The Inquisitor is the Judge and Jury as he solves dark secrets in the sin and mystery infested city of Koenigstein.
The Inquisitor finally makes its release, and you’re challenged on whether you’ll live by the sword or die by it. Inspired by Jacek Piekara’s bestselling Inquisitor book franchise. A 16th Century dark fantasy adventure where you’re forced to make arduous choices. And not to mention, when you have to fight and do lots of it. This sounds like an exciting concept to get involved with. But does the execution match? Let’s find out.
The Inquisitor delivers a story-driven experience with role-playing elements, with the setting being a religious alternative reality. Once upon a time, Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross and almost died. And because of this, after breaking free, he developed an intense thirst for revenge on all non-believers and had those feel his wrath.
Now, fast forward to the year 1533 in the town of Koenigstein. An army of zealot Inquisitors is imposing the faith in a blood-laden Church. You’re taking on the role of the Inquisitor in God’s service named Mortimer Madderdin, who travels to the sin and mystery-infested town on a quest to solve several cases and crimes committed by those who are a massive threat to the faith.
You’re in for a very interestingly dark and terrifying plot, followed by equally impressive dialogues, and many times engaging in quick time events and often selecting answers to the way you think an inquisitor would respond. You’re guaranteed a pretty accurate experience of being an inquisitor in the dark and gloomy atmosphere of Koenigstein.
The Inquisitor also explores the true meanings of religion, violence, and vengeance. Plus, of course, being the judge and jury. What lies ahead for Mordimer is evil beyond his understanding. This is where you take Mordimer on this journey to solve the terrifying truths behind such evil and do whatever it takes to stop it from entering the Earth.
There are some gameplay features that’ll guide you towards finding out the truth. You have the prayer ability that helps you find your way around The Inquisitor’s map and waysigns. They guide you towards places and interests that you must explore. And when it comes to your next goal, it’ll show bright beams of light to let you know the possible locations you should go to next.
The ability to pray is very useful for missions and other activities, such as finding collectibles that are formed as notes and letters. This feature also helps you become less visible to certain enemies, such as an evil entity called The Murk. You can fully avoid it by entering the hideouts you’ve activated. This terrifying monster is located in the Unworld.
The Unworld is a mysterious place where Mordimer can unravel the truth and delve into the secrets his suspects have kept well from him. However, exploring this place comes with dangers; the reason for this was stated in the previous paragraph. Also, this entity doesn’t come alone and will do everything in its power to stop him.
If the Murk can’t spot Mordimer, dark phantom soldiers called Brood of the Murk come in and help it find him. They’re located on some islands and are controlled by them, and just like The Murk, the Brood will also attack him if they identify him long enough.
Thankfully, like The Murk, simply using the ability to pray will help to escape from them. The Unworld contains facets around the place. One example is the Shards, and using the prayer ability will highlight the light beams that inform Mordimer of the location of the Shards. After gathering them all, he will enter the Sanctuary vision.
The Unworld also has The Light Wells, where you can hide. But they must be activated first. This is the best form of protection against The Murk and the Brood of the Murk as it’ll create a powerful obstruction that’s completely impenetrable against them. Plus, the Light Wells regenerates Mordimer’s light. But you can’t hide forever; sometimes, you’ll have to fight enemies to progress.
The Inquisitor’s combat revolves around the use of your trusted sword. Involving, an exciting full sword-based system where all enemies you’re in contact with have to endure your relentless attacks and cool combos with the end goal of preparing them to taste your steel.
Light attacks are more effective against slower enemies because of the faster strikes, which are more challenging for them to dodge. However, they can be parried, leaving Mordimer in a temporarily stunned state. Heavy attacks for much more devastating impacts and work best against stunned or slower enemies.
The defense is just as effective as the offense. You’d have to block to deal with most attacks. Sadly, blocking won’t protect you against all attacks – especially heavy attacks, as doing so will also leave Mordimer stunned. This is where the dodging functionality comes in. Moreover, you can choose to perfect parry. You should be familiar with this mechanic; doing so will leave enemies stunned and allow you to execute fatal attacks.
When you’re not fighting in The Inquisitor, you’re doing other immersive activities like interrogation. This is where your art of persuasion is put to the test. Now, think of what type of twisted tactics were used in the 16th Century for people to get what they wanted. You get to use whatever means necessary, and you get to select your poison in order to get the information you seek. Being an Inquisitor, you’re in total control of the situation as you have the license to use as much force as your heart desires.
A very simple yet stirring feature that will bring the dark side out of any human being. It’s almost as if you’re living vicariously through Mordimer. You have a variety of tools and procedures at your disposal to have your subjects singing like a love-struck canary. Additionally, when using the prayer ability, you can uncover what’s hidden beyond a veil when clue finding and the objects you collect will be of great use for your investigations.
We’ve gotten the good stuff out of the way; now for the bad stuff. Though the combat is good, at times, there are instances of slow movement during combat. This is mainly when executing defensive actions such as blocking and dodging incoming attacks. Also, it’s often said that the gameplay matters more than the visuals, but the latter should obtain, at the very least, an adequate level of appeal to their graphics. Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to The Inquisitor at all. That’s not to say that the designs aren’t appropriately dark and dull in color.
They’re simply not great, mainly due to the poorly rendered textures. On top of that, the facial expressions and animations were acceptable a few generations ago. Not even 4K resolution can save them. The visuals are clearly not current-gen or even previous-gen standard.
Moreover, the game crashes at times. This is immensely frustrating, especially when you’re either in a very interesting part of the story or during combat. And the bugs and glitches to top it off. These particular issues might very well drive players into either giving up completely or requesting a refund.
The Inquisitor is definitely worth your time, with a chilling story, a likable protagonist, intriguing features, and gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, the issues mentioned earlier knock this game down some excellent points. Nonetheless, the game has just enough to be an enjoyable post-medieval-era experience. Also, in case you aren’t aware, The Inquisitor demo is available to try out for yourself.
