The Forest Cathedral | Steam Deck Review

March 14, 2023 Scott Clark

I just now powered down my Steam Deck after rolling credits on The Forest Cathedral from Brian Wilson and White Thorn Games. I’m not quite sure how to describe my feelings after finishing this title developed by one guy. It’s definitely something I never would have imagined existing before I had heard about it. In my book, that’s a good thing. I love fresh ideas and feeling surprised not just by a story finale, but by the mechanics as well. I’ll say the final product is more unique than actually fun to play, and I definitely was hoping for a bit more. But there are some interesting ideas happening in this one-part walking sim, one-part platformer, and one-part history lesson.

If I Could Turn Back Time

You play as a woman named Rachel, who is an aspiring scientist from a long time ago. This is evident in the opening scene where she speaks with her future boss in a job interview. It’s clear that the man hiring her assumes she’s valuable as a secretary, which gives you an idea of the time period in which this story takes place. The scientist who hires her has concocted something that he believes will revolutionize the world. He needs Rachel to study the effects of his “invention” in real time and report back to him of the progress.

Saying anything more would give away too much, especially because of the short length of this title. I rolled credits in under three hours. That’s not a knock against the game, as I’ve grown to appreciate shorter experiences in game. The problem here is that those three hours genuinely felt like a lot more. The game moves at a very methodical pace, yet offers only a minor payoff. The game’s tense climax is briefly tense and ends in a reveal that, I’m sorry to say, just wasn’t as exciting as I had hoped. It’s a clever idea that’s just not clever enough for me to spend even this short amount of time with this game.

A Game Within a Game

What caught my attention in The Forest Cathedral was the unique combination of gameplays present. You’ll spend a good portion of the game walking in a 3D space triggering events, much like in traditional walking sims. Let’s say you need to open a gate. In most games, you simply walk up, press a button, and the gate opens. Instead, you’re treated to a platforming minigame of sorts that is displayed directly in the game on a monitor. While you manipulate your “Little Man” on the small screen, you’ll still see the 3D environment around you, giving the illusion that Rachel is playing a game in order to navigate the island where she is working.

The platforming segments are relatively simple with characters and obstacles all dressed in red against a stark black background. It reminded me of playing Virtual Boy back in the day only without my eyes feeling like they were bleeding when I was done. Little Man can jump, wall jump, and dash. These portions of the game never get extremely difficult, and that’s a good thing, because the mechanics feel slightly muddy.

That’s almost not fair to say, since we have games like Celeste and Super Meat Boy, and The Forest Cathedral is not trying to be either one of those games. It doesn’t need to have the tight controls we crave, because these segments never last more than a few minutes. You’re playing them just long enough to break up the gameplay, and this is a very welcome change. I kept waiting for the difficulty to ramp up, and it thankfully never did for me.

You’ll also have a tablet at your disposal. Very quickly, you’ll discover that this device is used more or less to move the scientific narrative along. But it also acts as your bread crumb trail when trying to find your next objective. The images on the device are pixelated versions of the environment behind them, which makes for a nice touch. I think that’s my favorite aspect of this title. Just how many different art styles are at play all intertwined simultaneously.

The Forest Cathedral Final Verdict

I wish I could tell you that I loved The Forest Cathedral more than I did. The varied gameplay and art styles all wrapped up into one product was a breath of fresh air. At the end of the day, however, I simply didn’t have that much fun. I’m all for “experience” games for sure, but I expected an astounding twist that wound up falling a bit flat for me personally, especially with voice acting that simply felt too forced. It’s worth taking a look, especially if you’re a fan of science or history, but don’t expect anything mind-blowing.

To hear me talk more about The Forest Cathedral, be sure to listen to our March 15th episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast.

This review is based on a Steam copy of The Forest Cathedral provided by White Thorn Games for coverage purposes. It is also available on PC via Epic Games Store and Xbox.