im traumatized and tearing up wtf this is so sad, great game i loved the plot - the ending wasnt rlly for me, the whole revenge arc i guess did fit but i just didnt like it much. A really great game tho, i am still confused if what grace read about magda in her diary was just the part where she was in her cray cray state or if those were her thoughts the whole time, because from what it seemed like it was like every entry had smth creepy to it and since i saw magda write one of them so calmly without anything graphic along with seeing her thought the whole time i couldnt rlly get it - sorry ffor being dump lol
Thank you for playing Bad Faith! I'm glad it left an impact on you - and that you liked the art too.
SPOILERS
For the diary part - Grace read her entire diary, but what upset her were the intense entries Magda wrote when she was in a mentally distressed state. The prior entries were much tamer.
As an autistic and lgbt person who has to stay in the closet and keep their mask on most of my life, this game severely depressed and possibly traumatised me
9.87/9.88 highly recommended would not play again
-0.01 for the text automatically cutting off some of the dialogue and skipping to the next one, I always set text speed on max and I can never read what they are saying and have to go visit the legend. A tad annoying but not a major issue
Thank you - I'm glad you got the Intended Bad Faith experience. For the last thing, I apologize. I wanted to capture the feeling of characters having their dialogue cut off by other people, but I realize now it does hurt readability on max speeds. If it helps, I fix this issue in my later games... ;w;
i've read this for a couple hours and the story is interesting in some parts, but overall I really think calling this visual novel a "game" is a huge stretch. you can't make any choices, magda just goes and does her own thing and all you can do is watch. i just set the text speed to high and put it on auto scroll so i could read it while crocheting, but i wish i had more influence over her actions, or could choose various areas to explore.
Yeah, this title really does lean more on the "visual novel" side of things.
If you want a game I directed that does have those elements (of exploring and making choices), you might like the Violence series, especially malViolence.Those titles are more involved.
Complicated thoughts but I really enjoyed the first two acts. Spoilers below
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I just finished this, and playing through the ending, I was certainly unsettled, but I didn't get any satisfaction or catharsis, unlike other reviewers. Even with Circe and Eve, it was very quickly more sadistic than cathartic. And while Magda does grow horrified with it, it still just felt like the story was indulging revenge for the sake of it and just ended up bleak without a real purpose.
After reading a postmortem and talking to a friend about it, about how the author was tempted to lash out at bullies but had a bitter taste from it. And it confused me, because my initial impressions of the end was that the narrative was just indulging in the depiction of a gory revenge fantasy without really grappling with any of the consequences of it, just cutting off. But thinking on it further, perhaps leaving that same bitter taste in the audience's mouth is the point - the characters don't need to grapple with the consequences when the audience already is. I'm certainly still unsettled as I write this.
Overall I really enjoyed the setup and the depictions of the cult, was believable and tense. I can't say I enjoyed the ending but I can appreciate it to some extent now. Thank you for making.
Thank you! I'm glad you took the time to play through Bad Faith and speak honestly about your feelings!
SPOILERS
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Yes, that bitter taste at the end was intentional. Magda does indulge in brutally killing off Cerise and Eve - understandable, given how she was bullied by them.
But when she kills them, is the core of her grief and anger really solved? Sure, it felt great in the moment - but when her adrenaline dies down, Magda's still left with the pain they inflicted on her. In essence, her actual consequence is never getting to heal from that pain (and also having her body hijacked by an inhuman entity.)
this game has haunted me for several days. i never played something that captured my suffocating experiences in such a cathartic way. and the horror was spot on, the build up to the ending felt so relieving and yet tragic. beautiful work!
This was an excellent VN. I felt really bad for Magda and her predicament. The ending had a good balance of catharsis and tragedy to it, too. Absolutely great work.
I absolutely love this game. I played it awhile back but never wrote a review - but man did this leave an impact on me. I thought about the characters and story days afterwards, amazing work. I'd love to see more of these characters.
(Btw I loved MagNil so much. their dynamic was peak.)
I really liked this! the CGs are gorgeous and the writing is really good. I also liked the parallax effect on the title screen. It looks polished and made me wonder what kind of people the characters would be before even starting.
spoilers below
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The characterization is really good. At every interaction, it felt like each character had their own motives.
It was fun to see the first Apologia assembly, expecting only stern, stiff talk about Jael's bad actions (like Eve and Lady Amaris), only for Cerise to come in, crack a joke and call the forbidden material "real gross, freak shit" to rile everyone else against Jael. How did she, a writing section member, uncover a research section member's illegal book stash? Who knows or cares to find out. In the beginning of act 3, it's obvious why she would do this, not just out of meanness: bullying Magda out of the writing section let Cerise take her place, and kicking her out of Haven makes her a section head.
Meanwhile, while it isn't Grace's intention, she gets the same result if not even better: she also becomes a section head, she gets to make other friends and to make life better for the architectural section members by reducing how much time they have to work. Does she considers sacrificing Magda worth all of that?
