Info about The Last Faith:

Official game description:
The wicked and the blessed will be judged the same - let nothing stand in your way.  
Often brutal, always empowering, The Last Faith is an unholy alliance of metroidvania and soulslike.  
The Last Faith thrives on merciless and precise combat, with a huge range of custom executions to perform.  
Discover a formidable arsenal of melee weapons, arcane spells, and long-range firearms, allowing you to carve a path your own way.  
Nonlinear exploration is at the core of The Last Faith. Gorgeous pixel art depicts an imposing gothic landscape. Journey along snow-dusted mountains and castles bathed in moonlight. Discover and upgrade a formidable range of tools for destruction.  
Step into The Last Faith’s ravaged world as Eryk, who awakens with no recollection of his immediate past. Soon he will discover he is in a race against time as his mind and conscience begins to deteriorate. His desire for salvation from this affliction sets him on a cursed mission that crosses paths with ancient religions and divinities.

Release date: 15 Nov, 2023

Categories: Metroidvania, Soulslike Combat, Single-player Story, Exploration, Character Progression, Real-time Combat, Weapon Customization, Multiple Endings


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Successful Genre Blend & Dark Aesthetic (weight 1): The game masterfully blends elements from Bloodborne, Blasphemous, and Castlevania, creating a unique identity within the dark fantasy genre. Its gothic, grotesque, and cosmic horror aesthetic, combined with a fitting soundtrack, establishes a deeply atmospheric world.
- Stunning Pixel Art & Visuals (weight 0.91): The game's pixel art is frequently lauded as stunning and intricately detailed, contributing significantly to its dark, gothic atmosphere. Reviewers also commend the high quality of animations, visual effects, and sound design, which enhance immersion.
- Engaging Story & Lore (weight 0.88): The game offers an engaging story and lore, often presented through a fragmented narrative style reminiscent of Souls-like games. Reviewers find the world-building immersive and the plot captivating, with interesting themes and good voice acting.
- Diverse Weapon & Build Options (weight 0.83): Reviewers appreciate the extensive variety of weapons, spells, and ranged options available, allowing for diverse build customization. Each weapon type offers unique movesets and special abilities, encouraging experimentation and varied playstyles.
- Rewarding Exploration & Level Design (weight 0.8): The game features clever and detailed level design, with interconnected areas that make exploration rewarding and rarely tedious. Players enjoy discovering secrets, hidden paths, and new areas, which keeps them motivated to progress.
- Fair & Balanced Difficulty (weight 0.8): The game strikes a good balance in difficulty, being challenging but fair and not overly punishing. It allows players to overcome obstacles through learning patterns or leveling up, and is noted for being achievement-friendly with minimal grinding.
- Fluid Controls & Combat Feel (weight 0.78): The controls are described as fluid, tight, and responsive, making character movement and combat feel precise. Weapons have a satisfying weight and impact, providing excellent feedback during engagements.
- Engaging Combat & Boss Fights (weight 0.78): Players consistently praise the game's combat system, describing it as fluid, weighty, and satisfying. Boss fights and enemy designs are highlighted as epic, challenging, and fun, with clear patterns that make learning and overcoming them rewarding.
- Forgiving Mechanics & Resources (weight 0.71): The game is forgiving of player mistakes, offering abundant healing items that are easily found or purchased. This accessibility, combined with frequent checkpoints and shortcuts, simplifies progression without diminishing the challenge.
- Polished Performance & Stability (weight 0.05): Players report a polished experience with minimal bugs, noting that developers have addressed early technical issues through patches. The game is stable and performs well, contributing to an overall smooth and enjoyable playthrough.

Common complaints:
- Numerous Unfixed Bugs (weight 0.86): The game was plagued by a significant number of bugs, including game-breaking glitches, achievement issues, and lost progress. Many reviews noted a lack of developer support and unaddressed issues since release.
