It only feels like the other day when I first played the Lovecraftian Boomer-Shooter, Forgive Me Father. So, it came as a bit of a pleasant shock when I learned that Forgive Me Father 2 was out already! Well, out in early access at least but still great news to fans eagerly waiting for a sequel. In any case, I was thrilled to return to inky horror adventure developed by Byte Barrel and see what the gang had cooking. I was kindly offered a chance to play the early access version of Forgive Me Father, and after 6 hours of shooting cosmic monsters in their face with my double barrel, DOOM-style shotgun, I have to say, I’m hyped for the final product.
To note: This is a preview of the initial early access release of Forgive Me Father 2. The developers will throughout 2024 release new chapters, new monsters, and new weapons until the 1.0 release. There will be changes for sure, and we will cover within future coverage.
Familiar yet Strange … 
Forgive Me Father 2 treads familiar ground, taking place in the same period of the 1920’s, harbouring the same striking comic book style with bold line work, and of course all the cosmic, occult horrors to blast in the face.
Taking the role of a nameless Joe, you find yourself in a rather decrypted and rundown insane asylum, that is positively brimming with all manner of otherworldly influences and horror. The guards have gone mad, the other inmates are zombified and looking for fresh flesh to feast on, and a strange voice in your head instructing you to venture forward and face the unknown.
At this point, you don’t select a character, which is a little bit of a shame as the original gave you the choice of two characters, and while it didn’t amount to much, it was still an interesting aesthetic choice. However, I can see that Forgive Me Father 2 might be more story-driven than the original. As there is spoken dialogue in the first level with exchanges between the two makes it feel like there will be a developing arc. (no voice work for now, but if the strange voice does come to life in the final version, my picks would be either Sean Pertwee or Tony Todd!).
Although there isn’t much else story-wise, aside from letters you find upon returning to your hub area in between missions. They give a glimpse of events that occurred and potentially to come. While not fleshing out the plot in a traditional sense, it acts more like lore than narrative exposition. There is room here for a more engaging and story-driven experience to take place.
After you escape from the insane asylum, it is time to embark on a cosmic adventure which in this preview build takes us from eerie moon-lit city streets, Eldritch-inspired cathedrals hosting strange cultists and demons, WW1 trenches, and a dank underground railway network. There is indeed a rather varied collective of places to go and see, and while it does feel somewhat disconnected at times, going from an old cathedral to all-out warfare in no man’s land, I did admire traversing the multitude of cool locations, each presenting unique structures and pacing, all feeling quite different from one another.
What holds Forgive Me Father 2 in a promising light is the strong level design, as well as the varied locations. There are the more linear shooting galleries, dotted with intense arenas for good measure, and these are great due to enemy placements, and the ever-changing environments, making good use of altering terrains, locked doors and key hunting, as well as engaging combat encounters. But then we get more confident and complex level designs, acting like small mazes with level looping and backtracking to create thoughtful and layer-level progression. My favourite of all the levels next to the trenches was a Resident Evil-inspired villa, that had some cool puzzles, looping level design, and plenty of arena-style ambushes that made it feel quite different from the remainder of the levels in Act 1. The trenches also hosted a neat set piece which saw me running for dear life across a field that was being shelled by artillery fire. It was quite captivating and certainly felt like a step up from the original game’s, classic DOOM mannerisms.
There were also a couple of puzzles present, nothing massively complicated but a nice touch to have more lateral elements to break up the fighting. I did feel one or two more could be added, and possibly they might be planned. During my playthrough, I mentally pictured two puzzles in one of the cathedral levels, as something was needed to pace it out better. Hopefully more will be added as they’re a good inclusion to have. Although, I could have easily missed some hidden events or puzzles possibly (if not, they are very, very well hidden. Even for me, the master of puzzles ... and unlocking)
On that note, Forgive Me Father 2 also has a different vibe to it. The world design and presentation felt somewhat more fleshed out and three-dimensional, being grander in geometric scale and density. There are small changes and touches, but I did feel the world as I went through felt much bigger, and like a comic book had come to life. Rather than a flat artistic representation. If Forgive Me Father was DOOM, the sequel is much more DOOM 3.
And like DOOM 3, environments will be engulfed by darkness, which impacts navigation and makes using a flashlight quite critical for survival. There is a nice balance of powering up the flashlight and making sure you can fire your weapon before enemies get too close. Interestingly enough, the flashlight must be wound up much like that of Amnesia: The Bunker. I love this dynamic, adding a nice layer of tension and thought while trying to see in darker areas.
