I highly recommend: Godsworn (Early Access Review)

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Godsworn is the first game from studio Thunder Oak Interactive. It explores the history of the Northern Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, with a mythological spin in the same vein as Age of Mythology. It's launching into Steam early access, and perhaps unsurprisingly if you've played of any of the demos, it's very, very good.
store.steampowered.com/app/13...
Twitter ▶ / zade_95
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'Reviews + Previews' playlist - • Reviews + Previews
Gameplay recorded on PC | Audio recorded using a Rode NT-USB
#godsworn #rts #realtimestrategy

[@mr.n476]

Nah, skip this review. This video screams "i got paid by the dev to say nice things about the game". Wait for Grubby to talk about the game again since he will not be biased

[@Zade_95]

yep, you got me. you are very intelligent!

[@snocades]

say positive things = shill say negative things = hater

[@sodacan1415]

kek

[@lpcoolee]

I am 100% positive that @zade_95 is not paid for this. He is an excellent reviewer, and I trust him; I know he is not paid for this (and anyway, the team is way too small to be paying people). Make sure you know your fact before you throw accusations about people. This guys is awesome! Hey, maybe you can blame me for being paid by the reviewer to say this (lol)

[@ArthurDraco]

Yeah cuz Grubby isn't a Warcraft 3 fanboy and he will definitely be unbiased right?

[@mullerpotgieter]

Sound design is something people very much underestimate. You can recognise WC3 units by their attack sounds alone

[@HansAlRachid]

Not to mention the unit quips! That dopey "Work, work!" is forever seared into my mind, for example.

[@lpcoolee]

@@HansAlRachid "Off I go then"... "More wooork!"

[@diamondwave100]

Not in Reforged though. Sound design in Reforged is awful.

[@Akutabai5]

"We found a witch, may we burn her? "

[@TheSimmus]

@@HansAlRachid"Are you the King? I didn't vote for you!"

[@EugenijusKrenis]

Lol, pūkis thing, it's a name of a dragon-like mythological creature in Latvian, yes, but it's "fluffy" or "fluffball" in Lithuanian. For more funny bits like that, there's a word "kakis" in Latvian which means "kitty" or "pussycat" but it's also how a Lithuanian child would say "poopy".

[@kacperszafranski2983]

Poland wasn't really involved on either side of baltic crusades. We were christian by that time, but didn't like the mostly german crusaders, so we played both sides a bit, but mostly stayed neutral (we had huge few decades long succesion crisis going on at the time, so everyone had better things to do).

[@rokva5771]

I like that "God powers" have a cooldown, instead of being a one time use like in AoM, I always though that was lame.

[@Rws4Life]

Rejoice. AoM Retold is said to gave reworked god powers with cooldowns

[@diamondwave100]

Man I just love the hand-painted look of the art style. I really love when games do this, and it baffles me that more games with isometric camera angles don’t do this.

[@armelior4610]

Reminds me of playing the lithuanian side against the teutonic order in the medieval total war 2 expansion. Those pagan gods units were cool

[@theimperialowl1011]

Thank you so much for covering this game! I am actuality massively interested in Baltic mythology and the history of Lithuania, and I have been wanting an RTS that lets me kick some Crusader ass as the noble pagans! AoE2 gave me a little bit of that but it was only 5 missions. I appreciate your coverage and I am extremely to see this release, and see your review of it when it does.

[@emdeo]

this looks so good, and I love the choice of setting.

[@FreelancerCZ]

Finally a successor to W3? Looks cool. Cant wait for full release.

[@aleksapetrovic6519]

Isn't SpellForce already a successor to Warcraft 3?

[@HansAlRachid]

@@aleksapetrovic6519Is Spellforce worth a look still? I never played those back in the day and when I was considering checking them out I got confused by all the different versions of one of the later games, Spellforce 3 I think - is there one definitive release you'd recommend?

[@aleksapetrovic6519]

@@HansAlRachid SpellForce 1 is one of those games I highly respect, but don't recommand. Reason for that is simple. Developers tried to something new and bold and I didn't like the game, but I will always encourage and cheer for these people then to the likes of unimaninative faceless corporation like Ubisoft to who I will laugh when they fail as they deserve. I've never played SpellForce 2. SpellForce 3 I only played a little andI can immediately say it is far better. It is more RPG focused then RTS, it is also slow, but visuals are pure joy. It also follows old school style of serving you expansion packs. Also I don't know where you are from, but if you like Germany you will love this game because it is very German mafe by the Germans for the Germans. It even has its own Octobre fest. My best recommendation is to wait for sale and get for around 15 EUR SpellForce 3 with all exansions, watch a SpellForce retrospective here on youtube (someone made a good video on it, but I can't remember who exactly) or do what I usually do which is pirate the game and if you like it, buy it.