- Poor Audio & Localization (weight 0.5): Reviews frequently criticized the game's sound design, including bland and repetitive music, poor sound effects, and bad voice acting. The localization was also noted as terrible, with incomprehensible and overly verbose dialogue.
- Repetitive Boss/Enemy Design (weight 0.49): Many players found boss and enemy designs to be uninspired and repetitive, often reusing similar models or attack patterns. This led to a lack of variety and interest in combat encounters.
- Excessive Boss/Enemy HP (weight 0.49): A significant number of reviews criticized bosses and enemies for having excessively high health pools, leading to prolonged and tedious fights. This artificial difficulty often overshadowed any mechanical challenge.
- Inconsistent Difficulty Spikes (weight 0.49): The game's difficulty curve was frequently criticized for being inconsistent, with sudden, unfair spikes in enemy stats and damage. This often hindered progression and felt artificially inflated rather than skill-based.
- Poor Map & Navigation Guidance (weight 0.44): Players frequently got lost due to a confusing map system with poor UI, limited markers, and sparse fast travel points. The game also provided insufficient guidance on where to go next, hindering progression and exploration.
- Clunky & Unresponsive Controls (weight 0.38): A pervasive issue was the clunky, sluggish, and unresponsive nature of character controls and combat. This included noticeable input lag, long animations, and a general lack of fluidity, making gameplay feel stiff and frustrating.
- Missing New Game Plus (weight 0.31): A major point of contention was the absence of a New Game+ mode, which was often promised but not delivered. This limited replayability, prevented players from fully utilizing late-game weapons, and made 100% completion tedious.
- Vague & Confusing Narrative (weight 0.31): The game's story, lore, and dialogue were widely described as vague, fragmented, and confusing. Poor translation and overly cryptic writing made it difficult for players to understand the plot or connect with characters.
- Inconsistent Hit Detection/IFrames (weight 0.3): Players reported issues with imprecise hitboxes for both player and enemies, leading to unfair damage. The absence or inconsistency of invulnerability frames after being hit also contributed to frustrating stun-lock situations.
- Derivative Game Design (weight 0.28): Many reviews criticized the game for heavily borrowing elements from other popular titles like Blasphemous and Bloodborne without adding original ideas. This derivativeness resulted in a lack of unique identity and memorable features.
- Boring & Repetitive Gameplay (weight 0.25): The overall gameplay experience was often described as boring, repetitive, and tedious. This was attributed to monotonous tasks, aesthetic fatigue from unchanging art style, and a general lack of engaging content.
- High Price for Quality (weight 0.22): Several reviewers felt the game's price was too high given its perceived quality and numerous flaws. This sentiment often arose from the overall disappointing experience.
- Ineffective Parry System (weight 0.16): The parry system was widely deemed ineffective and not worth using due to strict timing, low reward, resource consumption, and unclear indications of parryable attacks. It felt like an underdeveloped or broken mechanic.
- Late Movement Ability Unlocks (weight 0.13): Essential movement abilities, particularly the double jump, were acquired very late in the game. This significantly hindered early-game exploration, combat, and made backtracking tedious.
- Lack of Aerial Combat (weight 0.13): Players found it frustrating to deal with flying enemies due to the inability to attack while jumping or perform air combos. This design choice made combat against airborne foes tedious and unintuitive.
- Poor Weapon Balancing (weight 0.12): Reviews highlighted issues with weapon balancing, including weak ranged options, expensive upgrades, and a lack of significant power increase. Many weapons felt similar or unviable, limiting build diversity and making progression feel unrewarding.
- Problematic Dodge Mechanic (weight 0.1): The dodge mechanic was frequently criticized for its inconsistency, including input lag, long cooldowns, and unreliable invincibility frames. This made dodging feel ineffective and frustrating, especially against multi-hit attacks.
