We Lithuanians adamantly refuse to capitalize on our history, culture or folk religion to make interesting video games. Developers from other countries are more enlightened than that. And that’s why the Godsworn demo invokes the pagan gods to lead the way in an RTS that fuses the coolest parts of Warcraft 3 and Age of Mythology.
The full Godsworn game will be an epic retelling of the Northern Crusades. Only this time, the crusaders won’t be a bunch of Germanic failsons out on a land-grab that got the locals to accept Christ in a bid to make them go away. No, archangel Michael will lead the way and actual angels will follow. The pagans, on the other hand, will see their gods walk among them. No matter the faction, the divinities will be the focus of the entire army. In the demo, the devs open access to both skirmish and challenges. Of the gods, Saule (literally “the Sun”) and Menesis (literally “month” – but can mean “the Moon” poetically or “the Moon god” pagan-ically) are available. The former is a beatstick while the latter is a glass cannon. Both of them have access to roughly the same units, thus serving as subfactions of sorts. The core of your base in Godsworn is the shrine. It attracts followers – for Saulė, one must assume they keep murmuring about big muscle mommy and willingness to experience thigh-related martyrdom. As you build the base, the followers get to working in various structures and collecting resources. To stave off early-game boredom, Saulė can go off to kill mobs that guard loot and resource nodes. If you have ever built a base in an Age of Empires, you’ll know how to build it here. Start with resource extraction, train units, reach new tech levels. But like in Age of Mythology, upgrading “age” also comes with new global powers than can be buffs, attack spells, turret spawns, and more. So that’s a bit more special than getting access to an upgraded spearman. You will be building upgraded spearmen, however. Just like in the RTS greats mentioned above, there is a linear upgrade path meant to make your troops better. And while I don’t remember if the troops gained passive abilities, I do know this: they got visual updates! That cavalryman in the screenshot? He didn’t start out with a shield on his back. He’s teched-up now!This attention to small details is both endearing and ever-present. One of the units in the Godsworn demo is Pukis, a local variation of dragon. They like hoarding gold: that is, they fill up with loot as they kill enemies. A Pukis thus gets puffier and more powerful. But if you’re short of cash, you can make him regurgitate the gold, returning him to his primary state. Lovely! All in all, I’m certain I will enjoy the single-player experience in fully-released Godsworn (early access is coming on March 28th). As for the PvP multiplayer aspect? Well, that’s for you to decide. But if you like Age of Empires or Warcraft, you’re bound to have a good time.
