Steam free taster is a God of War-like that perfectly builds on The Odyssey hype

The Odyssey is out now in cinemas and many are calling it Christopher Nolan’s best work to date, an impressive feat given his already generational filmography.

It adapts the world-famous epic by Homer with a star-studded cast, and is currently celebrating a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The hype has been so surreal that even the games industry is joining in on the fun, with loads of suggestions for games you should play if you liked the film, namely Assassin’s Creed Odyssey which has been a popular pick thus far.

GAMINGbible, of course, has its own recommendations and we’d like to draw attention to a new Steam game that should appeal to both The Odyssey and God of War fans.

READ NEXT: 7 great games to play if you enjoyed Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

This Steam freebie is one to play after watching The Odyssey, but it’s not without controversy

This is Sparta is “a new metroidvania set in Greek mythology, in a war between gods and titans,” or so says its Steam description.

It’s a 2D pixel-art game and if you’re at all interested in Greek history or mythology, it’s one to stick on your wishlist.

The rest of the game’s description goes into more detail, saying, “Guide King Leonidas, face enemies and progress through levels spread across the three realms—Elysian Fields, Asphodel, and Tartarus—in a genre that blends classic metroidvania elements with roguelike mechanics, unlocking items and abilities that will make Leonidas worthy of the gods’ favour.”

We do love a good metroidvania and Steam has been full of them recently, like one that pays homage to the game that started it all, Castlevania for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Alessandro Vizzarro

God of War fans would probably get a kick out of this one too, as while they were patiently waiting for their next mainline entry Santa Monica Studios shadow-dropped God of War Sons of Sparta onto the PlayStation 5. It was a 2D platformer set during Kratos’ youth before he became the rage-fuelled monster we knew him as in the OG trilogy.

A free demo for This Is Sparta is available on Steam, and after playing it ourselves, we think it has promise. One of the few complaints we have is movement speed, as Leonidas’ movement is a little sluggish for a metroidvania when traversal and back-tracking becomes essential.

Another issue we found can be spotted lurking in its description, as apparently generative AI was used “for marketing shop and into games for some UI portraits placeholder.”

Sounds like a lot of it was removed in the end, but many gamers have firm stances on AI-use in video game development so we wouldn’t be surprised if this turned a lot of potential players away.

Nevertheless if you can overlook the AI, This Is Sparta isn’t a bad freebie to try if you’re still riding the high of watching The Odyssey in IMAX. Or, if you’re on the fence about seeing Christopher Nolan’s new flick, this demo and our other recommendations might get you in the mood.