- Lack of Animation Canceling (weight 0.1): Players expressed frustration over the inability to cancel attack animations with dodges or other actions. This often locked the player into lengthy recovery frames, leading to unavoidable damage and a less fluid combat experience.
- Missable & Unrewarding Quests (weight 0.1): Side quests were often criticized for being easily missable, unrewarding, and lacking interesting stories. NPCs frequently disappeared without warning, preventing quest completion and achievement unlocks, sometimes soft-locking progress.
- Useless Spells & Magic (weight 0.07): Spells and magic were widely considered ineffective due to low damage, high resource consumption, and limited utility against bosses. Many players found them inferior to melee attacks, discouraging spellcaster builds.
- Limited Resource Regeneration (weight 0.07): The game's resource management system was criticized for limited mana regeneration and reliance on consumable healing items. This often forced players into grinding or buying resources, disrupting gameplay flow and discouraging ability use.
- Unmarked Hidden Walls (weight 0.06): The game's reliance on unmarked hidden walls for secrets and progression was a source of frustration. Players had to resort to trial and error or guides to find them, often leading to unrewarding loot.

Gameplay feedback:
- Souls-like Metroidvania Blend (weight 0.26): The game is consistently described as a 2D Souls-like Metroidvania, heavily inspired by Bloodborne, Blasphemous, and Castlevania. It incorporates core mechanics like soul-based progression, stat allocation, weapon upgrades, and exploration with backtracking.
- Moderate Difficulty, Grindable (weight 0.17): The game's difficulty is generally described as moderate, accessible, and not overly punishing compared to other Souls-likes. Players can overcome challenges by grinding for levels and resources, and the game length is typically around 15-20 hours for completion.
- Diverse Weapon/Build Options (weight 0.16): The game offers a wide array of melee weapons, firearms, and spells, each with unique characteristics and scaling based on traditional RPG stats (Strength, Dexterity, Mind, Intuition). While some ranged options might feel less effective early on, the system supports diverse character builds.
- Varied Boss Encounters (weight 0.12): Boss fights are generally well-designed, fun, and offer varied challenges, though some are noted as damage sponges or re-used. Boss patterns are often easy to learn, and the game features unique execution animations for enemies and bosses, sometimes with second phases.
- Standard Action Mechanics (weight 0.07): The game features common action-platformer mechanics such as dodge rolls, parrying, blocking (with stamina), and a climbing system. Combat is dynamic, encouraging movement and finding attack opportunities.
- Serviceable, Aggressive Combat (weight 0.07): Combat is described as decent, precise, and often built around aggression and forward movement, though some find it clunky initially. It emphasizes synergy between main and sub-weapons, and enemy attack patterns are generally easy to read.
- Initial Class Choice (weight 0.07): Players choose from four initial classes (e.g., warrior, mage, assassin, gunner) which primarily determine starting stats and equipment. While offering initial variety, the impact of this choice on long-term builds is noted to be limited as players can freely develop stats.
- Abundant Hidden Secrets (weight 0.05): The game is rich with secrets, including hidden rooms, quests, and items, often concealed behind unmarked breakable walls. Exploration is rewarded by discovering these numerous hidden passages and collectibles.
- Extensive Map Exploration (weight 0.05): The game features a large, non-linear Metroidvania-style map that encourages extensive exploration and backtracking. New zones are unlocked by obtaining specific items, and the map structure allows players to progress at their own pace.
- Consumable Healing System (weight 0.05): Unlike traditional Souls-likes, healing items are consumable and do not automatically restock at save points, forcing players to farm or purchase them. This system, similar to Bloodborne's blood vials, emphasizes resource management during exploration and boss fights.
- Poor Guidance/Navigation (weight 0.04): Some players found the game's non-linear progression, lack of clear guidance, and confusing map design led to getting lost or stumbling into high-level areas prematurely. Controls were also occasionally described as slow or unresponsive.
