God Wars: Future Past – Review

Review by Wewillrocku

Reviewed: 04/10/19

Gets a solid A but no higher.

God Wars: Future Past is the story of a shrine maiden whose mother made the decision to sacrifice one of her daughters to an angry God. This is a TRPG with an isometric view (perhaps popularized by Vandal Hearts, an exceptionally solid game) and turn based combat.

Some of your characters are nonhuman, but you will play as and fight both humans and monsters. You have weapons, armor, magic, and items at your disposal. You will have to pay attention to your income as you decide what to buy. One of the weapons your nonhuman character can use is a spear that can be used in eight directions (which is to say, even diagonally), which I have never seen in a TRPG before. It's very useful.

Most of the time you'll be attacking enemies one on one, which is without a doubt somewhat unexpected for a TRPG. There are a noticeable lack of row or line attacks, even though you do have special skills to fight with.

In my opinion this is clearly a difficult TRPG, and opinions differ, but some things should be considered closely before you make up your mind on that. For example, you must build up 3 of your skills at a time (no more than 3), and you must unlock several different skills which you can't access right away. This limitation of 3 skills makes for tough going because, somewhat unique to this game, several of the skills are worth learning. As for unlocking new skills, they stack and you won't be able to get the better ones until some time is spent earning in game points.

Another reason it's difficult is that enemy levels spike from map to map. It seems you're expected to take on the optional maps several times (on the note board of any shrine) before going to a new story point. This is just an aspect of the game that I think should be noted in a review.

If you like this Vita game, you will also very probably like Rainbow Moon, a TRPG where you have to return to your world to participate in a yearly tournament. The view is isometric and the combat is turn based. You might like the game Hyper Dimension Neptunia: Goddess Black Heart, a TRPG with chibi (cute) characters who battle in an isometric view with turn based combat. This game has larger maps than God Wars, but with fewer details along the way (such as fewer impassable spots).

Rating:   4.5 - Outstanding

Product Release: God Wars: Future Past (US, 06/20/17)