Gods Will Be Watching Review

Introduction

Gods Will Be Watching is mostly a point and click game which I would say has adopted some strategic aspects. Gods Will Be Watching is focused at a mature audience which enjoys story-driven games or a good challenge. It’s a new game, released in late July and actually started as a Ludum Dare game.

Story/Creativity

Gods Will Be Watching follows the story of Sgt. Burden and his team through a myriad of predicaments and difficult choices throughout the story which deal with Everdusk and Xenolifer. The two main factions of the game which Burden has been involved with. The story on the whole is incredibly interesting as well as most of the characters, I was invested with the characters which Burden mostly communicated with. When characters died during certain situations I would usually start again because I actually liked them and the banter the team would have.

Gameplay

At it’s core Gods Will Be Watching is a resource management game, you may not see the resources to manage laid out in front of you but they’re all there, the time, rations and bullets.You need to be capable of managing several things at once and it can feel overwhelming. It can be frustrating at times but the feeling of satisfaction you receive once you work out the exploit of the chapter and you succeed. It provides the player with moments which are more intense than those of a modern shooter. The player will sometimes need to make difficult choices so the others can survive and the most stupid mistake can have one of the most dire consequences.

You’ll need to grow accustomed to failure, and you’ll die a lot and need to repeat the same tasks over and over again which will feel repetitive and you may take long breaks between deaths which obviously doesn’t work well for the game as it can take you out of the experience. But once you’ve completed a chapter, you’ll often be left with a bitter taste. You might of succeeded, but you sacrificed the dog you heartless monster.

At it’s core, The Gods Will Be Watching is a management sim, but is kept interesting until it’s all over.

I enjoy the fact that you’re not rushed, actions which highlight with a red colour will advance in-game time and will have consequences, however green highlighted options will help you out or explain certain actions you can do in a certain chapter. This allowed me to think about the potential outcomes of an action I might decide to pick. Additionally at the end of every chapter, you’ll see what others have chosen and the percentage, it’s interesting to see what some people have done.

Presentation

The game has a minimalist style and it works well with the theme of the game. The original Ludum Dare game had the same theme which was carried over and I applaud this decision as taking a more realistic approach to the presentation would lead to gore that would resemble a horror film and lose it’s charm.

Lifespan

Gods Will Be Watching is good for one playthrough, once you’ve played it there isn’t really much to go back to as it’s the same situations again. It’s for the people looking for a quick game to sink their teeth into or even enjoy a good story. Players might revisit the game if they’ve played it initially on easy because the original challenge was a bit too much for them which is understandable because the developers knew that you would probably hate them by the end of it.

Overall

The game is good all-round, if it weren’t for the difficulty it would be an extremely short game. It’s a good price for what you receive, I can imagine people being on the fence about this game and it’s worth buying if you feel this way. It’s certainly a solid concept with some rough edges, but it’s worth it. The game is extremely unforgiving and the gods will be watching, and judging you.