#Nice God Grove – Destructoid

Phrases have weight, which is why I swing them round with reckless abandon. I’m unsure that’s what Nice God Grove is about except you solely take it actually. It’s extra about id, authority, communication, and misunderstanding.

It’s the follow-up to Smile For Me by Limbolane. However whereas the 2 video games have similarities, you would possibly miss the relation simply by taking a look at it. One sport has you interred in an asylum, whereas the opposite has you fixing the relationships of the gods. Nonetheless, what they’ve in widespread is head nods and fixing folks.

Nice God Grove (Swap, Xbox Sequence X|S, PC [Reviewed])
Developer: Limbolane
Writer: LimboLane, Fellow Traveller
Launched: November fifteenth, 2024
MSRP: $19.99

Nice God Grove places you within the boots of a Godpoke, which is, so far as I can inform, a type of courier. To be sincere, I’m not clear on a couple of ideas right here. For all I do know, a Godpoke would possibly simply be somebody who wears a poncho. You arrive on the eponymous grove simply in time to see the gods shut a large rift within the sky that threatens to finish the world. The issue is that the gods aren’t solely excited by saving the world. They’re far too wrapped up in their very own issues.

Earlier to your arrival, the final messenger of the gods, the mysterious King, despatched letters out to all of the gods. The letters are apparent makes an attempt to drive wedges between them, however as King had all the time been a trusted pal and dependable sufficient to be elected to change into the subsequent god, they took these phrases at face worth. Now, nothing is correct within the grove regardless of being a vital time for the entire world.

Earlier than you even get to the grove, King’s trusty mail cannon, the Megapon, lands immediately in your lap. With this machine, you possibly can suck the phrases out of 1 particular person’s mouth and slap them within the face of one other. Or simply proper again at them. That occurs typically.

Being the smart particular person you’re (or perhaps simply because it’s a linear narrative), you set to work righting King’s mistaken. Instantly, you’re deputized by Inspekta, the God of Management, to assist their lackeys, the Bizzyboys, work out what occurred to King and why they determined to harm everybody’s emotions. Nonetheless, the chief of the Bizzyboys, Capochin, is just out to please his boss, whereas the remainder of the members are utterly incompetent and hapless. So, all of it comes all the way down to you.

Largely, Nice God Grove resembles a point-and-click journey sport. You’ll be able to’t suck up any sentence or grouping of phrases you need; solely particular, highlighted issues that characters say can go in your Megapon. On this means, they work like every merchandise in one thing like Secret of Monkey Island. You discover hints within the phrases of the folks you’re speaking to and ship one thing that may get them to carry out some activity for you, even when that’s simply shifting out of the way in which.

There’s a little bit of a studying curve. For the primary space, I wasn’t selecting up on the cues, however after the second, I used to be in a position to proceed with some expedience. I didn’t get hung up fairly often, however I’ve to marvel if that’s going to be everybody’s expertise. Nice God Grove has an uncommon design language constructed round its central hook, and I’m unsure if gaming literacy might be as necessary right here as precise literacy. I’m unsure if each participant can modify, or perhaps I’m the odd one as a result of I had some points within the first space. I can solely communicate to my very own expertise, although, and in my expertise, I didn’t have a lot of an issue for many of the sport.

Every space of the grove is house to at least one or two gods. In every one, King has unfold some type of misinformation to throw issues into chaos, and your general purpose is to type issues out to revive the established order. Sounds straightforward, however being an journey sport, it takes greater than an apology to work issues out.

What actually elevates Nice God Grove above a typical journey sport is an abundance of favor. It mixes 2D characters and objects with a 3D world Paper Mario-style. It’s based mostly round Day Lane’s distinctive, sketchy, expressive model. Whereas animation is sparse, every character has an enormous vary of poses and feelings that they transition to every new window of dialogue. It may be fairly charming.

Most of the gods are rendered in full 3D, however they’re styled in such a means that it may be exhausting to inform. Just like the 2D of us, the gods spring from pose to pose, with extra conventional animation thrown in often to spice issues up.

There are additionally live-action puppet vignettes that you may look ahead to not a lot cause other than enrichment. They typically simply contain the Bizzyboys giving recommendation and a few background details about what’s happening on this planet. Because it seems, I’m actually into puppets consuming sandwiches. 

There isn’t a lot out that that appears fairly like Nice God Grove. The model is executed so constantly and with a lot blunt-force pizzazz that it’s unimaginable that only a handful of individuals put the entire thing collectively. There are such a lot of sides of its visible model that look as if they’d be very troublesome to execute, so the truth that they didn’t select a neater, extra standard route is spectacular. It pays off as a result of, if completely nothing else, the way in which this sport seems might be seared into your eyeholes.

Nice God Grove has rather a lot to say about id and the way in which folks will stomp on others only for recognition. The gods themselves aren’t a lot completely different than atypical folks. They only exist on a much less accessible airplane of existence. As such, though you possibly can stroll up and speak to them, their followers appear to only consider what they hear and speculate on what they may be considering, which frequently is what results in miscommunication. Misinformation is rife, and other people make the most of that.

People appear hardwired to climb. There’s a worry that our lives might be meaningless or forgotten, so we attempt for recognition. And to safe our recognition, we’ll typically stomp down the folks beneath us. We yearn to put on the stomping boots, and an honest particular person can flip terrible the second they put them on. You face a variety of that in Nice God Grove.

On the identical time, it’s a really optimistic sport. Along with your intervention, the troublemakers you meet see the error of their methods and specific a need to atone for his or her actions. Name me cynical, however I discover most individuals usually tend to change into defensive when confronted with the results of their actions. Folks dig their stomping boots in and search justification for what they’ve completed. Possibly I simply want a stronger phrase cannon.

When it comes to gameplay, I may truthfully take or go away Nice God Grove. It has nice pacing and a novel strategy to the journey style, however I discover the conditions during which it’s utilized typically unexciting. Not overly mundane, however I feel with pressing deal with the risk and extra harmful conditions, the dialogue would have extra of an opportunity to shine. Nevertheless it already shines fairly brightly.

Nice God Grove is an immensely polished and exactly executed sport, and that’s probably the most spectacular half about it. Its pacing and aesthetic are finely honed and there’s nary a free thread to be discovered. A bit extra punch and the narrative can be excellent, however it presents a very good quantity of depth to sink into. It additionally options puppets gnawing on a huge hoagie, and actually, what extra are you able to ask for?

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}