God Eater Resurrection Sent Players On A Hunt At E3

Bandai Namco didn’t have a traditional E3 booth this year, but it did have a room filled with demos above the Los Angeles Convention Center’s South Hall. It’s in this tucked away place that people could stop to play a number of games, God Eater Resurrection among them. While this particular demo wasn’t exactly extensive or lengthy, it was probably one of the most accurate representations of the sort of adventures someone will have in the full game.

God Eater Resurrection began with players using a pre-made character and speaking to Hibari in the hub. People could pick one of three practice exercises for the mission, with Tutorial, Easy, and Hard difficulties available. The Easy mission sends people against two different kinds of Aragami. There are multiple Ogretails in the excursion, with one Kongou acting as the mission’s “boss.” Lindow, Alisa, and Kota come along for the ride.

As a Monster Hunter-inspired game, God Eater Resurrection’s gameplay is rather straightforward. The demo character had a short range sword and a long range gun, with the ability to swap between the two at any time during the fight. The field wasn’t terribly large or difficult to navigate, meaning it was as simple as initially running up to the one Ogretail and dispatching it, then taking care of subsequent appearances.

It did a good job of scaling difficulty. First, one Ogretail was around to attack. Once it was gone, two more joined the fray. After all the Ogretails were defeated, a lone Kongou appeared at the far end of the field. It’s preparing you for the stronger fight ahead. The tactics employed by the smaller enemies aren’t too challenging, but the Kongou clearly telegraphs its pounding and rolling attacks, giving players an opportunity to learn and develop strategies of their own.

While the God Eater Resurrection mission wasn’t exactly challenging, it was a good means of practicing proper usage of both weapons. Especially the ranged gun. Stardust and Rabbit Shot slot bullets were available. Each had its own sort of range and effect. The Ogretails were best handled with the melee weapon, since they were small, quickly got up close to the group, and didn’t use very damaging attacks.

The Kongou, however, was the perfect Aragami to use for target practice. Lindow, Alisa, and Kota could be used as bait. Once the Kongou went after them, it was possible to pull out the big gun and use Stardust or Rabbit Shot to do very real damage. When it decided to come back around, it was easy enough to swap to the sword. After a certain amount of damage was taken, it’d attempt to flee, which made the gun the most viable weapon again.

It wasn’t like the God Eater Resurrection demo was the best example of a major hunt, but the experience offered did a more than adequate job of showing what people could expect from the game. Players could see a multistage quest with varying types of Aragami to defeat, work on some tactics that would apply to the full game, and get comfortable with the equipment. It represented the flow of battle well.

God Eater Resurrection will come to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita on June 28, 2016 and Windows PCs on August 30, 2016 in North America. It will come to the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and PC in Europe on August 30, 2016.