Before making appointments for Gamescom 2025, I figured I should do some recon work so I knew which games I wanted to get my hands on. “Project Pantheon”—now known as Gods, Death & Reapers— was offered to me, and I had no previous knowledge about it. Coming from Wolcen Studio in France, which was founded in 2015, I went hunting. Checking out trailers on YouTube just left me more confused, as they were filled with eerie imagery and a foreboding feeling, but I couldn’t even identify the genre from what I had seen.
At the time, there was no gameplay, a touch of story, and not much else to go on. Today, I’ve gone hands-on with Gods, Death & Reapers, and I am so, so glad that I took the risk and booked that slot.
Gods, Death & Reapers is one of my favourite games I went hands-on with at gamescom 2025. But before we get to that, maybe I should explain the premise. Wolcen Studio is calling it an ExtrAction RPG, and they aren’t wrong. Extraction games are the “it” genre right now, and I’ve played my fair share, especially at events like gamescom, Summer Game Fest, and I’m sure I’ll play more next week at PAX West. The gameplay loop is usually very straightforward forward, and with so many available, it can get stale…fast. Gods, Death & Reapers is bringing not only a solo campaign to the game, but also multiple maps based on different mythologies.
“Gods, Death & Reapers is one of my favourite games I went hands-on with at gamescom 2025.”
Set “in an afterlife where mythology is real and the gods are dead”, Gods, Death & Reapers is a bleak world. I was able to play in their Norse mythology section of the game, but Wolcen’s roadmap also includes Egyptian, Aztec and Greek mythology. Each mythology will come with new content, including but not limited to new maps, enemies, artifacts and gear. With four selections at start, it looks like there will be a ton of content, with the possibility of more in the future.
My Gods, Death & Reapers demo mostly consisted of a tutorial section where Death — whom the studio internally calls Daddy Death or Death Daddy, I can’t remember which — shows you the ropes and won’t let you die for the sake of your education. Here, I was able to learn about loot, my controls and abilities, different enemies, and of course, how to extract. During this time, I also got a grasp on some of the enemy mechanics and my own skills.
I am unsure if there is character design, as we were set up with a vault full of weapons and items to get started. At the moment, we had access to a sword and shield, a blunt hammer, a dagger, and an axe. I was assured there will be plenty more, including bows, in future gameplay. As always, I went the dagger route, and it didn’t disappoint.
As you level in Gods, Death & Reapers, you unlock and then strengthen your skills. I had a ranged attack where I threw my axe and it hit every enemy in its path, another ability that was an area-of-effect attack, a regular attack, cloaking abilities, and more. There is no sprint, but I heard talk of mounts. Mythological mounts? Count me in.
As an “extraction RPG,” I am eager to see how the action-RPG mechanics play into the overall game in Gods, Death & Reapers. For now, I did some light looting and investigated all the enemies I could find. Each map will feature one boss and five different sets of enemies. In the Midgard world, the enemies were eerie and, honestly, kind of disgusting at times, which was the point.
Some were simple, like wolves, some harder, where I would need to run away and hide, as my gear wasn’t great and my level was low. One enemy was an obese creature with tentacles coming from its mouth and body. Its stomach would open up and spew an AOE attack at you. I audibly yelled “GROSS” in a demo room full of people. They seemed pleased with that.
“Gods, Death & Reapers looks excellent already visually, with a detailed world and NPCs, and so far, it has played well.”
To extract, you have to make it to one of the extraction points and fight a wave of enemies to be set free. You will head back to the Sanctuary to dump your goods in the vault, heal up, which costs gold (called “Death’s Embrace”), and you can also build and craft here. Though there is a walkable map, there was still an option to teleport where you need, and I loved that added touch.
As I mentioned earlier, the Sanctuary and the Norse map felt inspired by Diablo, both in terms of their top-down angle and the general tone and spookiness. Gods, Death & Reapers looks excellent visually, with a detailed world and NPCs. So far, it has played well, although servers are not live, obviously. After my demo, we were put into a session together with other players, but sadly, there were so few of us that we never ran into each other. I did, however, run into plenty of horrific enemies, and Daddy Death wasn’t there to save me this time. I definitely needed Death’s Embrace afterwards, and I didn’t make it to extraction.
I am very eager to see more from Gods, Death & Reapers, especially when it comes to a single-player story. The hoarding in me loves the extraction, but I really want to see how Wolcen is making things different, and I want to know more about how the story plays into the game. With only a shot playthrough under my belt, I can still say that the game is in great shape so far, and I think that this is something to be excited about.
Already two years into development, Gods, Death & Reapers is coming to anything they can physically make work—Wolcen Studio’s words, not mine—with hopes that it will even make it onto Nintendo Switch 2. No official release window has been announced, but the team is looking to host a Closed Beta in the winter of 2025.