[@sagittariusa9012]

Warlords Battlecry (3) was in my opinion a much better game gameplay wise.

[@aleksapetrovic6519]

@@HansAlRachidSpellForce 1 is game I respect, but don't recommend. It set out to do something new and groundbreaking and it succeeded, but I simply don't like it. Still I am happy such game exists and I will always respect and cheer for developers who try something new and fail miserably then the likes of soulless, unimaginative greedy corporations like Activison or Ubisoft. I haven't played SpellForce 2, but I've heard it's good base game which leans more into RPG then RTS (judging how the first game was I think it is a good thing), but to stay away from expansions, because they are so bad they are not even considered canon. SpellForce 3 I played a little and it is so far good. It is more of RPG with RTS base building elements then a true hybrid. Most people who played say it accomplished what it set out to do which is be a sequal to SpellForce and attract old RTS fans, especially with hero units like Warcraft 3 or Dawn of War. I would also love to say if you love Germany, you will love this game. SpellForce is made by the Germans for the Germans and they are well proud of it. SpellForce 3 even has its own Octobre fest free DLC, because why not. When it comes to which versions you should choose, SpellForce 1 has platinum edition which has all the expansions, so this is no-brainer. For SpellForce 2, grab anniversary edition. I repeat again, I haven't played this one, but I've heard simply expansions are not good. As for SpellForce 3, wait for sales and grab them all for around 15 euro. SpellForce 3 also has "SpellForce versus" which is separate multiplayer, but no one is playing it. If you want to play SpellForce, you play it for single player campaign and maybe against AI (it's not bad in SP3). My recommendations are following: 1. Watch a retrospective here on youtube. JBJett did a good one. Torrent the games and if you like it buy them. It is unusual experience, bit slow and casual, but at least someone tried something new and the result is not that bad. PS. There is SpellForce: Conquest of Eo which is 4X game. It is similar to Age of Wonders, but not as good.

[@RocketCatRTS]

The game is a lot of fun! I've been involved in most of the playtests and have maybe 100 hours in the game so far. It's important that people go in tempering their expectations. This is likely not your forever game. For me, however, it will be a game I can confidently hang my hat on for casual team games and co-op in a cool setting, and I wish the devs success! The game already is a huge accomplishment.

[@HansAlRachid]

Honestly, I don't think I'm even in the market for forever games as such anymore these days, personally. I want games to nail the scope they set out to achieve and then I want them to end so that I can move on to something else - I have my nostalgic evergreen titles of course, but I'm full on those - and hell, even with those, it's more about the feeling and memories behind them than the games themselves. Oh and the long-term live service approach can fuck right off anyhow, I'll take an active, user-driven modding scene over that model any day.

[@njdarda]

i love the visuals and setting. i played the demo earlier this year and it was very promising.

[@JoeKule777]

Thanks for the video! Does this game have an active or strategic pause?

[@swatsaw6]

Being from Latvia this is a very interesting game :D

[@Talvekuningas]

why didn't you put estonian heroes in the game 😠

[@SupremeSoulD]

@@Talvekuningas Estonians are a Baltic Finnic , not Balts.

[@cpugwash7085]

Definitely enjoying it so far. Seems to have DNA from quite a few favorite games. Bit of Aom, bit of War3, bit of Spellforce...

[@GloriousGrunt]

Very interesting time period to use as a base, nice and cozy look, will definitely give this a go thanks! 😎🤙

[@acolyte1951]

Agree with the crunchiness. Also, I think it would be neat if the devs added a game-speed option. Like, players can choose in either singepalyer or multiplayer to have the game run slow (75%) normal (100%) or fast (125%) of the current speed. The quickness of the game adds to the smooth flow of it, but I think allowing slowness would help most players immerse themselves into the gameplayer better.

[@alimoorad5998]

Great review! Thank you! Regarding an RTS game that I would love to see transformed into a 3rd person perspective...man, so many options! Id definitely say Red Alert, Starcraft, Warcraft. Basically any RTS with good and interesting lore would fit that perfectly!

