If there’s one thing Gord makes clear right from the get-go, it’s that surviving its dark and dangerous woods will not be an easy or comfortable experience. In my time playing this settlement-building survival game, I raised a village from nothing, fought off barbaric invaders, and made a dark pact with an evil God – all of which were equal parts stressful and rewarding. Covenant, an indie studio founded by a handful of former CD Projekt Red developers, clearly borrows a lot from the Slavic dark fantasy setting of their Witcher roots. But instead of playing an all-powerful warrior who makes his living slaying dangerous monsters, Gord asks you to manage a group of peasants fighting to survive against impossible odds, and that managed to capture my attention in the first few levels and couple hours I spent with it.
If you don’t know what a “gord” is, the word refers to Slavic fortified settlements from medieval times – a fitting name for a game that’s all about building your own walled villages to survive the setting’s hostile environments. At first look, Gord looks and feels like an extremely depressing version of The Sims, with me spending most of my time concerning myself with the well-being of a group of villagers who seemed all too eager to become injured, go insane, and starve to death without my micromanagement. Building structures like a lumber mill for storing wood to be used in construction or a forager’s hut for storing food were essential to keeping my settlement happy and operational, but I also had to worry about the group’s mental health as venturing out into the extremely dangerous and perpetually dark woods takes a massive toll unless they’re properly equipped with torchlight and traveling in pairs.
My attempts to grow the community were regularly interrupted by vicious wildlife, like packs of hungry wolves or raiders, who would strike my settlements in times where my attentions were focused elsewhere, such as when I was exploring the land beyond our walls. My villagers made better sandbags than soldiers, but with the proper training, equipment, and especially by working as a group, they were usually capable of coming out on top against Gord’s more mundane dangers – though usually not without taking on a whole lot of mental trauma in the process, which drove them ever closer to a psychological break if not tended to.
But the best moments Gord’s early levels had in store were the difficult decisions and strange rituals that hinted at the creepy direction it seems the adventure will lean into. For example, in one level I encountered a sinister-looking witch who served a foreign (and seemingly wicked) God, and had the opportunity to recruit her to my ranks with protest from some within the party. Doing so unlocked the ability to build a religious temple in my village for individuals to pray at and generate Faith, to be used as a resource in casting magic.
“These sorts of decisions, which play into Gord’s dark fantasy setting, seem to set it apart from other survival games.”
At the demo’s conclusion, I encountered a monstrous creature of immense power and was given the laughable option of attempting to slay it. Alternatively, the fiend demanded I sacrifice one of the children in my village as a means of appeasing it. Without time on my side and with my back very much against the wall, I saw no other realistic options other than to give the beast what it wanted, leading an oblivious youth to the creature’s feet before watching it devour him whole. My goal was complete, but I could feel the eyes of my companions upon me, judging my terrible decision.
These sorts of decisions, which play into Gord’s dark fantasy setting, seem to set it apart from other survival games and drew me into the eerie story that I only got a taste of. Though my time with it was often stressful, nonetheless I’m excited to play more when it comes out later this year.
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