how me a frog posted:

Gods will be watching is a game. It was a different game first. A ludum dare thing or something.



Gameplay

What manner of game is it? There are buttons. If you press a button some numbers go up, or down, or both. You're not allowed to see the numbers. You may see the buttons, but there are no labels. If one of the numbers gets too high or too low you lose usually. Sometimes you win though, at which point all the buttons and numbers go away and are replaced with different buttons and a whole new exciting set of numbers you are also not allowed to see.

So it's utter shite then, you might think. But in my opinion you'd be wrong.

While you can never really know what effect you're having for sure, you can put it together for yourself. There is a logical thread. You can make educated guesses what certain actions will do. If you shoot a man in the head you can expect he will die. The environment will react. You ought to be able to till if witnesses are pleased with what you've done or not from visual cues. It is, in essence, not a puzzle game at all, but a very vague resource management game. Vague in the sense that there is always a degree of uncertainty concerning what the resources are, how much exactly you have and which ones you actually need.

Art and Story and Such

The art is pixels, and while not being as gorgeous as say Kentucky Route Zero or Superbrothers, they are perfectly servicable. Like those games I would classify it more as an "experience" than a "video game" as such, however unlike the other two I didn't delete it out of boredem yet. Your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance or retro grafix (tm). The story is run of the mill sci fi hogwash.

The draw

So the art is ok, the gameplay is obtuse and the story is nothing to write home about. Many an observer might reason that since I bothered to make a thread about this game there has got to be something to it. And here's the thing: the game is all about making choices. Difficult choices, in a game where to cards are constantly stacked against you. Do you have agency over the plot? No, and yet the choices you make will carry wheight. Somehow. Some choices might even make you feel bad. Then you'll complete the stage and be shown what choices other people made. And you'll find out that those super difficult choices you made, the ones that made you hate yourself weren't even necessary in the first place. The game is good that way, and I would argue that is the point of it.

Hints and Stuff

You're going to fail a lot.

If you feel you've failed too much look at the challenges for the part you're on. If ever there is a challenge akin to "complete the thing witout doing x" then doing x is probably something that will make your life a lot easier.

If you're still failing at least there is a thread now so ask, someone will probably set you right. Use spoiler tags.

Discuss theories, ask for help (I am pretty loving confused right now) or let everyone know why this game owns or sucks. Whatever you post remember gods will be watching.