izigame.me

Ok, so I decided to wait until finishing the game before leaving a review, since I wanted to be absolutely thorough and sure on any critiques I might have. I have just done so, clocking in at around 25 hours (although I think it's safe to remove 1-2 hours due to stuff like food and toilet breaks).
I like to break games down into 4 categories or parts that make up the whole: Design (the core approach to how the game was conceptualised and designed, which includes level design and gameplay concepts), Mechanics (how well the technical aspects of the game hold up), Writing (the story, dialogue and overall narrative qualities) and Atmosphere (visuals, sound, music and voice acting).

Design

The core design philosophy of Bleak Faith is very interesting and innovative, in my opinion. The combat is fairly straight forward for a Souls-like, with the addition of a combo system, but there are some really nice little differences in terms of skills, magic and archery that allow for more dynamic combat than I expected going into it. There's no "souls" analogue (a staple of the Souls-like genre), levels, dodge i-frames or bloodstains you need to pick up after dying. These differences alone would set this game apart from the ever-increasing list of formulaic games that have been multiplying in this genre, but there's even more to this game than that in the form of Outward-styled passive perks, crafting, swimming sections and climbing on various creatures and terrains. All of these combine together to create an experience unlike one I've experienced in a Souls-like to date and, while I believe some of these innovations weren't used to their fullest potential, I think the developers truly created a really unique gameplay experience that I hope will inspire others.

Mechanics

This is, at the moment, one of the rougher aspects of the game. There are many bugs, glitches and collision issues that plague the game world, taking away from immersion and occasionally providing some frustration. The most noticeable of these is in the form of terrain collision, where enemies (particularly large ones) often clip into and glitch through walls and floors, but there's also some issues with weapon collision (for the enemies). However, these issues have been steadily addressed and many have been fixed over the course of my play time (I played it as soon as it released on the 10th of March and finished it 6 days later on the 16th). I have no doubt that after a few more patches, many of these issues with collision will no longer apply. As for the mechanics that work well, I think combat on the player's side works very well, if you can get used to the controls (I played on Mouse and Keyboard and have no experience using the controller). The combat relies on a combo system, where you have to input attacks at specific frames of the attack animations. For most weapons I found this to be at the end of the windup to a swing or as the weapon is in motion to attack (although faster weapons have their combo input at the moment they strike the enemy). In terms of other mechanics, there is crafting and, unlike many games, the consumables you craft or find in the world make a big difference in the gameplay feel. I would often save the more powerful buffs for bossfights. All in all, the mechanical aspects of this game are a little shaky still, but they are a lot better than they were and continue to improve.
Edit: I have played through the game after the last big Narrative Improvement update and the vast majority of mechanical problems from launch have been fixed. Movement is much smoother, collision is significantly improved and most glitches I found were generally benign and didn't affect my overall enjoyment. The combat has gone from being one of the worst I've experienced in a Souls-like to one of the best, being on par with games like Mortal Shell and The Surge in terms of weightiness and feel, while also having some fantastic skill implementations, reminiscent of games like Code Vein. If this is what the developers can accomplish after 2 weeks of patches, then I am excited to see what will happen after a couple of months.

Writing

This is by far the worst aspect of Bleak Faith, in my opinion. In typical Souls-like fashion, the story is vague and fragmented, leaving the player to figure out what is going on for themselves. However, unlike most Souls-likes, which utilise environmental storytelling and item descriptions, this game has none of the typical methods of storytelling. The universe is implied to be rich, with lots of different creatures, hints at factions and forces at play that defy human comprehension, as well as characters that ooze personality; but none of it feels even remotely graspable by the player due to a complete lack of storytelling methods. This could be fixed with item descriptions or a glossary (or both), but until they implement these, the writing will be the weakest aspect of Bleak Faith.
Edit: In the most recent patch, they added lore notes, additional NPCs and some improvements to several cutscenes. I decided to replay from the beginning and see if these made a difference to my overall understanding or enjoyment of the narrative. Unfortunately the notes are random drops and rarely do anything to support the narrative (outside of 1 series of notes that give some very significant backstory to one of the bosses), but they are a step in the right direction and helped me understand more about the world of Bleak Faith (as well as provide a boost to the already incredible atmosphere). As for the new NPCs, I was slightly disappointed at how inconsequential they were, but their voice acting was fantastic and their dialogues helped flesh out the world a lot more, which ultimately served to make me feel even more immersed in the atmosphere. Finally there are the cutscene improvements, which honestly did greatly improve my understanding and, more importantly, my investment in the story. Overall, I think the patch succeeded in improving the narrative and writing, but I'd like more.

Atmosphere

This is, by far, the best and strongest aspect of Bleak Faith. The world's visual design is oppressive, gloomy and, yes, very bleak, with concrete structures climbing into a nebulous sky and giant pipes and tunnels leading into semi-submerged ruins. This is further increased by the phenomenal music that plays on loop throughout your time, which never gets old or feels out of place. Making my way through decrepit industrial ruins, wearing full plate armour and hearing a melancholy and sombre Gregorian chant never got old. The enemy design is often genuinely unsettling and creepy, with one of the absolute most disturbing enemy designs I've ever seen in a videogame. All this is further aided by really great sound design, such as the heavy footsteps of plated sabatons, the meaty squelch of flesh under metal and the loud clang of metal on metal. Finally there's the voice acting, albeit limited. Personally, I really enjoyed the few bits of dialogue I got to listen to, with none of the voices feeling like they didn't fit the characters or the world. It would have been nice to have more NPCs to talk to, but I really can't complain about what is currently there already.
All in all, this game is nothing short of amazing, imo. The mechanics can be rough and there is practically no narrative experience, but that doesn't hold this game back too much, for me. The few narrative aspects that were there were highly evocative and almost gave me spiritual vibes, and the combat (when working properly) was very fun overall. All this made by 3 people with nothing but a passion for their craft is truly impressive and I hope they go very far in the gaming industry, making more stuff like this.
Thank you for reading. I hope I haven't rambled too much and kept things fairly direct. If you get this amazing game, I truly hope you enjoy. Have a nice day!