The Godbeast Reviews

It's a decent game, but lacks polish. It takes clear inspiration from Dark Souls and the combat is like a simpler, rougher version of Souls', though with its own tricks and flourishes such as some Shadow of Colossus style fights. The game's greatest strengths are definitely its intense, brooding atmosphere and its striking art style, so if those appeal to you I would recommend it. Despite its flaws (it did crash a few times, but the game saves often enough that it wasn't a huge issue) I enjoyed the game enough to play it to the end.

The Godbeast is a unique and rather ambitious action game drenched in atmosphere. You play as an outcast son of the ex-ruler of the city, come for vengeance to take their place as head of the city. It doesn't sound all that unique from that, but the modern gothic feel, with this idea of an old family of rulers in this setting struck a chord with me. The game play is half soulsborne (you can attack and dodge, you have a stamina bar etc...) and half shadow of the colossus (climbing the eponymous Godbeasts and taking them down) and both of these are executed well, though things like animations are a little stiff (which makes sense for a team of this size making a game this way). There are also mini-bosses to find (these and other points of interest are marked on the compass at the top of the screen) for upgrades which make you explore further if you want to take them down. What impressed me the most was the structure and flow of the game: You are given the run of most of a huge city, with only a few gated points with bosses. The flow is: you find where one of the bosses godbeasts reside (by killing regular monsters that tell you), find it and attack it. It'll escape and you hunt it down again. Once it's dead, you take on the boss that the godbeast protected. Making such an open game seems extremely ambitious and though it's not without it's issues, but you get the feeling you are hunting and the large area is a big part of this. It was a very satisfying loop and I'm glad the devs chose to go with this unique vision. The issue here (and it can be quite a big one if you don't have the info you need) is it's rather easy to get lost and a little frustrated. To explain: you move quite slowly (even with the vehicle you get) through a huge city hunting monsters. The landmarks are all quite similar and it does all mesh together in a way that just did not allow my brain to figure out the layout whatsoever (the art style, which looks great btw, doesn't help with this). You have a map but I found it far more stylish than useful. You can fast travel with bells, but as I didn't know how the areas fit even after travelling through them several times, I sometimes would not know if I was closer or not to my destination. To find Godbeasts you hold up your spear and allow the ribbon to show you the way. If you're not close enough it does nothing, which makes sense as it'd likely take you into a wall. My issue is I was missing a KEY piece of info: Godbeasts change district! I got the info a Godbeast was in a certain district and I assumed (wrongly) they travelled within this boundary. Thankfully I randomly sought the info again and noted it had moved but not without a long period of just travelling around the wrong place. (Mini complaint: if you've played Dark Souls, all the minibosses are named after NPCs/bosses from the game, except one because it's a direct reference in it's design... this really took me out of the atmosphere and I wish they'd just come up with their own names to make them feel integrated into this world, which otherwise was very cool!) With a bit of patience and the above info, I think fans of the genre can see what's so cool about this game. Once you're into the flow, you can really soak in the vibe of the atmospheric music, the cel shaded visuals and the cool modern-gothic lore while you hunt the bad guys down. I really commend the devs for committing to this vision and think they have made a great game!

Extremely clunky, feels very far from finished from the get-go. Nothing in this game works as one would expect.

I was a bit concerned at the start where I didn't really have a grasp of the map and how the main mechanics worked in practice, but once everything clicked and I understood the loop I had a great time biking around for a couple hours tracking the Godbeasts down. The game has a great atmosphere that more than makes up for the stiffer feeling combat.

A little jank, but fantastic visuals and with clear inspiration from some of the greatest games there are, If you like Suda51, From Software and Team Ico's work, and are open minded about less polished games, definitely check this one out.

This game took me by surprise, it's a solid souls-like with a unique visual style. It's not too long and offers a bite-sized experience with elements from Shadow of the Colussus and Dark Souls and an aesthetic that reminds me of Suda51 games. + you get to ride on a bike and harpoon giant creatures, what's not to like? Only negatives: the default button layouts are not the usual inputs you expect from an action game, so make sure to rebind those at startup. + the game did crash on me a few times, but there are enough savepoints to prevent this from being too frustrating.

