Old school retro shooters rightfully hold a respected place in the gaming community. Retro first-person shooters like Doom and Wolfenstein have impacted the way we play games and introduced that fast-paced corridor gameplay that has become a staple in the genre. Byte Barrel is throwing a Lovecraftian twist into the mix with their newest title, Forgive Me Father. Players are thrown into a horrific plot infused with Lovecraftian horror and themes, all while mowing down hordes of the undead at the hands of a priest. The question is; does it play as good as it sounds?

Story

Forgive Me Father places players in the role of two different characters. You can either play as a priest or a journalist in this ridden world of the undead. There has been a mysterious wave of illness that has been pushed upon the city and its civilians. The people became deathly ill and transformed into monsters that any H.P. Lovecraft fan would surely recognize. 

The story unfolds mostly through files and letters that are found throughout the game as you explore each level. There are some cutscenes at the beginning and end of a section that help tell the story from the protagonist’s point of view. Depending on which character you choose, Forgive Me Father tries to offer a different take on the tentacle-filled apocalypse by offering two polar opposite personalities. Without giving away too much of the story, each protagonist has their own agenda and must survive their way through the hell hole.

Although I appreciated the Lovecraft inspiration and theme, the story is told mostly through found documents is a common trope I am not fond of. The voiceovers help ease this by commenting on the documents but with very little insight as to what the bigger picture may be alluding to. This gave me a better idea of my character’s place in the world and their thoughts on the current situation, but the scavenger hunt for story bits got old pretty quick.

Gameplay

Forgive Me Father has well-established gameplay mechanics that are easy to jump into for newcomers to the genre. Movement is fast-paced and enemies bombard you in small corridors, leaving you to check every corner with hesitation. Pickups such as ammo, health, and armor can be found scattered throughout the many stages and can also be dropped by killed enemies. 

The guns all have their fair share of well-rounded use, with each offering better suitability for different scenarios. There's is no reloading here so feel free to run, gun, and fire away! The hectic arena combat in Forgive Me Father is exceptional and some of the best I have played in a while. Enemies are diverse with long-range, melee, and stealth attacks, giving the game a proper variety of chaos.

Each stage is littered with doors that lead to rooms filled with the undead that need to be purged. Some doors require specific keys to unlock and advance you to the next section of the stage. There's nothing new here when it comes to level advancement but it would have been great to give the player a bit more freedom, but instead, it just feels very linear.

That being said, character progression is present in this retro shooter and it definitely gives it some much-appreciated freedom when it comes to gameplay. Being able to upgrade your character's weapons to adhere to your playstyle is a big plus. Weapon upgrade trees can be branched off in different ways, giving you a reason to try different upgrades on multiple playthroughs. Some weapon upgrades change fire modes while others change the use of the weapon completely. It is a very well-done upgrade system that I looked forward to experimenting with, trying to best my stage completion rate.

There are multiple worlds with over a handful of levels in each. These stages can last anywhere from ten minutes to under three minutes without rushing. This initially had me concerned about the amount of content being offered in Forgive Me Father, but it is safe to say your first playthrough can take anywhere from five to eight hours depending on how fast you blow through each stage.

World bosses are a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to mechanics and difficulty. I felt most of them were a breeze compared to the actual bombardment of undead hordes that are found throughout the game. However, they were all thoroughly entertaining and provided a nice change to the typical run and gun madness.

Audio and Visual

The sound design and music are great and match the tone of the game's themes perfectly. The metal rock soundtrack mixed with a mystifying synth-wave gives this a perfect blend of the horror and retro shooter tropes. The voice acting is not the greatest, particularly for the journalist as most of the lines sounded forced and very out of place. I am sure the writing was probably most to blame as the corny one-liners seemingly felt misplaced with the tone of the game.

Forgive Me Father looks just like a Lovecraftian-inspired graphic novel. All levels and enemies look hand-drawn and most of the game is programmed as 2D sprites, giving it that true retro shooter feel. The animations are well done and definitely give it a modern feel for a classic genre. Legacy players of retro shooters will feel right at home with this one.

Replayability

With an Endless mode to help challenge your survival skills of wave after wave of undead monstrosities, the progression system gives this game many reasons to tread through it again. On top of that, add in two protagonists with separate stories and different skills, and you can easily give this one a great reason to keep installed on your hard drive for some time.

What It Could Have Done Better

Although the gameplay is more than solid and very tight for a classic shooter, I did have some gripes with ammo availability. There were plenty of times when the game dropped ammo for a gun that I currently did not have unlocked and I was completely empty. The game encourages run and gun gameplay but at the risk of running out of ammo frequently. Although some may consider this a good reason to play it slower, this is necessarily possible in many sections of the game.

If ammo scarcity is in place, then please don't waste a spawn for ammo for a weapon that I don't have, it just causes more frustration on top of the hardcore difficulty. Also, the story being told mostly through found files is something I never care for. Although I think it can help build the lore of a game, it shouldn't be the sole reliant source of plot advancement since cutscenes are few and far between.

Verdict

Forgive Me Father is an awesome and badass ode to the glory days of retro first-person shooters. It plays very well and gives a hell of a time. Gameplay mechanics are easy to execute but the difficulty is there for those who are ready for the challenge ahead. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and the game length was just the right amount without dipping into repetitive territory. Forgive Me Father is one hell of a game that kept me hooked on the retro loop.

Forgive Me Father is available now for PC on Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store.