I’ve always been particularly fond of bullet hell games, something about dodging swathes of projectiles and nailing a boss kill is just so satisfying. I’ve played all levels of bullet hell games, ranging from entry level to stupidly hard. For me, I put Godstrike alongside stupidly hard. But that isn’t to say it’s a bad game, in fact, I really enjoyed it. After we ‘spent some time’ with this game, I think it’s time to let you into our experience!
Gameplay
We’ll start by addressing the gameplay, what is Godstrike exactly? Well, Godstrike is a twin-stick shooter, bullet hell. If you’re unsure what that is, don’t worry, I got you. A twin-stick shooter is as ‘simple’ as it sounds, you use 1 analogue stick to move and 1 to shoot. Giving you a 360-degree range in which you can spread destruction, bullet hell is exactly what you think it is, while you’re taking advantage of your ability to shoot in a full circle, you’ll be dodging countless projectiles, ranging from bullets, exploding balls, rocks and more.
Godstrike is essentially all of the above as well as being a boss rush. Your goal as Talaal is to kill a list of bosses, or Gods. Which increase in difficulty and complexity with each passing fight. So if that’s your thing then you’re in luck because we’re about to delve into it a little more.
So in a normal bullet hell you’d tend to have hit points, once you get hit too many times, your run is over and you go again. Not in Godstrike! In Godstrike TIME is everything, it’s your currency, your health, your fire, your one desire. Your goal is to work your way through a series of bosses with increasing difficulty, you’re given a set amount of time on each boss, before you begin the fight however you have to choose whether you want to go in stacked or maximise your time!
I mean that quite literally, like I said, in Godstrike TIME is your currency. You begin each boss fight in a setup phase, where you can add abilities and perks which will each subtract time, the amount being specific to the ability. The more abilities you take, the less time you’ll get. Sounds okay, right? That would be fine, but again like I said earlier, TIME is also your health. You sacrifice hits for hopefully killing the boss faster. What could possibly go wrong? Well, let me tell you!
As somebody who LOVES big flashy attacks and high damage numbers, I went for the big abilities every time, Godstrike offers PLENTY for varying playstyles in terms of perks and abilities and I wasn’t disappointed, with (eventually) 20 abilities and 20 perks to choose from, a maximum of 4 of each. You get plenty of combinations to keep things fresh, unless you’re me then you ALWAYS pick fast movement and Singularity Beam, literally a Kamehameha.
The actual gameplay doesn’t disappoint, at least, to me, your mileage may vary. Godstrike is extremely challenging, but it is intense, exciting and very addictive. I failed and failed… Then I failed some more, eventually, Godstrike decided to offer me an easy mode, but I ain’t about to take an easy way out! So I failed a hell of a lot more. I had countless runs where I dropped to 0s remaining, you go into a ‘final stand’ mode, where you get one last hit. I failed, so many times, but HOOOLYYYY, when we did it, I blew up, it was crazy!
I tried this game handheld and docked and if I’m being completely honest, I’m a little torn which I prefer, the analogue sticks of the joycons don’t quite cut it, so handheld sucked in that aspect, I had a much better experience using the pro controller while docked, however, while docked Godstrike didn’t LOOK as good as it did handheld. Which brings us to our next point.
Graphics & Design
Godstrike has quite an interesting and, to me at least, appealing design. It’s flashy, it’s colourful and it’s chaotic. All of which, in the wrong hands can lead to a messy experience. Not in the hands of OverPowered Team though, they did a pretty great job with this game. I feel like it’s kinda hard to get the right balance in a game like this, but they did it, those crazy guys actually did it. I’ll elaborate on that.
Think about it this way, you need a small arena that doesn’t look super bland, you need a boss that actually grabs your attention and in some cases maybe even makes you feel threatened. You need abilities that, while may look impossible to dodge are actually possible to navigate your way through and a character and ability set that looks cool and flashy, you know, for the press release stuff to grab the attention of wandering eyes. In my opinion, Godstrike does all of this, really well.
The only thing I didn’t like, which I touched on in the last section, was that the game doesn’t look as good docked as it does handheld. Of course, smaller screen etc. But, given the fact the game plays MUCH better with the Switch Pro Controller, I feel like that was a little rough. It isn’t the end of the world because it does still look pretty good when docked, it isn’t enough for me to tell you to never play it docked, that’s for sure!
So in Godstrike we have a game that looks good, is pretty damn challenging, plays well and is super satisfying when you managed to beat the bosses. Time to wrap it up, would I recommend this game?
Conclusion
Godstrike is a challenging game that, I personally feel will not have a lot of appeal to a more casual playerbase. If you’re into twin-stick shooters and bullet hells i’d absolutely recommend it, if the game catches your eye and piques your interest, give it a go for sure. If you’re the kind of person who is quick to rage quit, this may not be for you. For £10.99 on the Nintendo Switch you’ll get quite a lot of replayability though, so hey, it’s worth a punt guys!
All in all, I enjoyed my time playing Godstrike and I’ll likely go back to it, just not handheld as I don’t fancy throwing my switch across the room after my 111th death in a row. I’d quite easily recommend this game, IF you’re the intended audience. It’s super fun and extremely satisfying. I hate this game. But at the same time I adore it. 9/10, would play again. Great work by OverPowered Team. Keep it up!
Godstrike is a twin-stick shooter where time is your health and currency. It’s developed by OverPowered Team and published by Freedom Games. Its initial release was 3rd February 2021, with the game officially launching on April 15th, 2021, and will be available to review on PC and Nintendo Switch. Catch more of our game reviews HERE.