Godfall is a game that brands itself as a looter slasher. First of it’s kind and incredibly beautiful. A game where loot and combat are the main draws and there’s no doubt they are well defined but the overall experience falls a bit short in some respects but hits highs in others.
Godfall starts off with an opening to a story that feels very generic and by the numbers. It doesn’t really build into anything interesting or unique throughout the duration of the game, but I do understand that the story isn’t the main draw here. It’s more about the combat, moment to moment gameplay, and of course the loot. Once the game opens up a bit the structure is built on a few open world areas where all the missions in the campaign take place. I like this structure and once everything gets rolling, it feels good at first but it can get repetitive after a while because you will keep coming back to these areas over and over to complete missions and gather loot, and even more so once you reach the end game.
The missions all feel very similar. It’s a lot of ‘follow this path to get to a boss and defeat it for new weapons and equipment’. A little more variation in how you tackle missions or just having each of the mission objectives structured differently would help make things a bit more varied and less repetitive. It’s a very rinse and repeat process that doesn’t feel that varied or fresh in any way. It’s quite fun at first but loses its shine over time.
The boss fights can occasionally be where this game stands out. There are some really fun boss fights that force you into some very strategic combat scenarios and throughout each mission getting to the boss fight was the motivation for me. I enjoyed them and found that each one felt different and fun. Some fights made for some very memorable experiences.
Godfall’s presentation and graphical fidelity are incredible. I will say I was blown away at how stunning this game looks on PS5. It’s a graphical showcase without a doubt and I loved the art style, environments, and character models. This may be the best looking game I’ve ever played. The colors pop in HDR, the equipment designs are stunning and stand out quite a bit from one another, and the performance mode runs at a smooth 60 FPS with no noticeable drops while still looking great. This definitely helps make the combat feel as good as possible. A lot of love was clearly put into the performance and just how good the game looks and it goes a long way into the sense of immersion in Godfall.
The game kicks off with loot being a draw from the jump. Opening chests and landing new weapons as early as the tutorial section had me interested in drops right away. Weapon drops don’t just look different though, they play drastically different and there’s definitely something for a variety of different play styles which is nice because in a game so focused on combat, experimentation is absolutely key in keeping the gameplay feeling fresh and new as I progressed through the story.
There is drop in/out co-op which is nice and playing with friends is fun. I do typically prefer a PVP option in looters. It just makes getting that loot much more satisfying when using it against real players in modes tailored to utilizing everything you’ve learned from playing the single player portion of the game. I can see Godfall being incredibly fun with some PVP, but that could just be a personal preference for me and may not be something everyone wants out of a game like this. After you finish the story there is a bit of an end game and the path to grab new and better loot is to go back through previous areas and beat harder enemies. This feels underwhelming and going through the same areas can feel repetitive and doesn’t create a draw or motivate me to keep going beyond the main story.
It should be mentioned that Godfall does feel quite different on the hardest difficulty. There are some complex combat mechanics here that when used together can create some great moments and satisfying victories, but the only difficulty that really forces you to use these mechanics is the hardest difficulty. The other difficulties can feel very much like a button mashing hack and slash experience, but the hardest difficulty can feel very strategic and challenging. If you want to get the most of what Godfall has to offer then Hard mode is the way to go for sure.
Overall Godfall seems to hit on a bunch of isolated things but misses the mark as an overall complete and cohesive experience. It fails to really bring everything together in a way that would motivate me to stick with it. The game is beautiful, and the combat can be fun especially with the bosses, but the mission structure, the story, and the end game missed the mark for me. I feel like there’s a really good foundation here though and a sequel could make for something really great. I look forward to seeing what’s next for the future of Godfall.
