Just a few months away from launch, there are several highly anticipated games coming to the PS5. Players will get to step into first-party games like Demon’s Souls and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, alongside third-party franchises like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Plus, with September’s PS5 showcase, there’s plenty to look forward to in 2021 as well. However, there is one launch game that’s flown quite under the radar in recent months: Godfall.
Back during The Game Awards in 2019, Godfall became one of the first next-gen games to be officially confirmed for PS5. That first trailer set up a strange fantasy world all about shiny, Dragoon-like armor and Valorian Knights. Since then, there’s been a number of gameplay trailers and walkthroughs, but nothing on the same tier of marketing as that first debut trailer. While it’s good to see plenty of gameplay from a PS5 launch title, there’s very little publicly known about the story or loot-based progression in Godfall.
Godfall’s Indirect Silence
The issue with Godfall is that to many, there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding the game’s story or gameplay. While that’s not an entirely inaccurate take, the problem is Godfall’s marketing has been far less impactful compared to other games. Aspects like the game’s story and loot mechanics have actually been fleshed out a great deal, but a lot of that information was from interviews with media outlets and content creators. Valorplate upgrades function like constellations with each star functioning as an upgrade slot, and the story involves the 12 god-like Archons who create the world of Aperion. None of this information was from a PlayStation showcase or trailer.
All of the major news drops that have happened for Godfall have been relegated to interviews with media outlets and content creators. Some of the most important information about the game’s loot or the lore, big aspects compared to other loot-based games, haven’t been unveiled in a public marketing capacity. Any visual information or representation of the Constellation upgrade system hasn’t been shown period, nor has there been anything other than pure melee gameplay from Godfall shown. As a PS5 launch game, there’s been very little shown in a public capacity.
Godfall May Be A Victim of its Own Marketing
It’d be one thing if Godfall was being billed as a live-service game, but according to game director Keith Lee, Godfall is designed to have a definitive end to the adventure. However, for the game to only show pure gameplay and only reveal 2/3 of the Valorplates in the entire game, it’s not an encouraging sign. Obviously when previews go out and more players get their hands on the game, the opinions could shift as more give impressions on the gameplay. That being said, the game has not presented itself in a way that would be appealing to a larger audience.
Anyone who’s already sold on Godfall is going to play the game on day one, but for those who are just curious about the game, the marketing really hasn’t presented anything to entice them. Catering to hardcore fans is certainly a good strategy, but in the lead up to the game’s release, it’s just as important (if not better) to get as many new players as possible. Gaming fans typically want as much gameplay revealed as possible before they jump into buying a game, understandably so. On the flip side, gameplay only goes so far to get players interested in the game when they’re not playing it themselves. Pomp and circumstance still helps when marketing a game, something Godfall just lacks.
From a purely gameplay perspective, Godfall does look generally enticing. Having a truly co-op (and also fully single-player compatible) “looter slasher” could be a very fun twist on loot-based progression. Assuming the combat has as much depth as Counterplay Games is promising, it could certainly join the ranks of Destiny 2 and other big loot-based games. However, the serious lack of information from a front-facing perspective is really turning against Godfall. It’s hard to gauge whether or not this will affect Godfall deeply when the game releases, but for now it’s hard to tell if the game will have any legs to stand on when the PS5 launches this holiday.
Godfall releases on November 12, 2020, for PC and PS5.
