Godfall has Spectacular Combat! Not Much Else – Busy Gamer Review
Combat, combat, and more combat. This is Godfall.
A game that delivers third-person action in
droves, along with some eye-popping visuals, but
not much else. I can’t say this is necessarily
a problem as Godfall is an almost old-school
game in its storytelling and gameplay approach.
And the combat, which seems shallow at first,
grabs you and makes you want to play it more.
Let’s see why Godfall is a simplistic,
yet surprisingly engaging game in our
Busy Gamer Review of Godfall.
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Godfall is a game that will sadly be forgotten
after the release of future PS5 megahits like God
of War. And it’s a shame because Godfall
delivers the fantasy-action goodness.
In an era where we expect games to provide
deep stories with lasting emotional attachment,
Godfall says “screw that” and doubles down on
the action. Now, there is a story. One brother,
Macros, screws over another brother, Orin, and
tries to become a god. Orin, with the help of an
entity called, Sanctum, will fight to take out
his brother’s generals and stop Macros once and
for all. That’s about as deep as it gets. At
first, I was put off
the lack of explanation of the world and its
rules, or even why the main character would switch
between male and female. But as I played and got
deeper into the combat, I really didn’t care.
About 1/3 of the way into the game, it
dawned on me that Godfall was structured
like an old-school action game. There’s a quick
cutscene at the beginning to set up the plot,
some dialog and text along the way to explain
your actions, toss in some boss fight intros, and
an ending to wrap things up. Besides that, it lets
you get into the meat of the game: the fast-paced,
hard-hitting combat. And the combat really is a
blast. Light and heavy attacks mixed with shield
throws and dodging, along with some advanced
techniques to up your arsenal are all here,
but it’s the feel of the combat that makes it so
engrossing. Long swords and dual blades are fast
and deadly, while the hammers and great sword make
huge slams and take deep, chunky strikes. You can
equip any combination of two weapons you have in
your inventory to suite your playstyle, but you
aren’t restricted. Weapons, rings, augments, and
other enhancements can be swapped out anytime,
so you are free to experiment. Add that to a deep
skill tree that unlocks move sets and power boosts
and I felt like I was really kicking ass.
To keep you kicking ass, you’ll need to
continually upgrade Orin and his equipment. The
Valorplate armors are the big draw. Visually
they are glorious, and they add unique buffs,
both active and passive. They are also how Orin
changes from male to female, though, that’s never
explained. These are all located in Sanctum’s lair
which is also your hub to access missions and your
place to upgrade weapons and combat enhancers.
Weapons, enhancements, and resources
are dropped by enemies as you fight,
but they are also hidden in the game world
or found in chests. These are looter/shooter
elements and can lead to a grind for bigger
upgrades and better gear. Godfall is not an MMO,
and luckily, if you just want to enjoy the game
and its razor-thin story, you won’t need to grind
much at all. Not once during my playthrough did
I need to replay a level just to upgrade a weapon
or unlock armor to advance. I was always getting
new and more powerful weapons, enhancements, and
resources through natural gameplay and equipment
salvage. If you really want a certain Valorplate
with a certain combat build, you may need to
grind, but it’s not necessary for the campaign.
Having said that, there are two other design
choice that can be painful for busy gamers.
First, the game never level-locks a mission, but
to unlock the boss fights, you’ll have to replay
some previously completed missions. Each boss
fight requires a certain number of elemental
sigils to unlock them. Missions reward you with
those sigils including ones you’ve already beaten.
The good news is that the combat remains fun
regardless and dominating previous missions with
high-level builds really satisfies the power
fantasy. The second issue is the save system.
Godfall requires an online connection to save and
only saves when you return to Sactum’s Lair. This
means no mid-level saves. If you start the PS5
from rest and your game was the last thing open,
you can pick up where you left off, but if
you switch games or lose power or internet
connection during a mission, that mission is a
bust. Fortunately, missions are fairly short,
so replaying them won’t hurt too bad.
One final aspect I have to point out is the death
system. Basically, there isn’t one. If you die in
combat, you respawn at a very generous checkpoint
with the all enemies in the state you left them.
Bosses have health checkpoints that will reset to
a certain value if you die, so they are a little
more punishing. The hardest difficulty does
have 3 deaths for mission failure, but
otherwise death is extremely forgiving.
Godfall is the kind of game that easily gets
overlooked. It has pristine landscapes and
draw-dropping scenery, but the world of Godfall is
quite shallow. The story is absolutely forgettable
and I’m not much for stat chasing. But I really
enjoyed my time with Godfall. The grinding
elements never felt grueling and the combat is
so good that it made me want to keep playing
even when replaying a mission. If you
love action games and want something
to show off the visual prowess of the PS5,
Godfall is a solid choice. So, for Busy Gamers,
Godfall, is time, mostly, well spent.
Are you lucky enough to own a PS5? Let
us know what PS5 game you’re playing or plan
to play once you get one. While you’re here
check out our review of God of War for the
PS4 or this other video we recently made.
