Godfall Ultimate Edition Review

Originally released on the PlayStation 5 as a timed exclusive, Godfall promised players a next-gen experience intended to showcase the power of Sony’s latest console. What they received was a typical launch title driven by an uninspired narrative, dull combat, and limited content.

Counterplay Games, Inc. hoped to rectify the lacklustre release with the game’s PC and Xbox launch, and while the Ultimate Edition does beef up the amount of content, there still lies a disconnect between what players were expecting with a next-gen experience and what the developers delivered.

When an apocalyptic event threatens Aperion’s realms of Earth, Air, and Water, the few remaining Valorian knights launch a counter-offensive. Equipped with legendary Valorplates that designate unique and evolving combat styles, the Valorian knights duke it out with the fiends of Macros, the mad god behind the impending destruction.

Ascending through the realms of Aperion requires skill and an evolving playstyle, and Godfall attempts to accomplish this progression through five weapon classes and a skill tree of powerful attacks and defensive stat boosts. Unfortunately, it all blends together rather haphazardly, feeling less like a AAA launch title and more like a forgotten indie release.

The Ultimate Edition doesn’t help much either, pushing cosmetics and PC-exclusive endgame content that doesn’t help to rectify many of the game’s wrongs.

That’s not to say Godfall is a complete misstep. It simply fell into the trap most next-gen launch titles do, hoping to define the very boundaries it set out to push. The result is a mixed bag of beautiful visuals and repetitive gameplay that could have benefited from a little more time on the development floor.

Next-Gen Visuals, Previous-Gen Innovation

It would be unfair to completely disregard Godfall as a title befitting the next (or technically current) generation of consoles. Visually, the game excels in many ways, immersing players into its fantastical world through vibrant lighting and vivid imagery, lively environments, and the retrofuturistic design of weapons and Valorplates. Godfall is nothing if not beautiful to look at, and the Ultimate Edition preserves this strength across all platforms, including the weaker PS4 and Xbox One consoles.

Particle effects help to enliven the game’s combat, which falls short of being anything more than mediocre. Players familiar with the action RPG genre will feel right at home initially, but the lack of innovation as the game progresses may leave some struggling to reach the end game. And for the Ultimate Edition, the Fire & Darkness expansion makes it all about the endgame.

Besting enemies is sure to come naturally, likely because the entire experience feels very, very familiar. In 2018, Santa Monica Studios resurfaced the God of War series in a more nuanced action adventure that took a step away from the original trilogy’s gratuitous violence and button mashing. It made waves across the PS4 community with its blend of meticulous combat and minimal looting.

To compare Godfall with Kratos’ most recent outing wouldn’t be completely off base, as everything from the combat to the general feel of Aperion seems to mimic what Santa Monica had accomplished. Godfall may go harder in the loot territory, giving players a ton to work with to customize their Valorian knight and playstyle, but it’s hard to overlook the glaring similarities in combat. Even many of the animations seem ripped right from God of War, siphoning some of the originality out of what Godfall could have been.

Upgrading the Valorian knights can be entertaining for a short spell, but it doesn’t take long for the skill tree to become too familiar. Some skills like Rampage, Weapon Timing, Finesse, Shield Throw, and Takedowns enhance the action on screen and vary up combat, but they’re far from new for players familiar with the genre.

Even passive stat boosts further solidify just how middle ground Godfall is as it fails to deliver a groundbreaking next-gen experience and instead mimics so many similar games of the same genre. There is a certain charm to the overall game, and it’s far from unplayable or bad, but Godfall would have benefited from being just a short tech demo demonstrating the visuals that the next generation of consoles can achieve.

The Ultimate Edition

Godfall: Ultimate Edition is the definitive release of Counterplay’s action RPG. What’s most shocking about the latest release is that it ultimately encourages players to bypass the story and enjoy the end game content.

Unfortunately, even that doesn’t entirely fix Godfall’s biggest issues. If anything, it highlights them more. Included in the Ultimate Edition is the Exalted Update, which adds new weapons, cutscenes, and the Spirt Realms game mode.

Along with the previously available Ascended Tower of Trials mode, Spirit Realms is where you’re sure to spend the bulk of your time, battling through waves of enemies in a six-player PvE arena. Since the story is mostly forgettable, Spirit Realms lets you bypass cutscenes and drab dialogue and skip right to the action.

If not for Fire & Darkness, which adds new locations and quests, The Ultimate Edition would largely be a cosmetic pack with skins for weapons, banners, shields, and Valorplates. It simply emphasizes the lack of interactive content that could have taken Godfall from a mediocre launch title to a genre-defining next-gen hit.

An Underwhelming Re-Release of a Cliched Launch Title

Games like Godfall remind me of other launch titles like Heavenly Sword (PS3) and Kameo: Elements of Power (Xbox 360). Both were poised to provide their respective consoles with a strong launch, but neither really hit the mark. They were playable and somewhat entertaining, but not something you return to.

If it hasn’t already, Godfall will fall into obscurity, known not for what it did for the PS5’s launch but for what it failed to deliver on. The Ultimate Edition is simply a minor upgrade repackaged and released on different mediums.

Don’t believe us? You can get Godfall: Ultimate Edition for yourself on the Xbox with the Xbox Live Gift Cards from OffGamers here and try it out yourself!