God Damn the Garden from Agelvik and Ratalaika Games is a first-person shooter set in the underworld. Read more about this new title in our God Damn the Garden review!
God Damn The Garden challenges you to face the trial of Skeleton Bastard, which tests whether or not you’re worthy of becoming the next King of Badass Heaven.
In a vast underworld, find a way to escape from the mysterious depths of God Damns World by fighting your way past aggressive creatures.
God Damn the Garden is a first-person shooter from Agelvik and Ratalaika Games in which you – a skeleton – will have to face several trials in order to ultimately become the new King. You’ll get an explanation about why you’ve been damned, and then you’ll quickly be drawn into the action with your trusty gun in your hands.
The gameplay will have you walking through corridors with low-resolution textures and enemies. Even though this game actually looks like it was a very early N64/PlayStation 1 release, it somehow made me feel like I was playing a more colorful version of the original Doom. I thought that the level design was confusing, and I often entered a path that made me land in another portion of the same room I was in before going into the corridor.
I’m not a pro first-person shooter gamer, but even with the aim aid option activated, I thought that this game was way harder than it should be. Your health is always visible in the heart container in your left hand (which I thought was a great way to show this information), and you should definitely keep an eye on it because your 100 health points will decrease very fast!
I also thought that the game was unfair to the player, difficulty-wise. After only a few hits, you’ll most likely already be extremely close to dying. Some enemies will spot you from really far away and will shoot at you from the distance. Some enemies can auto-kill you if they touch you, regardless of your health! I also would have liked to have a few seconds of invincibility after being hit so that you have a chance to hide and recover. Alternatively, the inclusion of a difficulty setting for people less skilled at FPSs would have made for a better experience.
As for the presentation, I already mentioned how this game looked like a mid-1990s game, which is not bad! I liked the art style, and the characters were certainly colorful. The dialogue was also silly! However, the soundtrack quickly became redundant, which is not something you want for a game that you won’t be completed in a blink.
Since this one is from Ratalaika Games, you have the option of adding two new Platinum trophies to your collection thanks to the game being Cross-Buy between the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions. There are 11 trophies in this game, and they’re all Golds. You’ll get them after dying once – which won’t take long! – defeating 100-1,000 small spiders, defeating a big spider, gathering all skulls, finding a secret path, beating the game, and not killing any of the NPC in the game.
God Damn the Garden is a first-person shooter in which you must prove your worth in order to become King. I liked the retro-looking presentation of the game, but I quickly realized that the challenge for this one wouldn’t be for everyone, especially since aiming feels a bit too challenging, even with auto-aim activated. Enemies can see you way before you can see them, and having enemies that can kill you in one hit can make for a very frustrating experience.
Disclaimer
This God Damn the Garden review is based on a PlayStation copy provided by Ratalaika Games.
