The Church in the Darkness Review - The Darkness is No Fun - TechRaptor

Posted: 02 Aug 2019 12:00 AM PDT

I didn't have fun playing The Church in the Darkness. That's not to say that I don't commend what it tries to do, or that moments of the game aren't worthwhile, but it wasn't fun. I also don't believe that the intent here was for players to have fun. The goal with this game is to send a message, to make a commentary. While I enjoy the title's analysis on a myriad of topics including but not limited to capitalism, socialism, cults, and what it means to commit to something wholeheartedly, most of my feelings towards The Church in the Darkness involve frustration and annoyance.

Directed by Richard Rouse III, who has experience with titles like The Suffering, Quantum Break, and Sunset Overdrive, The Church in the Darkness sets you as Vic, a former law enforcement officer who's sent to a socialist cult that was kicked out of the United States and relocated to South America during the 1970s. Vic's mission? Find his nephew, Alex, and see how he's doing. The kicker? Every time you play, he'll be feeling a little different.

That's right, each playthrough randomly generates, with each character having a different personality than before. This includes Alex, the cult leaders, and any friendlies you come across. Depending on who you interact with and how you do it, you can earn one of many different endings. While this sounds like the potential for a terrifying, unique, and thematic experience every time, the system doesn't amount to much at all.

Some bold claims made here could make for an exciting experience.

The Church in the Darkness' Branching Storylines

Let's start with Alex. Sometimes, when you find him, he'll be ready to leave. Scared of the cult leaders, he'll beg you to take him out of his hated existence. Other times, he'll be so content in his space that he'll try to convert you, asking you to speak to the leaders and change your mind. It's fun to ponder Alex's mood until you start to realize how little of an effect it has. From there, the rest of it starts to unravel.

You see, it doesn't matter if I take Alex back with me or leave him be. I could kill him, let someone shoot him, or even convert to the cult myself. I've done all of the above, looking for a drastic change in the way the narrative presents itself. I've found that very little changes in-game. Instead, you'll see the fruits of your labor once you've either died, escaped, or found some other end state. Oh, and it'll be through one or two short text excerpts and some accompanying images. That's it. Next to no emotional satisfaction for reaching an ending. Each subsequent playthrough makes this more apparent.

The Church in the Darkness constantly makes note that its preachers have different personalities. It pushes you to get an ending with each variation, even giving you the option to start additional playthroughs with personalities you haven't yet reached an ending yet. However, if the game hadn't told me about these different personalities, I hardly would have noticed a difference.

I have the achievement for reaching an ending with every preacher personality by the way.

No matter what the world generates, you're running through the cult with both Isaac and Rebecca shouting over intercoms, ranting about American capitalism, quoting famous leaders, and pushing their ideals. The voice acting here is fantastic, frankly, with Ellen McLain (GLaDOS from Portal) and John Patrick Lowrie (Sniper from Team Fortress 2) as the two cultists. However, despite a supposed personality change, the intercom speeches were about the same each time.

Actually speaking to the cult leaders was a little different. Rebecca either fumes about how I'm going to kill them all or begs me to just leave them all alone. However, as I've mentioned, there's no weight to these changes. I would go to speak with her or Isaac, they would state their thoughts, and that would be it. I could then kill or subdue them. On the off chance that their personality is welcoming, they'll offer to join the cult. Once done, the game ends I get some text telling me what happens, and it starts all over.

Interestingly, Isaac reminds me so much of Cave Johnson from Portal 2, voiced by J.K. Simmons, that there are times when I could hardly tell the two apart. Both of them rant confidently about their values with tones so certain that you have to be convinced, even if you don't necessarily agree with the cult's methods. There are times where I'd sit in a house, hidden, so I can focus on what's being said.

This is a powerful statement the first time I hear it. Not so much on the ninth time.

The Church in the Darkness' Powerful Statements

Nearly every line in the game is top-notch. There's a letter with Alex asking his mom for extra money to fund the cult reads exactly like I did when I was a teenager, using whatever words I can to guilt them into funding my foolishness. Both Rebecca and Isaac consistently share their beliefs over the intercom, stating facts and sharing the influences that lead them to start this cult. Even better is how much you can learn about these characters from scattered documents around the environment.

The social commentary here, claiming how the American Dream is really just a scam to make the rich richer, and that the poor will stay poor while the wealthy step all over them, is timely in our current political state. You can see why someone would follow Isaac and Rebecca, how these two can help a lost soul who isn't making it in the free world feel at home. As with many cults, this one makes sure to prey on those who don't have set ideals. Those who are looking for guidance and peace. While the writing is convincing and refreshing at first, you'll tire of it quickly.

