Gods of the Twilight is a game where cyberpunk aesthetics meet with ancient mythology. The gods of old are making a grand return, and Ragnarok isn’t too far behind. Two protagonists, gods reborn themselves, must choose how they face the end of times. With stellar art and music, it’ll be a fun time no matter what and we made sure to properly check it out in this review.
Just Another Day in Future Iceland
Gods of the Twilight lets you choose who you want to play as first. For the purpose of this review, I went with Althea Mishra. It was between a cute girl and a Final Fantasy protagonist, and I chose wisely. The game lets you see things from both perspectives. As this game has a choice and consequence system, which we’ll discuss later, who you choose first impacts the game, too.
This game takes quite a bit of inspiration from Norse Mythology. That’s readily apparent by the game quoting The Poetic Edda, and that the main setting is known as New Reykjavík, an artificial island off the coast of Iceland. The story begins with a vivid dream of an ancient battlefield, a tense scene that immediately draws the player in.
The jump from an ancient battlefield to a cyberpunk future is fun to see in Gods of the Twilight. Althea’s bed comes with a hologram computer screen that appears right above her face. Transport is almost all automatic, and having a car is a luxury. People spend extra money to have a human driver. Also, it’s been years since Althea saw a blue sky. So yeah, cyberpunk with a shade of “the Earth might not be doing too great.”
Save the Future With Gifts From the Past
Althea day abruptly takes a turn for the worse when she and her friends get chased by a masked assassin. One of them is actually cut down. Here, Althea can follow her instincts and focus on him, or bail. I chose to focus, and the text indicated that he might have a fair chance. His breathing became more steady, and he visibly changed to the point where our masked assailant charged at her.
Later, her uniformed rescuers bring her to their HQ, where she’s given an ancient box to open. Inside is an apple. Upon choosing to eat it, nothing happens to her. When the elderly Englishman eats the second apple the box generates, he’s made young again. Director Talling suggests that the box generates apples to restore youth and vigor only in the hands of Idunn, the Norse deity. The gods are returning, and Talling points to Althea, whom he insists owns the box, as one of them. Supernatural forces are mounting, and beings such as Althea are needed to stop them.
In short, the developers at Volutian Design have spun an epic tale for Gods of the Twilight, and I’ll be revisiting this world even after this review.
Choose Your Strategy
Like any other great visual novel-style game, choices matter in Gods of the Twilight. A single response can lower affection with one character and raise affection with another. Beyond just character relationships, which can vary from enemy to friend, and even to lover (or lovers), choices impact the plot itself. Farkas’s first meeting with Hektor, who also runs the tutorial, results in a fight. You’ll be given how you want to proceed in the fight, whether to block or evade. The developers have also promised “Choose how the world ends (hundreds of variables shape your story)!” so those choices definitely matter.
Enchanting Gods and Mortals
The characters of Gods of the Twilight are a fun bunch. They’re exceptionally well-drawn and emotive. The artist has done amazing work to make the characters and scenes come to life.
Althea is from the better part of town. She’s a rich girl with some idea of how the world really works. Kind and quick-witted, she can hang with the “peasants” easily enough. Althea is also cute, and the first sight we get of her is in bed with a blanket on her, so yeah, Best Girl status is this close to being confirmed.
The male protagonist of Gods of the Twilight is Farkas Hekluson. He’s an orphan from the other side of the tracks. A former gang member, he’s a cynic and not easily trusting. So yes, a Final Fantasy protagonist waiting to happen. Despite that, he’s willing to jump into a fight to help people, like when Hektor jumped in like a hero to save a kid and got stomped.
Director Talling is an interesting fellow. Like me, he loves talking about history and mythology. Sara Grímsdóttir and Lieutenant Cebisa Komani must have stories of their own to tell, and I look forward to reading about them. Hekla, Farkas’s guardian, has some real older lady energy, and if she’s not a romance option, we riot.
The Soundtrack for Ragnarok
Gods of the Twilight is fully voiced, and the cast is amazing. As an American myself, I rarely hear people roll their r’s like these guys. Maybe I need to watch more foreign stuff. Regardless, the voice actors do so much to make the characters seem more alive. They’re not just reading off a script, I hear the mood and tone in their voices. Fear, joy, sadness, anger, it’s all there.
The music is a highlight of Gods of the Twilight. It’s not elevator music. I genuinely just sat with the main menu theme for a while. Any song can really just be some background music for when you work. Except the parts where there’s sound effect, like steps down a hall. Unless you’re into that, in which case, most everything has a sound effect. You listen to those sharp heels clacking down an echoing hallway. Or a crowd of people talking. Or fighting. The developers thought of everything.
Gods of the Twilight Reach Towards the Dawn
Gods of the Twilight is an ongoing game. It’s still in early access with more chapters being worked on. What we have now is amazing. The story is rich and steeped in mythology. Volutian Design has a clear love of myths, perhaps especially Norse Mythology. Their own unique take on things is fascinating to read and consider. There’s also an attempt to say that “one people’s Thor might be another people’s Indra,” something like what Assassin’s Creed did with the Isu and their various divine names.
The overarching plot of “Ragnarok is happening again, let’s do something about it” is fun to follow. Seeing disparate people band together to find the old gods in new forms to perhaps save humanity presents an exciting plot to follow across these chapters. The characters and music fill in the rest for this epic tale, and I couldn’t recommend it more.
©Volutian Design
Anime Corner was provided a review copy of Gods of the Twilight.
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