Gearbox Publishing and developer Counterplay Games have just made the first official PlayStation 5 game announcement. As part of The Game Awards event in Los Angeles tonight, the companies revealed Godfall. This is a loot-based action game with a focus on melee combat. It is due out next holiday for Sony’s PS5 and the Epic Games Store.
Godfall’s debut trailer shows the looter-slasher (sloosher?) in action. In the video, you can see a pantheon of characters that look like they are from the Alex Proyas movie Gods of Egypt. They wear shiny, ornate helms and brandish weapons like flaming swords. Counterplay is promising that players will guide these characters through a fantasy world to unlock better gear throughout the role-playing experience. The studio is also putting a major emphasis on the melee combat.
“We’re innovating with Godfall to provide a fresh take on action-RPGs by rewarding skill-based offensive gameplay and making every hit matter,” Counterplay chief executive Keith Lee said. “Namely, we want to feed into that yearning for the next best piece in your character build, so we plan to provide plenty of loot to players to ensure there’s meaningful impact to gameplay and playstyles.”
For Gearbox, this is a chance to publish what could turn into another major live-service success.
“We’re thrilled at Gearbox to have been chosen by Counterplay Games to bring their creative vision of Godfall to gamers on the PlayStation 5 and PC,” Gearbox Publishing boss Steve Gibson said. “As we continue our mission to entertain the world, Godfall is a perfect fit with Gearbox Publishing. Playing with your friends and gearing up are some of the things we love most.”
Is Godfall PlayStation 5’s Warframe?
Godfall is exactly the kind of game that players should expect to debut alongside the next-generation consoles. While fans now expect Sony to develop narrative-driven single-player adventures, those games are expensive to make. To make them worthwhile, Sony will likely want to wait until it has sold a few million PlayStation 5s before launching an exclusive on that system.
But Godfall doesn’t have the same problem. It could potentially live on throughout the entire lifespan of the PlayStation 5. And it could build momentum steadily over the life of the system. So it’s important to start gaining that steam as soon as possible. That way, as more people get PlayStation 5s, they can get that Godfall game to play with their friends.
This is now a well-established formula first staked out by successes like Warframe. That looter-shooter debuted alongside the PlayStation 4, and it has turned into an ongoing hit that is still growing in its sixth year.
Godfall could potentially mimic that. But it’s probably going to have a lot more competition. While Sony and Microsoft may hold back their biggest exclusives, other live-service games are almost certainly going to show up on PS5 and Xbox One next holiday. Expect Overwatch 2, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, Warframe, and more to have major updates ready to go alongside the new systems.
Still, Godfall could benefit if players want something that developers built for next-gen hardware. A lot of that will come down to its price — Gearbox hasn’t said. And whether it has enough content and fun gameplay to compete.