Friends, I am genuinely stumped about The Forest Cathedral. I’m not even totally sure what I played. All I do know for certain is that I got all the achievements. That was pretty nifty for me. As for the game, I don’t feel like it was totally as advertised. But I’ll explain that in a little bit. This game comes to us from developer Wakefield Interactive LLC and publisher Whitethorn Games.
What is The Forest Cathedral?
The Forest Cathedral is a first-person psychological thriller, set on a remote island. It’s based on the story of Rachel Carson, who was an American marine biologist. She investigated the effects of DDT and wrote a book called Silent Spring, which is credited with advancing the global environmental movement. The game is based on her research and discovery, and the severe contamination and pollution caused by DDT. It uses both 2D and 3D connected puzzles to progress the story.
Exploring The Forest
The Forest Cathedral has the strangest opening of any game I’ve ever played. First, you play as a ladybird, then as someone spraying swamps with DDT. The DDT part made sense. The ladybird… not so much. Even with the context of the rest of the game, it just doesn’t make sense to me. However, that’s not the only thing that caught me relatively off guard. The game is advertised as a psychological thriller. Unfortunately, I found it to be neither psychological nor a thriller.
Admittedly, the forest setting itself was a little basic. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. There are just far too many games that incorporate a forest setting, and none of them feel original anymore. It is interesting to have a game based on a real person. I did, however, feel like that information came too late. That is a personal preference, though. The game just didn’t click for me. Had the information been given earlier, I might have enjoyed it more. But it just came too little, too late.
The 2D sections also fell quite flat for me. The only thing I liked about them was the ability to turn off the spikes. They caused many deaths and a lot of frustration. Definitely not a fun time.
Final Thoughts
I feel like there is potential, but not for me. Sadly, The Forest Cathedral just missed the mark for me on all fronts. There is definitely an audience for this game out there. I’m just not part of it. I did enjoy getting all the achievements though. There were no difficulties with it. You just had to progress through the sections. It is a nice feeling, so I will give full credit to the team for having such easily accessible achievements. I truly wish this game had clicked with me, as it is different. But in the end, it just wasn’t for me.
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