Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch

A Run’n’Gun with all the qualities (and flaws) of the genre.

Cast of the Seven Godsends is a game with a single goal: to be the new Ghouls ‘n Ghosts. With its wide variety of worlds, weapons and difficulty levels, it is certainly a title that strives to renew this style that is so underrepresented… Unfortunately, in its obsessive focus on recreating the experience of the acclaimed classic, the final product doesn’t incorporate great innovations, and tragically brings out the worst of the genre instead of just the best.

Narrative: 6

CotSG follows a king whose son has been kidnapped by a cult that wants to bring back a powerful evil entity. Throughout his journey, King Kandar receives help from the 7 gods of this world, each offering an armor that carries their powers.

Throughout the stages we meet some characters, and with quick exchanges of words we can follow the story’s progression and discover the characters’ motivations… But the way it all happens ends up making the narrative uninteresting, since the presentation in text boxes with completely motionless characters is quite retro, but in an unpleasant way.

Gameplay: 7

Harking back to the arcade style of the genre’s classics, CotSG uses simple controls. One button jumps and another fires projectiles. Throughout the stages you can find weapons that change the properties of your shots, such as speed, damage and trajectory. There are also armors, which offer protection against one hit. When 2 armors are collected in sequence without taking damage (which would cause the loss of the protection), the character can channel the power of one of the 7 gods. These transformations change Kandar’s look and equip him with exclusive weapons much more powerful than the regular ones.

Despite presenting solid and interesting mechanics, the game suffers from its backward design. There are countless platforming sections that don’t match well with what the game sets out to do, demanding a kind of precision that the controls don’t support well. The game does manage to shine in combat moments, combining dodging projectiles, navigating hordes of enemies and, of course, dealing damage to your adversaries.

Audiovisual: 6

The game tries to emulate the presentation of a 16-bit console, but with upgrades to its color palette and the number/complexity of sprites. Unfortunately many times these visual enhancements end up hurting the gameplay, giving a constant sense of visual clutter that makes it hard to understand everything happening on screen. The worst part is how the background and the playable area blend together and sometimes confuse the player about which parts of the screen are (usable) platforms. In general, the game is pretty for what it sets out to do, but when there’s an impact on gameplay, it’s simply not worth it.

The sound work does its job well, injecting energy and inspiring the player to advance. The soundtrack itself has no memorable or impactful tunes, but at no point does it bother you and most of the time it goes unnoticed – which is not necessarily bad.

Final Considerations

Cast of the Seven Godsends does an excellent job of recreating the experience of the most classic and acclaimed titles of the Run’n’Gun genre. The end result is an experience with all the ups and downs expected from this style of game. Unfortunately, at times the upgrades over the presentation of a 16-bit game impact the gameplay, and may end up harming the fun and enjoyment of many players.

Score

Narrative = 6

Gameplay = 7

Audiovisual = 6

Worth the 10 dollars? Only if you are a Run’n’Gun fan and are starved for games of the genre.

Overall: 6.3

Reviewed with the Nintendo Switch version.