Faith & The Horror Hidden in Constraints

The “birth” of modern survival horror is often debated. For some, it all started with 1996’s original Resident Evil title—a game that made “tank controls” and pre-rendered 3D environments a staple for the early days of the genre. But before that, we had Alone in the Dark, released in 1992, which was arguably the first true 3D survival horror game ever made. If we rewind the clock even further, we could argue that survival horror, as we know it, started in 16-bit form with Sweet Home, a Resident Evil predecessor released only in Japan. However, the reality is that “survival horror” arguably goes even further back to the start of some of the first home consoles and cartridges. Examples of this include Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the Atari 2600. Yet, despite their ambitions, many would agree that, due to the technical limitations of the time, neither title succeeded at being a true horror experience. FAITH: The Unholy Trinity attempts to craft a horror experience under the same technical constraints and is arguably very successful.

Let’s start with an important observation: while FAITH might look and feel like an Atari 2600 game, it is important to highlight that it is not as limited as a game developed back in the day. It is clearly emulating the technology but is not faced with the same constraints that developers had during that era. This is evident from the use of some pretty complex (and gnarly) cutscene animations that were simply not possible on the original 8-bit consoles. Hell, most Atari 2600 games ran on 4 KB memory cartridges, while the executable for FAITH is roughly 800 MB, so there’s clearly a big gap. But despite not being “1 to 1” with the technology of the time, FAITH does a remarkable job of recreating the feel of the era and embracing certain limitations to give us a truly unique survival horror experience.

FAITH: The Unholy Trinity has a few recurring gameplay loops that are not beyond what the Atari experience could handle. First, there’s the use of a defense/attack mechanism to deal with enemies within the game. Projectiles of any kind would have been a challenge in those early 8-bit games. However, in FAITH, there are none. Instead, our main character (a priest) uses a cross to defend and attack. It’s quite simple: you press a button and aim the character within a 2D grid to deal with anything coming along the X or Y coordinates. And just like games back in the day, you can’t do anything diagonally. You are either dealing with something on the X axis or the Y axis, not a combination of both at the same time. This limitation also applies to the movement of the character. You can go up, down, left, or right—but you cannot go up and left at the same time, for example. It’s a very simple limitation common in Atari 2600 games, and it is used brilliantly to add both challenge and tension.

Think about it this way: imagine you are in a dark room, and you’re about to deal with an entity capable of appearing anywhere in the room. If your movement is limited as described above, your ability to reach it is very restricted. Every change in direction or movement on the screen needs to be intentional. I found myself, on my first playthrough, dying a lot and having to learn patterns to be effective. This simple mechanic is taken to the next level in Chapter 2 of the game, when completely pitch-dark rooms are introduced. In this level, the developers introduce a flashlight to help with the darkness. But your visibility is purely limited to the radius of the light emitting from the flashlight in the direction your character is pointing. Every other direction is pitch dark, and a demon can easily sneak up on you, forcing you to constantly be paranoid and have to point in every possible direction. This has an incredible impact on the overall tension of the game.

The next gameplay loop I would like to touch upon is the discovery portion of the game. Finding documents and solving puzzles is a major element of some of the best horror games ever made, and in FAITH, those play a critical role. There’s a powerful story to be told in this game through notes discovered along the maps. However, finding these notes often serves as a hint for how to solve puzzles or unlock the next path. For example, in Chapter II, you will find yourself in a cemetery. The writings you discover will hint that you need to take a closer look at a set of statues. These statues will indicate directions you will need to follow when walking into the next room that appears to have looping paths. If you follow the directions pointed out by the statues, you will trigger the actual purpose of this endlessly looping room. That’s just one example of how FAITH uses discovery to guide players, create challenges, and take advantage of the limited graphics and maps. If you ever played an Atari 2600 game, you know that these kinds of challenges were common at the time. However, they often resulted in exercises in frustration (think E.T.). But FAITH manages to address the frustration many of these games had by using clever storytelling and discovery.

Cleverly placed notes don’t only help solve puzzles or find paths. On several occasions, these notes will also provide hints on how to deal with a challenging enemy ahead. Not all enemies are equal—some require a more defensive approach, while in some cases, you just have to sit still and hope they wander off. Paying attention to these notes is critical for the progression and success of any challenge. And mind you, these notes are simply writings on the screen that were doable back in the 80s with the tech at the time. But I’ve never seen an Atari 2600 game use them as effectively as FAITH does.

I don’t mean to fault the original developers behind the earliest horror titles. To me, their efforts are still pioneering for the history of the gaming industry. However, what the developers of FAITH: The Unholy Trinity have proven is that game design practices—not just technology—have evolved drastically over the last few decades. As someone who plays A LOT of survival horror games, I am simply amazed that one of my favorite experiences in the genre in recent years used so many “basic” and “dated” techniques to create something so memorable. It’s also a reminder that you don’t need extensive graphics, advanced physics, or other complex technologies of the modern era to create a truly mesmerizing experience. Gaming, to me, has always been the meeting point of art and technology, and I’m glad to see how we are finding ways to create art through “old” technology in modern times.