In this review we will tell you about Godfall, the new fantasy slasher looter developed by Counterplay Games and published by Gearbox
The kind of looter shooter has gained a lot of popularity in recent years, with titles like Borderlands 3 and Destiny 2 taking over. Given the enormous success of this type of video game, Counterplay Games decided to create something different, combining the looting system with a gameplay focused exclusively on the close combat. From this union he was born Godfall, the first example of looter slasher, and in this review we will talk about his in detail PS5 version.
The fall of a god
The Godfall story begins with Orin, the protagonist and leader of an order of brave knights, who is betrayed and thrown off his tower by his brother Macros. Once his brother's throne is usurped, Macros begins to accumulate power with the aim of performing an ancient ritual capable of turn him into a god. Fortunately, however, Orin survived the fall and will now try to foil the traitor's plans with the help of the Sanctum, a kind of sentient magical construct.
From here on the title will continue with a fairly structure linear which will see the protagonist cross different realms with the aim of eliminating all of Macros' underlings before fighting him directly. In total in the game they are present three areas and in each one it will be necessary to collect gods elementary seals then unlocks the fight with a boss. These seals are obtained as a reward for the missions and consequently to accumulate them you will find yourself completing many of them in the same kingdom.
However, these missions will all be very similar to each other. Typically you'll always find yourself entering an area, activating some artifacts, defeating hordes of enemies, and finally fighting a mid-boss. If you want it is possible continue exploring the map even after you have finished your main mission, but unfortunately that too leaves something to be desired. The secondary objectives are more than forgettable and the environmental puzzles that hide extra treasures are really uninspired and repetitive.
Unity is Strength - Godfall Review
Godfall's combat system is like that of a very classic action RPG. Your PC is able to dodge, parry, deflect blows, use various unlockable skills by leveling up and of course perform both light and heavy attacks. Light attacks mainly deal damage to enemies' HP but also apply an effect called Soul crumbling, capable of accumulating damage that will be inflicted on the target only after it is hit by a heavy attack.
In addition, all types of attacks will help fill the gauge breccia of enemies, a bar that once full will briefly stun the target leaving them at the mercy of a powerful one execution. Furthermore, the type of attacks and some skills vary according to the type of weapon you are using and in total 5 are available in the game: short sword, broadsword, war hammer, spear and double blades.
Although on paper the combat system seems quite complex, in reality it turns out too shallow. Although they are performed with different animations and speeds, the combos of all weapons they will always have the same number and order of attacks. As a result, once you decide on your main gear, you will find yourself doing the same cycle of attacks over and over again. Plus a lot of active techniques and skills really are not very useful in combat, so you will end up using almost exclusively those related to weapons and shields.
Due to this lack of depth of all combat system the clashes are quite boring, including those with bosses. At least, being the title meant to be played mainly online, facing it with a friends' group you will not feel the weight of this extreme simplicity.
The Way of the Warrior - Godfall Review
Orin has 3 main attributes: strength, vitality and spirit. Strength affects weapon damage, vitality defines the number of life points while spirit increases healing power and skill damage.
In addition to getting points to spend to unlock skills, every time you level up by defeating enemies or completing missions your attributes will increase evenly. However, this is not the primary method of upgrading your character, as it is in battle the difference will be made by the equipment. In Godfall each amulet, ring or talisman will increase the value of one of your attributes, allowing you to point Orin in the direction you prefer.
Once you have decided how to enhance your character's attributes, you can make it even more efficient with Valorized plates. The Plates are 12 unique armor unlockable using materials belonging to specific kingdoms and that will allow you to to specialize Orin in the use of certain techniques.
For example, some may offer you a passive bonus to poison or bleed damage, while others may increase your stamina or critical strike rate. In addition, the Valorpiastre will also determine the effect of Fury of the Archon, a skill that will allow you to power up your character for a few seconds.
On top of that, the Valorates will influence your attributes in turn thanks to constellations, that is, of the particular slots in which to insert upgrades. This will generally improve all of your attributes, but some armor may incentivize you to focus on certain characteristics offering you greater bonuses.
Choosing the armor that best suits your play style will be key to getting the best out of Orin. In some cases, however, you may be forced to change your character's setup to complete some more advanced missions. In this situation the Valorpiastre will come to your aid as, as far as equipment is concerned, each of them will behave as if it were a character in its own right. Consequently you can have gods equipment presets already assigned to each armor and switch between them as needed.
The heart of looter games - Godfall Review
Let's now move on to one of the most important points of our Godfall review, namely the one dedicated to loot and end game content. As with many other looter games, Godfall's gear is divided into 5 rarities: common, uncommon, rare, epic and legendary. All game objects can be upgraded by a blacksmith up to five times to improve their effectiveness, but it's also possible if you want increase their rarity with enchantments. In this way it is possible to greatly increase the power of non-legendary equipment and obtain extra bonuses, such as greater resistance to some elements.
Unfortunately, Godfall's loot suffers from a major problem, namely the lack of variety. Since your character's appearance is primarily determined by Plate Values, the only equipment you can actually see is the weapons. The weapons featured in the game though they are not many, they are very similar and moreover they do not offer particular advantages in addition to the parametric bonuses. Consequently after a few hours of play the loot will already begin to seem very anonymous to you and over time you may even end up not paying attention to it anymore.
As for the end game content, after the defeat of the final boss you will unlock the dream realm. There will be gods in this realm upgraded versions of the bosses that you have already dealt with during the main campaign. These new opponents will not only be stronger, but they will also have a variety of modifiers able to really increase some elemental damage or specific resistances.
Before you can face one of these bosses, however, you must first overcome some randomly chosen missions from those you have already completed. Each time you complete one you will discover some boss modifiers and every now and then you may also receive a temporary enhancement.
Realm of dreams missions aren't bad, especially if you're playing with someone, but they rely on aspects of the game that don't work. Loot is truly anonymous and the combat isn't particularly fun, so it's hard to bother a group of players to tackle these challenges.
Good Performance - Godfall Review
As for the technical sector, Counterplay Games did a good job with the PS5 version of the game. Like many other next-gen titles, Godfall also offers one graphics mode, which allows you to play at 30 FPS in the highest possible quality, and a performance mode, which instead will allow you to play at a fixed 60 FPS with some small graphic compromise. With both settings the title is visually very beautiful, therefore we suggest you focus on performance to have the best experience.
The only issues that we would like to point out are related to audio and animation sector. The quality of the audio over the course of the gameplay sections is often very disappointing and over the course of the game 3D audio is not used at all. As regards the animations instead, there is often a lack of weight in the actions performed by Orin, especially when he performs killing.
Conclusions
The time has finally come for our review where we take stock of Godfall. The idea of combining the typical mechanics of looter games with a melee-only combat system could be successful, but Counterplay Games he didn't do it in the best way.
The combat system of the game is shallow and fights are very boring, both during normal missions and bossfights. Plus everything the loot is really very anonymous and as a result you may often not feel the satisfaction of getting it. Sure, playing in a cooperative with friends you will surely have fun, but if you are going to face it alone then Godfall will not leave you much.
Godfall is available now for PC and PS5. If you are interested in staying up to date with all the news on the world of video games and much more, then keep following us here on techigames.
Godfall - PlayStation 5 - Starter pack: start at an advantage with a selection of powerful items
Points in favor
- Nice management of the Valorpiastre
- Fun in the co-op
- Technically valid
Points against
- Forgettable missions
- Boring fights
- Very anonymous loot
