Gods Will Be Watching takes pity on you with The Mercy Update

By Will Fulton August 8, 2014

gods will watching gets little merciful update be wathing mercy — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Gods Will Be Watching, Deconstructeam’s punishingly difficult point-and-click adventure game, has taken pity on beleaguered gamers with The Mercy Update, which adds variable difficulty settings: Original Mode doesn’t change the level of challenge at all, Puzzle Mode eliminates all random chance from your decisions, and Narrative Mode lets you move through the game’s story with minimal obstacles.

“The team is very happy with the release of Gods Will Be Watching and the reception of the intense challenge we set out to deliver, but we’ve also been listening carefully to all the feedback, and we want to make the game as accessible as possible to every kind of player,” said Deconstructeam designer Jordi de Paco.

Recommended Videos

Related: The good old days of King’s Quest III and satisfying failures

“The Mercy Update is the result of our team’s discussions with both fans and critics, refining the game and creating new settings that allow more gamers to experience Gods Will Be Watching at a comfortable challenge level.”

Gods Will Be Watching is a mature science fiction adventure made up of narratively disconnected “levels.” Each one presents players with complicated social puzzles that require morally-driven decisions to be made. Digital Trends found it to be unforgiving, but enjoyable, hearkening back to an earlier era in gaming when there was much less hand-holding.

The Mercy Update is available now through Steam, GOG, and Humble.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

Xbox’s new transparent controller will take you back to the 2000s

A blue translucent Xbox controller in front of a cyber blue background.

I miss translucent tech products as a industrywide trend, and it seems a lot of other people do too. Case in point is the new Sky Cipher Special Edition controller Xbox announced on Wednesday.

The transparent blue Xbox Wireless Controller, which will go on sale for $70 on August 13 and is now available for preorder, can show off inner workings like, as Xbox says, the rumble pack. It also has metallic D-pad and triggers that should be more durable than plastic, rubber grips on the back, and "silver interior parts" that make it look simultaneously futuristic and nostalgic.

Gaming

This smash-hit game is finally coming to the U.S., and you should take notice

honor of kings sgf 2024 preview banner

Honor of Kings isn’t exactly a new game. In fact, it’s the largest mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, with more than 200 million registered players. And it's finally coming to a global audience after years of being limited to a select few countries.

The biggest draw of Tencent's flagship MOBA is its mobile-friendly gameplay with short games, perfect for commutes and short breaks. Similar to League of Legends: Wild Rift, it shrinks the typical MOBA experience down to a more digestible version. At Summer Game Fest, I tried out the tutorial and a bot game with one of the characters. Based on that taste, Honor of Kings seems to deliver what it promises: a concise, streamlined MOBA game that ends within 15 to 20 minutes, and features enough variety so that the matches don't feel repetitive.

Gaming

Volgarr the Viking 2 will take you back to your Ghosts ‘n Goblins days

A viking slashes a tree in Volgarr the Viking 2.

Developer Digital Eclipse is working on a surprising project: Volgarr the Viking 2. The 2D retro sequel will launch on August 6 for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The news is an out of left field reveal. The first Volgarr the Viking game released in 2013 and was made as an ode to 1080s classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins. Despite being a small release, it sold over 1 million copies over the past decade. As revealed during today's Guerrilla Collective stream, the series is coming back with a new sequel by Digital Eclipse, the team behind this year's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.