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Author Topic: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!  (Read 1340 times)

Cthulhu

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Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« on: July 27, 2014, 01:21:56 am »



Freedom fighters are battling to rescue countless aliens from slavery at the hands of a tyrannical empire.  They plan to do so by stealing a planet-killing bioweapon and holding entire worlds hostage.  Billions of lives are at stake.  There's a dog.  In this harrowing point-and-click adventure game, there's no good or evil, just decisions, with only you and the gods as a judge to your actions.  But if the dog dies fuck you.

No seriously.  This game's been on my radar for a while and I finally got it now that it's out.  Where it gets it right, it's amazing, where it misses it's still pretty good.  It's an episodic adventure game told in six standalone chapters (standalone meaning the details of your decisions in one chapter have limited bearing on later chapters) each one telling one segment of the story I mentioned above. 

Each chapter puts the main character, the, uh, heavy handedly named Sergeant Burden, in a tense situation of some sort.  Lives hang in the balance.  Gods will be watching.  I don't want to spoil much about them.  They range from extremely intense and harrowing to sort of gamey.  There are systems to manage and juggle, and in some cases the chore of dealing with everything can wear on your immersion.  I still like all of them though, even at its worst the game is great.


Who else has this awesome game?  What kinds of decisions did you make?  What was your favorite mission?

Also, this is personal speculation.  Burden has a sequence where he mentions that he feels like he's been fighting forever, not for a cause or for survival or even personal glory, but just because it's all he can do.

Like he's meant to fight.

And Burden seems to be aware on some level of the multithreadedness of the plot.  If you fail one mission and start over, he says "Let's get it right this time!" then realizes he has no idea what he means by "this time." 

Burden fights across space and time, in multiple parallel realities, for no other reason than he exists to fight. 

Burden is the Eternal Champion and Jack is his Companion.  Michael Moorcock you sneaky bastard.
« Last Edit: July 27, 2014, 01:23:50 am by Cthulhu »
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Yoink

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2014, 02:35:18 am »

o_o This looks insane.
And the graphics... oh man, the graphics. I might have to buy this, even if I haven't played a point-and-click in years.
(I do have a couple sitting in my Steam library, actually, just haven't played 'em.)
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lijacote

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2014, 02:43:30 am »

FINE! I'll buy the damned game! I was hoping to spare my Steam wallet, but damn you.

Damn you good.
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Ringmaster

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2014, 08:42:32 am »

Spoiler: Chapter 1 Spoilers (click to show/hide)
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Malus

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2014, 10:24:12 am »

Spoiler: Chapter 4 Spoilers (click to show/hide)
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Cthulhu

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2014, 12:44:55 pm »

That seems to be the easiest way to do it.

I think some of the decisions you make might have more emotional impact if it weren't for the disconnectedness of the storyline.  Characters die in one chapter and then they're just back in the next one.  There's hints that Burden semi-remembers the alternate timeline where they died because he's Erekose but they're still back. 

Like I said, it would've been a serious undertaking to make a game like this fully branched out with all consequences realized across the storyline, but it would've given it a lot more weight I think.
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Sonlirain

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2014, 02:57:18 pm »

It might be irrelevant but every time i read the title of this game i hear it in the voice ot that bald council guy from the new X-Com.
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lordcooper

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2014, 04:09:37 pm »

RPS absolutely slated this game.  Are they to be trusted?
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Cthulhu

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2014, 04:43:20 pm »

Uhhh, a lot of the stuff I can definitely see.  It really depends on how immersed you can get yourself in what's going on and suspend disbelief.  Like, even though chapter 2 was a little repetitive I really liked it because I got into it.

Chapter 3 the whole "resource-management sim" thing definitely shows through.  I dunno.
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Il Palazzo

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2014, 06:36:37 pm »

I can't play the full game since it crashes my computer for some reason. What I've found though, is that there is a free one-chapter browser-based thingy that the game sprang from:
http://www.deconstructeam.com/games/gods-will-be-watching/
Play it before you decide to buy the full thing.

The reviews on steam are hugely critical of the game. From what I understand, there was some faulty marketing involved, pitching it as an adventure game, and lots of people bought it expecting just that.
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UristMcDwarf

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2014, 07:16:47 pm »

What's up with dead team members doing a wibbly wobbly thingie in future cutscenes?

Even with the complaints I've read which seem mostly valid, I still think this game looks pretty good and I might pick it up some time.
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Cthulhu

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Re: Gods Will Be Watching - Out Now on Steam!
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2014, 08:09:24 pm »

I think it's just to kind of create some reference to their deaths so they're not just magically back to life.

The game would've been much much better with a more contiguous storyline and long-term consequences.  As it is, how you do one mission has literally zero bearing on the other missions.  Aside from a few great moments you never really care a whole lot about any of the characters.

But it wouldn't jive with their minimalist design philosophy.  I hate minimalism though.  This is what I think of when I think of minimalism

I do still like it though.  My favorite missions are 2 and 5.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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