It’s hard to believe that 4 years have passed since the announcement of Highwire Games’ Golem for PSVR. Led by Marty O’Donnell and a team of high profile developers who worked on games like Halo, Destiny, and Infamous, Golem has been touted as the PSVR’s “killer app” and one I have been long looking forward to. After a number of delays, Golem is finally here and it even received a physical release thanks to Perp Games. Now, the experience I got from Golem has both exceeded what I wanted and was one of the worst things I have played all year…
Story
Twine’s life has just changed forever. First, the passing of Twine’s mother has left the duty of scavenging the wasteland for supplies and treasures to her father, sister and herself. Then Twine’s sister Sky reveals that she is one of the Dreamers, a person with the ability to control golems. As Sky attempts to teach this ability to Twine, an accident occurs leaving Twine bedridden and Sky nowhere to be found. Using the dream stone, Twine begins to take control of golems to try and uncover her family’s past and explore the endless city.
Gameplay
Golem is a fascinating game. The beginning sets up an intriguing world where Twine and her family scavenge to provide for what they need. Things quickly take an emotionally jarring turn as we finally take control of a bedridden Twine. By using the dream stone Twine is still able to explore her world and even parts of it she never could before. The introduction to controlling your golems is pretty simple and it isn’t long before you are taking your first doll under Twine’s house and discovering her sister’s hidden golem workshop.
Exploration is really interesting, and discovering new story-based collectibles is one of my favorite things in the whole game. I eagerly looked forward to getting a further glimpse into this world I found myself within. While many of these collectibles can be found as you explore the endless city in your massive golem, others will require controlling a smaller doll to access. There are also numerous pathways and shortcuts through the endless city for you to use to get around with as you fight and find collectibles. There is an ample amount of backtracking which makes finding new paths all the more important.
This is both one of the biggest strengths and weaknesses of Golem: movement sucks! Using the T button on the PlayStation Move controller and leaning forward, left, right, and back navigates your golems through the world. The system itself is really easy to get the hang of, the problem is it induces a level of motion sickness I have never experienced before. It is so bad I would need to go lay down for an hour or two after. There is the option to use a DualShock 4 to handle movement but I honestly found it worse for the motion sickness.
The other hugely nauseating design choice for Golem is that you get a double vision effect from what your golem is seeing and Twine’s bedroom. If you are standing still the golems view is solidly your own. Once movement occurs the outer portions of your screen are filled with the stationary view of Twine’s room. This stark contrast is, in my mind, part of what causes the intense motion sickness I feel each time I boot the game up.
Now, the other key gameplay component of Golem is the combat and I had a blast with it! Fights involve 1-on-1 encounters with other golems and the system involves blocking and striking all while maintaining optimal position from your opponent. Your positioning is very important so combat is one of the times I would opt to use a DualShock 4 for movement over the leaning based system. Depending on how an enemy swings their weapon you will need to lift yours in a corresponding way to block. Once an opening appears you can then take your own strike at the enemy to take down their health.
Overall I have had a blast with this system but there are a few occasions of ghost weapons occurring where my block or attack wouldn’t register. It is a bit unnerving when it happens and at times it has even caused a death. Death in Golem usually involves replaying a good 10 minutes of gameplay to reach the point where you died to try again. Now, this wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if it didn’t mean you had to walk all that time; oh the motion sickness… The other penalty of death is you lose any items equipped to your golem including weapons, enhancement gems, and the area unlocking masks. Yup, the type of masks you have equipped open up different areas of the endless city; neat, right?!
Thankfully coming by items has never been an issue I encountered so the only concern I had about death was just getting back to where I died. The inventory system is an oddity though and can only be really accessed in the golem workshop. If you want to equip new items you basically have to kill your current golem to build a new one with the better items you want to use instead. This makes equipping enhancement gems, and better weapons, a process I thought about very carefully since I wasn’t sure just how long I would be staying with any particular golem and didn’t want to waste them.
Visuals
Golem is probably the prettiest PSVR game to date with awesome environments and character models. Animations are equally impressive and a lot of detail has gone into the little things. Rings attached to your weapons rattle as you swing them and your arm moves in a believable way and isn’t just some disconnected hand. Though you can make some straight-up horror movie looking bends out of the hands it you flip the Move controller around. Textures on my base PS4 aren’t of the highest detail but they are a step up from anything I have seen yet on the platform. Aliasing, while present, also wasn’t as bad as in other recent VR games I have reviewed like Sairento VR.
Audio
Now, it would be an understatement for me to say that the audio portion of Golem is what I looked forward to the most. Marty O’Donnell is without a doubt one of my favorite game composers and his work on the soundtrack of Golem is superb! Each tune enhances the scene on hand and brings more life into the exploration than you could imagine. Though it has its own original themes, I can’t help but hear that old Halo influence I love so much! Thankfully the rest of the games audio work stands tall with excellent voice work and sound effects.
What It Could Have Done Better
Honestly, if it weren’t for the awful movement and double vision Golem would be one of my games of the year. The story exploration and combat despite a few hiccups have all been really enjoyable to me. I just get completely taken out by motion sickness for wanting to experience it and it isn’t ok! Hopefully, the team at Highwire can implement a way to move around that has been more proven in VR to not cause these issues. Fixing the movement might also be key in making the double vision less of a problem; who knows.
Verdict
Honestly, I don’t understand how Golem can simultaneously be awesome yet awful all at the same time. Music and audio work are top-notch and some of the best I have heard in a while. There is also a fascinating story and world at its core but thanks to the insane sickness-inducing movement you are hardpressed to find it. Hopefully, a solution can be found that fixes this problem and keeps Highwire’s vision intact so anyone can hop into the world of Golem. In its current form though, Golem is just hard to recommend despite its awesome points.
