The Padre
Game Details
Title: The Padre
Developer: Shotgun With Glitters
Publisher: Feardemic
Website: http://thepadregame.com/
Genre: Adventure, Other, Puzzle
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Audience: PEGI 12
Release Date: 18.04.19
Price: £17.99 – Rapid Reviews UK was very kindly provided with a review code for this title.
What the Developers say
The Padre is a retro stylised 3D horror adventure game tapping deep into the roots of classic horror games. The dark and striking atmosphere is often cut by the wicked humour of the always witty Padre. You will need to use your brains to solve challenging puzzles, as well as your brawns to fend off monsters, all at the same time while you try to unravel the mysteries of the mansion, yourself and the eternal fight between good and evil. Be weary though, if you fail enough times it’s a permanent GAME OVER for you!
http://thepadregame.com/
Introduction
I love horror games, and The Padre looked to be a game right up my alley. It’s dark, got religious overtones aplenty, and gave off a chilling, exorcist kind of vibe. I dug it and couldn’t wait to dive in and start playing.
The Indie scene on the Switch has been a great place for developers to bring darker games to life, and bring some much appreciate thrillers to the platform. Yes, Nintendo is branching out further than before in terms of their game genres, but the Nindies are a great source of material nonetheless.
There is a fun little intro to the game, where you can get used to the controls and the fixed camera angle, exploring your small bedroom before receiving a call to help and thus starting the game properly. Not only does it act as a simple tutorial, but it also introduces the game.
Gameplay
The first thing I noticed about The Padre is that the controls were a little sluggish. Nothing that would detract from the gameplay too much, but it felt as if there was a delay between inputs and response.
Another minor irritation, if you could call it that, was that the button you needed to press to inspect or interact with a specific object, would change. You would walk into a room, and X and Y would show on the screen prompting you to interact with those two objects. Walk too close or walk past them and come back and suddenly the buttons had changed to A and B. While it was another thing I could live with, it certainly felt a little strange.
The real problems started for me at the end of my first session, and through my entire second session. First, I found myself in a room with a monster that could not be touched with any of the items you have picked up, and a door that refused to open.
After spending an eternity trying every available option multiple times I resorted to checking online, and every video I found reported the same problem, with the only way out being to die and then leave the room after respawning before said monster returned. Perhaps we had all missed some item from some other room, but lack of escape options brought the game to a standstill.
I could live with this, for the above reasoning. However, during my second session, I sadly found the game to be a giant buggy mess. Rooms would crash and freeze on me. Doors that were supposed to function were frozen, leaving me trapped. I needed to restart the game three times before the doors worked as usual and allowed me to progress. Further bugs hindered my enjoyment of the game to the point that when I encountered another frozen door that left me trapped, I had to abandon the play.
Audio & Visual
When you think about The Padre, you need to imagine what it would be like if they made a Minecraft horror game … wait, they did, and this is it. If I had to put a comparison on paper, I would say that The Padre is a cross between Minecraft and Resident Evil.
From the time the loading screen popped up, the atmosphere of the game was set. The music gave it a haunting and oddly claustrophobic feel, and while there were scope and size to the world that could be missed at first, the way it was presented, one small room at a time, only served to heighten the tension.
The voice acting was also excellent. The deep gravelly voice of the priest created the image of a gristly older man, and the dialogue carried that sarcastic twist that helped cement the grumpy and worn out character base.
The graphics are not going to win any awards, but they work for what the game is, and to be honest, I think that ‘Minecraft style’ works very well with the darker storyline.
From first impressions through to the style and audio work, the game had me excited, and I couldn’t wait to dive right in. However, that is where things started to unravel.
Replayability
I wanted to enjoy this game. I wanted to love it and claim it as a hidden Indie gem, and for the first little bit, it was precisely that. It didn’t hold your hand or give you any hints on how to progress, but there were plenty of items to pick up and puzzles to solve with them.
Sure, sometimes they were a little erratic, especially ringing the bell to summon the butler, which meant standing in a particular place in the long hall for it to work, but I can overlook that.
I don’t know if you would call it a replayability factor or not, but if there are updates brought out for the game, then I will revisit it and hope for the best.
Conclusion
I know bugs can be fixed, and I sincerely hope that the devs patch the game and fix these issues. Why?
The Padre costs £17.99 in the eShop, and I think for that price the game underdelivers in terms of technical competency.
I genuinely believe that The Padre could be a fantastic game. It has the atmosphere, it has a good narrative, and the sarcastic nature of the text had me both sniggering (at the right times) and intrigued at others. There is a lot of potential in the game, and it just needs some final polish.
Rapid Reviews UK Rating
You can purchase The Padre from the Nintendo eShop at the following link, https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/The-Padre-1545318.html#Overview
