I have a lot of very mixed feelings about this game. On one hand, it does a set of things very well, and if those things are what you're looking for or would find interesting, this game will likely be absolutely perfect for you. I have never played, and likely will never again play, a game that can capture the essence of an "atari-style horror game" quite like this. On the other hand, it leads to what I found to be a mechanically underwhelming and boring experience, on the gameplay side of things.

For the sake of clarity, I got ending 1 of 5, Murderer, in Chapter 1, and ending 1 of 3, “A new purpose”, in Chapter 3. I do not find the story engaging enough to subject myself to more time spent with the gameplay of this game, so if I do learn about the “true endings” or other optional endings/secrets, I will be watching someone else do it.

For starters, the positives.

1 - I absolutely adore the visual design of the cutscenes in this game. I recently learned these were created via the creator functionally mocapping himself and then inserting the additional details (hand coming out of Amy’s face, making himself look like the monster in the woods, etc) later, and it shows. They also mesh incredibly well with the general visual style, which I like for the specific reason that it’s uniquely disarming. You look at it and you see a silly looking, very classic style of visual design, and it allows a false sense of security to set in, before that’s immediately shattered in the woods in Chapter 1. The game does a whole lot with very little and absolutely kills it when it does, the way it swaps from “literal Atari game” to “freakish pixelated horror” is typically jarring but in an obviously intentional way, and I did love that.

2- I appreciate the use of music (and SOMETIMES silence, as opposed to modern horror games that think silent = scary and not silent = not scary) as a way to build atmosphere. Too few modern horror-esque games are willing to do this, and instead prefer a method of silence to build tension. This method is valid in certain places, but I much prefer the classic Resident Evil style, with varying tracks for different areas and “safe area” music. A PERFECT example of this within Faith is the elevator in Chapter 3, having that as a contrast to the main apartment area to step in, cool down, and collect yourself, while considering where to go/where you’ve been feels great. It’s a perfect choice and it adds greatly to the pacing of the apartment, which is a large part of where the story really ramps up. Speaking of the story…

3 - I think the story was really enjoyable and engaging, especially as it unfolded after Chapter 1. Chapter 1, while it is a solid introduction, does not do a lot to tie itself to anything that follows, however, the following chapters work to tie themselves to C1, somewhat reworking things to fit around the narrative of John revisiting the Martin house to exorcize Amy and complete the ritual he failed to complete when Father Allred was killed. The recurrence of John’s nightmares, as well as the increasing severity, adds to the building sense of dread in C3 as the Profane Sabbath approaches, while also providing a functional excuse for John to end back up at his home before receiving further orders from Father Garcia. In my eyes, Chapter 3 is easily the best, most engaging, and most intense chapter for story and world building. The final march to Gary, the talk John can have with him, Father Garcia rescuing John as he barely defeats Gary for the first time, all were genuinely good moments, and I found myself growing to genuinely find investment in John as a person before the end of the game, compared to how I saw him at the beginning, which was “a weird little blue guy”.

Now for the bad. My issues with the game fit into two overarching categories, but they tie together. I generally dislike the overall feel of the game, and I generally did not enjoy most of the puzzles or bosses, with the bosses literally always causing negative feelings and general displeasure with the exception of Gary.

Starting with the overall game feel. This is a very personal thing and to be clear, I think it does what it’s actually trying to do well, I just find that I don’t enjoy it. I enjoy games with fluid, smooth movement and combat and such, and this game is… not that. Like I’ve said in this review, it feels like an Atari game, and I respect that, but I just don’t enjoy it. You have 8 axes of movement and a single speed, and a single button action. The game is very simplistic, and that’s not necessarily an issue, but again, I dislike how it feels.

Now, my issue with the bosses extends directly from my issue with the gameplay. The process of taking out a boss is… incredibly tedious, to say the least. You walk around their very obvious attacks and hold up your crucifix when possible, and that’s basically it, because the game doesn’t have enough buttons for there to be any more to it. Amy, the weird dude (?) at the end of C2, and Gary are all like this, as well as every other demon in the game, but Gary has the decency to knock John on his ass and force you to crawl back to your cross, but he doesn’t one-shot you like EVERYTHING ELSE. Extending from this, puzzles are a simple issue. They tend to be mediocrely communicated to the player (especially in chapter 1 and 2, 3 was better about this) but they mostly boil down to walking to a place in a specific way, or walking over an item and then putting it in the right socket on a statue or something. Again, this comes back to mechanical simplicity, but I just found it unreasonably tedious if it ever took me more than 30 seconds to figure out a puzzle.

Overall, especially on sale, I think FAITH is a game well worth the time it took me to complete it. I overall enjoyed it, the cutscenes and story were a lot of fun, the music is cutesy in that very retro way but also helps to build tone and atmosphere, and despite my issues with gameplay and bosses and such, I still found myself pushing forward because I wanted to see the resolution to John’s fight to take down Gary and his absolutely absurd cult.