The Holy Gosh Darn Review – A brilliantly designed time-travelling adventure game – WGB

Completely Paranomal are again with the third recreation of their Tuesday trilogy and this may simply be the very best one! The Holy Gosh darn is a sharply written journey recreation with wonderful time-traveling puzzles. Whether or not you’ve already performed by way of Handbook Samuel and Hellheim Problem or if that is you’re first time in Completely Paranormal’s loopy world, The Holy Gosh Darn is gosh-darn good time.

Our unlikely Heavenly hero is Cassiel of Celerity, an foul-mouthed, snarky angel who spends her days hanging out with a good friend on the Pearly Gates. God hasn’t been round a lot these days, so Cassiel is somewhat misplaced. She and her pal move the time by enjoying Guess that Dawg since solely canine souls appear to be assembly the factors to get into Heaven. People are a rarity, a lot to dismay of Cassiel’s good friend and to Peter who man’s Heaven’s entrance. However then 6pm rolls round and with it a horde of Phantoms hellbent on wrecking all the things. Speeding to Peter, Cassiel finds out that she must get The Holy Gosh Darn, an essential artefact able to defending Heaven, so she units off and….increase. The Phantoms annihilate Heaven in an excellent explosion that makes it seem like a nuclear bomb someway died and went to the afterlife.

That’s the place Dying comes into the image, the exact same hat-wearing, hoodie-loving one seen in 2016’s Handbook Samuel. Sure, The Holy Gosh Darn not solely takes place in the identical universe as developer Completely Paranormal’s final two video games, but additionally on the exact same day. Worry not although, mortal, as a result of whereas they tie collectively in a number of methods, The Holy Gosh Darn works completely as its personal standalone journey.

Dying is right here to assist save Heaven, which is ironic as a result of it’s his humongous cock-up that causes its destruction within the first place. To be extra particular, Dying is right here to make Cassiel save Heaven for him with the assistance of a handy-dandy time-piece that Cassiel can use to rewind and fast-forward time. Since she didn’t trouble to get her Angelic ass up till midday that’s the earliest she will bounce again to, however she will additionally rewind in fifteen-minute increments as effectively or bounce again to a checkpoint you left. Armed with a magical clock, Cassiel wants to determine the way to cease the Phantoms, taking up her on a quest to find the titular Holy Gosh Darn, discover out what God is as much as and insult a bunch of previous individuals. It’s going to be the longest six hours of Cassiel’s life.

It’s Heaven, however not fairly as you’d in all probability think about it. On this universe, the afterlife isn’t all that a lot totally different from Earth, with individuals filling out paperwork, working jobs, residing in flats and usually simply getting on with it. Hell has gotten a transform, too, and truthfully doesn’t seem like a horrible place to dwell. Heck, there’s even a board-game cafe you may hand around in. Completely Paranormal’s thought of the place we go once we die may not be probably the most glamorous, however it certain is attention-grabbing, mixing in components from numerous religions around the globe, together with a reasonably healthy dose of Norse mythology for good measure.

The writing fashion is probably going going to be probably the most divisive facet because it depends closely on quirky characters and snarky dialogue, the type the place nearly everybody comes off as being barely dickish. In different phrases, it does have the overused writing tone so usually related as of late with the MCU. Y’know, the one the place all the things has a sarcastic tinge, a way that no one is taking issues significantly and everybody has one million and one witty comebacks? Even should you’re tiring of the fashion although, Completely Paranormal does deal with it extraordinarily effectively, and in equity to the developer’s it’s in line with the fashion they used for Handbook Samuel and Hellheim Problem.

Whether or not you’re speaking to a literal demonic asshole, insulting elders, conversing with Dying or convincing somebody they owe you cash there’s by no means a uninteresting second! Certain, not each joke lands, however nearly all of them do which is fairly spectacular, and whereas the sport makes use of faith as its story-telling basis and as its joke-punchbag, the sharp writing by no means as soon as ventures into something that feels outright disrespectful. It’s a troublesome balancing act to drag off, but Completely Paranormal does it with aplomb.

However I did discover myself wishing the sport would dare to poke enjoyable at different religions except for Christianity, too. In nearly each e-book, movie or recreation it nearly at all times appears to be Christianity that will get spoofed. Maybe it’s simply because it has a number of the mostly identified and well known imagery and ideas, however it’s getting overplayed. There’s loads of comedy materials to be mined in Islam or Judism or Buddhism, for instance, and but we get so little. I can’t assist however surprise if Christanity is seen because the “secure” choice to poke enjoyable at with out ruffling any feathers, Angelic or in any other case.

