Element-bending RPG The God Slayer has decent fight scenes, but systemic smarts could elevate it

Throw water, termination deities, schmooze bouncers

I'll forgive you if you've not clocked The God Slayer. While it's ever been vaguely funny successful an Inside Baseball benignant of way, its action-RPGness being a stark departure for My Time astatine Sandrock/My Time astatine Portia lifesim devs Pathea Games, the project's been successful hiding since its 2023 uncover arsenic an evident PS5 exclusive. Yet it’s inactive successful the works, merchandise day TBD but with a PC mentation confirmed, and has successfully caught my oculus aft a hands-off preview league past week – adjacent with said preview being shy astir its astir intriguing, immsim-influenced openness.

Set successful a phantasy Chinese metropolis that melds Ming Dynasty aesthetics with steampunk tech, The God Dynasty could scarcely look further distant from the cutesy farming of Sandrock, including the portion wherever you get a gun. Here, arsenic its sanction suggests, the dangers are much divine successful nature. After humans gained the powerfulness to power the 5 Wuxing elements – fire, water, earth, metal, and wood – and formed the Elemancers, an bid of Avatar-style warriors, they were purged by the Celestials, overmuscled jerks who’ll happily enactment a heavenly footwear connected the Earth’s cervix if it means keeping that powerfulness to themselves. You play Cheng, a young surviving Elemancer, retired for revenge and a cheeky spot of authorities change. Gods, y’see, request slaying.

Image credit: Pathea Games

The in-game footage I saw showed that, successful fairness to the Celestials, astir Elemancing revolves astir beating radical up. The metropolis is open-world but traversal, unless you tin drawback a thrust connected apical of a steam-powered car, is connected foot, truthful there’s a batch of flame-powered treble jumping crossed rooftops and adjacent much magical street-fighting of lackeys arsenic you hoof it from A to B. The brawly portion is, successful turn, a smoothly flowing premix of element-infused martial arts and much elaborate 'mancery.

Quick and soiled applications see stone throws and flamethrower hands, portion contextual prompts let for weaponising the environment. Manipulating the metallic successful extortion tiles sent 1 mediocre grunt tumbling disconnected 2 storeys, and with a fewer waved hands, Cheng yanked implicit an full h2o operation similar spilling a drink, 1 that sloshed a pack of thugs down the street. As good arsenic fractional a thoroughfare market. And himself. There’s besides immoderate occasional rock, paper, scissors to play with force elementalists, similar throwing up stone shields to antagonistic flame-wreathed soldiers earlier extinguishing them with a h2o wave.

Image credit: Pathea Games

Comboing elements similar this is encouraged, arsenic 4 of the 5 – wood handles passive effects similar full wellness – are each assigned to a azygous cardinal oregon controller button, redeeming the request to power disciplines manually. Of what I saw, the astir effectual (read: funniest) illustration of this came upon trapping a squad of occurrence troops wrong a whirlpool, freezing them successful place, past summoning a immense sliding boulder to smash them into crystal cubes. While riding it, similar a skateboard. Or Spongebob. I’m told elements tin interact much directly, too, similar combining flames with h2o to make steam, an improvised smokescreen to screen escapes.

Between the flamboyant element-fu, the easiness with which azygous ample attacks (or adjacent conscionable a fewer fiery punches) tin hitch retired foes, and the information that the demo ends with an onslaught by a gigantic metallic fox, The God Slayer is evidently going for spectacle implicit challenge. It is not a Soulslike, thing Pathea pointedly noted earlier showing maine the footage, perchance to caput disconnected comparisons to chap Chinese export Black Myth: Wukong. Whoever was playing did, however, intelligibly person a well-thumbed grimoire of powers, which is thing players indispensable make themselves. You’ll commencement the crippled with entree to conscionable 2 elements, and tin take either to bid successful the others for a balanced arsenal oregon to specialise, investing XP upgrades successful your starting powers to unafraid much precocious skills aboriginal on.

Image credit: Pathea Games

Generally, that footage presented a competent, adjacent amusive effort astatine making Assassin’s Creed: The Last Airbender. But you’ll besides lone beryllium hurling masonry astir if you take to. Stealth and misdirection, Pathea say, volition beryllium accordant alternatives, with adjacent a spot of Dishonored-ish lateral problem-solving thrown in.

One described illustration was a Celestial brag fight: you could either earthpunch and waterkick your mode in, oregon you could use your firecasting talents to acceptable a adjacent gathering ablaze. This volition propulsion the authorities distant from sentry work arsenic they investigate, opening up the accidental for a sneaky ambush connected the unguarded Celestial. Or, you could find a definite NPC and wage them to poison the baddie beforehand, forcing him to conflict you with lone fractional a healthbar.

To stress, I didn’t witnesser immoderate of these play retired in-game, and I’m a spot skeptical astir however often The God Slayer volition genuinely unfastened up similar this extracurricular of the main questline. Pathea, however, bash look keen connected reactivity, and astatine the precise least, these 3rd options mightiness good request to beryllium earned. In different described mission, entering a stronghold could beryllium achieved by sneaking in, oregon by bribing the doorman – or, if you’ve antecedently befriended him by doing him sidequest favours, he'll reward your efforts by letting you waltz in.

Image credit: Pathea Games

This granularity of origin and effect is mighty appealing, and would enactment an enchanted fist done immoderate accusations that The God Slayer is conscionable different dumb, excessively cinematic enactment slog. I’m truthful near successful the antithetic presumption of being funny successful a game, but for reasons I haven’t verified with excavation ain eyes, fto unsocial played with these (comparatively) uncelestial hands. I am, successful different words, committing the cardinal hack misdeed of taking someone’s connection for it.

Still, what I have seen has potential, and it’s not similar big-braining your mode to little evident quest solutions is unheard of successful open-world games. Nor unfeasible for thing that’s intelligibly got fund to burn. With some cynicism and optimism, then: I would similar to spot much of The God Slayer.