GODS Remastered (Xbox One) Review

In Gods Remastered, the tale focuses on a muscular hero, who is called on by the Gods to defeat four guardians. Apart from this simple spiel, there is no other story that is needed as motivation to jump right into this 2D platformer. It is very similar to many other platformers of its time; except that Gods Remastered does pack a ton of hidden secrets and challenges into its strictly linear constraint. However, despite the better-looking visuals that detail the grunginess of the castle dungeons, or the muscular tone of the gladiator-like hero, this is still something made back in 1991. Because of this, it controls exactly like it did back then too - and it has not aged that well.

The character movement is very cumbersome, jumping to, or across ledges is deplorable, and there are no fluid transitions between the different animations. Even attacking enemies is a one-button slash that harkens back to an era where these titles were simpler, but harder. Robot Riot UG has done a terrific job in replicating the original title, but it failed to iron out the creases that would've made the title more playable by today's standards. There is a handy option to seamlessly switch visual styles between the current graphics and the original graphics. Honestly, the original graphics suits the game more because it matches the slow controls better than the new graphics does. This is a shame, because the remastered graphics are beautiful and well-defined, but such a presence is thrown out the window when the hero begins to move.

For those who haven't played the original title, know that Gods Remastered was renowned for layering complex puzzles and challenges over what was otherwise a simple platformer. While the standard platforming tropes are there, the extra challenges exist for those inclined to experiment and explore the stages. For instance, in one stage there may be multiple levers that the hero may come across. On pulling them, nothing seems to happen. However, after some experimentation, it is learned that pulling the levers in a specific sequence in under 90 seconds of beginning the level leads to an optional reward. Luckily, all of these challenges are exactly that: optional. For those who don't wish to explore the real in-depth challenges, it's possible to just play on a simpler level, and complete the task of reaching the end of the stage.

The adventure is broken up into four main worlds; each one containing one of the four guardians as an end boss. These worlds, however, are made up of a series of "stages," or screens, where the end of one stage is a door that leads to the next stage. In some cases, the hero could even retreat to a previous stage just by returning through the door they came. This is an interesting way to "connect" the world together in a way that would have been rare to see back in 1991. During the stages, the hero will come across shops where he can purchase new weapons and other various upgrades to prepare himself for the stronger enemies ahead.

Currency is found by defeating enemies and working out the puzzles and challenges to find the optional, hidden treasure chests. The actual gameplay loop isn't too dissimilar to many modern-day titles; and for this, Gods Remastered was ahead of its time to an extent. Even the enemies themselves ramp up the difficultym as they are not like enemies commonly found in 2D-platformers. In here, foes can follow the hero up or down ledges, while the winged enemies are not constrained to their "zones". While in other games running away will cause enemies to forget the hero, this time around they will follow to no end. This does make things more difficult, but it is still a fair experience that isn't cheap.