- Missable Quests/Endings (weight 0.04): The game features multiple endings and side quests that can be permanently locked out if players progress too far in the main story or defeat certain bosses prematurely. This requires careful planning for 100% completion and can necessitate multiple playthroughs.
- Enjoyable Gameplay Experience (weight 0.04): Overall, the game is described as very fun, with smooth controls and a good flow. Reviewers appreciated the solid NPCs, deep lore, and sufficient game length, considering it a classic representative of its genre that borrows the best elements from others.

Performance notes:
- Hardware-Specific Performance Issues (weight 0.06): Some players experience performance issues, including frame drops on lower-end hardware or HDDs, and lag on Switch. Input registration issues on Steam Deck and general optimization problems at launch were also noted, though some were resolved by moving the game to an SSD.
- Responsive & Fluid Gameplay (weight 0.02): Players praised the game's core mechanics, noting responsive controller inputs, accurate hitboxes, and a fluid combat system. No significant balance problems were observed.
- Game-Breaking Buff Bugs (weight 0.01): Players reported specific bugs where buffs or enchantments would last infinitely, sometimes granting invincibility. These issues could often be resolved with a quick restart.
- Excessive Load Times (weight 0.01): Players frequently reported very long loading screens, with some instances taking over 30 seconds for simple screen transitions. This significantly impacts the flow of gameplay.
- Map System Glitches (weight 0.01): The in-game map system was noted to have display bugs and performance issues, such as lagging.
- Boss AI Glitch (weight 0.01): A specific bug was reported where certain bosses (e.g., Medeya, Hydra) would stop attacking during fights with reflective water, especially on laggy PCs, allowing players to defeat them easily.
- Launch Screen Display Issues (weight 0.01): Some users encountered problems with the game's launch screen, particularly when using multiple monitors or due to a lack of resolution settings, hindering initial setup.

Recommendations:
- Buy On Sale (weight 0.56): A significant number of reviews recommend purchasing the game, but primarily when it's on sale or at a discount. This suggests that while the game is enjoyable, its full price might be considered too high by many players.
- Highly Recommended Experience (weight 0.44): Many players found the game to be a very enjoyable and worthwhile experience, often rating it highly and expressing a desire to replay it. It's seen as a solid purchase, especially for fans of its style.
- Strong Genre Appeal (weight 0.25): The game is highly recommended for fans of Metroidvania and Souls-like genres, particularly those who enjoy games like Blasphemous, Bloodborne, or Castlevania. Its dark gothic aesthetic and challenging combat resonate well with this audience.
- Better Alternatives Available (weight 0.23): Some reviewers suggest that while the game is decent, there are superior titles within the Metroidvania and Souls-like genres, such as Blasphemous, Hollow Knight, or Ori. This indicates that the game might not stand out enough for seasoned genre veterans.
- Needs Bug Fixes (weight 0.04): Several players state they will only recommend or continue playing the game once significant bugs, load times, and video settings issues are addressed. This highlights critical technical problems impacting the player experience.
- Mixed Numerical Ratings (weight 0.02): The game received a wide range of numerical ratings, from 6/10 to 10/10, with many falling in the 7-8/10 range. This indicates a generally positive but not universally acclaimed reception.
- Endgame & Guide Reliance (weight 0.02): Players found endgame bosses boring and noted that a walkthrough was often needed to achieve optional endings or full collection. This suggests issues with endgame engagement and clarity of progression.
- Unfulfilled Potential (weight 0.01): Reviewers noted that despite good art, the game failed to deliver on its potential due to missing critical gameplay elements or being refused in its initial state. This points to design flaws that prevent it from being truly great.
- Immersive Dark Atmosphere (weight 0.01): Players appreciated the game's gothic universe and very dark stories, finding it to be a brutal yet rewarding journey into darkness. This highlights a strong positive in its artistic and narrative presentation.
- Demanding Difficulty (weight 0.01): The game is described as requiring players to "try hard or leave it," implying a high level of challenge and a need for perseverance. This indicates it appeals to players who enjoy difficult experiences.
