Developer: Perfectly Paranormal
Platforms: PC (Reviewed), PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X|S
Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Yogscast Games
The Holy Gosh Darn is a narrative adventure game. This game was developed by Perfectly Paranormal and published by Yogscast Games. The Holy Gosh Darn is similar to games like Manuel Samuel and Helheim Hassle, which are made by the same developers. This review was done for Windows, but the game is also available for PS4/5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch.
In The Holy Gosh Darn, Heaven is under a big threat from an incoming wave of phantoms, and it is up to archangel Cassiel of Celerity to save Heaven. As Heaven blows up, Cass, in her dying moments, encounters Death, who suggests a plan to save Heaven from blowing up. He bestows some of his power into a clock for Cass to use and takes on the unexpected journey she has at hand. Take upon this single-player game where a hell of a lot of work is put upon Cassiel. As the story starts to unveil, you would think the task would be easy enough, where you need to find an artefact created by God a long time ago, only to find out you don’t even know what it is. Through several character encounters and quests that need to be taken upon everything, it is bound to be done within a 6-hour time span.
The controls in The Holy Gosh Darn are easy to work with and have no noticeable delays. As the game begins and sets the scene, the tutorial is displayed with controls and actions that players can try in real-time. What’s really good is that the tutorial is further explained in the game by Azrael, who explains the most important mechanic used throughout the game.
Voice acting in the game is really well done and makes the game a lot more immersive, especially because each scene plays automatically without having to interact with each dialogue. The game plays in sequences like you would be watching a cartoon show. Everyone from the demons, angels, and others are outstanding voice actors, and each person has a distinct characterization that matches their overall design. The game has this familiar sense of 2D animations where it looks like you’re watching a cartoon show. From a cartoon show, it also somewhat resembled a comic art style that added humour to the game. What almost looks like hand-drawn mixed with digitally drawn graphics gives the game a great visual blend. The quirky character designs and details in paintings, locations, and items were a great asset to the build of the game. I loved that old characters from their previous games had made an appearance again. Additionally, the music in the game is so good, especially the music with lyrics that match this chaotic heavenly music. Throughout the game, background music consists of rock music, ballads and instrumentals that match each scenario in the game. I would say that I found The Holy Gosh Darn to be similar to the game After Party.
Time is of the essence in this game, and to have been given a sliver of Azreal’s powers to rewind, forward and create checkpoints in time is not such an easy task. At first, I thought being able to time travel would confuse the overall flow of the game, but it made The Holy Gosh Darn playthrough so much more fun. In some areas, it requires you to think outside of the box in order to avoid certain obstacles. I felt most of the time. I was worried about taking up too much time in certain areas that I would need to rewind back either way, though it always works out for the better. It may be a mechanic that is quite new to players, but I love how unique and fun it is. You’re required to understand the timeline of certain events and figure out what information/item is needed, either from the past or the future, to work in the present. Additionally, I loved the comical effect that came from travelling in time, especially through character interactions. Cass would have dialogue choices that could speed up conversations, but if she used them early on, it could make the other person unhappy; this would then result in you needing to go back and fix things. I would say that the way dialogue, animations and time-travelling choices the players make all are paired so well with one another as everything connects-making the game much more worthwhile to play. The game consists of going back and forth to fetch items/quests in order to solve puzzles, which can be boring for certain players, but in this game, because the story and animations are so interactive, it makes the experience so much more enjoyable.
The backtracking and repetitiveness were the only things that got to me in some parts of the game. This would be a case of going on the search for a certain item but not correctly rewinding or checkpoint stamping the time, which would make me go even further back. This was mainly an issue at the start of the game, but as more advancements were made to the clock and I got used to the mechanic, it made the gameplay so much more smoother.
However, the good thing that came out of backtracking was getting to enjoy the beautifully crafted world. Not only was the scenery enticing, but meeting goofy, interesting characters and having conversations with them never made the game dull. Conversations can be so funny that you’ll be throwing insults at one another and slowly start to see Cass’s patience grow over her; even Azrael’s commentary throughout Cass’s choices is hilarious. What I really enjoyed is how the story was crafted in a way that you needed to be mindful of not wasting time on conversations and trying to do what needs to be done in a strategic way. You may not think the game would require you to think in a strategic manner, but you really need to understand context and clues to be able to progress forward or backwards. I would say the writing was absolutely fantastic, and having them paired with gorgeous visuals makes the game so encapsulating!
I also liked that some of the tasks were like little mini-games that added a difference in the gameplay style through the playthrough. For instance, some things included parkour, time-paced tasks, etc. It took roughly 6 hours to complete the main story of the game, but the content can be revisited after the main story has ended, which I enjoyed. This allows players to delve deeper into the lore, look for achievements and especially insult the elders.
If you’re looking for a hilarious game that gets you to take control of time in order to save Heaven, then this game might just be for you. Take on this heavenly, hellish world where you get to meet a crazy cast of characters that are wonderfully voice-acted, with stunning visuals and beautiful sounds. The game creates what seems like a chaotic atmosphere but gets the player to play in a strategic manner. Nothing goes by the comical commentary and interactions that this story has to unfold. So be sure to check out The Holy Gosh Darn.
Overall: 9/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
