I’ll be honest: most shooters today feel safe. You hide behind a waist-high wall, wait for your health to regenerate, and ping targets with a generic assault rifle. It’s clinical. It’s fine. But it isn't exactly visceral. Then you fire up Forgive Me Father 2, and suddenly you’re sprinting through a nightmare fueled by ink, madness, and a soundtrack that sounds like a metal band having a breakdown in a cathedral. It’s loud. It’s messy. It’s exactly what the genre needed.
Developed by Byte Barrel and published by Fulqrum Publishing, this sequel doesn't just iterate on the first game; it basically tears the original apart and stitches it back together with more polish. If the first game was a rough-around-the-edges experiment in comic book aesthetics, the second entry is a confident, aggressive dive into the Deep Ones' territory. You play as the Priest again. He’s not doing great. He’s trapped in a world that’s literally crumbling under the weight of Lovecraftian horrors, and his only solution is to shoot his way out.
It works because it understands what makes "boomer shooters" actually fun. It’s not just about the speed. It’s about the rhythm.
The Visual Identity of Forgive Me Father 2
Let’s talk about the look. Most games use 3D models. Forgive Me Father 2 uses hand-drawn 2D sprites in a 3D environment, but it feels way more integrated than the first game. The lighting is the secret sauce here. In the original, the sprites sometimes felt like cardboard cutouts floating in a void. Here? The shadows from a swinging lantern actually catch the edges of the jagged, hand-inked line art on a Shoggoth’s tentacle. It's beautiful in a disgusting sort of way.
You’re basically playing inside a dark graphic novel.
The color palette has shifted too. While the first game leaned heavily into "everything is brown and grey," the sequel isn't afraid of a neon purple or a sickly, radioactive green. It makes the environments—like the asylum or the trenches—pop. You aren't just looking for enemies; you're navigating a fever dream. The devs clearly took notes from games like Dusk or Cultic but decided to keep their specific, gritty comic book flair.
It’s distinct. You could see a single frame of this game and know exactly what it is. In a market flooded with retro-shooters, that kind of visual brand is worth its weight in gold.
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Madness as a Mechanic
The Madness system is back, and it’s been overhauled. In the first game, it felt a bit like an afterthought—a meter you filled to get stronger. In Forgive Me Father 2, it’s the heartbeat of the combat loop. You kill things, you get mad. When you’re mad, you can trigger abilities.
But it’s more than just a power-up.
Byte Barrel changed how the skill tree—or rather, the "Madness" tree—works. You aren't locked into a single path. You can swap out your active abilities at different points, which lets you experiment. Do you want more damage? Better lifesteal? Faster reloads? It’s basically a build-crafter’s lite-version of a shooter.
Honestly, the best part is the screen effect. As your madness climbs, the colors distort. The sound gets muffled and weird. You start feeling the pressure the Priest is feeling. It’s a mechanical bridge between the story and the gameplay. You aren't just a guy with a gun; you’re a guy losing his mind who happens to be very good with a double-barrel shotgun.
The Arsenal: More Than Just "Guns"
The weapons in this game are chunky. That’s the only word for them.
- The basic pistol feels like it’s firing small cannonballs.
- The shotgun? It’s a rhythmic instrument.
- The Harpoon gun is probably my favorite addition. It pins enemies to walls with a satisfying thwack.
Each weapon has multiple upgrade paths. You can turn your standard rifle into something that feels more like an Eldritch artifact. This is where the game really shines—it rewards you for being aggressive. You can’t sit back. If you sit back, you run out of resources. You have to be in the face of the monsters, tearing them apart to keep your momentum going.
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Level Design and the "Flow" State
The levels in Forgive Me Father 2 are much more vertical than they used to be. You’re jumping, mantling, and falling through floors. It feels less like a series of hallways and more like a playground for murder.
I remember one specific section in the early levels—the Asylum. It starts tight and claustrophobic. You’re checking corners, worried about what’s behind the next door. Then, the game just breaks open. You’re in a massive courtyard, enemies are pouring out of the windows, and the music kicks in. It’s that "flow state" people talk about in DOOM Eternal. You stop thinking and start reacting.
There’s a common misconception that these games are "mindless." They aren't. If you don't manage your ammo types and prioritize targets—like the annoying flying enemies or the guys who buff their friends—you will be dead in about four seconds. It’s high-stakes.
Why Lovecraft Still Works in Gaming
We’ve seen Cthulhu a million times. We get it. Giant squids are scary. But Forgive Me Father 2 avoids the trap of just being a "Cthulhu game." It leans into the psychological side of Lovecraft. It’s about the isolation.
The Priest is a lonely character. The world feels empty of "humanity" but full of "life"—mostly the kind of life that wants to eat your soul. By focusing on the Priest’s personal descent, the game makes the cosmic horror feel small and intimate, which actually makes it scarier.
The story is told through notes and environmental cues. It doesn't stop the action for a ten-minute cutscene. You find a scrap of paper, read about a doctor who went insane, and then you probably fight that doctor. It’s efficient storytelling.
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Challenges and Learning Curves
It isn't perfect. Let's be real.
The difficulty spikes can be brutal. You’ll be cruising through a level, feeling like a god, and then you hit a room that feels like a brick wall. Some players might find the lack of a traditional map frustrating. You have to rely on your sense of direction, which, in a twisting, non-Euclidean nightmare, can be tricky.
Also, the enemy variety in the early game is a bit repetitive. You’ll fight a lot of the same hooded cultists and shambling corpses before the really weird stuff starts showing up. But once it does? It doesn't stop.
What You Should Do Now
If you're tired of the same old "tactical" shooters and want something that feels like it was forged in a basement by people who love 90s comics and heavy metal, this is your game.
Steps to get the most out of Forgive Me Father 2:
- Don't play on the easiest setting. The game is designed around the tension of almost dying. If you remove the threat, you remove the point of the Madness mechanic.
- Listen to the audio. Use headphones. The sound design is crucial for locating enemies that are trying to flank you in the more open arenas.
- Experiment with the Madness tree early. Don't just stick to the first power you unlock. The lifesteal abilities are a literal lifesaver when you're playing on higher difficulties.
- Look for secrets. Like the classics, there are hidden walls and tucked-away items everywhere. They aren't just for completionists; the extra resources can change the tide of a boss fight.
The game is currently available on Steam and GOG. It’s a significant leap forward from the first title. It’s faster, prettier, and much more confident in its own skin. Whether you’re a fan of the first one or a total newcomer to the "boomer shooter" revival, this is a world worth losing your mind in.
Forget the "modern" conventions for a night. Put on the collar, grab the shotgun, and go to work. The Great Old Ones aren't going to banish themselves.
Next Steps for Players: Head to the Steam store page to check out the latest "Endless Mode" updates, which were added post-launch to give the game even more replayability. If you've already beaten the main story, the Endless Mode is the best way to test out those high-tier Madness builds without the constraints of level progression. Keep an eye on the Byte Barrel dev logs too; they’ve been surprisingly transparent about balance patches and community-requested features.