- Hyperbolic Negative Feedback (weight 0.01): A small number of reviews used extremely negative and emotional language, calling the game "trash" or only for "masochists." This type of feedback lacks specific details and shows signs of emotional language, reducing its constructive value.

Other player notes:
- Stunning Gothic Art & Audio (weight 0.15): The game is consistently praised for its exceptional pixel art, detailed gothic aesthetic, and high-quality soundtrack. Reviewers highlight how the visuals and audio effectively create a dark, immersive, and haunting atmosphere, often drawing comparisons to classic gothic horror.
- Mixed Story Clarity & Length (weight 0.05): Opinions on the game's story are mixed; some find it interesting but difficult to understand due to fragmented progression, while others find it slow. There's also conflicting feedback on the game's overall length, with some calling it short and others lengthy.
- Desire for Post-Game Content (weight 0.05): Many players expressed a strong desire for additional content, specifically New Game Plus (NG+), DLC, or a sequel. There were also suggestions for quality-of-life improvements like clearer weapon progression and fast travel.
- Large, Navigable Map (weight 0.03): The game features a surprisingly large and vast map for exploration. While players can get lost, the ability to place custom markers helps with navigation, though the mini-map itself has some limitations.
- Misleading Early Area Access (weight 0.02): A specific criticism highlights that players can access a high-level 'snowfield' map early in the game, which is not the correct progression path. This can lead to frustration, similar to encountering high-level areas in Souls-like games.
- Achievable 100% Completion (weight 0.02): Reviewers noted that all achievements can be obtained in a single playthrough without significant difficulty. Information on completion time and the use of walkthroughs for specific endings was also provided.
- Patching Efforts & Effectiveness (weight 0.02): The game has received multiple patches addressing initial errors. However, some reviewers noted that these patches did not significantly improve the game, while others simply acknowledged their existence. There was conflicting information regarding the game's release age.
- Long Development Cycle (weight 0.01): The game had a notably long development cycle, with mentions of it almost being 'vaporware' and undergoing multiple beta phases and demos before release.
- Developer's Debut Title (weight 0.01): Reviewers noted that this game appears to be the developer's first work. This context sometimes influenced their perception, leading to encouraging remarks despite initial impressions.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.31): Players felt satisfied by the game's high-quality pixel art, immersive atmosphere, and excellent music. The core gameplay, including fluid combat, deep exploration, and challenging yet fair boss fights, contributed significantly to their enjoyment. Many appreciated its successful execution as a Metroidvania and Souls-like blend, offering diverse builds and replayability.
- Frustration (weight 0.22): Frustration stemmed primarily from clunky or unresponsive controls, poor character movement, and issues with the combat system, including unfair boss mechanics and high enemy HP. Technical problems like bugs, crashes, and save file corruption were also significant causes. Additionally, players were frustrated by poor map design, lack of guidance, tedious grinding, and missing quality-of-life features like New Game+ or a respec system.
- Disappointment (weight 0.19): Players expressed disappointment when the game failed to meet their expectations, often feeling unfinished, unpolished, or lacking promised updates. Common causes included a vague or fragmented story, unrewarding exploration, and underdeveloped or unbalanced mechanics. Many felt the game lacked originality compared to its inspirations and suffered from a general lack of depth or replayability.
- Excitement (weight 0.06): Excitement was driven by the game's successful blend of genres, offering challenging and engaging boss fights, and a rewarding sense of progression. Players were hooked by its addictive nature and appreciated the variety of features and builds available. The overall high quality, particularly the visual style and ambiance, also contributed to a strong recommendation and anticipation for more content.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.05): Enjoyment was derived from the game's dark atmosphere, immersive world, and engaging core gameplay. Players particularly liked the combat, exploration, and challenging boss encounters. The game's adherence to preferred genre elements and its overall fun, compelling experience contributed to a strong positive feeling.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger was caused by the game's perceived poor design, frustrating mechanics, and unresponsive controls, leading to a sense of wasted time and money. Players were particularly incensed by game-breaking bugs, instant death mechanics, and a perceived indifference or poor decision-making from the developers. Strong negative feelings were often tied to the game's unpolished state and lack of post-launch support.
