Goliath
*DISCLAIMER* I got this key for free from the developer for reviewing purposes. This will not affect the review. *DISCLAIMER OVER*
Goliath is a procedurally-generated Action/RPG, developed by Whalebox Studios. That’s right, not a roguelike or survival game, but a proper Action/RPG with quests and a plot. But its main feature is the combat. Setting up for combat, to be exact.
The character, Gromov, is pretty weak and defenseless by himself, armed only with a pistol (at least you can kill chickens). So, to even stand a chance against your foes, you have to build giant robots, called Goliaths… and here comes the main twist. They are not preset, but you can choose the parts they are made of, i.e. stone arms, wooden legs, and your selection will affect the Goliath’s performance. The material will also give your Goliath unique properties, so you will have to strategically switch between Goliaths, for example, in a hot region, a wooden Goliath will catch fire, but a stone one will move faster…This review seems a bit wrong. Oh, I know what will help!
The pros
- Original mechanic for building Goliaths.
- Full-fledged Action/RPG with procedural generation.
- The game world is quite large.
- Simple, but engaging combat.
- (Alright, this one isn’t about the game itself, but still deserves to be a pro) Great and helpful support staff: after having my saves corrupted, the support found save files with progress that was pretty close to mine on the previous save. My case is a first in the game’s bug history, yet they still solved it in a couple of hours.
- Well optimized — runs well on my computer, yet still looks great, and those two statements are usually mutually exclusive.
- Diverse zones of the world.
The cons
- Quests in which you go from your base to someone, who tells you to go to another zone (which means go to your base to teleport) are a bit tedious. Luckily, there’s not much of them.
Wait… it still feels wrong… I think I should add something else.
The Gameplay
The gameplay in Goliath is quite intuitive, but not too simplistic. The basics are what you’d expect from a top-down action/RPG. But it is not bland in any way. You can switch between the main character and 3 Goliaths of your choice, each with different qualities and 3 unique abilities. You will have to switch between them to adapt to your the circumstances, or just to use their abilities in turns, to not wait for the cooldown. The main character can also turn invisible, so you can easily flee from foes that are too strong for you.
The Graphics and Soundtrack
The game looks cartoonish, yet it is still highly detailed, even at the lowest graphics setting. But, despite the great looks, it still runs alright on lower-end computers (not “still-on-XP” lower-end level, but will run well on PCs not built for gaming). The soundtrack is mostly comprised of acoustic guitar, and is different for every zone. Despite being all acoustic, it never feels unfitting in a situation. Oh, almost forgot the crucial part: the soundtrack is really good.
The activity
The Goliath team is constantly updating the game. Goliath receives a major update about every week or so, and I mean major. Just look at one of the update descriptions from their news feed on Steam. They also created a DLC, just in time for the Summer Sale, and, instead of using it to make more money, gave it away for free. The support is also quite helpful. I know I wrote about it before, but they solved an issue that never happened before in a matter of hours. Not just that, but on a Friday evening! The people at the Goliath support are heroes.
