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I bought this game a couple days ago and have already completed and 100% it, so here's my spoiler-free review.
Great God Grove is a beautifully stylized puzzle game that requires you to take and use dialogue in different ways to progress the story and discover lore as you travel through the gods’ lands looking for the missing God of Eloquence: King. This game thrives off a mix of subtle and direct storytelling that makes both the characters and the world feel real and human. It doesn't shy away from deeper topics, mainly concerning identity, which I would argue is the main focal point of the game.
As a dialogue-heavy game, it’s crucial that every character has a unique “voice” in order to prevent bland or repetitive text, and Great God Grove fully delivers in this regard. Characters have unique ways of speaking depending on who they are and where they live. Not only this, but there are so many optional dialogues that you can unlock with both main and side characters that can give you lore of the world, a character’s backstory, or just a simple interaction that builds the depth of the world as a whole. Sometimes this can create confusion of who to talk to next, which is why I am so glad that they made a mechanic where you can ask the local god for hints on what to do next. This saved me more times than I’d like to admit (I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed) and I appreciate how they will ask if you want a hint or not, rather than forcing it or not giving hints at all. It isn’t just the gods either, some side characters can give clues if prompted (if you choose to talk to them). It really feels like every character has thought put into them as to what they provide to the story, and you’re encouraged to try speaking to them.
The character designs are what initially attracted me to this game and they did not disappoint. The use of 2D drawings for mortals and 3D models for the gods works extremely well and makes meeting and talking to a new god exciting. It also works nicely to show the player the differences and similarities between humans and gods. The overall design and style of everything in this game is just so pleasing to look at and the care put into giving everything a unique feel is apparent. After completing the game, I purchased the digital artbook to get more insight into the development behind this world. I could see how much intent was put behind the creation of this game, especially when it came to developing distinct styles for each of the gods. I also appreciate how the gods interact with each other instead of living in their own bubbles, as it intertwines everything as you slowly discover the mysteries of the gods.
Personal Cons:
*If you find your opinion is swayed by critiques of a game, you can skip over this section. No cons I list are bad enough to ruin the game and are purely based on personal opinions. You won’t be missing out if you skip this part.
- Due to a lot of characters having unique ways of speaking, it was sometimes difficult for me to read/understand their dialogue properly. However, this is more of an issue with a select few of the side characters rather than the main characters, so any dialogue that was confusing to read was not absolutely necessary to know and did not impact my understanding of the main storyline.
- I think the gameplay could have been improved if Megapon (the megaphone you get at the start) wasn’t the only tool you used throughout the game. It is a very cool mechanic but at times I feel like it gets a bit repetitive. On the other side of the coin, it does get you to find more creative solutions to puzzles and allows you to discover a lot of side dialogue and lore, so having just Megapon works fine and still benefits the game.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed playing this game, not only the story but the art and creativity. If you’re not a fan of games with a lot of dialogue, this may not be the game for you (since it’s the core mechanic that drives the game), but I’d still recommend watching a playthrough because this game is worth the experience whether that be through playing the game or watching someone else play it. I did go into this game completely blind (besides the steam page trailer) and I would say that made the experience better, so in my biased opinion I would say if you’re interested in the game, go purchase and play it rather than watch a playthrough. I enjoyed discovering things at the pace of the game and found it made the story even better. :)