- Joy (weight 0.02): Joy was an intense positive emotion stemming from an overall amazing and fun experience, often highlighted by achieving game completion or specific achievements like platinum. Players loved the game's exploration, theme, and immersive atmosphere. The game's high quality and the sheer pleasure of playing it contributed to this strong positive feeling.
- Annoyance (weight 0.02): Annoyance arose from minor design flaws and quality-of-life issues, such as a vague plot, homogenized map progression, or limited item slots. Specific mechanics like self-destructing enemies, traps, or a frustrating healing system also caused irritation. Technical issues and the lack of basic features like controller vibration or a New Game+ option further contributed to this feeling.
- Admiration (weight 0.02): Admiration was inspired by the game's incredible atmosphere, stunning pixel art, and perfect musical score. Players praised the epic boss fights, great storytelling, and well-implemented Dark Souls elements. The overall visual design, artistry, and the developer's persistence in creating a worthy experience were highly regarded.
- Appreciation (weight 0.02): Players appreciated the game as a 'love letter' to its genre, recognizing its passionate execution and unique qualities. The art style, voice acting, and successful blend of genres were frequently highlighted. The game's challenging yet fair design, including its map, exploration, and boss encounters, also garnered significant appreciation.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom was caused by repetitive gameplay, content, and mechanics, leading to a lack of motivation to continue. Players found the game's formula derivative and its backtracking dull. The uniform art style and poor guidance also contributed to a monotonous overall experience.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Players were surprised by the game's unexpected quality, variety, and challenging nature, often exceeding their initial low expectations or a dull demo. The amount of content and value for money also contributed to this positive surprise. Many found themselves more hooked than anticipated, despite any negative pre-conceptions.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion stemmed from an overly abstract or unclear story, dialogue, and translation, making the narrative difficult to follow. Players also struggled with unclear map progression and the game's overall identity. Unpredictable boss difficulty curves and inconsistent hit feedback further added to their bewilderment.
- Neutral (weight 0): Neutral feelings were based on a factual assessment of the game, often describing it as average or a time sink. Some players simply set their expectations, while others noted its low difficulty. This emotion reflects an objective, non-emotional evaluation of the game's qualities.
- Love (weight 0): Love for the game was a strong, overarching positive feeling, driven by its overall high quality, engaging genre, and distinctive art style. Players deeply connected with the game's setting and its successful similarity to beloved titles like Blasphemous. This emotion signifies a profound enjoyment and affection for the game.
- Neutrality (weight 0): Neutrality arose from the perception that the game was a copy of other titles, lacking originality and not being top-tier. While some aspects like map design and gameplay were noted, the overall quality and the story's secondary role contributed to a balanced, non-committal assessment.
- Mixed (weight 0): Players experienced mixed feelings due to a combination of good core gameplay elements contrasted with significant flaws, such as a flawed story or unengaging NPCs. This emotion reflects an overall ambivalent experience, where positive aspects were weighed against notable issues.
- Disgust (weight 0): Disgust was caused by severe design flaws, particularly with the game's mechanics, controls, and specific mid-game design choices. Players found certain boss debuffs and overall game design choices to be deeply off-putting. This emotion indicates a strong, negative visceral reaction to frustrating or poorly implemented aspects of the game.
- Relief (weight 0): Relief was felt after overcoming difficult challenges, such as finally beating a tough boss after multiple attempts. It also stemmed from positive surprises, like finding the game on sale or realizing a feared mechanic, such as the blood vial system, was not as bad as anticipated. Finishing the game also brought a sense of relief.}