Bleak Faith: Forsaken

For me this game is no less than visionary. The vision of a game I always wanted to play, of a world I wanted to explore and experience, with this kind of atmosphere to completely loose myself in. Bleak Faith Forsaken does all that. It does it in a way of using elements of existing ideas, yet creating something absolutely unique and special. The feeling of both unfathomable vastness, mystery and insignificance accompanies every step. If this game was developed by From Software, it would most likely be my favourite game of all times (those before at least). But it wasn't. It is only three people with big ambitions. Too big? I don't think so. Though I won't ignore its flaws - and it still has a few - I would much more regret if this concept had never been put to life: a playable fever dream for those susceptible.

Bleak Faith is one of those games you don't see very often, yes on the surface it's a Souls-like game with the usual tropes and mechanics we come to expect, but it somehow manages to transcend into something far more unique than even the most interesting Souls-like games out there. At its heart it's an exploration RPG, focusing more on its world and atmosphere - and for that it's special as no other RPG I can think of has ever attempted a world inspired by the manga BLAME!, which is a masterclass in dark sci-fi worldbuilding, and even then Bleak Faith takes those inspirations and still manages to run with something of its own. We're used to getting typical medieval fantasy and sci-fi settings in our RPGs, but very rarely do we get a game so varied in this approach that it's hard to nail down - being far closer to surreal and sometimes downright abstract brutalism with dark fantasy and cyberpunk sci-fi elements. It's cold, it's imposing, it's full of dread, but most importantly it feels like you're truly alone in this world - much like Killy during his journey in BLAME! The reason I bring so much attention to the world is because it's so rare we get something like this in a game, let alone in a 30 hour long RPG, with some of the best music I've heard in an indie RPG, which sets the vibe and tone for your journey to the anomaly perfectly. And even as an RPG it does a lot right by giving you tons of stats to play with, while its Souls-like combat can feel rough and stiff, it more than makes up for it with excellent build variety and an assortment of interesting and powerful gear, abilities and upgrade materials. There's a lot to love here. However it does have it faults; namely the various bugs, lack of polish, performance and rushed release. While the game is far better than it was at launch, there are still some lingering and sometimes glaring issues that have yet to be be addressed at the time of writing. Luckily, the positives far outweigh the negatives for me.

As a disclaimer: I am in a clear minority by already liking Hellpoint. But the same vibes that pulled me in atmospherically in that game are present in Bleak Faith. I very much like the game design including the music, both of which convey the sensation of ancient and otherwordly. Loving it.

The game has been upgraded and refined with a lot of new content and mechanics since it was released, It has great exploration, great level design and great music. The combat is ok and now has a satisfying parrying feature. You can upgrade your gear, imbue gems in it and try different equipment combinations since it has plentyful variety and resources for make the upgrades The developers have been listening to the players and applying feedback towards the Bleak Faith Forsaken we have now It certainly takes inspiration from the Dark Souls games combined with Blame! aesthetics, it has an emhpasis on exploration enhanced by an interesting and varied interconected world design