At long last, Golem is rolling out on PSVR across digital and physical formats. Having a hard time fighting your way through its crumbling ruins? Then read our Golem tips for a helping hand.
Highwire Games’ long-delayed debut has proved to be a divisive release since initial launch last Friday (see our review here). Many love the tough combat, which asks more from players than your average VR game might. That said, many more struggle with the game’s locomotion and often punishing difficulty. If you find yourself in the latter category, these Golem tips should give you some guidance.
Try All Control Schemes And Comfort Options Then Master Your Prefered Ones ASAP
I can’t stress this enough. The sooner you adapt to Golem’s strange array of movement options, the sooner you can start to actually enjoy the game. There are two movement modes. One has you leaning to move forwards and backwards while holding a Move, the other uses the DualShock 4 in one hand, Move controller in the other. In both, you can turn by tilting your head one way or the other or by pressing buttons on the Move controller. In the options menu, meanwhile, you can adjust comfort blinders and the speed of quick turns.
When you first get control of a Golem, do not progress on with the story straight away. Spend time testing out these options for yourself in this first area. Heck, if need be, spend your entire first play session learning to steer yourself around in a means your stomach can handle. It might not ever feel perfect to you, but you’ll enjoy the game much more if you make peace with whatever movement mode you go with before getting started. (Note: Highwire is planning to add more movement options to the game.)
Learn Enemy Animations
Golem’s combat might appear simple at first, but the difficulty quickly ratchets up to make for a more demanding experience. You’ll get better weapons and gear to ease the pain, but the secret to combat is to simply learn the animations from the get-go. Enemy attack patterns are set so, once you recognise the first attack in a sequence, you’ll know where the others will be coming in from. By the end of the game you’ll be playing like a mind reader, being ready to block long before an attack is incoming. If you take anything from our Golem tips, make it this.
Press The Attack
In Golem, you can only damage an enemy when they expose a weak point, usually after a succession of blocked attacks. It’s tempting to stand rooted to the spot during battles, especially when you’re still learning the ins and outs of movement, but it’s pivotal that you learn when to close the gap between you and your opponent. That way you’ll make sure you’re in range of exposed weak spots. More than that, sometimes enemies will stagger backwards after being hit and take another swing. If you block this attack, you’ll open up another chance for damage much faster than waiting for a new combination to come your way.
Again, it’s about learning the animations; if you notice an enemy about to fall to their knee, take the chance to get close, hit them and then be ready to block again straight away.
Lean Back And Heal Up
A final note on the combat; learn to lean back. It’s another bit of tricky movement, but you only have to walk a few steps back and your enemy will probably stop in their tracks and wonder what you’re doing. Take this time to gather yourself; especially if your screen is pulsating, which means you’re a hit away from defeat. Take a moment to let the effect subside then dive back in. Having the patience to heal up makes Golem a much more manageable game.
Memorize The Map
Golem doesn’t have its own map, but the game has a lot of hidden paths and required backtracking. Fortunately, the world isn’t so overwhelming that you can’t memorize most of it. From the very start of the game, make sure you’re making note of everything you see. New masks, gained by defeating other Golems, open new doors. They’re mostly located in the opening square you respawn in each time, but there’s one hidden away that you’ll need to access around midway through the game.
Save Your Best Weapons For When You Get New Masks
To equip new gear in Golem, you have to die. You need to go to the pause menu, get sent back to the workshop and then watch your current Golem fall to the ground. Not only that, but you’ll lose your current gear and respawn back in the starting square, which might be a while away from where you just were and all of your enemies will have respawned too. So, if you get a new weapon, don’t suddenly scrap a Golem to equip it unless you know you’re in a good position to do so. Every time you gain a new mask, you’ll have a bunch of new doors to open, making this the best time to equip a new weapon and face the dangers beyond.
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Golem is available now on PSVR. Have any more Golem tips for us? Let us know in the comments below!
