending on the values you instil in the villagers, they will change and adapt to the ideals that you instill in them.

Image of a similar game, Populous.

(Image sourced from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2d/Amiga_Populous.png)