Cosmic Horror Comic Shooter
HIGH Looks good and plays better.
LOW Platforming in the later levels.
WTF The boss that moves in 3D… in a 2D focused game.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi everyone! Eugene Sax here with another review from GameCritics.com.
Colored keys? Check.
Fast moving enemies and projectiles? Check.
Enemies that are reduced to bloody bits when killed? Very much check.
After receiving a letter from a family member pleading for help, our hero rushes back to their hometown to assist, not realizing what lies in store… And that’s about as much story as players get before Forgive Me Father throws them into the deep end.
In this fast-paced, horror-themed first-person shooter (similar to ’90s classics like Doom, Quake, or Wolfenstein) players will explore their hometown while fighting an endless tide of otherworldly enemies inspired by Lovecraft stories. Players can choose from two heroes — Priest or Journalist — and along the way will find ammo and health pickups, as well as keys needed to progress. Defeating enemies grants upgrade points that can be used to improve guns, ammo capacity, health and armor or special abilities. Players can also pick up alcohol, which increases Madness.
Madness is a combo system that increases as players kill enemies. As it grows, it affects audio and visuals by slightly distorting of both (this effect can be turned off) but also makes the player stronger by dealing more damage while taking less. It also charges unique abilities for each hero. The Priest focuses on abilities that buff himself, like a self-heal or temporary invincibility. The Journalist is more about crowd control, employing things like a controlled explosion or a time stop.
Those abilities combined with each weapon having two different upgrade paths makes for a shooter that is deeper than I had expected for something created in a semi-retro style. That depth dries up quickly, though. For example, upgrading weapons is nice, but it doesn’t feel like any gun is particularly better than any other one, so I defaulted to whichever one had ammo at the time.
Forgive Me Father also features comic book-style art which is a feast for the eyes, but it’s hard to appreciate when I’m moving around while trying to avoid enemy fire, and the enemy designs like the gangly psych ward monster with straitjacket tentacles or the ghouls with their tombstones as weapons are cool to see (like, in the loading screens when they’re holding still and not actively trying to kill me) but it’s tough to appreciate the visuals when things are going hot.
While the developers put the two heroes into their own campaigns, it was disappointing to find that players will go through the same levels no matter which they choose. There’s also an an endless mode that gives some added replay value, but it didn’t hold as much appeal as the campaigns did.
Thankfully, Forgive Me Father shines mechanically, and that counts for a lot — the quick movement, automatically reloading guns, hectic shooting and pulsing soundtrack had me hooked from level one. It can be a bit punishing and the save points are a bit too far apart, but I think fans of ’90s-style shooters will find a lot to like here — just don’t expect anything more than solid shooting and bloody bits.
For me, Forgive Me Father gets 7 blood soaked rooms out of 10.
Disclosures: This game is developed by Byte Barrel, and published by Fulqrum Publishing. It is currently available on PS4/5, XBO/X/S, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 15 hours of play were spent playing the game, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Language, and Violence. Enemies explode into bloody bits with every kill. Characters will use d***, b******, and s*** frequently. Not for the younger audience.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is text in game, but text is not resizable. Story items vary wildly between the size of what can be read – what does this mean? Audio mostly serves aesthetic purposes and is not needed for gameplay. The game is fully accessible.
Remappable controls: Controls are fully remappable
While Sonic and Street Fighter were great places to start, his first love was Final Fantasy X when his dad bought a PS2. Ever since, that love for gaming has evolved -- there are a number of game worlds out there, and he intends to explore them all. RPG to horror, platformers to casual and everything in between -- if it’s available, he’ll play it.
While his time is short between writing reviews, tabletop gaming, and attempting to start a cheesecake business, he has caught all 806 pokemon and can speedrun Star Fox 64 in less than 40 minutes. He’s always looking for new things to try and new challenges to conquer. You can find him on Twitter -- @eugene_sax.
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