The Godbeast

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.

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.

If Hamlet was about a goth dude who hates shirts, it would probably be this game. For all of the sharp edges that this game has, it's a good time. Especially for a one-man project, I remain consistently impressed by the sheer scale of things. If you aren't looking for something that's as polished as say, Bloodborne, I think this is a great way to spend a few hours.

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.

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

*Disclaimer: Wrote this on my own accord. It isn't a review in exchange for a code thing.* It can be hard to figure out what's a platform and what's not a platform. The sky and platforms are the exact same or a similar shade of colour. Currently early on in the game. Can't make it past the first climbing section. I somehow randomly pulled it off the first time. I ended up on the very top of a pillar and couldn't get off. I tried pressing a bunch of keys. I eventually gave up. I recently decided to try getting off the pillar again. I couldn't get the character to enter climbing mode. I don't know how I pulled it off the first time. Can anyone help me?

it's like dark souls and suda51 had a baby and i have no idea what's going on and i love it

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.