Forgive Me Father (2021)

It starts off solid then devolves into a mess of bad level design, bullet sponge enemies and crappy weapons. It went on about 3 hours too long, by the time I was at the final world I was begging for it to end. There's no real sense of progression in the gameplay, the first 10 minutes play the exact same as the last 10 minutes. The character levelling system tries to alleviate this, but its so stingy with points and upgrades are so incremental that it doesn't feel any different. The shotgun is the only good gun and there's barely any ammo for it, and the inventory upgrades are ineffectual. The platforming is also atrocious, who makes a boomer shooter where your character dies instantly upon stepping in water, while also having save points? Doom came out 30 years ago and knew to have damaging floors and the ability to save on the fly. It isn't even consistent with its insta-die falls, in some levels you could actually go into the water no problem, in some levels if you fall off a cliff you die instantly and in some you teleport at the top with some health missing. Some levels if you fall into the hole in the floor you die, in some levels that isn't a hole and is decoration, with no indicator of the difference. Having the health bar pop up on top of the screen for fodder enemies is a bizarre decision, since it disappears once they leave your sight, at least Borderlands knew to put the health bar above the enemy. And its not like this game is against putting blatant indicators on top of things, they have absolutely no faith in my ability to know I'm picking up health or ammo so they have the words "HEALTH" and "AMMO" floating in big coloured letters over them.

The only thing this game has going for it is the artstyle, which is absolutely gorgeous. Every other artistic component is mediocre or forgettable, like the voice acting, music and lighting.

This entire game is a mess.

It turned out to be quite different from what I expected. It's a Lovecraftian game with an old-school shooter style, similar to Project Warlock.

The game has monsters that pop out of walls, weapons that don't need reloading, secrets to discover, and a structured level design. You can't save freely, but there are some checkpoints available. The game also has a flashlight mechanic similar to Doom 3, where you can't use it while using a weapon.

There's an experience system where you can upgrade weapons and acquire different skills like healing, invulnerability and such. Skills are different between the two characters as well.

The interesting part about weapon upgrades is that you have to choose between improving the standard weapon or changing its ammo type to something more rare and specialized. It's a choice between getting a more powerful machine gun or an energy beam, for example.

In my playthrough, I tried to use as many weapons as possible. It's good that you can use most of the arsenal. The Mauser pistol is fast and accurate, almost like a battle rifle. The Tommy Gun upgraded into a laser beam is very powerful shreds enemies, as long as you have the ammo.

The only disappointing weapon is the grenade launcher. I picked it up because indirect fire was crucial in some old-school shooters like Blood and Shadow Warrior. But here, it's not very effective.

The enemies in the game are tough. The melee ones are fast and deal heavy damage, and the ones that shoot projectiles react quickly and may continue shooting even when they can't see you.

The swamp level was challenging with hidden enemies in the water, and it was hard to see enemies shooting at you from the grass due to the camera placement. The camera sits very low, almost like in Turok. However, if you know where to go, it's not too difficult. I died a lot in that level, as much as in the entire game before that.

The first boss is basically a wall with a texture on it that throws mines at you.

The second boss is a pillar-like enemy that shoots homing projectiles. During the second phase, there's a laser grinder you need to avoid, which adds to the challenge.

The underwater level was a surprise since it's not something you expect in an old-school shooter.

The third boss, Dagon, is tricky. It goes underwater, and your slow-moving rockets don't work well against it. It's better to use hitscan weapons. In the second phase, it floods the valley, and your character can't swim. You have to remember the order in which the valley is flooded.

The Mine sections in the game are tiring, so I ended up running past most enemies because I ran out of ammo.

After fighting two stationary bosses and one partially mobile boss, it made sense to introduce a mobile boss of the same size as the player. The only problem is that all enemies always face you, so it's hard to tell if the boss is running away or coming towards you. Still, it was one of the easier encounters, and I defeated it on the first try.

The final episode of the game felt like it was trying too hard to be difficult. The levels were long, there were too many enemies, and the final level had some annoying jumping puzzles that were not present elsewhere in the game.

I felt like I had to brute force the final boss, Cthulhu. It's a stationary boss like the first one, and aiming isn't much of a challenge. It becomes a bullet-hell encounter. Thankfully, by that point, I had a fully upgraded Necronomicon that provided enough invincibility to survive its attacks.

In the ending they tell you that you simply killed your cousin and all the townpeople. Very lovecraftian.

Overall, some parts of the game were tiresome, the later enemies were too fast and annoying, but I still enjoyed playing it.