is this game worth buying?

[Rex19671]

hey this is to the community of godhood, i'm asking if some of you would recommend this game in its current state? iv had my eye on this game for quite some time now and it just went on sale, now normally i would have found a review for it but i could only one and its mouths out of date. so i'm you lot if its worth getting now, does it live up to the promises the devs made ( i.e. being a god, making your own tribe/society and making your religion based on different morals and ways of life that sort of thing) theres is some good recent review for it but the score is still mixed. so would you guys who have bought and played it, recommend this game at the moment and if so why?

[x_equals_speed]

I've really enjoyed it and have been playing for most of the early access.

It wasn't what I was expecting from the store page, but has got closer to that in recent editions. The main thing to get your head around is that it's not a god game in the traditional sense, you can watch your village but you won't be able to reach down and smite a villager. I'm actually not 100% sure that the player definitely exists, I don't think you ever do anything that unambiguously proves that you do.

The main gameplay loop is in how you train your disciples. It runs like this

1) A new day starts

2) You might get an event. This will be based on a combination of your happiness and the religion you've built. So if you selected "Sun god" and your people are unhappy then there might be an eclipse and part of your village will black out and you'll suffer some penalty. If you selected "Party god" and your people are happy then one of your disciples might throw the best party and get some stat boosts.

3) You can build things, use powers and assign rituals.

To build a thing you spend some materials and get...something! There's a fair variety of stuff.

To use a power you spend some offerings and it has some effect. Initially you only get "make a disciples ritual go faster" but buildings will unlock more letting you do healing or grant new skills and so on. Rituals can also unlock more, this is how you tell someone to perform a human sacrifice to boost their stats. Some of these have a cooldown.

To assign a ritual you pick someone who's not currently doing a ritual and tell them what to do. Every disciple is doing a ritual all of the time (You can't end the day without doing it) and they all have basically the same effect: When they're finished (Which takes time) some of the disciples stats will increase depending on which ritual you picked.

4) Two of your disciples will feel inspiration. You pick one to inspire and they get a bonus. Initially this has to be more ritual progress but again those things you build with materials can expand your options, letting you heal faith or learn new skills or whatever.

5) Once that's done if this was the first day then a new day begins again (Go back to 1) otherwise it's time for the sacrament.

In the sacrament 3 disciples of your choice face off against 3 opposing disciples. You can see the opponents and their moves and stats and strengths and weaknesses, you choose which 3 disciples to use and where they're going to stand. If you're confident you can also demand matyrdom in which case your disciples will open the sacrament by beating themselves up but you'll get bigger rewards if you win.

You have no control during a sacarment. Your control is entirely in setup: Training disciples, unlocking classes, unlocking the right skills, choosing which sacrament to attempt, deciding who is facing who and so on. Once the fighting starts you just sit back and watch the show and see if your choices were any good.

When the sacraments done you'll get prizes:

Some materials and offerings (Depending on the sacrament, your matrydom, relevant rituals, material gathering buildings etc)

Some development points (Used to add new tenets to your religion - like sun god or mystery cult or baptisms or whatever. Also occasionally adding traditions that give very powerful long term changes - like human sacrifice letting you pick a master of sacrifice to get a unique move and a sacrifice power that boosts them for one sacrament)

Some experience (Used to level disciples. A disciples first level lets you pick a class for them radically changing their stats and moves. New classes can be bought as unlocks with materials. Subsequent levels give you a choice of passive abilities that affect they in the sacrament and often key off which other things are in the sacrament both on your side and their side. A disciple who levels can also perform a miracle for a big stat boost but it means they miss the next sacrament - different miracles are unlocked and upgraded using buildings)

Possibly some more special things like relics and an extra slot for more disciples.

And then a new day begins...

Phew. That got kinda wordy. What I'm trying to get at is this is not Black & White 4, you don't go around throwing lightning bolts and hurling villagers into the ocean. However you are building a religion, adding tenets and traditions as you go and having events occuring that relate to your choices. It is a strategy rather than tactics game, you don't get any say in what moves your disciples use in the sacraments (besides influencing what moves they have available) but whether you win or lose is very much in your control most of the time.

It might not be what you're expecting, but I have enjoyed trying a type of game that's new to me and have had a blast with it. It's not very expensive on sale so I'd say if you're at all curious it's worth a look :)

[Rex19671]

alright thanks for the info ill have a look, proved the sale isnt over..

[Crusader_bin]

I enjoyed it as well and that was way in the beginning, it's even more worth it as it reaches 1.0 now, with probably further improvements.
It'll give you enough hours for the buck I think, before it gets repetetive.