Gods Will Be Watching is both dull and addictive. It’s a game about difficult decisions and circumstances that rarely end well. Although it efficiently builds tension and can be exciting, repeating each stage three or a dozen times gets boring and disrupts the appropriate reception of the tale over time. Gods Will Be Watching is not an adventure game, despite what the makers claim. It’s an interactive tale in which we control the activities of a small, shifting group of people. To reach the aim, we must not only fulfill the specified duties, but also take care of our clients’ well-being and health while working with limited resources.
The plot actually begins on the inside. The main character, Sergeant Burden, is holding hostages at gunpoint; in the next sequences, we learn why he is in this situation. After dealing with the first challenging circumstance, we go on to another, even more problematic one. Deconstructeam, an independent studio, tells a gloomy scenario in which we must become truly dirty and sometimes even sacrifice our partners in the sake of the so-called greater good. The writers don’t spend much time introducing Burden and the supporting cast. We can learn about their lives via their chats, but it’s not enough to make us care about anybody other than the main character, his dog, and Jacek, his closest buddy.
The plot is separated into chapters, which are sequences in which we execute certain duties while managing a group of subordinates. We must back the hacker who is hacking into the government system while also keeping the police forces who are attempting to neutralize us at bay by holding hostages at gunpoint. If we allow inmates to panic and try to escape, the police will neutralize us in an instant, and if we allow them to get too comfortable, they will try to fight for their own freedom. The controls are inspired by point-and-click adventure games; by clicking on individuals and items, we may access a list of potential activities and discussion topics. Some duties are open to all heroes, while others, more specialized orders, are only available to specific characters. The death of a partner may force us to abandon our trip. Each action in the game world causes a chain of responses and takes a given amount of time. We merely have to survive in certain chapters till aid arrives, therefore the more movements we make, the better. In others, we must carefully consider every decision we make since the clock is ticking. For example, if we don’t ensure that our players discover an antidote to the virus they caught, digging through all the wreckage leading to the exit will be pointless.
Even though the game takes turns and we may think about our next moves for as long as we wish, the game skillfully creates suspense. One wrong decision, or even a tiny error, might result in the death or escape of one of Burden’s allies. The developers lighten the weight of death by including the spirits of lost comrades in the game, although interactions with them fit into the story’s dismal tone. The menacing environment does not endure the entire game. In several chapters, we mechanically repeat the same actions until we obtain the desired impact, and as the pressure reduces, so does the urge to continue playing, especially because no scenario can be finished on the first try. Pleasure is also lost when we comprehend that the outcomes of certain acts are determined at random. We can die with the first pull of the trigger when playing Russian roulette with the goons tormenting us, and losing half an hour of progress when there was no way to prevent being shot feels harsh. Gods Will Be Watching assumes that we will lose. We return to each scenario multiple times until we ultimately achieve all of the objectives; the number of repeats grows if we strive to keep all of our buddies or proteges alive.
Despite this, the game looks fantastic. Each player’s activity generates visible changes in the environment, and the pixel graphics are rich in depth. We can immediately detect shifts in the characters’ mental states, and the images of violence – sometimes graphic – may send shivers up your spine. The dark mood is nicely accentuated by the soundtrack, which does not tire us even after we restart the chapter ten times. Gods Will Be Watching is a fantastic game at its finest, and just decent at its worst. However, if we can get over the more dull parts, we will have many hours of very great enjoyment.