[TEST] Forgive me Father, the lovecraftian retro-FPS a little too wise

Available in early access since October 2021, Forgive me Father arrived in version 1.0 at the beginning of the month. Unconvinced by the game, we still relaunched it to form a definitive idea. Despite a nice artistic direction and its Lovecraftian universe, Forgive me Father disappoints.

Gender : Retro-FPS | Developer: Byte Barrel | Publisher: 1C Entertainment | Platform : Steam | Price : 19,99€ | Minimum configuration: Intel i5/AMD Ryzen, 8 GB of RAM, NVIDIA GTX 950 | Languages ​​: English, interface available in French and 7 other languages | Release date : April 7, 2022 | Duration : 7-8 hours

If Lovecraft’s work was a comic…

Little fan of retro-FPS, Forgive me Father seduced me with its artistic direction inspired by comics, which is reflected both graphically and in its narration with speech bubbles. On this point, the contract is fulfilled. Very pleasing to the eye with a real ambition to stand out in the retro-FPS market, Forgive me Father is a technical success. Inspired by the work of Lovecraft for its universe, the aesthetic choice allows to release a particular and original atmosphere, dark and unhealthy, sublimated by a varied and carefully designed bestiary. Too bad the two playable characters (priest or journalist) spoil this with stupid, poorly written and heavy lines. We sometimes have the impression of playing Duke Nukem and not a priest who must fight against madness. Unfortunately, after the wonderment for the wards for the first hour, Forgive me Father digs his grave with a gameplay repetitive, weighed down by a level design cramped and uninspired.

Lord, forgive me my sins…

I open a door, I kill, I find a key to open a door, I open a door, I kill and I start the loop again. Forgive me Father is very boring. First linear, because it is only a succession of sometimes falsely open rooms where there are many back and forths. In his repetition, he offers no variation or surprise: one kills and one advances. With the luxury of being sometimes frustrating, its narrow corridors populated by monsters at every turn require you to use the strategy of moving forward, pulling back, and moving forward again. If we add to that his stinginess in ammunition while he sometimes offers open areas with 50/60 enemies, we are on the verge of sinking into temporary madness. But in his defense, this may be intentional.

…No, my son. You are too bad.

Forgive me Father is built in several chapters of 4 or 6 levels each punctuated by a final boss. Nothing very exciting, these final fights are just bullet hell with FPS sauce. You might die once or twice while you figure out what the game wants from you, before the boss turns into a walkover. Interestingly enough, the title allows you to explore the adventure with two protagonists: a priest or a journalist. Alas, they differ only in their special abilities and use the same weapons and run through the same levels. What could have been an opportunity to bring an original touch is actually a rough way to increase the lifespan. It’s too light to make you want to restart the adventure just to (D)play the same game with a different point of view on the story… You still have to take the time to read the many tooltips scattered everywhere, the only real lazy way to understand what’s going on. Forgive me Father also offers a small RPG aspect with a skill tree where you can improve weapons and skills according to the experience acquired by the mass genocide of ghouls, mutant fish and other Lovecraftian monsters.

Conclusion

You understood, if Forgive Me Father offers an interesting and original visual experience, the rest is much less so since it quickly becomes repetitive and boring with its skimpy and poorly thought out levels. If you are really in need of retro-FPS and an interesting promotion comes to the fore, why not; you will have 7/8 hours of play.

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