Game review 29 January 2021, 13:08

author: Matt Buckley

Gods Will Fall Review - A Gripping, Unique Dungeon Crawler!

This debut original project from British team Clever Beams brings fresh solutions to a tried formula, and definitely comes out on top. Gods Will Fall is a pretty, engrossing, and truly challenging dungeon crawler.

The review is based on the Switch version. It's also relevant to PC, PS4 version(s).

For millennia, a malevolent pantheon of gods demanded blind fealty from its subjects, and in return they dispense nothing but pain and cruelty. Now these subjects have risen up in revolution, to cast these evil gods out once and for all.

Gods Will Fall, the debut title of developer Clever Beans, pits your team of eight warriors against a pantheon of ten cruel gods. Hack and slash your way through each god’s unique dungeon full of minions, until ultimately duking it out with the god in a boss fight. You have free choice of which dungeons to attempt first, but some are more difficult than others. In fact, the difficulty of the dungeons is one of the randomized factors in each new game, making it a risk every time.

Don’t Get Attached

The goal of this game is simple: slay all them gods. And though it may sound straightforward enough, this game is anything but. You start with a team of eight warriors, all eager to defeat the gods, but the game emphasizes managing this small army wisely by using a quasi-permadeath system.

Only one warrior can enter a dungeon at a time, and since each dungeon’s difficulty is randomized, there’s no way to know what kind of challenges you’ll be up against before embarking. If you choose poorly, and your warrior falls, they will be trapped. The only way to set them free again is to use another warrior and successfully topple the god holding them hostage. Each defeat leaves you with the troubling decision of either trying to rescue your teammate, or coming back for them later. Winning them back would be great, but how many warriors are you willing to risk in the process? Lose all eight and it’s game over.

By making the stakes high, Gods Will Fall provides ambrosia-like satisfaction when you eventually claim victory, but the learning curve is quite steep. The best beginner advice is this: don’t get attached. Unless you take to the game’s combat quickly, chances are you might lose your first or second group without beating all the gods. This game requires practice and patience.

Practice Makes Perfect

Combat in Gods Will Fall is all about sinking into the dodge-parry-attack routine. Even the weakest enemies can knock down a warrior with just a few hits, so caution is advised.

Your warrior’s vigour, i.e. health points, can conveniently be replenished through successful combat, thus encouraging you to keep fighting. It’s an interesting dichotomy when almost getting killed is the only thing that can make you stronger, and an interesting solution that greatly benefits the difficulty balance.

It’s a strange and unique combat system to become accustomed to, but it is also challenging and demanding, with real consequences to sloppiness. It set’s this game apart from many action games with near-invincible protagonists, and even rogue-likes, where the protagonists’ death is the end of fun – not part of it.

Headphones recommended

There is no way to overstate how excellent Gods Will Fall sounds with headphones on. The music escalates with your progression. Entering a dungeon is usually accompanied by tame music that’s hardly noticeable over the sounds of the environment. Chirping birds and steady rainfall might take the forefront. But as you get closer and closer to reaching the culmination of the dungeon, the music creeps into a long crescendo, eventually filling your ears with an inspiring chorus of chants.

The unique ambiance present in each dungeon is also praiseworthy. A constant thunderstorm, a jungle full of animals, or a windswept mountain are just a few of the memorable soundscapes in this game. When I first heard a thunderclap in a new dungeon, I instinctively glanced out the window only to realize it was from the game.

Style & aesthetics

The graphics, expectedly, don’t strive towards realism, but it doesn’t harm the visual aspect of this game in any way. A pastel art style stretches across each corner of the world, but at the same time, each dungeon feels unique, always bringing a different environment, design, and color scheme.

While some dungeons are somewhat linear, leading you up or down a path towards the god, this does not define all of them. Some dungeons give you branching paths that lead you in various directions, and others give you immediate access to a full dungeon, letting you decide whether to fight the god immediately or explore first.

Each individual warrior also has a unique look to them. Of course, they share similarities, and sometimes names, but they quickly become easy to distinguish among the group. But what’s really impressive about these characters is how they interact with their fellow warriors and the gods.

Building relationships

On the surface, this is an exciting dungeon crawling, rogue-like, hack and slash. But there is actually a lot more to it. Each warrior has their own unique relationship with the gods and the other warriors around them.

Occasionally you will walk up to the entrance of a dungeon to find that one of your warriors came here with a specific vendetta against this god, giving them a strength, or health boost should you choose to send them in. Alternatively, there are also those gods that frighten your warriors, effectively nerfing them.

Some warriors will also have visceral reactions when a friend of theirs fails to return from a dungeon. They might feel indebted to help rescue their friend, again boosting their strength during the potential rescue mission.

These mechanics not only further expand the game’s gripping team management, but also make the characters more real and unique. When a warrior falls in battle, and you might feel discouraged from trying again, one of your own warriors might actually convince you to reconsider.

When those warriors have more personality and character than simple numbers on a screen, it makes anyone think twice about sending them to their doom. This is a clever way to add story and lore to the game, while incentivizing the player to participate.

In conclusion

Gods Will Fall is a fun and challenging take on the rouge-like genre. Defeat hits a lot harder when each one has a different personality and motivation. But this adversity only serves to make each success that much more satisfying. It might take a few attempts to finally beat your first god, but it feels incredible to see all the warriors that fell along the way return to the overworld.

With an excellent combination of action, story, music, and genuine challenge, Gods Will Fall is a great experience all around. The game is full of risk and reward, victory and defeat, and the promise that eventually, gods will fall.

Gods Will Fall is out now for the Nintendo Switch as well as PC, Stadia, PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X.