The Procession to Calvary is one of the most unique games we've played in a long time. It's a point and click adventure in the mould of classics like Monkey Island or Broken Sword, in which you play as a murder-hungry warrior hellbent on finding and, er, murdering a religious tyrant named Heavenly Peter. As you'd expect of the genre, tracking Peter down means having to chat to a colourful cast of characters, while also pocketing all kinds of ridiculous items that may be used to solve strange puzzles.
What really sets The Procession to Calvary apart is its art. The visuals are comprised entirely of classical paintings, cropped and edited to make one cohesive, collaged world — and it works to fantastic effect. Exploring the game's medieval landscapes is a joy because of how detailed and downright weird they can be, and if you happen to have an appreciation for fine art, there's fun to be had in spotting bits and pieces of paintings that have been used so creatively.
There's also a great sense of humour at the title's heart, which punctuates its madcap characters and their dialogue. It's got a very English tone to it, with often daft or crude comedy combining with witty writing, while absurd situations are portrayed with a straight face. It's a kind of Monty Python-tinged humour that won't appeal to everyone, but it had us either snorting like idiots or cracking a smile at least every few minutes.
The game doesn't outstay its welcome; it's just a few hours in length, and none of the puzzle elements are overly obscure or tediously tricky. What's more, there are multiple endings to see, and for those who care, the Trophies are all pretty easy. And yes, there is an all-important Platinum.
Simply put, The Procession to Calvary is a great little game. As a point and click adventure, it ticks all the right boxes, delivering interesting scenarios, fun characters, and satisfying "eureka!" moments. But it's the collaged art that elevates the experience, and it's all topped off with some wonderful comedy.
Comments 23
Looks amazing. I'll buy it today to support the developers. We need more games like this.
Excellent. I'm in the mood for something like this after a couple of weeks of Demon's Souls.
Downloading now as we speak.
If anyone's got any questions about the game or the review, let me know and I'll try to answer them.
@ShogunRok Does it have any shrubberies?
Oh, this looks amazing. Let's check the price...
@XinGViruS No specific mention of shrubberies as far as I can remember, but there are definitely a few shrubs knocking about.
This sounds mental!
Looks great. I love point and click games and this looks right up my alley.
I think you mean Absurdist, rather than calling it absurd, which sounds more like an insult 😅
What's this???
An indie game appearing on the PS Store, methinks this must be a joke or perhaps a happy accident.
We all know now how impossible it is for indie devs to get anything on the store, let alone get it promoted, or shock horror have a discount...
Wait.. it's 10% for it's first two weeks, well that must be a pricing error by the incredibly inept PS store staff, useless idiots!!!
I'll buy the game though, looks brilliant.
This sounds right up my alley and anyone called heavenly Pete deserves to be murdered in the most brutal fashion
I only got to play a bit before work, but I really like it. The only gripe I would have is it cutting off the letters a bit when someone is speaking at the top of the screen.
I take religion more serious than this. Heavenly Peter really? It's a definite No for me. I was hoping the game would have played the opposite direction.
Same score as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - it must be an incredible next gen experience!!! Count me in !!
I couldn’t resist getting this. Looks like A Plague Tale will have to wait a bit longer to get started…
Looks brilliant. Will be picking this up for sure!
As an art teacher, I'm instantly interested in this. Looks grand.
@Futureshark ever heard the expression "the exception that proves the rule"? You can't draw any general conclusions based on one case. Also, getting your game discounted for the first two weeks is nothing since everything (other than AAA games) gets it. The point is how are you going to promote it after that period.
@naruball
Hmmm...
"the exception that proves the rule", followed by
"getting your game discounted for the first two weeks is nothing since everything (other than AAA games) gets it"
kind of implies it's not really an exception by your own words.
However I'm not so sure about that so looking at price as the criteria to decide what is an 'indie' game (lets say anything under £20) lets go to the PSN store and see how many have been released in the last 2 weeks.
I see 40 games or thereabouts of which 4 have a discount which have launched in the last 2 weeks.
Your point of how to promote a game after it's released in amongst 40 others in a 2 week window example is quite valid. What would you suggest that could be fair beyond charging for advertisement space?
Perhaps just making a 'good' game and relying on reviews and word of mouth is the best way an indie can get their game sold. Maybe we should allow user reviews on PSN, similar to Steam (but that's a whole another kettle of fish).
But my point following on from last weeks story about the trials of getting an indie title out on the PSN store is that 40 titles have been released there in the last 2 week window, so maybe it's not as difficult as was implied after all.
@Futureshark you misunderstood. The exception was not about the price, but that an indie game gets to stand out without Sony's help. Most indie games are buried a week or two after their release because they don't get much attention from Sony (understandable considering how many are constantly released) and aren't given the opportunity to discount their game over the years unless they're invited to (and it would appear that most are not).
I would suggest that every developer gets to email Sony and ask for their game to be included in one of the upcoming sales. That wouldn't magically help all games sell well, but it would definitely give a fighting chance to a lot of them.
"Perhaps just making a 'good' game and relying on reviews and word of mouth is the best way an indie can get their game sold"
Now that's where I strongly disagree. I don't think that something like the "Procession to Cavalry" stands out because it's better than other indies, but because of its unique artwork (other games stand out because Piewdiepie or other influencers decided to give them a try). Many good games/ or shall we say well-received games by critics and gamers, indie or not, don't sell well all the time and many games with bad to horrible reviews far surpass them in sales. Quality has very little to do with financial success.
Sounds like playing an episode of Horrible Histories.
Bought!! The trailer had me in kinks so it had to be done.
It hasn’t disappointed…first trophy named Spanking The Bishop…almost PMSL…absolutely brilliant stuff!!
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