2019 is moving faster than Sonic the Hedgehog trying to make it to the bathroom before the stomach cramps win. We’re already closer to March than January, and as such it’s probably time for a new blog post. This month I’d like to share with you a particularly interesting Kickstarter of note, and advise you to at least check out the page, it’s well worth it. It’s a god game – a genre that (in my opinion) is woefully under-represented and under-appreciated in today’s saturated gaming market. There have been a few decent hits that most people will have at least a passing familiarity with: Populous, Black and White, The Universim, Reus (which I’ll talk about in a sec), but there hasn’t yet been a game that truly puts you into the mindset of a God. An immaterial God that cannot exert direct control over their creation, but must inspire and influence the minds of their followers in order to sculpt civilisation to their whim. A civilisation that will then worship and revere you, and will endeavour to spread your Word throughout the land in your Name, converting neighbouring tribes in the manner you see fit; by reasoned argument or by smiting non-believers. This is not a game where you intricately build cities or merely manipulate the environment. This is a game where you will literally be able to design your own religion. Introducing….Godhood.

Godhood will be the third title released by the Netherlands-based developer Abbey Games, creators of Reus and Renowned Explorers: International Society, both achieving very favourable Steam ratings. Though RE:IS is a turn-based tactical adventure game, Reus is far and away my favourite god game to date. In it, you take control of four Giants; Swamp, Ocean, Forest and Mountain, with which you can endow your planet with different biomes, wildlife, flora and minerals. What drew me towards Reus was its originality; the feeling of “Ooh, this doesn’t look like its been done before”, as it seemed to place less emphasis on the city-building (which is something I feel God games do too much of) and more on nature. The result was a game I fell in love with; it had charm, charisma, and way more replayability than any £7 GBP game has a right to. So when I saw that the developers of Reus were going back to their roots to design a brand new god game….well, let’s just say I sat up and took notice. Super glad I did.

In Godhood, the focus is primarily on crafting and expanding your own religion. Like any God, you have no direct control over your creation. There’s no placing trees or choosing sites for your cities, you *are* immaterial after all. Instead you must influence the minds of your followers through signs and inspirations. What will you choose to spread in your Name? Love? Gluttony? Greed? War? Madness? It will be upto you to decide. You will choose which traits your followers will consider virtuous, and what will be sinful; in this fashion your dogma will will grow. You will design rituals specific to your religion; as a war-mongering God you might want human sacrifices in your Name, but a God of chastity may have strict policies of cleanliness. Over generations your temple site will grow and develop, and its appearance will reflect the ideals of your religion. Ultimately you will need to spread your religion to the four corners of the land and accrue more Godhood than any other God around in order to win. And that’s where the Sacrament comes in.

The Sacrament is a turn-based action sequence with some cool RPG elements. Your disciples, the strongest of your worshippers, will face off against the disciples of a rival religion. There are many disciple classes, each with special traits best suited to different religions. If your disciples win, your rivals will see the error of their ways and worship the one true God…you!

Everything about this game feels fresh and exciting, and the idea of hand-crafting your own religion has me circling the calendar in anticipation. It’s important to note that while Abbey Games already have the funding they need to complete the game (i.e. Godhood will see the light of day regardless of how the Kickstarter pans out), they have a huge vision for the game and want to implement as many of the plans they have in mind as they can; the potential scope is massive. Reaching the Kickstarter goal will allow the developer to give players all the tools they need to play the role of a certain green, tentacled, evil, eldritch Great Old One, with their own cultists spreading the Lovecraftian goodness!

At the time of writing, Godhood is nearly 80% funded but with only a week left in the campaign it needs a bit of a nudge across the finish line. Backing at the £22GBP/€25EUR level is enough to furnish you with a copy of the game, slated to release around May of this year. It’s well worth a look in my opinion. But just in case you’re looking for a bit more incentive; due to the campaign hitting its ‘Social Stretch Goals’ (Likes, Subs, RTs and so on), backing at the £22GBP level will also get you a free copy of both their previous games, Reus (normally £7) and Renowned Explorers (normally £15) shortly after the campaign wraps up! Three games for just over £20? Excuse me while I salivate like a xenomorph over an all-you-can-eat human buffet.

So yeah, just wanted to share that with everyone! The link to the Kickstarter is here, plus check out Abbey Games‘ twitter and reddit pages to stay upto date with the latest developments. The campaign finishes on March 1st, so don’t put it off if you’re thinking of backing! Go forth and spread the word, so that you may go forth and spread the Word!

Until next time,

Z

[In-game images shown are of early stage alpha builds, and are the property of Abbey Games]