The CodFather

The CodFather is one of those games that immediately made me laugh because the entire idea is so ridiculous. I am playing a 3D wave action game where the main weapon is a cod, which is not something I expected to take seriously at all. Underneath the silly concept though, there is a simple survival roguelite that actually gives me a decent reason to keep playing and trying different skill combinations. The main combat is straightforward but satisfying. Enemies keep coming at me in waves and I have to survive while building up my character. When I defeat enemies, they drop gems that I can collect to unlock card skills in Classic Mode. I liked this because the game does not just hand me a fixed set of abilities. I have to make choices during the run and work out which skills are going to make my current build stronger. The card system is probably the most interesting part for me. I can have a limited selection of skills at once, and the types of skills available change depending on where I am in the selection cycle. If I pick a skill I already have, it gets upgraded instead. This gives me a reason to think about whether I want to add something new or improve what is already working. Challenge Mode changes things by automatically giving me card skill choices as the fight continues, which gives the game a slightly different rhythm. I also enjoyed how much the game commits to the cod theme. The developers have taken different characteristics of cod and pollack and turned them into abilities, which is such a strange concept that it becomes part of the charm. The cartoon style works well with it too. Nothing feels overly serious, and I think that makes the constant waves of enemies easier to enjoy because the game knows exactly how silly its central idea is. The main weakness is that the gameplay loop can become repetitive fairly quickly. I am still fighting waves, collecting gems and improving skills, so once I have experimented with the card system for a while there is not a huge amount of variety outside of the different builds and modes. I also think the game could benefit from more enemy variety and more meaningful changes between runs. The foundation is good, but there is room for the concept to go much further. I did like having costumes to unlock as well, since it gives me something else to work towards beyond simply surviving longer. The fact that the game is free also makes its limited scope much easier for me to accept. I can jump in, play a few runs and mess around with different combinations without feeling like I need to commit to a huge game. Overall, The CodFather is a goofy little roguelite that ended up being more fun than I expected. The cod weapon is ridiculous, the card system gives the combat some strategy and the different modes give me a reason to come back for another run. It is not the deepest wave survival game I have played and I would definitely like more variety, but I think the unusual theme gives it enough personality to stand out. Rating: 6.8/10