REVIEW : Godfall (PS5)
The launch of new consoles is usually an awkward period for many game developers. Traditionally, it has always been a bit difficult to turn your head around exactly what the new consoles can accomplish and what ideas are feasible, and as a result, the term “launch game” has ended up as a kind of term for less successful games.
It is usually not about bad games, but instead just perfectly fine experiences that have some exciting features, but which then lose the so-called spice.
The game still has an exciting starting point, and there is quite a lot to like when you first get a bit out in Godfall’s shallow story.
Pink story
We play as Orin, a powerful warrior from a colourful fantasy universe who after a while is betrayed and left to die by his brother, Marcos. It so happens that Marcos has got an ever so slight hint of greatness mania, and now he thinks he has what it takes to become a wandering god. Of course, you can have none of this, and so it happens that Orin has to gather companions, look for “loot” and break with threatening boss enemies to stagnate his brother’s plans.
The game does its best to explain the most basic, but unfortunately uses the exact opposite of “show, do not tell”, with large doses of simple exposure and buck jumping along the way. The characters that are in the centre are interesting enough in and of themselves, but the script bears the mark of everything to be made as simple as possible.
Nice as few
Not for that, Godfall is a cool game that has plenty of great design choices to show off. The universe is admittedly a very typical fantasy, with armour-clad knights, snake monsters, huge swords and creatures from the emptiness of darkness in all nooks and crannies, but the visual whole is still strikingly beautiful.
The game allows you to unlock new types of armour during the experience, and these both look and behave differently. The visual differences are probably clearly the big draw, whether you like the winged “Phoenix”, the wolf figure “Hinterclaw” or the silver-grey “Greyhawk”, but it also has a handful of minor influences on how you play.
Ready for battle
For example, one armour gives you a greater chance of setting fire to enemies, another gives you poison attacks, while the different ones also pose with various special attacks that can be activated in the heat of battle. And here you are quite often: Godfall describes himself as a “looter-slasher”, and consequently you spend a lot of time “slasher” and hack at fierce fantasy beasts.
The fighting is very solid. This is thanks in part to outstanding animations and superb flow; partly due to a wide range of different mechanics and elements that all help to create life and stir.
Not only do you get rewards and equipment when you defeat boss enemies and reach new levels, but there are also small and large treasure chests, jars and urns around the world. These are all filled to the brim with various colour-coded goodies and ingredients you can use to bring up what you find, and consequently, it boils down to an overwhelming jumble of resource management, bonuses and green and red numbers.
Each unique object does have a small section that tells a little about the universe, the people and the customs here, but it does not in any way compensate for the dirt job it is to sort, compare and pile equipment you do not need multiple times during the ten hours or so. takes to complete the game.
Too easy
This also has consequences for my willingness to explore the rest of Godfall’s world. The game offers a lot of repeatable content, opportunities to collaborate with up to two other players and is concerned with finding new and better equipment – also outside the main missions – but it is not tempting.
The bland equipment is one reason for this, but it is also because the game’s universe is simply a bit cluttered and one-sided in all its simplicity. As I said, there are several different realms to explore here, but finding out is both clumsy and uninspiring.
I miss a proper map, I miss greater variety in enemy compositions and I miss a fairer challenge with checkpoints that make sense.
Conclusion
Godfall is a pretty good action game that not only looks brilliant but also has a combat system that is full of interesting and engaging mechanics. The game certainly borrows a lot from other places, but when everything is sewn together and flows at its very best in Godfall, it’s great fun to feed fantasy creatures with increasingly powerful and more colourful weapons.
The characters you get to control are all beautifully detailed, both visually and in the form of a large and exciting skill tree, and the use of everything from effects to silky soft animations makes it almost always exciting to throw yourself into battle.
Unfortunately, not everything is in the style of the solid combat system, and after a while, you realize that both the story, the universe and the variation in the game are all relatively shallow. It is one thing to create a world that looks pretty, but it is something completely different to design a place with a uniqueness that you want to explore. And that is first and foremost where Godfall falls short. This means that all of the side quests and exploration fall completely into the fish, and when the game also does not offer enormous variety after the end of the story, this is an adventure that unfortunately does not manage to live up to its formidable potential.
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