The Inquisitor Review

Is this the beginning of something special?

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Platform: PS5 PC Xbox X

Reviewed on: PC

Developer: The Dust S.A.

Publisher: Kalypso Media

Release: February 8, 2024

Time Played: 9 Hours

Genre: Adventure

ESRB: M

Intro:

The Inquisitor is a game inspired by the books series written by Polish author Jacek Piekara, the story has an interesting premise around the idea of what the world would be like if Jesus had hopped down from the cross and exacted vengeance on non-believers. You play as an Inquisitor in this alternate Christianity on a mission. I beat the game and would love to share with you an overview of the game before rating it and placing it on a shelf. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

Where it starts

The Inquisitor Mortimer Madderdin has been called to the city of Koenigstein due to reports of a vampire problem. Upon arrival he is immediately met with thievery, murder, and darkness within the city. Using his station and abilities he has to solve the mysteries surrounding these crimes, through interrogations and discovery he can hopefully get to the bottom of the real problem.

Can the kids watch

It seemed nobody was a stranger to strong language, throwing out f-bombs quite frequently, and you will find a lot of blood in a lot of places. There was some minor nudity, but it only ended up being a naked butt, not terrible. Even if none of that ends up being a problem, I would think this game doesn’t have enough to keep the kiddos entertained while you played anyway.

Solving the case

As the story moves forward you will find cases that need to be figured out before you can move on. Sometimes there will be a dead body that needs to be examined for possible leads, other times you will have to interrogate the parties involved. But it hardly ever ends there, usually Mortimer will be given a partial vision, requiring a trip to the Unworld to get the entire picture.

Unworld

In order to make heads or tales of a vision, Mortimer will have to find a special area to pray and enter the Unworld. Inside he must track down pieces of the puzzle known as shards. But there are hazards within the Unworld. The Murk, a giant flying monster, will constantly be trying to hunt you down to steal your light, killing you. Easy enough to avoid but the Murk also employs small enemies you will have to fight if they see you. You will have some abilities to defend yourself, even so, tread lightly.

Combat…?

There is a combat system involved in the game, but it left a lot to be desired. You don’t have a HuD, so health is depicted by a red cloud closing in as you get hit more. You have a couple moves at your disposal to take out enemies or defend against them. The movements didn’t indicate very well what was coming, and you can cheese most of the fights by spamming the light attack button. It seemed like it could probably use a little more time in the oven.

Quick Time Events

From start to finish you will find a lot of quick time events in the game. From chasing people down streets to different combat scenes you need to be ready to tab the right button at the right time or fail and have to start over again. Most of the QTEs were easy to manage, it was the oddball joy stick timing that would trip me up in my playthrough. I don’t mind quick time events, but if you hate them, there may be to many in the game for you to enjoy.

Puzzles

There were a couple different puzzles to figure out in the game, and these were real puzzles that involved reading nearby clues or having to think to figure out. There were a couple I ended up brute forcing to figure out, but for most of them I had to look around the area a little bit to solve. They were fun, and just about the perfect amount throughout the game to not be annoying.

Choices Matter

Mortimer will have quite a few different choices to make in the many conversations he will have with the characters in the game. These choices tend to have a morality to them allowing you to decide if you want to be a stiff Inquisitor or have a little more humanity. The choices you make can have an effect on your overall story, so choose wisely what kind of person you want to be in this world.

Very Linear

The city you play in is large, with a lot of places you can go. However there aren’t any side things to distract you from the main story. The play areas felt very empty, there were a lot of NPCs walking around and buildings to walk by, but a lot of the doors couldn’t be used and you can’t talk to anybody unless they are involved in the current part of the story.

Outro:

I absolutely love the premise of this game; the idea of an alternate religious reality is fascinating. I wish I could read the books but as far as I can tell they haven’t been translated from their original Polish writing so all I have to go off is this game, and I have a feeling it doesn’t quite do the books justice. The story seemed all over the place with the Mortimer getting distracted by this and that all the while his main purpose being there was put aside. It was almost like a big game with a main story and a lot of side quests you could do when you want, but all the side quests are put in as part of the main story instead.

The visuals weren’t good, at least when it came to the people, the environments looked excellent and well done, even if I couldn’t jump or go everywhere. The characters lacked emotion and hardly ever looked where they were supposed to. I even had a couple cut scenes that Mortimer had his eyes closed the whole time. The most interesting character in the whole game had a mask on so you couldn’t see his lack of emotion.

Playing this game was reminiscent of the first Witcher game, if you’ve played that you’ll know what I mean. Odd movement and combat mechanics, the idea of things being so much cooler than the reality the game brought to the table. There weren’t any tough mechanics per se, just very tedious and annoying. Some of the mechanics felt like the only purpose they had was to impede movement and extend playtime, nothing else. It was very trying to get through the entire game.

A lot of the time it felt like this game was trying to be something it definitely was not with the cheesy cut scenes or reveals in the story. I can see it, I just didn’t feel it. The world is fascinating and I would love to see a little more work put into sequels in the future with some more polished mechanics. This game could follow the same kind of timeline The Witcher did, as long as they can keep the funding to do so.

Have you had a chance to check the game out, or read the stories? Let me know about your experience in the comments below.

Rating:

And now it’s time to rate it.

Visuals are getting a one

I didn’t feel like the story was played out that well, but I liked the idea they were going for, it’s getting a two.

The gameplay wasn’t good, that’s another 1

Replayability is there with the different choices you can make, but the game isn’t good enough for me to want and check it out, that’s a one.

My overall fun wasn’t high either, it was a push to finish this game giving it another one.

Giving the Inquisitor an average score of one point two out of five. Earning it a spot on the bottom shelf. I wouldn’t recommend playing this game unless you are a huge fan of the book series and really want to see the developer’s interpretation of that world.