God Mode is a game with simple tastes. It likes its meat rare, its coffee black, and its undead more dead. It’ll give you plenty of guns and even more reasons to use ‘em because, dammit, that’s the way it should be. Really it’s only fitting that this bloody, downloadable third-person shooter sprang from the minds of a studio called Old School Games since, indeed, the style is the very definition of arcadey: fast-paced action, crazy customization, and a totally ridiculous premise.
As the descendent of a banished Greek god, players must survive the Maze of Hades in order to avoid eternal damnation—so basically Running Man with togas and shotguns. Naturally the maze’s catacombs and dungeons host of a variety well-armed cadavers—including “a number of big ugly bosses,” according to producer Nick Madonna—as well as the booming narration of a particularly goofy spirit, apparently on loan from Disney’s Haunted Mansion.
As with any old school shooter, though, story really isn’t the focus here. “We wanted to create a lighthearted throwback experience, which focused on arcade style action over story,” explains Madonna. “Without being confined by story, we were free to go nuts and focus on things that are fun and core to our design. Once you tell a designer that he’s free to ‘go nuts and not worry about story,’ great ideas begin to flow, and ultimately something truly original comes to life.”
Among those great ideas: Gold Rush. God Mode’s campaign is built as a co-op experience for up to four players (online or off), but at the end of each level, friendly fire is suddenly switched on for a set period of time as the level floods with collectible currency, leaving players to decide exactly how much they want to piss off their friends. “Gold is collected and XP is gained, but how you go about it is purely up to you,” teases Madonna. “Will you shoot your friend in the back for a couple extra pieces for a gold or experience boost?” Apparently hell really is other people.
Fortunately, there are a couple less contentious ways to collect coins and XP. For one, players can swear “Oaths,” each of which offers rewards but also hinders players in a specific way like adding poison damage to enemy attacks or lowering the amount of available ammo. Then there are “Tests of Faith,” which are random modifiers that dynamically alter play conditions. Imagine beating back waves of the undead when suddenly a thick layer of fog shrouds the entire level—that’s a Test of Faith. Since they occur randomly, every play-through should evolve in a different way. “The game was designed with infinite replayability in mind, and I think we nailed it,” says Madonna.
Of course, all this begs the obvious question: what do you do with all this money and XP? The simple answer is customization: buy new skins and accessories, upgrade your weapons, or even acquire new special abilities (which are fueled by a meter that charges as you kill, duh). “The second you log in online and begin a match, you’ll be able to see the experience and customization progress of other players just by looking at their ridiculous appearance,” details Madonna. “We even have something special when your character reaches the highest level and obtains ‘God Mode.’”
Ridiculous as the outfits may be, the game itself actually packs some serious ambition—at least according to Madonna: “One of our goals with God Mode is to hopefully shift the perception of quality that is available on the platform. Inexpensive does not always mean cheap. I think you are going to see a major shift not only in the way people purchase games, but also in the way people view downloadable games over the coming months and years. I think that this is the future that downloadable platforms will provide: smaller, less expensive experiences that are tailored for specific types of gameplay.”
Regardless of whether or not it encourages other developers to follow suit, God Mode certainly seems like it might be a hell of a lot of fun.