Cassiel and Dying are the one two individuals who know what’s going to occur to Heaven, making a enjoyable juxtaposition: when you’re sprinting round, attempting to determine the way to save Heaven, everybody else goes by way of one other regular day. Meaning they are typically quite chatty, desperate to bore Cassiel with mundane nonsense that’s 100% not useful to an Angel on a time-limit. The sport makes intelligent use of this, letting Cassiel interrupt conversations with an offended “Get to the purpose!”. You’ve acquired to watch out although, as a result of whereas some individuals will put up together with her rudeness, different characters gained’t and can refuse to talk till you rewind time. The extra you play the extra you be taught who you may push and who you may’t. You’ll additionally determine conversational shortcuts that allow you to pace by way of a prolonged chat to get the knowledge you want.

Since that is an journey recreation, I’m certain you already know what you’re principally going to be doing. Yep, fixing puzzles, child! Certain, there are a number of different issues thrown into the combination like some very gentle platforming or skydiving previous the soul’s of canine on their option to Heaven, however more often than not you’re going to be working by way of the stupendously designed puzzles. The Holy Gosh Darn by no means fails to make distinctive use of its time-traveling, whereas additionally rigorously balancing the extent of problem. Regardless of how obtuse time-travel as an idea can typically be, you’ll by no means be caught for too lengthy and the sport is persistently wonderful at pointing you in the best path. Utilizing the clock to bounce backwards and forwards turns into second-nature.

On paper it sounds just like the time-traveling ought to turn out to be boring as a result of some puzzles may require you to loop three or 4 instances earlier than getting the sequence proper, however the recreation at all times appears to discover a option to tweak every loop simply sufficient to maintain it enjoyable. You might need discovered a shortcut, or possibly unlocked a dialog choice that permit’s Cassiel reduce to the chase, making this go-around smoother. Different instances you’ll repeat loops due to your personal errors, like forgetting to seize the Heaven cash out of your denims in your pocket. Otherwise you’ll bounce again in time solely to appreciate you by no means put the cup of espresso you wanted into the clock. In fact, regardless of the thematic urgency of saving Heaven, you may repeat time as a lot as you want, so there’s by no means any likelihood of failing fully.

Getting right into a gaming cafe’s VIP lounge is a wonderful instance of the sport constructing layer upon layer of puzzle goodness. First, you should use your data of the long run to politely cough every time somebody swears in order that they don’t should toss a coin to Sweary, Hell’s resident little imp who seems with a swear-jar every time a denizen forgets to maintain their tongue in test. As soon as within the cafe, you should win a cell phone by redeeming tokens, which implies discovering out the way to get sufficient cash to enter right into a tabletop RPG the place you may once more use your clock to determine the way to come out on high.

At any time when the time-traveling novelty is beginning to fade away the sport provides new wrinkles to maintain issues attention-grabbing. A useful improve that permits you to put a single merchandise into the clock in order that it travels again in time with you fully adjustments how puzzles are dealt with, for instance. It’s particularly enjoyable when the sport teaches the way to use this new energy to duplicate gadgets. After which simply when that new energy appears to have reached its limits, the builders discover much more methods to maintain it feeling recent and enjoyable, bringing in attention-grabbing new characters or sending you someplace totally different.

After which at a wonderfully judged 10 hours or so the sport wraps all the things up in a satisfying ending that additionally opens the door for much more Tuesday-based adventures. There’s even some additional side-quests to deal with only for enjoyable and to finish the cool Trophy record, plus a New Recreation+ mode which you’ll want to make use of to beat the sport in beneath 30 rewinds.

Holy feces, this recreation is sweet! Completely Paranomal preserve knocking it out of the park. First, a skateboard, then ripping off limbs and now time-travel; they preserve discovering superb new methods to expertise their distinctive universe. It makes me excited to see what strange idea they give you subsequent.

The Holy Gosh Darn makes use of its time-traveling gimmick to full-effect, crafting a mess of enjoyable puzzles inside a world packed stuffed with wacky characters, witty jokes and crude gags. However maybe the very best factor in regards to the recreation is the way it expands on the universe that Completely Paranormal is constructing. It’s stated that God created man in his picture, and when you’ve spent some time in Heaven and Hell it makes loads of sense – the denizens of the Afterlife are a flawed bunch, and thus so are the people.

The Holy Gosh Darn is out right here doing the Lord’s work! And God is aware of, he works in Mysterious Methods.