Godfall makes a good first impression. Even if you're playing on a moderately powerful PC, as I did, it's clear from the opening moments that developer Counterplay Games has endeavored to show off advancements in visual fidelity, no doubt in light of new hardware such as the PlayStation 5. From the way sparks fly to the myriad particles that coat every inch of its action and the reflectiveness of its gaudy gold and marble halls, Godfall wants you to know that next gen is here. Beyond the visual spectacle, however, lies a game that's immediately familiar and over-reliant on an amalgamation of loot-driven games from the past eight years or so.

Godfall's mixture of loot progression and third-person melee combat has been described by Counterplay Games as a new type of genre: the looter-slasher. The name holds up insofar as you loot and slash things, but there's nothing about Godfall that feels intrinsically new. Diablo, Monster Hunter, and Warframe make up a portion of its overt inspirations, but it manages to avoid feeling completely derivative by pulling from so many different influences at once. There's nothing inherently wrong with this approach, especially since it mixes in a few of its own ideas as well. The issues Godfall faces occur outside of combat, where its structure and gameplay loop are decidedly uninspired.

The whole game takes place across three distinct realms: Earth, Water, and Air. Upon entering each biome, you're given a brief tour of the area before being tasked with finding some kind of door that's locked by a specific number of MacGuffins. From here, you have to return to previously visited locations and defeat a number of mid-bosses--some of which are unique, but most of which are repeats of fights you've already had. Once you've slain each of these enemies and acquired the requisite amount of MacGuffins, you can open the door and fight that realm's boss. Then you simply ascend an elevator and repeat the whole process again in the next realm.

Godfall makes a good first impression. Even if you're playing on a moderately powerful PC, as I did, it's clear from the opening moments that developer Counterplay Games has endeavored to show off advancements in visual fidelity, no doubt in light of new hardware such as the PlayStation 5. From the way sparks fly to the myriad particles that coat every inch of its action and the reflectiveness of its gaudy gold and marble halls, Godfall wants you to know that next gen is here. Beyond the visual spectacle, however, lies a game that's immediately familiar and over-reliant on an amalgamation of loot-driven games from the past eight years or so.

Godfall's mixture of loot progression and third-person melee combat has been described by Counterplay Games as a new type of genre: the looter-slasher. The name holds up insofar as you loot and slash things, but there's nothing about Godfall that feels intrinsically new. Diablo, Monster Hunter, and Warframe make up a portion of its overt inspirations, but it manages to avoid feeling completely derivative by pulling from so many different influences at once. There's nothing inherently wrong with this approach, especially since it mixes in a few of its own ideas as well. The issues Godfall faces occur outside of combat, where its structure and gameplay loop are decidedly uninspired.

The whole game takes place across three distinct realms: Earth, Water, and Air. Upon entering each biome, you're given a brief tour of the area before being tasked with finding some kind of door that's locked by a specific number of MacGuffins. From here, you have to return to previously visited locations and defeat a number of mid-bosses--some of which are unique, but most of which are repeats of fights you've already had. Once you've slain each of these enemies and acquired the requisite amount of MacGuffins, you can open the door and fight that realm's boss. Then you simply ascend an elevator and repeat the whole process again in the next realm.

F9/Crew-1: No additional word on the propellant line heater issue; meanwhile, live video from inside the Crew Dragon included a shot of the astronauts' zero-gravity indicator -- a Baby Yoda doll pic.twitter.com/sXEioy6H8v

— William Harwood (@cbs_spacenews) November 16, 2020

Views inside the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft reveal a “Baby Yoda” toy joined the astronauts on the launch as their zero G indicator.https://t.co/baLJVLCH0T pic.twitter.com/wNBNcOCo1m

— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) November 16, 2020