My only other note is that, while I love the period/setting and aesthetics, I wished there would be a leap in situation, moving away from the 1920s theme. I don’t expect Forgive Me Father 2 to go to space or anything, but even to us into a jungle location or something that’s not been linked so heavily with Lovecraftian horror. We’ve seen the swamps, old ruins, graveyards, and all before. Take us to somewhere different, like a moving train through a bloodstorm, or even to the future by a few decades. I’m sure you can still do Lovecraftian horror in a creepy 1950’s theme park, or nightclub in the 1970’s. Or even a police station in the 1990s (if you get that reference).
Still the art style and upgraded sense of world-building is terrific. And I love the horror vibes and new additions like puzzles, more confident level design and variety, making this feel like a truly justified sequel and not an add-on pack.
Return of the Inky, Inky, Slimy cosmic beasts 
While this is an early access build of Forgive Me Father 2, and there is plenty more to add mechanically speaking, I can see great promise when it comes to the gun gameplay.
The original had some fine shooting, due to the snappy feel of weapons, the variety of weapons and enemies and the powers players could use that would inflict madness. So far, and much like the original game, I didn’t see much impact of madness from using powers. It seems from the roadmap there will be some system at play and from my original review of the first game, I hope using powers too much would have a negative effect overall. Be it in the moment (like more enemies, or losing control), or even in the story (the more madness, the stronger the strange voice gets).
But the powers here are quite useful, be it your basic buffs for the character, including more damage dealt, being a little faster at moving and firing and so forth. Visually when powers are activated it’s not all that interesting, just a grey scale for the screen. Maybe having more of a cosmic feel would be great like seeing red and purple, or a faint vision of Cthulhu’s face on screen (like seeing the DOOM Slayer eyes in Eternal when you pick up a power-up).
But the shooting … holy hell is the shooting just amazing!
The original game had great shooting, but the weight and feel of Forgive Me Father 2’s shooting is on another level. The small selection of guns for now is pretty good, and I love the fact you can now pick and choose what you want to use before each mission from the hub area. Firing weapons feels punchy and blasting enemies into bloody, chunky bits is incredibly satisfying. The amount of gore and visceral carnage on screen is excellent, making you feel like a total beast, ripping and tearing through the cosmic hordes.
Even the starting revolver packs an impressive wallop, and seeing enemies turn into red chunks never got all. Each weapon you carried always felt useful, and I had a blast switching between them in active combat and doing as much damage as possible.
Now the catch here is that the skill tree from the original has been removed, and thus there are no hard choices to make on permanent upgrades. For those who might not remember, you could upgrade base weapons via different paths, and thus totally change them into different forms, but you had to pick one path for each gun.
Here, you just have access to a host of different guns and can pick a loadout in the hub area at any time. While the skill tree from the original was a nice idea, I now do prefer the choice in Forgive Me Father 2, due to being able to fully customise your loadout and have total freedom on your devastating play style while out in the field.
Combat is nicely paced throughout the campaign so far, with some great arenas, ambushes, and spookier moments, where you have to venture through dark spaces and fight powerful foes who pop out of nowhere. The lineup of enemies is great, and the mixture of enemies and their placements feels quite thoughtful and keeps fights tactically interesting.
I did feel some enemy types didn’t match certain levels. Seeing gangster and prisoner enemies in WW1 trenches took me right out of it, and it would be nice to see enemies more rooted to the scenery they’re in. But this is a minor gripe.
However, my other gripe was with the boss battle. It’s not a bad boss battle and does stick thematically to the core of Forgive Me Father. But it’s just a little underwhelming overall, feeling nothing more than a beefed-up enemy in a static environment. I remember the first game had massive monsters and epic encounters which truly felt like big boss battles, and this was taking place in an ultra-small arena where I had to follow and fire at a fast-flying boss, which did become a little tedious when it did near impossible to avoid explosive attacks.
Hopefully, the new bosses will use a mix of brain and brawn, with bigger environments, and a grander sense of scale for the battle.
Overall?While there are a few small issues, I must admit that I’m looking forward to seeing the future of Forgive Me Father 2. Feeling like a much-needed sequel, as the original game was excellent, but this could top that easily if its development and feedback are done right. The combat and gunplay are super punchy and ultra-satisfying, the world design and art style are fantastic, and the new changes aesthetically and mechanically work incredibly well, and if built upon correctly, will ensure Forgive Me Father 2 will become one of 2024’s best shooters.
Still early days, but we have a good feeling about Forgive Me Father 2’s future.
Forgive Me Father 2 is currently out in early access on Steam and can be purchased for $19.99 / €19.99 / £16.99. You can support eh developers and play the game early, with updates released through the roadmap. If you’re a fan of the original or great boomer shooters in general, I highly recommend you pick this up.
