Developer: Studio Alex/Gainax Publisher: NEC Interchannel Released: November 25, 1994 Genre: Action/Adventure
The last few years of the PC Engine’s life saw a host of awesome and creative titles. While everyone lusts after Rondo of Blood and takes out a second mortgage for Ginga Densetsu Sapphire there were plenty of other gems waiting to be discovered. Götzendiener stars a plucky young princess story who decides to save herself rather than wait for a hero. While it has its faults and some of its ideas are never fully realized it is an enjoyable title nonetheless. It is also cheap compared to its expensive import brethren.
Götzendiener tells the story of Princess Kish Rim Misa. Misa is captured by an army opposing the Demon Lord to be used as a sacrifice. The Royal Family sends their army to rescue her, led by a hero wielding the royal Sword of the Valiant. The battle is bloody and the hero finally strikes down the Demon God. Unfortunately he dies as well. With the Demon dead Misa’s is freed and picks up the sword to escape on her own. Unlike most imports there is no language barrier as the only dialogue occurs in the intro, ending, and second to last cutscene.
The best way to describe Götzendiener is an isometric Prince of Persia. It features the same level of exquisite animation, this time done by animation studio Gainax. While your actions do not have to be as deliberate as that game the Princess is slow in nearly all of her movements due to the heavy slowdown during the game. Luckily there is no platforming as the game focuses more on puzzles. Misa will wield a variety of weapons throughout the game but combat does not really come into focus until closer to the end.
The princess always has the sword of the valiant which you can unsheathe at any time. Combat is simple and slow and lacks the nuance of Prince of Persia because it is not the focus, merely a means to an end. You can also push and pull objects. The various puzzles require specific items but you will find these lying around. The princess won’t carry an inventory though; all items are used almost immediately. A little bit into the game you will also learn two spells, fire and revive. The fire spell doubles as both offense and to solve light puzzles. Revive will reincarnate defeated enemies to fight by your side. But as cool as that sounds their AI is so bad and combat so simple it is not worth it.
For the most part you are left to your own devices to navigate the levels and discern what to do. The first things you will have to come to grips with are the controls. Isometric games are frustrating because of diagonal controls but Götzendiener is especially frustrating. The princess is slow to react and prone to randomly drawing her sword. Any control problems are offset by the fact you are alone 90% of the time. None of the puzzles are complex. What makes them annoying is lack of any guidance. For example, to learn the fire spell you must target candle by pressing select and press attack. But the game to that point has never asked you to manually target an item or even hints at this. You stumble biindly and while you will find the solution eventually a hint every now and then would have been nice.
Ultimately what hurts Götzendiener the most is that it is short. The fact that you must decipher the game’s puzzles with no hints will stymie some for a period of time. But once you have it figured out it is possible to run through the game in a little over fifteen minutes. That is not a problem in and of itself. But Götzendiener has plenty of interesting mechanics and puzzles that are not fully explored due to its brevity. I would have loved to see things like the revive spell used for puzzle solving or more variety in items. There is a good base for a spectacular game here but it is over too soon.
In Closing
Götzendiener is a hard one to put a number on. There is a lot to like about it, from the animation to the sprawling environments. But there is just as much frustration like lack of any guidance. It is satisfying to figure out the puzzles but as a whole could have used a little more content to explore its mechanics. I like it in spite of its faults but can recognize that not everyone will feel the same.
