The Church in the Darkness
No one is forced to join a cult. It welcomes you. It understands you. It envelops you until the words become more than truth—they make you whole.
In the late 1970s, the charismatic Isaac and Rebecca Walker lead the Collective Justice Mission. Labeled radicals and feeling persecuted by the US government, they relocate their followers to the one place they believe they can create a socialist utopia: the jungles of South America. There they build Freedom Town. But relatives left behind in the US become worried: what exactly is going on at this compound in the jungle?
You play as Vic, an ex-law enforcement officer who has snuck into Freedom Town to check on their nephew, Alex. Whether you choose stealth or violence, you must infiltrate the commune, find out what’s going on within, and locate your nephew, before it’s too late.
The dynamic story of The Church in the Darkness changes every time you play. It’s up to you to explore Freedom Town, figure out the shifting personalities and motivations of the cult leaders, and decide what to do.
- What ending will you get? Will you get Alex out, whether he wants to go with you or not? Will you confront the cult leaders? Will you join the cult?
- Unlock every ending for each scenario by trying different play styles or making different choices.
- Multiple ways to play: Avoid detection completely, taking out guards and civilians non-lethally, or kill anyone who gets in your way.
- Interview characters from Freedom Town and search for clues. Documents and letters scattered around camp will hint at the true nature of the commune.
- Fully voiced game, starring Ellen McLain (best known as GLaDOS in Portal) and John Patrick Lowrie (the Sniper from Team Fortress 2) as the cult leaders, Rebecca and Isaac Walker.
How dangerous are the Walkers? How far will you go to uncover the truth and save Alex? Could it all have turned out differently?
The Church in the Darkness Review
As a top-down stealth game, The Church in the Darkness succeeds in what it came to be, but falters in creating a smooth or innovative experience. The controls on PC are occasionally janky and I encountered a couple instances where I feel it failed. Stealth is largely a matter of avoiding the “eyesight” of the cultists and using distractions where possible. Failure to do so nets a guard who comes over to investigate, an alarm, or several bullets sent in your direction. As a simplistic tool, the stealth works. However, combined with the relatively unsophisticated AI, I feel that I often have to default to the same tools over and over.
As mentioned by others, controlling your character can also occasionally be a hassle. It didn’t happen often, but I would sometimes encounter trees where it obscured my vision and simultaneously brought my character to a halt (which I could not see). Has it given me a healthy fear of trees as obstacles? Yes.
Otherwise, I often feel restricted by what my character can do within the play-space. In particular when interacting with people you set free (who often just wander off without saying a word) or the investigation of the darker aspects of the cult, I feel like the character is purely an observer who sometimes acts rather than an active-participant in the environment.
Overall, a fair attempt at a stealth game with some poor implementation. However, some of the aspects of the game (like the sound design and voice acting) shine, selling the presence of the cult community.
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