Faith: Trinity Review (Switch eShop)

Do you like learning Latin? Well, you are guaranteed to learn at least one word in the classical language by playing Faith: The Holy Trinity is not holy: dead bodyor “death”, flashes on the screen every time you give in. Face off against legions of the damned armed only with a wooden cross and, well, your faithSurely you will have to give up quite a lot.

Dying a lot comes with a price for developer Airdorf Games’ 8-bit horror adventure, a game that truly put the ‘cult’ into cult status, something it’s enjoyed since releasing on Steam and itch.io from 2017 to 2022. Now on Nintendo Switch, fans of classic horror are in for a completely unique entry in the genre that looks, sounds, and and it feels unlike anything else.

Some people may be upset with Faith’s visual style and question whether a game that looks as if it runs on a Commodore 64 is actually that scary. Let’s put that notion aside for a moment, because it’s rare to see a game that says ‘less is more’ as devilishly as this, leveraging desolate graphic minimalism with haunting cutscenes. Distorted lo-fi photography and sound design to create a chilling effect.

Faith revealed itself amid the ‘Satanic Panic’ of the 1980s, a period in the United States marked by hysteria and media sensationalism over widely exposed cult activity . Players will take on the role of Father John Ward, a young priest traumatized by the failed exorcism of Amy Martin, a 17-year-old girl possessed by demons.

This three-episode series lasts between five and six hours and follows Ward’s descent into a world of paranormal horror as he grapples with personal guilt and uncovers the true plot of unknown forces. is raging. While aesthetically and mechanically consistent throughout, chapters become significantly longer and more intricately designed as the game progresses.

At its core, Faith is a game of exploration and survival. Father Ward is armed only with a cross, which is both a weapon and a tool to exorcise cursed objects. Players travel through haunted forests, abandoned houses, filthy sewers, and more, exploring mostly text-based lore, solving puzzles, and confronting a variety of entities. hostile supernatural.

Boss fights throughout the trilogy can be especially difficult, with little room for error due to the fact that most enemies can kill Ward with a single hit, forcing a checkpoint restart final control or at the start of the encounter. Enemies’ attack patterns are learned through trial and error, which can lead to annoying repetition that briefly puts the fear factor on hold.

Combat involves dodging and positioning yourself precisely to deal damage. The problem is that Ward is much slower than his enemies and cannot move nor turn while raising his cross to deal damage. Such limited control leads to seemingly cheap deaths, but the sheer power of the atmosphere and Faith’s storytelling are the driving force to overcome.

A particular highlight is the quality of the game’s writing presented in various notes, letters and newspaper clippings, which are rewards for exploration or hidden in haunted items you find. These notes add context and increase Ward’s damage output. While we won’t reveal the specifics of the story, trust us when we say the devil is in the details.

In one standout sequence, a seemingly typical newspaper article turns out to be nothing at all, leading to a dramatic transition into one of the game’s many evocative cutscenes made using rotoscoping, a technique in which live-action footage is tracked frame by frame, results in fluid and lifelike movements imbued with uncanny realism.

Usually lasting no more than a few seconds, these cutscenes pair particularly well with the limited color palette and blocky motifs of Faith’s classically inspired visuals, which are evocative despite their simplicity. The presentation is deftly tied together with cold synth loops, distorted bleeps and computerized vox statements, along with stretches of eerie silence.

Puzzle solving adds another touch to the gameplay, often combined with puzzling puzzles and clever environmental hints. Each of the three episodes has multiple endings, some of which require solving more hidden puzzles, discovering secret areas, and defeating optional bosses that are much more difficult than those of main story.

So how scary is it? While we’ve played games that were more likely to induce jump scares or get our heartbeats racing with tension, Faith absolutely nailed what it set out to do. While there are some moments that may startle you along with a lot of horror and gore, it does a great job of creating an atmosphere of foreshadowing.

Since Unholy Trinity has been available elsewhere for a while, there are detailed instructions online for completionists. The Switch version of the game includes additional features to unlock, including backgrounds and additional game modes, although various achievements present on the Steam version are not incorporated into this port.

Faith runs flawlessly on Nintendo’s hybrid, although we initially encountered a bug that slowed progression in Chapter 3, which was patched in Version 1.5.0. Rumble assist is used to great effect throughout the game to heighten the tension, and we recommend a headset for full immersion. We decided to only play it at night with the lights off.

Conclusion

Among classic horror properties, Faith: The Unholy Trinity sets itself apart with its distinct visual style and superb presentation. While boss encounters can be tiring and lead to frustration, it never diminishes our desire to bring the story to an end. With loads of lore to collect and multiple endings to each of its three chapters, all the replayability on offer makes it the perfect game to blast through on Halloween.