[@mahghuuuls7290]

I love Warcraft 3, however, the stench of Reforged is too much for me to download it again. I will be trying this game, hopefully it will fill the void of a hero based RTS :)

[@avocus]

There was a bbc show called Time Commanders back in the day that sounds similar (ish) to what you were describing in faq at the end. Basically Rome Total War with a command structure

[@kennethlsterner5515]

Great video Zade! The soundscape and floatiness are big areas of improvement to me as well. Seeing / hearing these cool units fight with ‘floppy noodle’ animations and sounds really hurts the overall presentation. Otherwise I have high hopes for this game over the early access period.

[@Zade_95]

Thanks! Haha, floopy noodle is a pretty great way to describe it. Nothing that can't me improved!

[@timwhitman3207]

I agree about the animations. It feels like a lot of hero units, especially, kind of...pull back right before their blows connect? Like the swing doesn't follow through. Almost like being booped by the sword instead of slashed by it. I also the think the price is a bit high. Idk where all these people are seeing 13 dollars. Its definitely 30 right now in the US. Other than that, love the game.

[@DarkPhoenix1515]

I'd be more than happy to pay the price if this is a good experience. But only if devs give access to a demo build first.

[@SamGarcia]

There was a demo build during Next Fest

[@DarkPhoenix1515]

@@SamGarcia is a demo available now?

[@thesteellegionnaire4570]

>Archangel Michael >Easy difficulty Yeah that checks out. He’s God’s angriest Angel after all.

[@vianenhive]

its kinda funny that the pagan godess looks more angelic that the actual angel in the game, Michael just kinda looks like a vampire

[@rokva5771]

Give us biblically accurate archangel Michael or we riot! XD

[@marley7868]

he says be not afraid for a reason

[@ethangraham6035]

I think this is on purpose; because the story takes place from the POV of the Baltic pantheon and their followers, they would see Michael as a demon or evil spirit sent to kill their gods and goddesses.

[@marley7868]

@@ethangraham6035 it's on purpose but I'd say for a different reason the sun goddess looks sunny and holy as you'd expect meanwhile michael is the right hand of god and he's not here to play nice he's here to punish and this is the guy who has to tell people to not be afraid on a good day

[@ethangraham6035]

@@marley7868 what do you think the other reason would be if it isn't the fact that the game takes place from the POV of the Balts and they see Michael as evil. Not trying to be demeaning or anything, I'm just pretty sure we're saying the same thing lol.

[@Clickomancer]

if you get haters you know you made it. keep up the good content bro. just subbed

[@Laneous14]

This looks SO much better than that SC2 spiritual successor game. This looks like the Warcraft 4 we never got and never will get. I don't need them to reinvent the wheel, I just need a really good RTS with appealing graphics.

[@HansAlRachid]

Stormgate, you mean? I missed out on their playtest and I generally make a conscious effort to stay out of the internet/social media loop - has public opinion on that game soured? If so, what happened?

[@saltifate]

@@HansAlRachidlooking at recent gameplay apart from unit responsiveness(staple of blizzard RTS games) and cool map editor the game is basically starcraft 2 on normal game speed (2 levels slower than official) with crappy art style and overall graphics and maps that look like a carbon copy of maps we have been seeing for the last 20 years. If they dont bring campaign equal to sc2 levels of quality then this game is dead on arrival as it has not introduced anything that sc2 or warcraft 3 has already and both those games are objectively better

[@HansAlRachid]

@@saltifateSo they're not creatively ambitious enough so far then? I see, I suppose that would definitely be a problem when you're in direct competition with your own inspiration. Hopefully they'll turn things around then!

[@lvfc_4786]

This is definitely on my to buy list, as soon as I get a free-floating 30 Euromonies. Gotta support your own, and I actually really like the visualizations. Hope for a crusader campaign too

[@SebastianSkadisson]

Settlers New Allies being "relaunched" on Steam with a complete overhaul, Godsworn coming out of nowhere and being super solid even in it's initial EA phase and to round it all up there's a chance we will see EA for Stormgate, this seems to become a great year for RTS.

[@demonhunter5520]

Sounds like I’m crusading in the Baltics next. Looks fantastic!

[@ninochaosdrache3189]

I'm no that keen on the artstyle, but maybe I will give it a look. It ewould be cool if they have a non-humanoid hero unit. And regarding your question, I don't know if it one of the usual suspects, but I would like to see a Remake or re-release of Universe at War

[@sirtrevis]

Universe at War. Yep.

[@rokva5771]

Ooooh Universe at War was a blast, RTS games where all factions are dramatically different one from another are my favorites, like Starcraft, Grey Goo and Dawn of War.

