The very publication of this game is an affront to the gaming industry. To see something like The God’s Chain waltz onto Steam without issue is not merely a failing upon Valve’s part; it is a giant middle finger, glowing neon and rising a hundred foot up burning into the night sky, mocking any indie developer struggling to get onto their platform.
If you can get past the self-contradictory story told in broken English of a deity and some intergalactic war, you are immediately confronted with some astoundingly ugly graphics. These are the sort of things which would have been deemed ugly over a decade ago, and pale even in comparison to those of the Gamecube era. With texturing which seems to float atop of the models, near constant clipping, animations so stiff the characters are practically levitating off of the ground, trying to take any firefight seriously is a chore. A problem only made worse by truly atrocious pop-ins which leaves holes in the ground mere meters ahead of you.
Even the core gameplay itself is not only poorly conceived but downright broken. Once you spawn into a level, you’re likely to be almost instantly killed by enemy troops before you get your bearings; after which you will be rewarded with the game inexplicably crashing, or leaving you trapped on the death screen as it fails to register that it’s bested you. Should you manage to persevere past this, your only reward will be directionless levels, woefully inaccurate guns, and blatant programming errors. Really, try to shoot a gun after reloading it, and The God’s Chain will refuse to let you fire the weapon.
Even in terms of basic narrative, there is a simply stunning level of utter incompetence. The first level opens up in a massive sprawling area with perpetually spawning monsters, and will only end when you run to a small building ten feet from the point you started at. Not only is this hidden from sight thanks to the horrific pop-in problems, but there is no indication you even need to stroll off in its direction. Say what you will about most indies, but usually they at least get the A-to-B aspects of level structure right.
This game isn’t merely your regular sort of bad, it represents every single last problem with the games which get on Steam. It epitomizes the lazy hack jobs which drown out the great ideas found in Green Light and how the freedom of the industry, for almost anyone to build a game they want without a true publisher, can be abused for just a quick buck.
Do not merely avoid this game. Shun it, ignore it and speak of The God’s Chain only as same cautionary tale of how badly a developer can fail at the most basic tasks.
THE GOD’S CHAIN / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: CRASS INFOTECH / PLATFORM: PC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