Each playthrough changes up the personalities, though it hardly alters the content. I'm super on board with Alex wanting to bail out of the cult, complaining about Isaac's methods and motives the first time. However, when I'm on playthrough six, I want the kid to shut up and get a move on already. Frankly, these were my feelings for every character once I've gone through the game a couple of times. Depending on the difficulty and your path, an average run should take 25-45 minutes.

I finished five endings and died dozens of times trying to get the others. Nevertheless, the experience is more repetitive each time, making it much harder to want to keep going.

Each start is always the same. Vic enters via a hidden point, and you have to find clues to get to Alex. Once found, you can extract at that point either with or without him. That and there's usually a marked friendly on your map who can point you in the right direction. Locations are always the same, just laid out differently each time. Your approach can be stealthy, violent, or anywhere in between.

The Church in the Darkness plays via a top-down perspective. Stealth players can sneak up and subdue or kill guards and civilians, while violent ones can run in guns blazing. If a guard or civilian sees you, there is a limited time frame to get out of their sight before they start firing and sound the alarm. If that happens, hide or disable the alarm with an item, and get back to your mission.

You have limited tools at your disposal initially. More items drop into the game after each ending. You can use chloroform to knock out enemies for longer, a sleep dart gun to hit them from afar, or an alarm clock to set a distraction and get around them that way. On lower difficulties, you can visualize others view cones at any time, ensuring that you stay out of their sight to make things a lot easier for yourself.

You'll find dead bodies and other hints of the cult leaders hiding their horrific activity.

All things considered, the gameplay works fine. I occasionally missed a shot due to awkward aim assist. Maybe I accidentally threw a rock instead of hiding in a crate at one point. I end up dead in both instances since these actions draw unwanted attention. Each action has a slight delay to it. It's odd at first, but you eventually acclimate yourself. It kind of adds to the frantic experience that breaking into a cult should provide. Unfortunately, though, there's no standout gameplay mechanic that justifies pushing through the same story beats over and over again to the point of frustration.

In fact, the more I played, the more I realize how shallow this branching narrative really is. To try and spice things up, I spoke to Alex. I found that he was super happy with the cult, and then went to see Rebecca and Isaac. I made a point to kill them, ran back to Alex to see his response and nothing was different. He didn't yell at me or freak out. Instead, he had the same chat options as when I first spoke to him. When I finished that playthrough, The Chruch in the Darkness told me in its text excerpts about Alex's horrified reaction to Vic's actions that day. That's it. The path to each ending feels like one of the poorer side-quests in a Bethesda game. Only, there's no epic main quest to return to here.

Alex hated my actions. Too bad he couldn't tell me that in-game!

Random friendly characters unlock as you beat more endings, looking to vary the experience up a bit. However, that loses its charm after one playthrough considering that all side quests have you do the exact same thing. One character seeks out her kids after the cult sends them to Cuba. All she needs is their address. She says to look in the white chapels to find it. Great. Another character wants to find a photo of her long-dead husband. Guess where you find it? In the white chapels. Turns out, every side quest I've found in hours of play simply asks you to search the white chapels. There's nothing special about these buildings either, no unique modifier or mini-game. They're just another structure that sometimes has a guard in it.

Look at that quest log. Can anyone point me to the nearest white chapel?

On top of this, each side character has the exact same lines, give or take an altered intro if you've alerted the guards or not by then. Also, you can't skip them. So, every single time you want to start a side mission, you have to sit through lines and lines of text you've heard possibly dozens of times beforehand. There's next to no payoff for completion either, with the person thanking you and you being on your way. They might get a mention in the end-game text, but nothing more.

The Church in the Darkness Review | An Unearned Emotional Ask

The Church In The Darkness' core flaw is that it asks for emotional investment and response that it doesn't earn. The game tells but doesn't show. It sets up this interesting, fantastical narrative of a single-man cult invasion, doing your best to avoid being seen or swayed by its leader's convincing tales, although it doesn't deliver any stakes in-game. I have pages more of notes and complaints that I haven't even touched on here, like shoddy performance on my Xbox One X or black screen bugs or characters talking over one another. These would be redeemable if the game delivered on the narrative it promised. Yet it doesn't, and that's what matters here.

I was ranting about the game to my girlfriend, frustrated that it doesn't explore these topics better. After getting into its flaws, she had said: "this sounds like something that would be better as a movie." Considering the fact that The Church in the Darkness mishandles any advantages that gaming brings to us as a medium, and the intended impact fails to be anything moving, I wholeheartedly agree. Maybe a focused, cinematic offering could have portrayed the message better.

