The Church in the Darkness

 Xbox One
The Church in the Darkness Image
Metascore
58

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 6 Ratings

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  • Summary: Your nephew has joined a religious cult and moved with them to the South American jungle to found Freedom Town. It's up to you to sneak into the commune, find out what's really going on, and decide if you need to get your nephew out. The scenario changes each time you play, and every timeYour nephew has joined a religious cult and moved with them to the South American jungle to found Freedom Town. It's up to you to sneak into the commune, find out what's really going on, and decide if you need to get your nephew out. The scenario changes each time you play, and every time you must determine just how dangerous the leaders Rebecca and Isaac are.… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. GameCritics
    Sep 10, 2019
    70
    With these splintering narratives I wanted to come back to Church several times to to see what the varying outcomes would be. However, I started to see behind the curtain, and apart from the central four characters, the other NPCs have little impact.
  2. Impulsegamer
    Aug 16, 2019
    68
    There is something to be said for a game that can truly be challenging, this is one such example of a game that most people will not be able to finish inside of a week, and likely even a month. The reward would come from the endurance and lateral thinking that this game would require in order to gain ground. In all fairness, this game delivers for those who truly seek this challenge, but the ‘chase’ is likely to be better than the ‘prize’ with respect to the story.
  3. Xbox Tavern
    Aug 7, 2019
    65
    The Church In The Darkness is a nice change to the contemporary games of today and strives to open the mind of religion and cultism in a top-view, open world environment with stealth mechanics and multi narrative story scripts. Looks great and plays great, albeit not being the longest game ever. It appeals to a different nature and pushes for originality.
  4. TheXboxHub
    Aug 11, 2019
    60
    The Church in the Darkness on Xbox One has me divided. On one hand, I love the concept, writing, and visual style. On the other, I pretty much hate the randomised elements, the permadeath, and a number of small gameplay annoyances.
  5. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Oct 12, 2019
    60
    At just under £20, The Church In The Darkness feels disappointingly insubstantial. [Issue#182, p.86]
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  6. Game Informer
    Aug 2, 2019
    50
    Despite offering myriad endings and some extra content that unlocks the longer you play, The Church in the Darkness does little to justify sticking around to see it. A half-dozen runs will give you a good sense of the narrative scope and gameplay, without offering anything particularly novel to keep you invested. I went into The Church in the Darkness hoping for a thought-provoking look at how cults operate and entice their followers, but ended up leaving Freedom Town disillusioned.
  7. MondoXbox
    Aug 25, 2019
    50
    The Church in the Darkness presents us an intriguing setting and gameplay idea, but it fails in fulfilling its ambitions due to imprecise controls, too basic stealth mechanics, bugs and an overall lack of care for details.

See all 9 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Xbox_Alive
    Aug 7, 2019
    6
    The Church in the Darkness is a Top-Down Stealth intrigue game. Church is set in South America in 1977. Isaac and Rebecca are leaders of aThe Church in the Darkness is a Top-Down Stealth intrigue game. Church is set in South America in 1977. Isaac and Rebecca are leaders of a socialist movement called the "Collective Justice Mission", and have gone into self-imposed exile from the States. Over the last two years, they and their devote followers have built a village dubbed Freedom Town out in the depths of the South American jungles. You play as Vic (your gender is chosen at the start of the game) an ex-cop with a mission for your sister, your nephew Alex as left with this ill-reputed commune and hasn't been heard from. The game has 19 endings possible, each derived from the personalities of Freedom Towns two leaders. Alex's attitude even changes to you depending on how you go about your mission. DON'T GIVE UP! The game's first hour or two are hard, and the game doesn't just give you direction, but once you get the hang of the way it works, it's oddly addicting. Game play is centered around exploring the town, collecting evidence and avoiding detection. You are tasked with the choices of morality, is this a dangerous cult you need to save him from, or are the leaders doing the right thing? The final task being to escape, you will gain tools over your many play throughs that make some thing slightly easier later. This game isn't for everyone, but that said, it is an immensely thought out game, with a lot of intrigue, and replayability.… Expand
  2. GamerGuysNGals
    Aug 9, 2019
    5
    The Church in Darkness Review
    By Johnny Mero
    Developed by Paranoid Productions Published by Fellow Traveler Available on Windows, MAC,    The Church in Darkness Review
    By Johnny Mero
    Developed by Paranoid Productions
    Published by Fellow Traveler
    Available on Windows, MAC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch

    So Carless gets me to review The Church in Darkness. I think oh cool, a horror game. I’ve been waiting on another chance to review a horror game since the horror (not good horror) that was The One We Found which I still don’t understand to this day and kinda refuse to care. Sadly I was mistaken but this game might still be good.

    Instead, The Church in Darkness is a top down stealth game in which you play Vic who is an Ex-Cop, going to a place called Freedom town, a village set up by a cult that Vic is trying to infiltrate to find his nephew. Irony of name aside, Vic needs to stealthily infiltrate the cult, get his nephew, and get out. But the cult refuses to allow any outsiders and will shoot on sight anyone trying to get in. Stealth games aren’t usually my cup of tea but from what I’ve read about it here, I think it’ll be a pretty solid game quite honestly.

    You’ll be able to pick out a bit of a load out before you start like medkits, alarm disarming kits, and pistols; and will also be able to pick up items in the field as well as extra notes to learn more about the cult. You can even find cultist clothing to disguise yourself.

    The game itself is very short and easy to complete and will roughly take you 30 minutes per Playthrough. It’s super easy to avoid cultists and easy to escape if you get caught. You can easily complete the game non lethally no problem. So super short and easy.
    What it does to try to boost the replay value for the game is start you in different locations per playthrough, allowing for alternative ways to infiltrate the cult. They also change the cult’s behavior each Playthrough but it feels very slight. The only thing that doesn’t really change about it is the map itself.

    The achievements might take you a bit as well, and will definitely warrant multiple plays to get 100% of them. But those that put the dedication will get them no problem.

    Pro: visually appealing, good voice acting,

    Cons: difficulty is lacking, repetitive

    Overall, I think the ideas this game was trying to pursue were done but not well enough for me to warrant a recommendation from me.
    I think this game would’ve benefited more with a larger budget and the games with a longer Playthrough instead of several, shorter ones. There’s a good idea there, maybe Paranoid Productions can do better next time.    … Expand