To me, Gord will never not be a very weird name for a videogame. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad videogame, and in fact based on the new gameplay trailer released today, Gord looks like it might be very cool—if not entirely pleasant.
We predicted that unpleasantness when we got our first look at Gord in 2021. “Horrible things are going to happen to your villagers,” we warned, adding that being eaten by a giant spider might not even be the worst of them. We got a closer look in September 2022, describing it as “a Diablo town manager,” and if you know anything about the towns in Diablo you’ll know that’s bad news too.
Today’s trailer doesn’t paint that picture any prettier. Gord is a singleplayer strategy game about the Tribe of the Dawn, who find themselves struggling to survive in forbidden lands inspired by Slavic folklore. On the surface, it looks like a fairly straightforward city management sim—build, upgrade, expand, and keep your people happy all the while—but it will also feature a quest system that will force you to venture beyond the relative safety of your city walls.
The main quest will carry your people along their journey through evil-infested lands, while side quests like monster hunting and questing for treasures and secrets, will give them something to do in their downtime. Speaking of your people, It’s not just their physical health and happiness you’ll need to worry about: Mental health is an issue too. The world of Gord is a stressful place, after all, and everyone has limits.
As for why the title lands so oddly, a gord is a medieval fortified settlement found in central and eastern Europe in the 6th to 12th centuries, but Gord is a given name, noted by Wikipedia as “uniquely and idiosyncratically Canadian.” And it’s true, we got a lot of ’em:
- Gord Downie
- Gord Martineau
- Gord Sinclair
- Gord Ash
- Gordie Howe
- Gordon Lightfoot
- Gordon Pinsent
- My great uncle Gord, who wasn’t famous but he was family, so I’m putting him on the list
Maybe it doesn’t seem so strange if you don’t live here. Either way, at least now you know what a gord is.
Gord doesn’t have a solid release date yet, but it’s set to arrive this summer on Steam. In the meantime, enjoy some screens below.