TechRaptor reviewed The Church in the Darkness on Xbox One X via a code provided by the developer.

More About This Game

4.5

Mediocre

Summary

The Church in the Darkness is full of bold narrative topics, but the gameplay and presentation fail to match, making it quite difficult to experience the message.

Pros

Fantastic Writing
Intriguing Commentary
Top Of The Line Voice Acting

Cons

Branching Narrative Is A Fluke
Most Actions Are Inconsequential
Gameplay Isn't Anything Special
Random Personalities Don't Really Differ

Max Moeller

Content Writer

Blockchain/cryptocurrency and gaming journalist. Feels most at home with a controller and something to learn about. Likes emerging things.

The Church in the Darkness Review - GameSpace.com

Posted: 02 Aug 2019 02:17 AM PDT

The year was 1978. After years of amassing followers and relocating to Guyana, Jim Jones would lead his followers to one final, far-off country: the grave. Nine hundred and nine would drink cyanide-laced flavored water on November 18th of that year as a show of loyalty to a man claiming to be a messenger of God. Nearly forty years later, Richard Rouse III announced that his upcoming title, The Church in the Darkness, would send players into the heart of an isolationist cult, deep in the jungles of South America… not unlike The People's Temple in Guyana, or as it is more commonly know: Jonestown. This is our The Church in the Darkness review for PC.

This review is a bit personal for me. While I am a reviewer, I am a pastor first. If you have seen my other work here at GameSpace, it is no secret. For the sake of your time and interests, I am going to separate out the main review of the game from my personal thoughts. However, I will share both for those who dare to dive a bit deeper.

The Church in the Darkness Review 1

The Story…

The game opens with text to let you, the player, know that it is 1967. During this year, the Collective Justice Mission has been established in Oakland, California by Isaac and Rebecca Walker. Their message of equality, socialism, and integration sparks revolution in the hearts of the people who hear their message and are tired of the status quo. As more followers are drawn to their message, the Walkers move the mission to South America in order to live out their faith, unhindered and unharassed by the outside world. Building a commune of the backs of their truest believers, Freedom Town is born as a symbol of the freedoms they claim America never afforded them.

Nine years into this religious expression, communication between family members in the Mission and the States dissipated, leaving families to wonder just what is happening in Freedom Town.

And this is where you come in.

In The Church in the Darkness, you play as Vic – which, cleverly could be short for Victor or Victoria – you get to choose. At the beginning of each game, you choose your skin tone and gender. From this choice, you will discover that your nephew Alex has been a member of the Collective Justice Mission and residing Freedom Town. With little to no news to go on, your sister begs you to use your skills as an ex-law enforcement officer to infiltrate the camp, locate Alex, and convince him to come home with you… if he is willing.

Along the way, you will discover more and more about the Walkers and the Mission through their compound-wide radio messages, hidden clues scattered about, and through interacting with the residents of Freedom Town who may not be too keen on sticking around for much longer.

The Church in the Darkness Review 2

Gameplay

The Church in the Darkness plays much like a classic Metal Gear game. Stealth movement can get you where you need to go, but this cult is highly suspicious of outsiders. Find disguises, throw rocks to misdirect, hide in cabinets, and avoid the gaze of guards to achieve your goal to reach Alex.

How you execute that mission is up to you – both metaphorically and literally speaking. If you want to run through, guns blazing, you are welcome to do just that – including abducting Alex. If you want to take a more subtle, non-violent approach, that, too, is welcome. But, be warned: the mercies you extend may be repaid to you in turn.

That's right: if you get caught and your actions have been violently adversarial, you could be executed with extreme prejudice. However, if you have taken a non-lethal approach, you will be extended some grace in the form of a second chance. Maybe.

These action-based outcomes don't stop there; with play, the personalities of the preachers will shift, opening up the possibilities of nineteen endings. Not only that but with each play through, you will be given the opportunity to experience a different personality of the preachers than you did in the previous session. You will also start with a new insertion point, the potential of new items unlocked, and members of the Mission to interact with. If you want a greater challenge, there are four levels of difficulty. Each level of difficulty will limit just how much of the field of vision you can see and the amount to time it is revealed to you.