Until act 3, I thought members that were kicked out of Haven actually got to leave, so it re-contextualizes some things. When Maria complains that Magda complains to her when she's going through worse by losing Jael... Jael is quite literally still right there, and Maria's just giving up.
Just like the others, Maria profits from Magda's disappearance by plagiarizing her planned painting, but it also feels like Maria thinks of it as recognizing and fulfilling unrealized potential.
Magda's first feelings about Nils feel like they reflect the way other Haven members see her: as someone who will corrupt them. And both Magda and Nils are to Haven a resource its members can take advantage of; Magda by serving as a stepping stone to reaching sect head status and providing sketches to be plagiarized, Nils by physically providing blood and energy to Haven. After Nils died, I wonder how long Haven could've continued.
I hope Lilia gets to sleep on the top of a bunk bed somewhere and to eat something they like!
Thank you for the wonderful review! I loved reading your thoughts on all of the members of the Haven...
That comparison between Magda and Nils was especially lovely. I don't think I consciously made that connection while writing Bad Faith, but it is true: both of them were used and abused by people within the Haven, and they're rightfully hurt about it.
I hope Lilia can find peace in their new life too...
this was such a fun game!! got a bit bored at some points (adhd brain) but the beautiful art and writing carried me through it. magda my beloved you could do nothing wrong (she is wanted in 7 countries)
I played through this because I recognized you from the Violence series! You have a really distinct writing style that's so immersive. I have a lot of feelings about this game, Nils especially, though I'm not sure if I'm phrasing any of this very well so I apologize in advance.
[ABANDON ALL HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER THE SPOILER ZONE]
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I wish we saw more of Nils, but I also think that keeping them somewhat shrouded in mystery helped them feel more inhuman. Much like Magda, we don't get much of a feel for their personality until the very end, and even then we're unsure. They're angry, rightfully so, but is this solving anything? Are we safe with them? Is this any better than the life we left burning? Whatever the answer is, it's not for the reader to know anymore. I found that really powerful, the ending was, like, satisfyingly unsatisfying if that makes any sense.
I took Magda's relationship with Nils as a kind of parallel to people who leave abusive families later getting into toxic relationships, but I might be misinterpreting. I don't think Nils is a bad person, I don't think human morality can apply to them given that they're not human, but I also don't think that Lilia is a healthy relationship. Both Nils and Magda have every reason to be angry, to hate and honestly it was cathartic to see them hurt the people who hurt them--but that's not where the story ends. Showing the aftermath, the second thoughts after a violent revenge was a such a cool narrative choice. I wish there was a bit more of it.
Sorry for rambling, I hope all that made sense and I didn't misinterpret too badly. I really love your games!
Thank you for playing through my game! I'm glad you recognized my writing style from the Violence series, haha - it makes me happy to see that I'm developing a distinct written voice.
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You're spot on with your observations of Nils (from what we see of them) and of their and Magda's revenge against the Haven in Act 3. I did rush through Act 3 a bit, but if I were to remake Bad Faith now, I'd spend more time stewing in the second thoughts Magda had after killing the people who tormented her all her life.
And yes, the dissatisfaction with Nils and Magda's final relationship - the lack of certainty on where they'd go next as Lilia - was intentional on my part. ;> It's a mystery where they'll end up next... but as they are right now, they're not exactly in a great relationship.
Spoilers ahead, i wanted to give my honest opinion about this because i have my own fair share of religious trauma which drew me to this game . . . . . . . . I want to make it clear that i'm not particularly squeamish when it comes to blood or gore, and i don't want to give the impression that i want to police the depiction of such things in media, especially media as clearly vulnerable as this is. I also don't think that an ambiguous or unsatisfying ending is necessarily a bad thing. With all that being said, i really couldn't get on board with this game's 3rd act. I was absolutely sold on the first 2 acts based on the religious horror and character drama. I related to Magda quite a bit and was quite invested in her story. Unfortunately, it lost me when the game started giving graphic descriptions of violence and gore. I was sold on the premise of the horror being how the had manipulated and ultimately failed Magda, turning her into the thing they despised, and her heel turn in the 3rd act didn't really feel consistent with the rest of the game's thematic setup.
Still, that isn't to say that i didn't like the first 2 acts. They were very well crafted and tense. I especially like the scene where Eve confronts Magda in the woods and she starts having a panic attack. I thought it showed excellent use of the medium and it deeply affected me. I just think it's a shame that the landing didn't do it for me.
Looking back on it two years on... I also agree that Act 3 was the weakest of the game. I talk about it more in my retrospective, but by the time I was working on Act 3, I reached a "ceiling" with the game's story that I couldn't break through, so I wanted to just get it done. That's probably why it felt so rushed and disjointed compared to the rest of the game, haha. If I were working on Bad Faith now, I would've probably signaled Magda's heel turn more in Act 2. Maybe make her have smaller violent outbursts - something like that.
