Goliath Depot (Indie Review)

Goliath Depot
Platform: Nintendo Switch, Steam
Released May 30, 2024
Developed by Vidvad Games
Published by Flynn’s Arcade

I can’t quite put my finger on what the inspiration for this was.

Goliath Depot is one of those arcade hodgepodges that feels both like every classic golden age coin-op and also like none you’ve played before. In this game’s case, it’s sort of like a mix between Mappy and Mario Bros., with a little bit of Donkey Kong thrown in, only it controls better than any of those did. The object is to close all the doors on a stage. When you shut a door, it launches sound waves at enemies that temporarily stun them, allowing you to touch them to death. Presumably you’re kicking them off the edge. There’s also coins scattered throughout each level, but you don’t actually need to collect them unless you want to unlock various platforming abilities that make the game exponentially more fun than it starts as, which is.. eh, fun enough, I guess. Nothing special, but a solid neo-arcader to waste time with.

You also have to shut storm windows. Don’t worry: the trampoline follows you on stages like this.`

Do you know what I found most annoying about Goliath Depot? The game actually has not only a good idea, but a FANTASTIC idea that’s so underutilized that I want to grab the developer and shake the sh*t out of them while screaming “WHY DIDN’T YOU MAKE THIS THE WHOLE GAME?” Halfway through the final world, the levels get split into two halves. One half has normal gravity, while the other half everything reverses. You don’t die from falling through the floor. Now, go swap between the two halves and shut the doors. It’s phenomenal! A truly exhilarating experience. Lots of games do the reverse gravity bit, but I’ve never seen it done this way. It was one of the best times I’ve had playing an indie recently, but the section of levels that does this is extremely brief before you fight the final boss. Oh, and then the game does the “surprise, you’re being chased by a giant monster” trope that feels weird and out of place, but it also works in a way that caught me by surprise. The whole game is good, and that annoys me because there’s brief moments of absolute brilliance that have the makings of an all-time masterpiece. Damnit, it’s so frustrating because I want all these games to reach their fullest potential, and clearly this isn’t.

Yes. More of this. In my veins. Tap tap. If there were DLC priced at $4.99 that’s 20 stages of just this, I’d buy it. With a smile on my face.

What a tease. And mind you, it’s not like the rest of Goliath Depot is bad for anything. Frankly, it’s pretty good. Not great, but certainly a worthy addition for your modern arcade collection. Goliath Depot just wasn’t something that captured my imagination, until it did at the literal tail-end of the game. Before that, it was fine. It made the lines at Disneyland go quick, which hey, that’s something. I wasn’t exactly bored playing it or anything. I just wasn’t feeling energized by it. Then, out of nowhere, it was briefly sublime. Had the whole game featured those gravity bits, or at the very least, a whole nine-level world and boss fight with them, I honestly think Goliath Depot would have joined the ranks of Donut Dodo as one of those games that I sing the praises of to everyone. Then it just ended. And actually, after the first three worlds saw me dying on the semi-regular (it took me quite a while to finish the second world), I beat the final world on my first try. So the difficulty scaling isn’t exactly spot-on either. At first, I thought that might have been the fact that I unlocked double-jumping, which felt perfect for this game. But when I went back to get high scores on the first two worlds, world two still ate me for lunch, double jumping or not. The enemies are more dangerous, and THOSE levels have tighter squeezes.

That finale with the giant eyeball was thrilling and, like so much of the final world, brief. Another point in the win column for Goliath Depot is it actually does have fun and memorable boss battles. Early on, the boss fights are actually the only part that really stood out.

So, what do you get for your seven bucks? Forty levels that, while they’re almost all well-designed, are ordered completely wrong. Oh and all advanced platforming moves and acrobatics are locked, and can only be equipped one at a time. Want to hop down through a ledge? Build-up coins to buy it. Gliding? Build-up coins to buy it. Double jumping? Build up coins to buy it. Is this really the kind of game you want to be doing that with? I don’t want to have to unlock MOVES in an arcade game. I want to just play it, and come what may. Granted, they don’t take that long to unlock, and also it’s not like the game NEEDED any of those moves. It plays fine. This is actually a clever idea and it’s really satisfying to stun the enemies and kick them off. If you’re into after-game extra features, there’s plenty of secondary challenges and unlockables. But with a game like this, I really want to just see all the levels once and be done with it, and I want to have the maximum fun while I do it. So, like, just give us the moves and let us have fun with your playground.

Yet another trope that is only briefly touched upon: keys are also introduced in World Four and barely factor into a small amount of levels. This is NOT one of those games where I can say I think the developer brought everything they had. Actually, I think most of the best ideas go unexplored and there was room for at least 20 more levels, and probably more.

Goliath Depot did a good enough job that I think your typical neo-arcade fan would enjoy it. It’s not brainless, that’s for sure. I can’t remember any arcade platformer where I had to stop and think about my next move more than this one. I’m THERE for a sequel, because Vidvad Games proved they have the chops. But, I’d tell them the same thing I tell every developer: bring your best stuff early in a game. Even if there were only 4 reverse gravity stages in the game (and there really are), I’d not have been able to put Goliath Depot down once I saw them. Nothing about those early levels stood out. They were fun, but do you know how many fun games are out there? The stuff that would have had me losing my mind trying to convince people to buy this don’t show up until the literal end of the game. To be clear: I liked Goliath Depot. You should try it, especially if this genre is your jam. I also don’t think this came close to realizing its fullest potential.
Verdict: YES!
$6.99 slammed a door on her own fingers in the making of this review.
A review copy was supplied all the way back in April. A copy was purchased by Cathy upon release.