First impression on Bleak Faith: Forsaken
Developer: Archangel Studios
Publisher: Archangel Studios
Released: 10 March, 2023
Price: $26.99 USD
Terrible!
Is what you will primarily hear in the community's outrage around this game.
Personally, I think people ought to give up trying so hard to compare small groups of developers to enormous behemoths like FromSoft, Activision, and others that pump out video games like they are nothing every single year.
This game has been in the works for years by a small group of 3 individuals. The game's creators have been extremely open about their desire to make changes as soon and as professionally as they can to address all issues.
If they keep their word, I have nothing but good things to look forward to.
The current problems
Combat
The game currently feels incredibly clunky and unfinished. Keyboard and Mouse are the preferred controls for playing without any annoyances, and there is also no real support for the controller variants as it also feels bad.
Audio
Is broken into pieces here and there while also having a seriously annoying clicking sound that keeps playing throughout the game no matter what you do.
This is active when HUD elements or the menu is being displayed on the screen. Sounds are missing all throughout boss fights and normal fights.
Progression
Nothing really gives you the impression that you are progressing in a significant way. It makes no sense because if you just saved the game and died, items you had used up until that point in the fight are gone from your inventory, etc.
Locate the boss, kill it, and advance to the next level is your major objective. There doesn't appear to be a level system that you unlock through defeating enemies, this makes killing the same mobs over and over again tedious.
They only drop item resources to craft potions and consumables.
Bugs
Where do I start?
Ragdoll effects sending you flying into the distance, off cliffs while in a large arena, forcing you to run back to the location only for it to happen again and again because there is no real warning signs for most bosses and enemies.
This needs to be addressed immediately. It's exhausting to have to run through the same monsters over and over again only for something similar to happen.
Another problem is that, once a boss fight begins, any visual effects, such as fog, that were applied to the surrounding area continue indefinitely until the game is restarted.
The UI / Menu
It has to be completely redesigned because it's so challenging to navigate and terrible to look at. Even though I made progress—or at the very least, tried to make progress—with all the issues I encountered, nothing actually improved.
It shouldn't be necessary to enter numerous panels in order to equip, remove, and equip a character's advantages and skills. All of it ought to be conveniently arranged together on one screen that has it all in front of you.
Difficulty
I can't really comment on the difficulty because, well, the game's numerous bugs and other problems prevented me from playing it at all outside of running past a lot of the enemies and being stuck behind one of the first bosses.
The good
Visually nice
The one major thing I can compliment is how nice everything looks when the game isn't being a nuisance. While being a little bit finicky with the ambience and enemies walking off cliffs to their death or teleporting into terrain. It's okay.
Conclusion
Wait
The planned updates and patches that are supposed to correct and mend the game's many faults are in the works and it seems to be going along quickly.
Until the game is fixed, we won't know how fantastic it is or could potentially be.
It could take a few days, weeks, months, or even years.
It all depends on how committed the developers are to this goal, however, they seem swift in comparison to AAA developers with addressing their roadmaps.
My initial thoughts on this game come to a close with the caveat that, while others may disagree, that is what makes gamers unique. You don't have to share their interests or agree with them and are welcome to critic me on mine.
If you want to catch me on one of my streams or locate me on social media, you may do so at the following locations, I'm always playing something new.
- Pawkt
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