‘Gord’ Preview: Dark Fantasy RTS With Grim Moral Choices
Virtual insanity
A dark forest surrounds our base. Terrifying creatures make their homes in these woods, an ever-present threat to our villagers in a world where both mental and physical health require constant supervision. Sadly, our settlers can’t stay in the safety of the palisade forever, and so into the oppressive dark we must send them.
See the teaser trailer for Gord here:
Gord is not a ‘feel good’ game. This gritty RTS title is all about facing despair and finding a way of surviving it that suits you. Will you stand up to evil or scratch its back in the hope it, in turn, scratches yours?
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Speaking to the game’s director, Stan Just, he explained one example of Gord’s moral quandaries is a particularly wretched enemy will ask you to sacrifice a child to it in exchange for the safety of your community. You can either acquiesce to this evil offer, or choose to fight against the creature, which is not an easy battle, according to our man Stan.
Such depressing decisions feel appropriate in the world of Gord as you not only have to keep your settlers alive, you also have to keep them well in their minds. The game uses a ‘sanity’ counter, and this can be negatively impacted by the horrors around your villagers, from seeing monsters attacking their allies, to simply being alone in the dark.
You’d be forgiven for thinking the game has a connection to CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher franchise, thanks to its bleak world and monsters inspired by Slavic folklore, and you’d be right as Gord is the work of Polish game development studio Covenant.dev; a company featuring team members with experience at CDPR and 11 Bit Studios.
Although I’ve yet to play Gord myself, what I saw during a hands-off presentation has me fascinated. The idea of trying to survive in a nightmarish world like this is daunting enough, never mind having to protect and develop a community at the same time.
Although there’s no exact release date yet, Gord is planned to release on PC at some point in 2023. Until then, I’ll be left agonising over what other grim moral dilemmas the game has waiting for me.