In the time before the current date of this tale, the gods were at war with each other, throwing their minions at one another ruthlessly in an effort to claim the throne of the murdered lord of the gods. But even if one claimed victory, it was apparent that the conflict would not end … that is until Mortagorn, the god of darkness, discovered a new weapon – one that could not be stopped. No shield could stand against it, not mortal, magical or even god-inspired. Mortagorn’s minions, armed with the weapon, were rolling through the opposing forces on the world of Bellarion.

It was a dire time. A counter-weapon needed to be found. The god of fire, Arswaargh, created an avatar from his own body, a comely female being named Vivien. Vivien has been sent to a distant realm, the world of Antasion, her powers scattered and her mission to find the gods of the land and seek their help in finding a weapon to stop Mortagorn.

GODS: Lands of Infinity is the work of Cypron Studios, and is a role-playing title for the PC. The game is a blend of adventure, action in a turn-based setting, an array of missions and NPCs who can join your team, plus all the other goodness often associated with the RPG model.

You fight; you gain experience; you level and gain new skills. This is all played out in the first-person perspective, until you enter a battle encounter, at which point the game goes into third-person turn-based mode.

The game, received through a download, offered an experience not often seen nowadays when the game was installed. Two icons were placed on the desktop – one for Gods-XP and one for Gods-98. Can you say operating systems?

At first, the game was somewhat reminiscent of Morrowind. You have an avatar that NPCs react to, that navigates throughout the realm, deals with merchants, get side quests to act as diversions (and to make the leveling-up grind palatable) and seek clues to the locations of the lost gods. Of course, you can’t just rush into the area where one might be. You are young and powerless, and should you die, game over. You can reload the game at the last save point, but the lesson there is save often.

Traveling from one area of the game is simple enough. You will encounter NPCs that will mark the locations of various places on your map. You venture outside of an area, find a signpost, click on it and that brings up a travel map. Click on the place you wish to go to and you are whisked away toward it.

Once in a place you move about with the standard keyboard movement, but mouse movement also works. You can talk to NPCs that have a chat icon on them when you cursor over them. NPCs you can interact with will appear on the map once you have made the contacts, and you can add notations to the entry about them quite easily.

If in the wilds, you may either encounter monsters that attack you from behind, or you can click on one and enter combat. You may get several monsters at once, but as this is turn-based, you need to fight tactically. Vivien does have magical abilities and can summon a pet to help fight. Early on the wolf she summons does not do much damage but does act rather well as a focal target for the opposing mobs. It is possible to run out of action points/mana, but if that is the case, you can merely hit defend (to increase the odds of avoiding the attack). In addition to the attack and spell options, players can also choose to use potions to maintain both health and mana – though this does cost a turn.

After each combat, experience points are awarded and you may get drops from the mobs you have killed.

In addition to physical combat skills, Vivien can learn spells (and there are trainers in various areas that can train up abilities, for a price), and can get a recipe book to deal in alchemic items. The later is important. While monster drops can turn into coin, trading seems to be the easiest way to make coin. Even NPCs will tell you about buying one commodity and ‘smuggling’ it to another area where the price for it will earn you a good amount of coin. Coin equals more potions, better armor and weapons.  

Being judicious in what you attack is also wise – the game seems to have a very fine line between the opportunity for victory and staring at the ‘game over’ screen.

Graphically this game is very well realized. The environments are lush, the monsters well done (though some are a little stiff and there is a sameness to the NPCs), but everything fits nicely into the evolving story told. A few minor graphical stumbles are not enough to offset an entertaining visual experience.

The voice-overs are also nicely done, and the musical score is very rich. The controls are easy to understand and use. But seriously, one more ‘come-on’ line from a merchant to the fair maiden (Vivien), telling her how rich he is, would be enough to start looking for a button that allows one to attack NPCs. Calm down – Vivien is on a mission and needs NPCs to give her clues to the locations of the gods that may aid her cause.

GODS: Lands of Infinity is a treat, a rare little gem that surpasses any preconceived notions about the game. It succeeds on several levels and is very entertaining. With a strong storyline, some nice twists in the plot, a grind that feels more like adventure, this is definitely a title worth checking out.

Gameplay: 8.1
The controls are intuitive. The game does have a day/night cycle and you will need to eat to maintain health and stamina. All in all, the devs did a very nice job of bringing this game to life.

Graphics: 8.0
There is bit of sameness to the various NPCs you encounter, and the villages can be a little sparse, but generally the game is very well rendered.

Sound: 8.3
Not enough dialogue is spoken, the environment sounds are more or less typical but the music is very nice.

Difficulty: Medium
The game has several difficulty settings, but do not expect mind-bending puzzles. Surprises are in here, but that only adds to the enjoyment, not the difficulty.

Concept: 7.8
There is a definite Morrowind influence here, especially in the way the game is initially presented, and though the controls are easily accessible, there is too much time spent running side missions that are akin to delivery missions. Don’t do them? Well, then you take a harder course in earning coin to better outfit Vivien.

Overall: 8.1
The game has a few stumbles here and there, but it easily surpasses any expectations and, in fact, surprises and delights. The look is strong, the story is well done and has a nice consistency – even when you are surprised by a twist in the game, the sound is very nice and the game delivers in the entertainment department.