Creating a story that is based on a true story typically makes a solid foundation and that is exactly what Whitethorn Games and developer Brian Wilson did when they created The Forest Cathedral. Based on the tale of the real-life scientist Rachel Carson who is one of the core people that gave us an understanding of how pollution is affecting the environment. To tell her tale, they gave a similar version of her study and made the story playable with a blend of 3D and 2D gameplay. The question is, is it an entertaining game to play through?

Story

As the hired scientist stationed on a remote island, it is your job to see how the new insecticide brand DDT affects the environment it is sprayed in. Follow the study checkpoints that uncover the effects of DDT on wildlife, ranging from the mosquitoes that survived the initial spray to the eagles that eat the contaminated fish due to feeding on the said mosquitoes. Is this new revolutionary bug spray the next safe top-selling brand or will it be the start of everything going downhill?

This tale is a dramatic re-imagining of Carson’s environmental science book Silent Spring. While the store page claims that players will slowly uncover the truth, the story itself actually feels a bit rushed. When I reached the end, I was curious why they didn’t fill in a lot of the bulk in the middle. The story is told with all the details you need, but it does feel like they provided only enough to tell the story.

Gameplay

The gameplay takes place partly in 3D and partly in 2D gameplay mechanics. The 2D gameplay only happens when you interact with a terminal and need to use the on-screen “little man” to help you get part of a system activated. Most of the game will be played in 3D though.

While playing as the scientist, you will find it is more slow-paced and focused on looking at your surroundings. They take you through a quick tutorial that is designed to look like training prior to taking on your assignment which is where you first learn about your scanner. The scanner makes anomalies light up bright red on the screen so you can know what to look for, what to interact with, and if anything strange is in the area around you. During the game, you can take the scanner out at any time and by doing so you can sometimes find little anomalies that put together all the aspects going wrong during the story.

Other than looking around with the scanner, all you will be doing as the scientist is heading to different parts of the small map to interact with your objectives. This could be the communications screen - which is in a particularly familiar-looking workshop - or to investigate the different tasks that correlate with your work. Once you figure out what you are looking for, the interactive will typically lead into the 2D gameplay.

As for the 2D gameplay aspects, it is simple controls with some challenging moments. You can move, attack, jump, and dash. Sometimes you’ll need to dash without jumping to get over small gaps that you don’t have space to jump over, sometimes you’ll need to dash after jumping to clear larger gaps. The challenge comes from the enemies and small spaces with traps around them. The combat here is very simplistic with just one attack whether you are on the ground or in the air, always with a one-hit kill rule. Since that rule applies to you as well, one hit and you die which will take you to the last checkpoint you hit, which is shown as a chalice being lit.

Audio and Visual

The visuals of this game aren’t top-of-the-line, but they do add a lot of details to help fill up the environment. There are some aspects of the aesthetics that are comically low-tiered, but it is obvious what they are trying to show. Top-tier scenery isn’t a necessary aspect for the game though, especially since about half of it is in the 2D gameplay, which is just pixelated.

When it comes to the audio, I would say that they do a good enough job to fill in the moments and provide an atmosphere while playing the game. The game doesn’t have an outstanding music or sound effects work put into it, other than the moments that are meant to drive the psychological aspect of this psychological thriller. In heightened moments, the music becomes this chaotic style that is impressively unnerving.

Replayability

There is no New Game+ and the story is pretty straightforward. There are no extra achievements outside of the ones you get for completing checkpoints in the game. Without any fresh content or hidden aspects to uncover, this game really doesn’t offer any replayability.

What It Could Have Done Better

Since they are re-imagining the true story of Rachel Carson, I was expecting a longer experience than the one I got. The game is super short, doesn’t have much replayability, and the skill jump in the 2D gameplay gets difficult really quickly. While I get the gameplay is pretty straightforward, they still could have added so much more to the game.

Not only is the gameplay giving the feeling of jumping forward over sections, but the story does as well. While you get all of the main points, there are no build-ups in-between moments. Provide more moments that make me care about and understand these secondary characters and their relation to my protagonist. Silly gameplay moments are a good thing to include as well, so it would be nice to find hidden areas with the scanner or maybe some optional terminals to give more 2D segments in the game.

Verdict

The Forest Cathedral offers solid gameplay with a meaningful story, but the length of the game itself makes it feel like a glimpse of what they could have created. It’s a shame how short this game is, but the tale is one worth playing through. There is a lot to like about the game, but on the same hand, there are some simplistic and frustrating aspects of the game. It is still a title I would recommend, but make sure you are expecting a short experience with a good purpose behind its tale.

The Forest Cathedral is now available for Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.