This game is frustratingly close to "good". The atmosphere is great, but I so wish that traversal was a bit less obtuse, the combat a bit more methodical... I hope that the sequel addresses these issues, but I am not willing to cough up the money to check.

Godbeast is a short, stylish, janky game that's a mix of several ideas found in other classic games. It features one big city you explore on foot and bike, hunting the mentioned godbeasts and their masters. The combat is budget Dark Souls, very similar to the dev's previous game Malebolgia but somewhat faster and smoother. Godbeasts first need to be found with the help of your spear (halberd? harpoon?) and then harpooned so you can climb on them Shadow of the Colossus style. Killing the godbeast allows its master to be defeated in combat. Kill all the persons on the list and you're done. I feel like I have to compare it to Malebolgia; this game feels less polished, but more daring. The textureless style is really pleasing on the eyes, but it can be a nightmare to navigate through forests or featureless halls, frequently losing yourself in the same shades of blue and gray. The lock-on camera in combat with lesser mobs and human bosses is very wonky and can be annoying. It's never centred on the screen and you have to manually readjust the camera regardless of lock-on. There's also a distinct lack of sound effects during combat, you don't feel like you're hitting something. There is also texture and model flickering at times, and cutscenes are incredibly basic with no voice acting and static models. All that said, the actual design of the city and the enemies do have a sense of direction. The city is fairly large, but you get the bike quite soon and distance isn't really an issue. It has a logical looping highway and as soon as you memorise the layout you'll do fine. There's also a fast travel system that's somewhat annoying to use, but it's there. The map is not really useful, however. The bike is probably the coolest thing about the game; you can summon it at will and zip through the city, even attacking from it and jumping on mobs from it. The city is largely empty space, but you can find statues with hidden lore and bonus matches with beefed up normal enemies to upgrade your stats such as health and stamina. Each godbeast is modeled after a different animal and behaves slightly differently. One of them has a neat gimmick to lure it in before you can harpoon it. All of them need to be harpooned and then climbed upon to strike at their weak points, and it's the most exciting part of the game by far. The human bosses are more standard Souls fare, but still function well enough. There are several neat touches that I wouldn't want to spoil, so if any of this seems appealing to you, I'd say go for it. It's only 3 hours long, more or less, try it out.

It's the mystical cold atrocity of the dream and the hunt and the empty city. Long praises to small games create wanton extectations, so I'll say nothing more than it's a game you won't regret playing to completion.

The Godbeast is a fascinating game. It's like a Souls game except you're some badass vampire dude exploring this post apocalyptic city on your motorcycle hurling spears at the demonic beast creatures. The game is drenched in atmosphere and style: the strong visual appearance, the colours, the night, the eerie howl of the wind/rain and the ambient music. It's a joy to explore this strange abandoned city, and that's a good thing because you spend a lot of time just cruising around and getting lost. I was unsure of the game at first, but after a while it really started to grow on me. This is a game that doesn't hold your hand, and I don't think it's ashamed of that. It's a game you're supposed to spend a bit of time with and figure it out, it's not going to lead you down a linear path and present all the answers to you at once. The concept of the game is really unique and clever: uncovering this massive open-world city, battling demons and bosses, unlocking more areas and upgrading your character as the story unfolds. The combat includes both ranged spear-hurling attacks, various melee moves, climbing on enemies and also incorporating your motorcycle into combat in creative ways. Together it forms a very unique and original experience. I've only played a handful of hours, but at this point I'm having a lot of fun with it, and I will give it my recommendation. It's an acquired taste, but you can tell that the dev poured his heart into this thing for many years, and there's some brilliance here if you're willing to give it a chance. Note: I would also recommend reading the dev's FAQ (on the Steam Discussion board) if you're a bit lost; it's a guide of sorts, quite helpful.