[@Zade_95]

I'm doing a video on UaW soon, hopefully that tides you over :P

[@sirtrevis]

@@Zade_95 Oh, outstanding. Looking forward to it. ... Thanks for the heads up on Godsworn. I'll be buying it, tomorrow/payday.

[@GFE.]

The price wont help with total sales only if they convinced wc3 to switch then maybe it will sell well but loved the game so far

[@willdunn8846]

H4mm3r: "Review Cameo Zade" *stun baton charge*

[@Luke-zj6ge]

*GodSworn* is also very slow paced. Anyone that wants to experience a very slow paced RTS is welcome to try it for sure. I just think it's not as great as most people are saying it is.

[@Unr3aler]

I loved the demo, but I wish the devs would ship it once there is worthwhile amount of content. Also the price tag is a bit too much to build an active MP community. I wish them GL and hope the game ends up being amazing, but I am also not too keen on rushing into the game at this state. Will keep an eye on it anyway.

[@jmanned]

Sound is important no doubt, but Warcraft 3 had a large team behind it while this game has like two developers and not sure about what they outsourced.. but safe to say funding and team size is not comparable. Maybe with the extra funding from the early access they’ll be able to add some additional polish, but otherwise pretty remarkable for a small team.

[@Latwis]

thank you!

[@ravenguard0098]

Is the campaign only on the POV of the Baltics? or will there be a Crusader POV? I generally like RTS campaigns that feature both sides of the conflict.

[@iosephus2588]

Seems nice, but I will wait for the full release before I try it out.

[@xKinjax]

I played the demo on one of the Steam fests a while back and the game was interesting but certainly not something i'd rush to buy this early on. The price coupled with the fact that it's early access certainly won't help it's case. Also while their long term plan sounds good, that could be very far off. They're a two man team and you never know how people cope with feature creep, unexpected issues arising or just tough to crack technical problems. The 1.0 release could be years away and people should be weary in general of taking the store page estimation as anything other than a best guess on the part of the developer.

[@danielghorayeb2263]

I’m surprised you didn’t make a Northgard comparison

[@Zade_95]

I was thinking about it a little, but I've never played it myself so didn't want to yarn about something I know nothing about :P

[@rajrouj]

Hope they make it Mac M native

[@tobelcane]

I agree about the sound design, it's okay, but could be a lot better. I haven't seen any comments so far, but just about the only thing I'm curious about is how many campaigns there are, is it just the one, or are there plans for more? I understand that there can be a bit of a pigeon hole with pagans versus crusaders, but maybe there's other possibilities? Maybe against other pagan gods/tribes, or allying with them to crush the crusaders?

[@Susemiehlian]

is there competitive multiplayer?

[@AvelierPlays]

Yes

[@kadirsar7637]

Controlling the units felt so wrong in the pvp demo hope they fix it

[@noddy1973]

the art gate tbh looks better than Stormgate, but damn the UI looks like its ripped from DoTA2

[@swatsaw6]

hell yes :D

[@sagittariusa9012]

Warcraft 3 had a nice campaign, but i never really fell in love with its gameplay. In my opinion, Warlords Battlecry had a much better gameplay but sadly no story.

[@Bambeakz]

I really loved the demo and played it for hours. But I am doing a Stardew Valley run with the new patch and that is eating all my game hours rn 😅 Just give me a new C&C thank you very much

[@haakonglindtvad5489]

Check Tempest Rising out for a new c&c

[@Marinealver]

5:00 Hey Devs, Zade says you all need to CRUNCH!

[@Zade_95]

:O

[@ancientgamer3645]

We seem to be seeing this more now a days: Small developer shops creating good games and AAA shops making cash cows of poor quality. Chuck Norris would approve of this game.

[@IronHeel]

They should scale the UI down, it takes up a lot of space.

[@Zade_95]

Can't remember 100% right now but I'm pretty sure there's ui scale slider in the options

[@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799]

pūķis, is pronounced as pookhis. the oo is fairly long it's like 1/3 - 1/2 of whole length.

[@bezceljudzelzceljsh5799]

ķ is probably hard to pronounce, but I bet google actually can speak correct pronunciation.

[@gregweston3770]

The only thing taught in NZ history is the treaty of waitingi. Doesn't seem to be a large number of units. RTS games should look epic like the graphics on COH3. Anything less now is making a mockery out of modern games.

