Gods Will Be Watching

Overview

Gods Will Be Watching puts players in the role of Sergeant Burden, a man often at odds with both sides of the Everdusk / Xenolifer conflict, another in a long line of Government vs Terrorist situations. As the leader of a small team, you work through a number of point and click one-screen survival puzzles. These take the form of extremely high-pressure environments: hostage situations, torture and - closely matching the original browser release of the game - survive on a hostile planet until you are rescued.

The rules in the game, everything from how many actions you take in a turn to the very concept of what a turn is changes from puzzle to puzzle, usually forcing you to replay a segment many times over before ultimately understanding and exploiting the system.

Each level usually takes place on a single screen, with only a few characters and a background present. Clicking on characters and objects reveals actions relevant to them. Actions usually pass time, and each action affects the situation differently. Balancing moods and priorities is a key part of Gods Will Be Watching, and failure usually comes at the cost of death. Or worse.

System Requirements

PC

Minimum

• OS: Windows Vista/ 7/ 8
• Processor: Intel Core™ Duo or faster
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Graphics: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with at least 512Mb
• Hard Drive: 200 MB available space

Mac

Minimum

• OS: OS X 10.8
• Processor: Intel core 2 Duo (3Ghz)
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: OpenGL compatible, 512MB Memory
• Hard Drive: 200 MB available space

Linux

Minimum

• OS: Ubuntu 12 or equivalent, 32Bit
• Processor: Intel Core™ Duo or faster
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Graphics: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with at least 512Mb
• Hard Drive: 200 MB available space

Gods Will Be Watching - Original Browser Game

Overview

The ninth game by Spanish developer Deconstructeam, Gods Will Be Watching is a one-screen strategy survival game. Designed and completed in three days for Ludum Dare 26: Minimalism, the success of the title inspired the developer to crowdfund a robust remake of the game just months after its release. The remake deviates somewhat from the original in that it features more than one level, and more than one screen. The original Everdusk Team is expected to play a role in the game.

Jordi de Paco referred to the gameplay style as a “moral” or “dramatic” puzzler.

Story

It is 2257 AD, and you are Sergeant Burden, the leader of an Everdusk research team. While gathering information about the Medusea virus on its icy home planet of Sineicos, your team is attacked by XENOLIFER, a group of bioterrorists, and the data is stolen. With a virus as deadly as Medusea, this could mean the beginning of the spacial terror era. In order to intercept the bioterrorists, the Everdusk team must repair their radio and beam a message to the orbital convoy which is due to cross Sineicos in 40 days.

The Medusea virus paralyzes the victim and keeps them in a dreamlike state during which they are not hungry and cannot feel. After three days under the Medusea spell, the host dies, and their body must be incinerated due to the extremely contagious nature of the virus; however, herbs and plant life growing on Sineicos can provide a cure.

Gameplay

The goal of the game is to survive for 40 days on the planet with at least one team member alive (excluding Marvin the dog and BR4ND-0N the robot). Every day the player can make up to 5 actions, unless they have lost a team member or a random roll decides otherwise (very rarely less than 4). When a team member is lost, the maximum actions per day limit drops by one, permanently. Actions include: talking to team members, which maintains their moral score; hunting for rations, which your team can barely survive without (even for a single night) unless their morale is very high; producing or administering medicine for the Medusea virus, and repairing the radio. You must repair the radio before the 40 days are up. Some options, like petting Marvin the dog and getting information from the robot, do not cost any action points.

There is a random chance that wild predators will attack you in the night. They will always steal rations and if you do not have enough laser rounds they will kill your team. Morale is always low after an attack.

If at any point all four team members are dead or run away the game is over – Sergeant Burden is always overcome by depression, and kills himself. He cannot be a sole survivor.

The Everdusk Team

Marvin the Dog

Named after a dead comrade of the Soldier’s, Marvin is very much loved by the team. As the days wear on, both the Doctor and Sgt. Burden will remark on Marvin’s place in the… food chain.

The Soldier

Marvin’s implied owner and the other hunter on the team, the Soldier is usually very matter-of-fact, and will often remind Burden to keep a good stock of rations and ammunition. The Soldier usually suffers a great morale loss if the Doctor runs away, dies, or is killed. Apparently hates the Engineer.

The Doctor

Smoking an eternal cigarette that never goes and out and has no harmful effects but tastes great, the Doctor is chiefly concerned with the Medusea virus, and keeping the team safe from it.

Sarah, the Therapist

Sarah is reading a book called The Legend of the Keymasher, a story about a boy who “saved old earth with an old computer”. She is the Engineer’s wife and will lose significant morale should the Engineer perish. Strangely, it is Sgt. Burden, not the Therapist, who actually administers the group therapy (by way of a rousing speech).

Donald, the Engineer

Married to Sarah for seven years, the Engineer’s morale tends to drop quickly and often. If Sarah dies or runs away his morale will plummet. As the game progresses he will begin to ask Sgt. Burden to choose Sarah over him, should the need arise. "Not very charismatic, but has a good heart," Sarah says.

BR4ND-0N

A well-dressed robot.

Sgt. Burden

Nothing is known of Sgt. Burden.