God of Destiny preview: how different is a MOBA from Taiwan?

We’ve always focused a lot on Western MOBAs, but what about those from the east? Asia is a treasure trove of games waiting to be discovered, and the latest gem to land in our inbox is Wayi Entertainment’s God of Destiny: the Eternal Strife of Gods (GOD).

Developed in-house at Wayi, GOD is the second game produced by its team, its predecessor being the MMORPG 81 Keys. The standalone MOBA features heroes based on Eastern and Western fantasy, including in its varied cast Chinese favorites like Wukong, Bajie, Wujing, and Tang Xuanzang from the Chinese novel, Journey to the West.

Its basic premise is the same as any other MOBA: two opposing factions are clashing in an endless war. However there aren’t any Dire or Radiant sides with GOD. Instead, the war is between the undersea world, and the landlubbers.

GOD is presently only available in Traditional Chinese. Its closed beta test started in Taiwan last week. Don’t worry if you can’t speak Chinese, though. That’s what we’re here for, right? The server population is still pretty low (and there are three servers) so we tried a few games with bots. Read on to find out what we think of the game so far.

Now if you’re a MOBA player, you’re going to pick up on GOD really quickly. Like Dota 2, it features just one map apart from a single-lane tutorial map only accessible at the start of the game. This main map actually looks like an inverted Dota 2 one, and experienced MOBA players are going to find a lot of similar features in this MOBA mix-up from Taiwan.

Instead of a lobby, GOD gives you a game hub, where you can wander around in the guise of any hero you choose, chat with other players, as well as create, join, or spectate on-going games. There are player ratings, in-game leader boards, as well as a cash shop where players can pick up cosmetic pets or buy EXP boosts.

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Although GOD definitely draws from other games (at this point I actually felt it was a lot like League of Legends), it still manages to hit a sweet spot that is intriguing, interesting, and well-paced.

Visuals

Firstly, GOD looks good. Although its user interface could definitely use a bit more polish, it displays all important information and buttons. GOD also has pretty solid visuals in spite of its UI. Its heroes are well drawn, most have unique features (bird in a feather skirt? You don’t see that in Dota 2.), and they also have animations for when they’re idling.

Most of the heroes available right now are from Chinese myth and legend, though this being just the closed beta test in Taiwan, I’m sure more Western-influenced heroes will be patched in before long.