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Unholy. I don't think I've ever felt quite so polarized by a game. What works is genuinely brilliant, but the rest is a trip through some seriously, deeply frustrating design choices.
The Good: The world building, sense of place and the graphics are truly stunning. Unholy makes a huge impression right off the bat, with a staggering amount of detail poured into the environments. Similarly, the plot hooks you right in; an unhinged cult, your missing son - you'd do anything to get him back. The game lays all of this out brilliantly in the first thirty minutes alone. At this point, I was wondering why the game didn't receive more fanfare at launch. This is brilliant! I'm engrossed. Why haven't more people played this?
The Cooked: Sweet baby Jesus, the gameplay. I don't think I've ever seen a game attempt a stealth system quite like this. Enemies alternate between breathtaking stupidity and spotting you from three suburbs away. And once you're spotted, it's pretty much over. Technically they won't one-hit kill you, but when they hit you once, your sprint ability will deactivate. Then they'll hit you again, and it's game over. You'll likely be re-spawned at one of the games many ill-considered checkpoints; forced to do all the tedious stuff again, until you reach the point where you died last time, hoping for a better outcome.
One time I crawled into a vent to avoid an enemy, and he just stood there. 15 minutes of looking at his knee-caps. Schrodinger's protagonist. Then there's the times where you'll hide in the randomly placed 'stealth lockers', only to have an enemy spot you from several miles away and pull you out - one hit killing you. Sometimes they'll follow endlessly, others they'll just glitch out in a doorway and forget why they exist. This will almost never work in your favor, especially when you're trying to lure them towards destructible objects; a key a element of the gameplay, and the only way you can actually kill them.
In the game's defense, you will (moderately) increase your arsenal via upgrades as things progress. But many of these buffs are minor, and some of them arrive quite late in the game. Sure wish I'd had a gas mask before breathing in all that gas, etc.
The Redeeming: Akira Yamaoka's score is truly stunning. One of his best. There's an otherworldly melancholy to some of the more memorable pieces which really stuck with me. The voice acting is good. The themes and politics are really well thought out, and quite compelling. Plus all the excellent stuff I mentioned up front.
The Conclusion: Honestly, it feels like Unholy might have been better as a walking simulator. There's a lot to love here, and there were moments when the infuriating 'combat' even won me over briefly. But ultimately it was the story and world building which pulled me through.
If Steam had a neutral option, I'd choose it. But giving a reluctant thumbs up for all of the good, and even an embittered appreciation for some of the bad. You can tell a lot of love went into this, and I appreciate that Duality Games genuinely tried to bring something new to the genre here. If you temper your expectations, brace for the flaws and perhaps even have a bit of a taste for masochism, you might just have a great time.