Part of the hype behind Godfall came from how it was pushed as a pioneer on several fronts. Taking advantage of the PS5 controller’s haptic feedback, being a “looter-slasher,” not being a live service despite borrowing elements from live service games. Players were curious what exactly Godfall would turn out to be, and sites that have their hands on the game are starting to let loose reviews of the game.

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There are a few things players are interested in most of all when it comes to Godfall reviews. Obviously gameplay is the biggest: how fun the game is to play moment to moment. The loot is another, since a looter-shooter lives and dies by how fun its loot is to use and chase. The story is a big one for some people; while Godfall’s trailers are action-packed, little of its story was revealed in them. With that in mind, here are some of the reviews for Godfall out so far. Keep in mind a couple of these are reviews in progress.

TheGamer (Kirk McKeand)

“If you’re looking for another game like Anthem, this is that with swords. It might be wearing flashy armor, but its muscles are atrophied underneath.”

Score: 2.5/5

IGN (Early Review) (Tom Marks)

“New consoles have an illustrious history of launch-day games that are fairly entertaining and technically impressive, but in hindsight don’t make much of a lasting impact on the generation they help debut. Godfall feels like a game that will probably occupy that space for the PlayStation 5 (to which it is a timed console exclusive), putting it in the company of games like Ryse: Son of Rome on the Xbox One, Red Steel on the Wii, or even (dare I say) Knack on the PlayStation 4. So far it’s an amusing loot-based hack-and-slasher with a gorgeous look and loads of loadout choice, but a thin story and strategically similar missions have kept it from feeling like much more than skin-deep fun.”

Score: N/A

Shack News (Josh Hawkins)

“Set in a high fantasy world, Godfall brings a lot to the table. A beautiful world, unique enemy designs, and mechanics inspired by iconic series like Monster Hunter seems like the perfect mix for a great action RPG. Unfortunately, Counterplay Games never manages to grab the player, and what could have been a world teeming with beauty and potential becomes more of a rambling, shallow experience.”

Score: N/A

GamesRadar (Leon Hurley)

" Godfall is definitely a bit of an odd one. There’s great combat but its focus on rerunning encounters to grind for progress might not sit well with everyone - using repetition to extract as much value as it can from every square foot of its level. However, when taking down a group of enemies in a flurry of blows, or perfectly dismantling a giant boss’s attack pattern, it nails that unthinking reactive, totally in the zone moment and can feel amazing."

Score: 3.5/5

GameSpot (Early Review) (Richard Wakeling)

“The early signs are promising, then, particularly when it comes to combat. Mission design is uninspired thus far, with each one shuffling me from one fight to another with little else in between. Whether the combat has to carry the load throughout the entire game remains to be seen, but it just might be up to the task. I still need to dig into the Valorplates, which are sort of like skins for your character that come with different passive abilities and ultimate moves, and it seems to be a key piece of the game’s loot grind. You can expect my full Godfall review once I’ve finished the rest of the story and explored the endgame.”

Score: N/A

EGM Now (Josh Harmon)

“There’s the germ of an interesting game here, but for all the ambitions to start a new genre at the start of a new generation, Counterplay built something that plays more like a forgotten title from the PS2 era: overly complicated, cumbersome, and ignorant of so many of the design advancements of the past two generations.”

Score: 2/5

Obviously with the game being new and the early reviews, there are not a ton of numbers yet. But where there are numbers, they’re not good. While the game’s combat is often praised for feeling meaty and satisfying, helped no doubt by the haptic feedback integration, just about everything else comes under fire. The story is regarded as barebones and confusing from lack of details, and the maps apparently don’t live up to their potential thanks to corridor-centric design.

One universally praised point is the Soulshatter mechanic in combat, which lets players build up a percentage of enemy HP with light attacks to decimate with a heavy attack. Other combat mechanics have been alternately praised or derided as being interesting or unnecessary. There have been no reports of the always online necessity causing problems, but there have been other technical issues. One reviewer pointed out numerous glitches and bugs, and that was on the PS5, which the game was built for.

All of this only scratches the surface of the consistent complaints about story and environment, as well as superficial differences between the Valorpolates (the game’s armor). One review even mentions a high-rarity gear drop that provided a power increase of +0%. That’s the same kind of mistake found in Anthem, a game which no looter game wants to emulate. If players heed these reviews, or discover these problems themselves, Godfall may all too soon find itself facing the same low player count problem as Marvel’s Avengers.

Godfall releases November 12 for PS5 and PC.

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