“Boss rush twin-stick shooter bullet hell” screams arcade game to me. I mean, no mobs, no dilly-dallying, just straight up in that boss fight, dodging and slinging bullets like no tomorrow. Then dying and showing off to your mate, who then has a go at trying to beat your score.
So, when a game in this kind of style lacks a bit of story, it shouldn’t really bother me, because I’m just playing it to smash in some boss-faces and have a good time doing it, but, for some reason, Godstrike feels a little lacking. I can’t quite figure out what it is, but something is not there. Kind of like I’ve been driving a perfectly alright car for the past hour, feeling a little uncomfortable, only to realise I hadn’t put my seatbelt on. And I’m not specifically blaming the lack of story or depth to the game, but maybe because I don’t feel attached to my character in any way, I don’t have that fully engrossed feeling.
If you can push through the small feeling of emptiness though, there’s some fun to be had here. Some difficult, sweaty, at times frustrating fun. If you hadn’t gathered yet, Godstrike is unforgiving and hard, you’ll be taking on each boss a good number of times, figuring out how to best dodge as many bullets as possible without dying. I distinctly remember laughing out loud (yes, a literal lol) when I got to the one boss and how crazy the bullet pattern was. The games are tough, but there’s a sense of success when you manage to beat something hard, and I like that.
The unique thing that Godstrike throws into the pot is that your health is time, and when it runs out, you hit sudden death mode where a single dodge in the wrong direction sends you right back to the start of the fight. It’s interesting because it groin-punches you with the added pressure of your health constantly ticking down. There’s nothing you can do about it, you can’t hide in a corner and try to figure out the telegraphing, you’ve got to be in it to win it, it’s high-octane twin-stick shooting and the Sandman is coming for you. So how do we beat him? Well, with some pretty opposable thumbs and a decent arsenal of abilities and perks. Some more useful than others, but each loadout provides you with a slightly different experience when facing the bosses, but all land up with death, at least once.
With sweaty thumbsticks in tow and several toe cramps flaring, Godstrike feels like it had the potential to be fun but didn’t quite get there. At times I catch myself thinking that it’s an early access game, but it isn’t. Was it fun to play? Yeah. Was it difficult? Definitely. Was it missing something? Sadly, yes to that too. If you’re looking for something small and challenging to pour a few hours into and have an arcade-like time doing so, then you could pick up Godstrike, but there isn’t anything in here that would be pulling me back to tackle it again, not even the “daily challenges”.