“Jesus didn’t die on the cross, however got here down and unleashed vengeance on all of the nonbelievers,” begins I, The Inquisitor’s description on Steam. “1500 years later, a military of Inquisitors brutally implement the religion.” Alright, I am in.
I, The Inquisitor is predicated on a darkish fantasy, alternate historical past novel collection by Jacek Piekara began in 2008. There aren’t English translations of his works but, however I belief developer The Mud S.A.’s assertion that they are bestsellers in Poland—they actually know their darkish fantasy over there.
What actually excites me about I, The Inquisitor is its seeming emphasis on exploration and investigation over fight. And, once more, that you just’re enjoying a personality who was impressed by Imply Jesus shrugging off the crucifixion to turn into a legendary ass-kicker. The suitably gothically-named protagonist, Mordimer Madderin, is helpful sufficient with a sword, however the developer’s description focuses extra on “enlightened sleuthing.”
“Observe down and interrogate suspects,” it reads. “Uncover the hidden truths of town and its inhabitants. Piece collectively the proof and make your remaining judgments.” Sounds nifty!
On this RPG fan’s humble opinion, multi-part investigation quests like these in Skyrim, The Witcher 3, and Neverwinter Nights 2 are among the finest in RPGs, and the outstanding Disco Elysium centered a whole recreation on a homicide investigation. If I, The Inquisitor is something like these examples, it might wind up being precisely my factor.
I do should marvel simply how brĂĽtal Piekara’s fictional setting manages to be in comparison with the horrors of our personal historical past. In spite of everything, we had a Jesus who purportedly died on the cross professing a message of mercy and love and we nonetheless bought a superb 2,000 years and counting of schisms, pogroms, crusades (8 regular, one Youngsters’s), inquisitions, reformations, counter-reformations, the Black Dying, anti-popes, sieges, sacks, desecrations, hereditary slavery, colonial empires, and a minimum of one bonfire of the vanities.Â
The Inquisitor-verse is gonna should be fairly darkish to be worse than all that, even with a very ornery alternate Christ, although a tough translation on the again of Piekara’s Ja, Inkwizytor Mlot na czarownice means that Imply Jesus “drowned Jerusalem in blood” and it appears like demons are a really actual drive on this setting, so issues can at all times worsen!
And hey, perhaps one other Polish darkish fantasy collection tailored from novels will take gaming by storm. (Sit up for an I, The Inquisitor Netflix collection in Winter 2034.)