You do have a choice on PC to use either mouse and keyboard or a gamepad, but the gamepad layout for The Church in the Darkness takes a little bit of time to get used. Takedowns are located on completely different portions of the controller (lethal actions on a bumper with non-lethal on the front-facing buttons) and there is a glaring omission: the is no button for crouching. With no ability to edit gamepad controls, you are left with the choice of not crouching (the mechanic which allows you to see field of vision) or the use the mouse and keyboard. Hopefully, this omission is not present on the console releases.

This issue aside, The Church in the Darkness handles their design of the cult very well. With real-life husband and wife team voicing the Walkers, John Patrick Lowrie (Sniper, Team Fortress 2) and Ellen McLain (GlaDOS in Portal) bring their musical offerings into the mix with their charismatic conviction, making this dynamic power couple even more alluring.

With all of that said, it's time to dig in a little deeper.

The Church in the Darkness Review 3

Beyond The Pale: Digging into the Cultic Nature of The Collective Justice Mission

Since everyone has differing religious upbringings and experiences (or lack thereof), it is imperative that words or terms are clearly defined. This way, we are all talking in the same language about the same things. While I covered some of this information in my Far Cry 5 article The Pastor Versus The Father, it is worth covering this ground again.

What is a cult?

In 1981, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton wrote an entry in The Harvard Mental Health Letter (Vol. 7, Num 8 – February 1981), defining three major characteristics of a cult:

A charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as a general principle that may have originally sustained the group (from) lose(ing) their power
A process (of) coercive persuasion or thought reform;
Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of the group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.

Within these structures, we see individuality is rejected for the greater collective, manipulation takes place by manufacturing spiritual experiences, and a demand for total transparency from acolytes while leaders live in veiled mystery. Often times, these groups begin as an offshoot of from a generally accepted system of belief – known in theological circles as the "pale of orthodoxy."

In the case of The Church in the Darkness, the Walkers preach a message that has ties to Christianity, but bastardize the Bible by removing context, cherrypick references to fit their politically-charged message. Much like a modern-day cult, there is an exclusivity to their claims that is unsubstantiated by their source material, but when confronted about the discrepancies, claims of some new or special revelation are often given as a defense. Interestingly, at some point, Isaac Walker can be heard declaring his disdain for people who would twist Jesus' teachings, insinuating that all other preachers are biblically illiterate.

The crafting of the Collective Justice mission touches on each one of Lifton's points to varying degrees. As the faces and voices of the Mission, "devotional" prayer cards with the Walkers visage can be found throughout Freedom Town. They are the icon, an object of worship – hitting point #1. The Walkers practice public discipline of members who have "strayed from the path" (#2) – using people as cautionary examples as well as convincing those being tortured or abused that this is "God's path to redemption" – they are "worthy" of such attention. While exploitation takes place in the form of farming, construction, and upkeep, labor is seen as a form of worship as well (#3). There are allusions that there may also be some sexual misconduct by the leaders. In some playthroughs, the devotional cards have the pictures of the Walkers scratched up with words like "harlot" and "adulterer" etched into them.

The Church in the Darkness Review 4

How is it that two people could start in such a good place and have such good intentions, but go so terribly wrong?

While the Walkers are fictional characters, the time period The Church in the Darkness is set in is not. It would be an understatement to say that it was a powder keg of social issues. From the Civil Rights movement to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the fallout from the Vietnam War, the American church had a number to wrestle with and reconcile.

For the Collective Justice Mission, I imagine that their anti-establishment message felt justified in the face of injustice. After all, God is a God of perfect justice, right? People could rally behind a message like that in their angst toward society. Yet, the message of Jesus was never a political one in the sense that people for the past two thousand years have tried to make it… though many would (and still do) try to rally followers around it. One of the authors of the New Testament would admonish a young pastor named Timothy that there would be people who would gather around them teachers who would say things that "their itching ears longed to hear."

At the end of the day, fidelity and accountability to the message, preaching what the Bible actually says, not what we want it to say, can keep preachers (like myself) in check, but it is imperative for the listener to search the source material as well.

Oh, and don't think I didn't catch that Isaac and Rebekah reference, Richard. Well done.

Summary

The Church in the Darkness send you creeping into the heart of the South American jungle to uncover the mysteries of a cult, the lure of their message, and the status of your nephew. As a stealth game with multiple endings and difficulties as well as the opportunity to select both gender and ethnicity, it allows players a high degree of accessibility to the experience. While there are some issues with the controls, The Church in the Darkness is a pretty satisfying stealth infiltration game to play however you like… but how will you be received?

Will The Collective Justice Mission welcome you with the love of Jesus or is God the only one in this camp who will have mercy on your wretched soul?

COMPARE TO: Metal Gear, Splinter Cell

Search This Blog

Festival Portal