The future is now, or rather, it will be by Christmas 2020 for that is when we will finally have the drop of Xbox Series X (Or whatever the final title ends up being) and the PlayStation 5, ushering in a brand new age of consoles. (An age where early predictions estimate the Series X as being a significant environmental risk due to energy drain. Sure hope your working on that one, Microsoft!) Recently the next gen has been on everybody's lips after the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in which Sony officially revealed the logo of their next console. (Spoiler: It's exactly what you think it is.) What folk didn't realize was that this logo did not actually debut with CES (Despite what was said at the expo) but was sneakily shown off a month early during the VGAs in order to tease a brand new title; Godfall.
Now, personally I'm not much of a fan of those first few games of a console generation. I remember 'Killzone' from back in the day and 'RYSE: Son of Rome'. Both beautiful games for the time, no doubt, (Heck, RYSE still looks good) but wafer thin on actual content and value for your buck. Such is the trend with 'launch titles' which is why I sighed when I saw this trailer when so many other people gasped in excitement. I see past the glossy visuals and overdesigned armour pieces and see the product for what it seems to be, a glorified tech-demo that wants to retail itself at full price. But perhaps I'm just being a Debbie downer and there's potential here that I'm not seeing; lets take a look.
Godfall hit hard with a teaser trailer that actually shows off some rendering potential, although after Xbox Series X's first game showing (which we'll talk about in due time) this one did feel a little weak. Rather than get a good look at all the complexities that go into rendering human skin, what we see is a fellow clad in shiny, overcomplicated armour that is dripping in gaudy overlays, a monster-hunter style mane on the helmet and a flaming Pauldron; (Possibly the most eye-rolling character design I've seen all year) as he races down a pristine lavish hallway in the midst of what seems to be an earthquake. Eventually our man bumps into a couple more walking tin-cans, bringing that character count up to golden three that's favoured by games like Destiny and Division. (Guess this is a looter shooter then.) The group exchange some off-kilter banter that veers dangerously close to 'Faux-live player speak' and the camera pulls back on a gigantic hydra beast atop a gleaming golden tower and wreathed in dark storms. (How cataclysmic.)
Does any of this ring a bell for you? Because for me when I see this title all that comes to mind is Anthem which, in-case you've forgotten, is the title that was lambasted for being all style and no substance. We see it all here, (although thankfully without the 'faux player speak'. I don't think I'd have been able to keep my lunch in for that.) from the full-body suits of messy-looking armour to the three characters (likely representing the inevitable three character classes) and that final money-shot with a scary looking badguy that will probably be a disappointment in person. (At least this time we got see the monster inside the storm. They can't bait-and-switch us quite so badly this time around.) This game elicits pure skepticism from me and I would caution all those getting their hopes us to adopt a similar view of things.
To play devils advocate for moment, however, if we take all we saw at face value then this would end up being a perfectly balanced teaser. Let people see the world, smatter some establishing lore so everyone knows we're in some sort of apocalypse and give folks something to be excited for. All of my negativity for this title stems from crappy launch titles in the past, which is due to the short turnaround that those projects are often subjected to, however there is evidence to support that Godfall may not suffer from this issue. We started hearing about developers getting their hands on next-gen dev kits as far back as early 2019, and Godfall's Devs, Counterplay Games, haven't put out a game since the well-received CCG-Turn based hybrid 'Duelyst'. (Looks like it should be the name of a Silicon Valley start-up...) It is reasonable to assume that the team could have been working on this project for several years in order to get a quality product out for Christmas 2020, and I'm just being s superstitious jerk.
However there is another dimension of this title that should be considered, and that is the fact that this title has been described as being a "Looter-slasher". (Yeah, I knew this was the case when I wrote that earlier joke. I just wanted to look smart...) Any rational person should be seeing alarm bells ringing from that statement alone, because if there's one game type that no one can get right it's 'Looter Shooters/Slashers'. As we have discussed in other blogs, Looter Shooters need a lot going for them in order to be successful, not least of all interesting and varied loot. Destiny has had trouble pulling this off and that's run by the storied vets over at Bungie. Counterplay is made up of former Destiny Devs (and others, I'm sure) but that just makes me feel worse about this project's chances instead of better. Who's to say that they don't repeat their past mistakes? Will anyone remember to tell a good story and provide a decent amount of content to keep things feeling fresh? What the heck is The Darkness? All these are questions that I would levy at Counterplay if I had the chance.
The launch period of consoles are always a rough time as it is the point where everyone is doing their best to find their feet. The players are starting to get used to this new system, developers are adjusting to the new ecosystem and the big gaming companies are wondering how to quickly migrate their community. With all that shifted attention it can mean that too little diligence is paid to the games which launch in this time frame allowing for mistakes to be made. History proves that if a AAA reputation-carrying product is going to slip through Sony's QA, this is the period in which it will do so, and that has me worried. Justifiably so, I would say.
Ultimately, there won't be much more to say on this title until E3. Well actually, there might not be a truth to this title until the game launches, as Anthem taught us how studios are prepared and ready to lie their way through E3 when they need to. Punditry generally tends to be positive towards this title, however, and I wonder how much of it is genuine considered feedback and how much rides on the back of the hype train for the next generation. Maybe my pessimism is showing, but I'd just like to impart a pertinent Shakespearean adage to those that seem impressed by Godfall's visual fidelity and flairs; "All that glisters is not gold."
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