Forgive Me Father 2 – Preview
After the pretty overwhelming success of Byte Barrel’s first game Forgive Me Father, it’s perhaps no surprise that a sequel is already in the works. Currently in Early Access, Forgive Me Father 2 is an attempt to take the exact same formula from its predecessor and improve on all the minor things people complained about. That way, this could theoretically become one of the best FPS ever released. And since it’s taking inspiration from both DOOM and Lovecraftian novels, it’s no wonder the result is equal parts insanity-inducing and horrifying. But that just makes us want to dive in more!
The game does not waste any time with cutscenes or explanations, opening straight into the mayhem with your character waking up in an asylum. There’s a strange voice in your head, which means maybe you were locked up for a reason. The voice comes in handy as it warns you that dangerous otherworldly creatures have invaded the asylum and the town around it. Your only chance is to escape your cell, find more weapons than the knife you started out with, and fight your way to freedom. Why insanity has begun to seep into the world is a mystery you can solve along the way. Technically, Forgive Me Father 2 continues the story of the Priest character from the first game. But, you don’t need to have played that to enjoy this, and the game is pretty good at giving the needed context to keep the plot coherent for everybody.
When looking at the graphics, these look very similar to the first game too with perhaps a small upgrade. Forgive Me Father 2 sets itself apart with its comic book-inspired inspired art style where every frame is meant to look like it could be ripped straight out of a graphic novel. Some of the linework is a little cleaner in this sequel and you can see that the devs have put time into fine-tuning the monster designs and animations. They definitely look smoother and it’s a nice improvement. The atmospheric lighting has also gotten a fair amount of attention.
What shines above all else, however, is the soundtrack. Fans of metal and hard rock can rejoice, as there is no way that blasting monsters to these tracks won’t make your heart pump faster. There’s just never a dull moment. The voice acting is pretty mediocre by comparison, but if you turn the music up loud enough you’ll barely hear that. Gore-like sound effects from monsters blowing to smithereens are also satisfying as always.
In terms of gameplay, Forgive Me Father 2 doesn’t add a lot of new stuff to the winning formula, but that’s okay. It’s a satisfying first-person shooter with impressive waves of enemies for you to blow apart, and maybe we don’t want much more than that. You start the game with a simple knife, but by collecting weapon tokens found throughout the levels, you can upgrade to an axe and those handy guns that will really blow an enemy’s head off. Getting headshots is as rewarding as ever, and luring the enemies into small clusters so you can take out several with one shot is also a fun strategy. The levels are scattered with plenty of checkpoints and health to keep you going. Many enemies from the first game make a reappearance, but several new baddies join the roster. The enemies also evolve with the player, meaning you can never get too comfortable thinking you know what the game will throw at you next.
That doesn’t mean you’re helpless though. You can put together your own arsenal of weaponry, with weapon upgrades that allow you to work out what types work best for you. If all that gunpower is still not enough, you can use your supernatural powers. Killing enemies fills up a bar you can then use for something like temporary invulnerability. This will give you a nice edge. Especially since the more complex level designs can lead to you being driven into a corner and swarmed if you’re not careful. Overall, the gameplay feels satisfying with good aim and easy controls.
So far, so good. If there’s any bad thing to say about Forgive Me Father 2 it’s that we want more of it. The game went into Early Access with only a few hours of gameplay to fill it up and no proper plot progression. Many of the weapon upgrades are also lacking. Even on harder difficulties, you won’t have too much trouble breezing through everything, so unless you’d like to endlessly replay the same bit of content, you need to be aware of this before proceeding.
Conclusion
Forgive Me Father 2 feels a little more like a demo than an actual Early Access game since it’s still fundamentally lacking content. If you’re aware of that before going in though, you’ll probably be very pleased to find a thrilling and fun first-person shooter with amazing graphics and a soundtrack you can bop your head to. This promises a lot of good things for the eventual full release.
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