On August 17, former employees of CD Projekt Red will release a dark strategy in a Slavic setting called Gord. Some experts have already managed to test the novelty and give the first assessments. As it turned out, many specialists were not impressed with the game, although there were those who liked it even despite all the shortcomings. Here is what journalists write in their reviews.
In general, critics were not very pleased with Gord. She currently has an average OpenCritic score of 66 out of 100. In the game, users will lead the tribe of Dawn and develop the settlement, along the way facing difficulties in the face of enemy peoples and bloodthirsty monsters. Experts expected that the developers would withstand the declared concept with child sacrifices and immerse fans in serious experiences, confronting them with difficult moral choices. In reality, as experts note, such moments simply do not cause the expected response – it turns out to be quite simple to make a decision, because the players do not have any emotional attachment to the characters.
“In less than ten minutes from the start of the game, the user must sacrifice a child to some big evil ugly demon. Trying to get him to make a difficult decision right away is nullified by the fact that the child in question only joined the retinue a few minutes ago, which automatically robs the script of any emotional impact. Instead, players are simply left with an unpleasant aftertaste when said demon swallows a child. It is absolutely unnecessary. In fact, attempts to shock fans like this fail throughout the game.” Adrian Burroughs, TheSixthAxis.
In addition, many journalists criticized the gameplay. He seemed to them rather superficial and uninteresting. Over time, users who, according to the idea, need to turn the settlement into a real fortress, have no choice but to think over the location of the buildings.
“The gameplay of Gord also turned out to be boring and superficial. Your city of 6 to 18 inhabitants is bordered by a city, and every building in it must be built inside a palisade in order for it to be considered protected. Space is expensive, as are resources, so sometimes you have to make a choice and decide: “Do we want to get fishermen or hunters?” In reality, you will just play a kind of Tetris, placing buildings and, in the worst case, demolish what you no longer need to make room for more. John Balding, IGN.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
Some critics did not appreciate the user interface – they called it very inconvenient. Some experts considered that this indicates the true attitude of developers towards their game.
“Everything is spoiled by an awkward user interface that makes it difficult to find and select people. Character icons are located on the right side of the screen, but their names are most often unreadable due to their color, so you will have to go through all the heroes in turn, clicking on them with the mouse several times, just to see which of them extracts useful resources a little faster . Clicking on a building shows who works in it, but does not provide an option to select and reassign people to roles. The villagers dashboard is completely blocking notifications, which seems like an easy enough fix, but it’s indicative of how many times I think someone two or three paychecks higher has ignored the QA people.” Son, Rock Paper Shotgun.
And yet, a number of experts noted that the game has its advantages. They highly appreciated the oppressive atmosphere created by the authors.
“Gord does not disappoint when it comes to its atmosphere, created through a combination of visual, audio and written aspects that add to the constant feeling of oppression. Trees continually rustle in the endless wind, a gloomy soundtrack that matches the tone keeps you in suspense, and all this time the inhabitants of the settlement are engaged in short text dialogues, wearily reacting to the world around you and your actions. It’s all a bit ridiculous, but in this case it sounds like a compliment.” Adam Barnes, GamesRadar+.
Finally, journalists noted the replay value and the plot. In their opinion, these aspects make the passage enjoyable and interesting.
“Gord doesn’t look very good, but the atmosphere is rarely relaxing. As a story-driven settlement sim, it offers moderate replay value and a fairly compelling main story. <...> Either way, it’s a pretty enjoyable, albeit relentlessly dark, experience that will keep you constantly on your toes.” Mike Fraser, God is a Geek.
