Developer: Counterplay Games
Publisher: Gearbox Software
Reviewed on: PC
Also available on: PS5
Release: 12 November 2020
Rating: M
Price: $125 PS5/ $90 EPIC
Godfall is a high fantasy action RPG looter slasher title to come from developer Counterplay Games, the dev team beyond the free to play digital turn based card game Duelyst, who's servers shutdown permanently on February 27th 2020, and published by Gearbox Software the team behind the Borderlands franchise as well as many others. Currently only available on the PS5 and PC through the Epic Games Store.
The Story
You are Orin, one of the last Valorian Knights who was betrayed by your brother Macros. He left you for dead but through sheer will and determination you were able to overcome the impending demise he so wished for you. The Valorian Knights are god-like warriors who possess the unique ability to wear Valorplates. A legendary armour set that grants its wielder unparalleled power and unstoppable skills in melee combat. Enlist the help of allies to assist you in your quest. You must traverse through each Realm and defeat your brother before he becomes more than just a god like warrior.
The World Of Godfall
Godfall takes place in a gorgeous high fantasy world called Aperion. Aperion is covered in vast and lavish realms. There are 3 realms to speak of in Aperion, The Earth Realm, The Water Realm and the Air Realm. Each realm offers a unique experience from its incredible and gorgeous environments to its enemies and lootables. Each realm offers primarily two types of missions, Story missions and Hunt missions. Each story mission advances the story and your understanding of the world around you. A hunt mission allows you to hunt a special enemy one who will offer you a challenge and allow you to combat multiple combat styles that can be thrown at you.
The Gameplay
The gameplay of Godfall is an action RPG. Personally I found the combat to honestly be really fun and very impactful now add the beautifully made animations to that and you have yourself a very good combat system. In Godfall there are 12 current classes referred to as Valorplates. They change your overall look, voice and your active ability called Archon Fury changes offering a different experience when you change. Each class only has one ability however and it relies on a charge up rather than a cool down. The looting is similar to what you would find in Destiny, Monster Hunter and Borderlands. Small items to pick up, only 1 item type per realm, Valorplate Cores which are used to unlock more Valorplates, and chests which can give you health, currency, items and archon fury charge. There are several different chests and how you open them are different which adds a nice little extra to the game if you ask me. Godfall is up to 3 player co-op but with no matchmaking. Currently there are 5 weapon types that you can change at any time all with perks, pros and cons, The Great Sword, The Long Sword, Twin Blades, Polearm, and Warhammer plus a shield which is equipped with all weapons types. Aside from your Archon Fury you can also unlock a few different abilities in the skill tree, each weapon have their own wonderfully made animation to compliment that.
If doing missions becomes bothersome you can test your might and skills in the Tower Of Trials and fight against 10 challenging levels to potentially gain top tier gear.
Thoughts Of Godfall
Let me start by saying Godfall is a gorgeous game, the particle effects, the animations, the design of the characters, enemies and environments is truly remarkable. Each realm looks totally different which always gives you such a massive sense of discovery and awe when looking around. The animations from walking to each weapon and weapon skills are some of the best I’ve seen in quite a while, I think it has set a good standard for action combat RPG’s.
The music and sound for the game is very fitting and is able to capture the essence of the moment you are in. For me Music and sound is so crucial in game development as quite frankly a bad soundtrack can turn a great game into something very average and not worth mentioning. Imagine a horror game with no sound, suddenly not so scary.
The story for me is pretty meh and nothing unique or interesting nor is it a fresh take on a well known trope. You get betrayed and now its time to get the guy back is honestly all there is to it. Now I’m not saying you need a massive story with interlinking things but the story telling in Godfall was a little bit of a let down for me as the launch trailer and combat is so well made.
The class System is a joke. The only thing each Valorplate (class) offers you is a different look, voice and one active ability and most of the abilities are extremely similar. One gives bleed damage, one gives poison etc. They are classes where you are swapping a skin and an ability.
Personally with weapons in games I am not all that picky but I do like a small selection, Godfall does have a small selection which doesn't bother me and they are all melee weapons, yes it does advertise itself to be a melee action RPG but I feel it is a disservice to not include one ranged weapon. I really think an energy bow would not only suit the games style but it would offer so much more versatility in its combat. But there is one thing that bothers me quite a bit with the current weapon choices. Firstly they are all fun and look great, but out of 5, 3 of them are swords. A great sword, long sword, dual sword, polearm and a warhammer. Why not an axe instead of a great sword, or a mace instead of dual blades, its very dull and a let down when 3 of 5 weapons are more or less the same weapon.
I love player hubs in games, Destiny 2 for example has a really great player hub where you can see other players and do a whole bunch of things and explore and have some pretty amazing views. Sadly Godfall was a massive letdown in that department. In the player hub you can select a mission, use the training room and upgrade gear. There really isn't a point to being there nor is there much of a point in upgrading gear as within an hour or two that upgraded gear is obsolete, and the training room is more or less pointless unless you wanna work on a specific combo. When you get a new weapon 9/10 times it is while in a level so you would just try it then rather then waiting to try it in the hub.
In the end I personally had fun with this game, but with all of the points I’ve mentioned to me this is just an average at best game that is extremely expensive to run at max on a PC and is very expensive to buy for PS5. It’s a fun game sure but the game constantly softlocks you to grind to progress which drags out the play time. If you need to rely on softlocks to expand gameplay and story then you aren’t doing it right. Sure Grinding can be fun but a lot of people don't like that. One mission I’m on, I am several levels above the recommended and the enemies are insanely overpowered compared to me even while being well above the minimum level and using several legendary items. Music is great, animations great, story average, class system terrible. Aside from the story mission there is hunt missions and the tower of trials but nothing else, no coop content no dungeons and they can get bland quickly, but not just that when you finished a mission it is so anticlimactic that you aren't sure you completed it. Hopefully more things will come to this game later on and the class system is reworked. I have high hopes this game will get better but for now its no more than an average game
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