Greetings gamers, this is Greg Vander Velde and we are here to talk about Godfall from developer Counterplay Games and publisher Gearbox Publishing. This is a launch title for PS5, but it’s also available on PC via the Epic Games Store. For a next-gen game, it is certainly pretty on the highest settings on my PC, but I’m not sure that it’s all we were hoping for in dreaming of next-gen. Godfall is a pretty game with beautiful levels and very interesting armor designs, yet something’s missing from this armor-clad game and we’re going to dive in and see what’s good and what’s bad about Godfall.
Story
To briefly introduce the story, it’s a battle between two brothers. Both brothers are accomplished fighters, both have their own backers, both have access to amazing magical powers and some really cool suits of armor. Where these two brothers differ is actually somewhat hard to determine. They each have different goals for the kingdom and one we’re automatically supposed to believe is the villain in this game.
With few cutscenes and even fewer other characters in the story, it’s hard to see the game’s villain as monstrous when there doesn’t seem to be any other creatures except one or two in the world that aren’t working with the villain. This makes me wonder if all the creatures want to be led by the villain – Is the hero, not the villain? Fighting against the masses’ decision doesn’t sound very hero-like. Anyway, the story is the weakest part of the game. The story is so thin I was actually shocked when the game ended. I would say our hero was shocked, too, but you never see his face. Moreover, you only see their armor, so it does make it hard to really see the characters do anything emotional or meaningful.
Game Play
Godfall shines when it comes to its flashy and diverse combat. There are a bunch of systems in place to allow for varying styles of combat. Choosing different weapons gained in massive loot drops throughout the game allows for constant change in the two weapons that can be equipped. Quickly swap between your two weapons and change up your playstyle vastly mid-combat even granting a bonus after charging up. The wide array of weapons allows for different abilities, reach, damage, and perks. I almost always choose weapons that are faster and easier to dodge and strike within games, but I ended up using the polearm in this game as my favorite weapon allowing for long-ranged attacks and high damage while also feeling not too slow made it and enjoyable experience. My second favorite weapons were the dual blades, allowing for a blazing tornado of blade attacks that just looked really cool.
Sadly, the missions don’t vary as the weapon choices do and they quickly feel like they are all identical. The game often tasks you the player with running across the map to a waypoint and defeating a slightly more challenging version of other creatures you have faced. Thinking that much of the game was going to be more challenging I decided to grind and level up my character early on making much of the game’s battles even less challenging. It allows and encourages players to replay missions. So I was just running to the villain that I’ve already learned how to defeat easily and taking them down for lots more loot and extra experience this became my habit in this game.
On the normal and easier settings, it becomes even less challenging when dying allows you to respawn to where you were just fighting and the villains often maintain their lost damage while restoring all of your lost healing stone slots. I often exploited this in fighting bosses carelessly not even considering the consequence of my gameplay choices until after I died the first time.
There were many mechanics I enjoyed most in the combat; particularly, the soul-shattering system. This allowed for a very satisfying explosion when defeating the enemy after building up the soul shatter meter and then striking with a final heavy hit.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a mindless high action powerful feeling hack and slash game this might be the game for you especially if it’s on sale, but if you were looking for a deep emotional dive into a god and his son traveling together and learning life lessons- this is not it. Godfall seems like it was really rushed to meet the new next-gen console launch and the devs didn’t have a chance to finish the story. While I might pick this game up again for its style and satisfying mindless action it would definitely be something I would be listening to an audiobook while playing so I get some content with my flavor. All that said, I’ll have to give Godfall a 6/10.
Check Out the Godfall Trailer:
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PC Review
I've been a life long nerd and video game junkie known to associate with the likes of Link, Nathan Drake, Batman, and Master Chief. I'm a filmmaker by profession, but spend lots of time behind a controller escaping the real world. @GregVelde on Instagram/Twitter/YouTube
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