O Ye of Little...

In the words of the the great Youtuber Christopher Odd, "Just in time for Xmas, we're going to [look at] something a little bit spooky."  To keep it spiritually appropriate though lets examine the subgenera of religious themed horror games (specifically Christian ones).  The film industry has been at it for over half-a-century with some of the better movies being "Rosemary's Baby" in 1969, and "The Exorcist" in 1975, all the way up through the "Paranormal Activity" series and, more recently, "The Witch".  When it comes to video games though, there really isn't a whole lot to choose from.  In most cases, the small number of games that do touch on this subject matter tend to skirt around the edges of it (like the Silent Hill franchise) or else are comedic, quickly-made game jam efforts such as The Salvation Project.  However, there are a few video games out there that really make an effort to maximize what this particular brand of horror has to offer.  One IP, in particular, is Faith: The Unholy Trilogy.

Before continuing, I have a confession to make.  While made up of three chapters (as the subtitle of the game implies), I've only played the first to completion.  On top of that the third chapter isn't actually out yet (although a demo is freely available for download).  Even so, I'd like to say a few things about what I've played thus far.  Let me start with the visual style.  If you've ever played the original Oregon Trail (specifically the hunting mini-game), Faith will seem oddly familiar.  The game's sole developer, Mason Smith, has made several other indie titles, all with a retro look.  One of his games (Earl's Day Off) has a very N64 feel to it, while two others (Extra Ordinary and The Wind) seem like they could have come out for the Apple II home computer back in the early 80s.  Faith shares styles and to some extent themes with these two other titles, but distinguishes itself by occasional injecting rotoscoped cutscenes (something that is very out-of-place on the hardware it seeks to emulate) to punctuate key events in the story.  Having these anachronistic bits of presentation is strangely unnerving.  Adding to the general unease is a (sometimes distorted) Speak and Spell style narration for dialogue scenes.  On top of that, creepy chiptune music plays in the background. 

Set in Connecticut circa 1987, Faith tells the tale of John Ward - a Catholic priest in search of redemption.  The previous year, John and a senior colleague attempted to banish an evil spirit that had taken possession of a young woman (Amy Martin) .  The attempt was a complete disaster.  The older priest and Amy's parents were killed.  Worse still, Amy's siblings (a pair of younger twin brothers) vanished without a trace.  Returning to the scene of the crime, John Ward is determined to set things right.  

Sufferrrrrrrr...!

The gameplay is simple; the Martin family home is remote and surrounded by woodland.  So, the player needs navigate their way through a forest in order to find the house where everything went wrong.  Armed only with a crucifix, our priest-turned-hero can expel evil in particular places to earn awards in the form of notes or pictures that help flesh out what is going on.  The crucifix can also be used to drive off a lurking pale, hairless spider-person out for blood.  Once inside the home, things become eerily quite.  Down in the basement, John finds sinister ritualistic marks on the floor which leads to a protracted battle against a ghostly version of Amy that still inhabits the house.  The fight come to a conclusion in the attic.  Amy is driven out of the Martin home and John finds a loaded rifle on his way out the front door.

Depending on how John uses his new acquired firearm, players can unlock five different endings: one of which is particularly hilarious and features an on-the-nose reference to the aforementioned Oregon Trail.  Speaking of references, Amy Martin has more than a passing resemblance to Sadako from the Japanese horror movie "Ringu."  Another example is a corpse of a fox that utters the phrase "chaos reigns!" which is a nod to the 2009 arthouse film "Antichrist."  Unlike that motion picture, it's nice to see that Faith is willing to set pretentiousness aside for the sake of a good joke.  These little bits of levity are what makes the storytelling in the game work for me.  Well...that and a nice layer of ambiguity in the form of an optional side quest in which the player can discover a note that casts a shadow of doubt over John Ward's actions.  Specifically, it makes mention of him being discharged from a psychiatric hospital after spending a fair amount of time there following the failed exorcism.  This helps explain why it took John so long to return to the Martin home, but also begs the question "Is all this really happening or are the stresses of priesthood too much for our protagonist's dubious mental health to endure?"  My understanding is the second chapter fails to give a definitive answer, but perhaps the third and final installment will.