[@sagwasocial]

Reminds me of northgard for some reason

[@R4ZORLIGHT]

Played the first demo 1-2 years ago (can't remember) didn't like it, just too bland. Gave it another go the last steam next fest and i have to say, i liked it alot more they really improved the game quite a bit, now i have the game wishlisted and see howthe game evolves.

[@Arkham_UK]

Well, this one blindsided me 😁

[@Zade_95]

in a good way, i hope!

[@Pino1536]

The ground textures looks a bit blurry in comparison to other textures.

[@Nightstriker995]

this game has got promise but I'm not gonna buy it just yet I need to see more.

[@twentyeightstabwounds7761]

I can't say i like the UI. I hope they will change it, because right now it looks more like a mobile game.

[@AvelierPlays]

The game is currently $13 on Steam until April 1st. Honestly not a bad price, but there is a vast array of problems and fixes that need to be worked on. One prime example is the sound, battles are completely underwhelming, units dont have battle cries or death sound effects, it makes them very dry and unimportant, making the whole experience very boring and tedious. While some of the units look nice and seem to have a bit of personality they really need to be improved upon, this is why units in WarCraft 3 were remembered so fondly not just because of their look but also their voices and personality, currently this is missing.

[@Hi11Zones]

its not 13$

[@l7L4I1l47L]

it's 30$ for Europe, North America and Australia. the price is lower for other regions respectively

[@adrgs12]

The price is actually 15 bucks and its on slight disccount!

[@MGoogle3146]

Really glad you can play as the good guys (the Christians), Jesus Christ is Lord! ;)

[@alexfeder9328]

The good guys so good that even other Christians hated them

[@morgan5974]

Its system requirements are hilarous xd

[@Zade_95]

Hahaha I just saw them - potato mode lets goooo

[@ricordandoilpassato1677]

29.99 for a two man indie game hmmm

[@Bennumark]

Game looks good, but the price is a red flag when it comes to Early Access games. There's too much risk in spending so much money for something that may wound up being a dud down the road like so many EA's. Worse, pull a bait and switch when it comes to content.

[@infinitespace8394]

the game is just great in many ways. sad to see it not beeing played by more than 400 players at peak. i dont understand the rts community. everybody wants a new wc3 or even sc3. but when a new game isnt bad comes out nobody seems to care. seems stubborn to me and the main problem of this genre.

[@bigtoast5481]

He hasn’t played against the exploiters in multiplayer 💀

[@swatsaw6]

this is what playing starcraft does to you :D

[@xrogaan]

Bloody hell man, just tell me why I should care about the *game*. The mythos flavor can come after, it's not that relevant. Tell me how the game is played.

[@badkarmalotion]

"Hey, let's do Warcraft but call it Nordic". "Sure dude yea ppl will buy it". A good review but the game is cheap. Not in terms of money tho. Sorry, I'll pass.

[@gregweston3770]

Let's face it. It's 2024. This RTS is a throwback to more than a decade ago. To build a game that looks as primitive as this now is embarrassing. Its a stock standard RTS that people would have played 15yrs ago.

[@JohnnyMacLeod01]

would love new rts games but not with these mobile art style... The only rts i cant wait to launch is DORF. Edit: and AoM Retold.

[@AvelierPlays]

Mobile art style? Wth

[@timwhitman3207]

New RTS: exists "IT lOoKs LiKe A MoBiLE gAmE" Every time.

[@hachijospaniard5643]

Boring looking nordic game, I pass.

[@Vrailly]

The animations look pretty lacklustre

[@Dragonborn1178]

no pass on this game for me looks clunky and like a ripoff of some indy game

[@Marinealver]

Shouldn't you be grateful in this dark age of RTS?

[@KuzmaDniprovskyj]

it's just wc3, not worth it.

[@wargames2195]

The art style just looks horrible, full on Dota/LoL style.

[@tomwithatophat6457]

It depends on the person for me it's pretty decent but to say it's horrible it's too much

[@solitudesf8111]

delusional

[@HansAlRachid]

hard disagree

[@Bambeakz]

It looks great to me

[@Hopesfallout]

For the sake of argument, let's assume it even does look close to those games. Dota 2 and LoL follow notoriously different art directions which continues to spark endless debates within the communities. So what is it? Does Godsworn look like the very crisp and detailed artstyle of Dota 2 or does it look closer to the very cartoon-like art of League?

[@truongdangmanh7471]

Basically a LoL clone. Got it.

[@HansAlRachid]

You're quite the little rascal, aren't you? Precious.