Games That Let You Play As A God

Many video games are designed to provide people with a power fantasy of some sort. Escapism and gaming go hand in hand as many people look to be immersed in a world that distracts them from the realities of everyday life.

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Some specific games take this concept to its highest peak and let people play as a god among humans. Whether it's a multiplayer game like Smite or a simulation experience like Black & White, there are dozens of games where the power of a god is within one's grasp.

Updated on October 7, 2024, by Jason Wojnar: Many games have a cheat code or unlockable God Mode. Would the games below also have the same mode if players were playing as a god from the start? Maybe it would be called god-lier mode. Anyway, the updated version of this list features some new games and more photos of the more popular games featured. Being a god is complicated, so not every game on this list is the power fantasy one might expect when the protagonist is an omnipotent being.

18 Too Human

This Xbox 360 game was hyped up for years as being one of the generation's early heavy-hitters. Unfortunately, it did not hit the ball out of the park. After a few years, copies of the game were pulled off shelves for various legal reasons.

The game is back on digital marketplaces, though, so players can experience this strange sci-fi recreation of Norse mythology. Gods are cyborgs and players control Baldur, who is presumably less antagonist than the Baldur from 2018's God of War.

17 Zeus: Master Of Olympus

A game with a name like this simply has to make it in. However, players are not wielding the god's mighty power to destroy enemies. Instead, they are building up a city in Ancient Greece. Historical accuracy is traded in favor of supernatural disasters and various gods and monsters showing up to rain on the townspeople's parade. Zeus: Master of Olympus is part of a series by developer Impressions Games that are all city-building simulators. The first games were Caesar and Pharaoh.

16 Kid Icarus

A Character Based On Icarus

Nintendo worlds can sometimes be influenced by Mythology - The Legend of Zelda in particular - but rarely do players directly control a god. Kid Icarus is the closest players get since Pit is technically an angel, but he's clearly based on the minor god Icarus from Greek Mythology.

There's a reason the game is called Kid Icarus, after all. The original NES game is a typical side-scrolling platformer people expect from the console. After one sequel on the Game Boy, the series went into hiatus before coming back with Kid Icarus: Uprising years later.

15 Asura's Wrath

A Demon God Taking Revenge On Other Gods

Asura's Wrath is about a god who journeys to take revenge against other gods. While this sounds a lot like God of War, it differentiates itself with an anime art style and structure that borrows from the aforementioned medium.

Where God of War is always serious, Asura's Wrath is so over-the-top and stylish one cannot help but enjoy every minute of it. Developer Cyberconnect2 has developed several adaptations of Naruto and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, so Asura's Wrath's anime connections are appropriate.

14 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Thor And Other Gods

The characters in both Marvel and DC range from normal people with wits to turn into superheroes or literal gods. One of the most notable Marvel characters is Thor.

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He has his own game, but players can also control him in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series, along with many other iconic Marvel superheroes. There is some balancing done to make all the characters feel equally useful, but there's no denying that players control the god of thunder.

13 Age Of Mythology

A General Who Eventually Becomes A God

If the name didn't already make it clear, Age of Mythology is a spin-off of the Age of Empires franchise. Instead of taking place in history, the game takes place in a world where gods and their created civilizations populate the earth.

Players control who is just a normal general, but by the end of the game, the character is turned into a god. It's appropriate for an RTS to be on this list since they combine feeling like a god and controlling everything with the limitations set by resources, people, and time.

12 Darksiders 2

Playing As the Horseman Of The Apocalypse

The neat thing about the Darksiders trilogy is that each game offers a different protagonist. In the original game, players take on the role of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Each follow-up game puts a different member of this group in the lead role, with Death being the lead in the second game and Fury in the third title.

They are all hack-and-slash action-adventure games that each include many role-playing game elements. The first and second games are well-regarded in terms of their critical reception, with the third having the most mixed feedback.

11 Okami

An Action-Adventure Game Where You Play As A God

Okami might not be the first game that people think of when they consider games where one plays as a god, but the playable character Amaterasu is indeed a deity. The game is an action-adventure title that provides a beautiful world of watercolors and combat that's fluid and majestic.

It's been stated by both the developers of the game and fans that the game design of Okami feels very much inspired by The Legend of Zelda. A key part of the game has players using a tool called the Celestial Brush where Amaterasu (Okami) will paint on a canvas and in turn that painting will have an effect on the world around the player. It's used to solve puzzles and defeat enemies in combat.

10 Civilization 6

Develop A Civilization As If One Is Playing As A God

The Civilization series as a whole is among the more iconic PC examples of an experience that lets people truly see how it would look to see human cultures and society evolve over the course of time. Players get to play an active role as they decide where critical resources are placed and how things evolve.

The game sets it up as though the player is taking on the role of a critical historical figure, but considering the player chooses who takes on the role of leader, it feels as though they exist on a plane above that of the chosen ruler. With that in mind, it feels fair to class Civilization 6 and the series' other entries as god games, and they're some of the best in the genre.

9 Hades

Fight Through The Underworld As A God

Hades burst onto the scene in 2020 as an artistically beautifully and mechanically engaging dungeon-crawling roguelike. Players took on the role of Zagreus, the son of Hades, the God of the Underworld. By traversing the world of the undead, Zagreus must escape, but not before taking on the mythological beasts and deities standing in his way.

With roguelikes being a rather niche genre of games, Hades was a high-quality experience that infused a strong and immersive narrative, leading to many people diving into the roguelike genre for the first time.