I'm glad you liked the first two acts though! I'm still quite proud of them and the tension they bring to the overall story.
Damn was it a roller coaster, I didn’t expect things to go gore, but I have to say it was satisfying to finally bring real justice to the bad actors. I was on edge until the very end, it’s very well written !
I read the afterword and how it was hugely inspired by your own life, I can’t even try to understand what you’ve been through but I sure hope you’re in a better place now, thanks a lot for your game, I’d love to try other things you’ve made !
Sorry I’m not much of a reviewer, I can only say I had a great time 😅
I'm in a much better place now than I was when I wrote Bad Faith, haha. Bad Faith's setting and premise is an extended metaphor for the community I was in and social experiences I had back in 2020 - but I'm far removed from that community now.
If you're interested in other things I've made, may I recommend the Violence series? I think you'll enjoy it a lot: especially if you like sci-fi settings.
i've just started recently and have been really enjoying it so far! i've had a strange error, when text appears i can see the top few pixels of the next line before they appear, does anyone know a way this can be fixed?
oh that's unfortunate, it's not a big deal, i just get way more distracted by stuff like that than i should 😂. when i was looking up to see if it was on my end i stumbled upon people talking about similar things with other Ren'Py games and said it maybe had something to do with the line height? and linking this https://www.renpy.org/doc/html/text.html#slow-text-concerns. though i know almost nothing about Ren'Py so idk if this is even related, or whether it's a thing that you would've tried already 😭
also i read more of it and the atmosphere is so good! can't what to read more of it soon!
i was delayed getting back to it but i've read all the rest of it in two days and just finished it and really enjoyed it!
spoilers idk how many lines i need for this
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i really liked the way all the different characters were shown to live in the circumstances of the haven, especially Grace during the parts of her point of view, and especially especially the epilogue.
I really liked Nils as well, part of me wishes there was more parts with her and Magda before the third act, but also in a way i think it adds to Magda realising just how little she knows about Nils or what they want after she has second thought on complete revenge.
i had one small question this might be just an issue of my memory but when during the assembly they said that Magda went to the sacred building twice, i thought they only knew she went there once. was it the part were it was said Eve found some footage of her, or was it something else i missed 😭
but anyway thank you for making the game, and the people who helped with it! i'm not very good at putting my thought on stories into words so i hope it makes sense 😭
Thank you so much for the kind words on Bad Faith! Glad you had a good time with it, and that you enjoyed the main cast. :>
To answer your question, Magda did indeed visit the sacred building twice. The first time was in Act 1, where she goes outside and sees Nils' body. The second time was in the start of Act 2, where she returns and has a conversation with Nils.
My crops are scorched and my plants are withered. I feel utterly miserable in the best possible way, thank you so very much...
You have a wonderful talent for emotional horror I hope you know (I don't know if that's a proper term or not but that's how I felt seeing everything progress through this game) (Also some very excellent more visceral horror yupyup-) This whole experience was beautifully written and produced, and utterly tragic overall.
I'm going to be thinking about this for quite some time...
For some reason payment through paypal fails for me (tried twice with a different card). Frustraaaation. (edit : YES I DID IT. After 3 tries, seem like you need to register a cellphone to unblock my account somehow)
But the demo was very nice. Cool writing, got engrossed by it pretty fast.
First I must say the craft (graphics/transition) were awesome. And the writing got me going. Great work.
Then (spoiler) I must say I’m dejected by how it turns out after the two first murders. I wanted some reconciliation with Grace so much all along, I felt a bit salty to be honest.
I also wanted to see how Nils would use his inhuman powers to influence people’s buried emotions and tweak the Heaven society to something else.
So yeah. I guess I was really envisioning light after dark. Even the dimmest light.
Eating’s one heart, shredding a body, eating tongues or gauging eyes felt very over the top to me - but I thought they would be props for the opening of something “tried that, done that, now, what else ?” and instead they just flee after doing some mayhem ? It felt like an obnoxious slap of “nah, humans are crap” instead of my willy-nilly “human are what their environment make them do”, just tweak the context ! And when you got some angel with magic and can go into one’s head to know everything ? That’s playtime for some utopia right there (or some dystopia, but yet, something else than “vengeance” => “the end”).
Mah. Guess I’ll have to use my own brain to think about a more fitting ending to me. My cravings, my problems after all ! ^^’
Side note : I liked how Cerise was cute despite being in the shoes of the (albeit a bit of a caricature) bad guys. I also liked how she showed herself concerned and caring to Grace at first. Then everything get dismissed at being hypocrisy… But I feel like there could have been a lot more depth to her. You can be a true nazi and have sleepless nights because of your dog’s health after all. I felt like their last moment were a bit… Out of a cartoon, were people doing bad things are by essence bad people - which is not the most interesting place to be in.
Anyway, reading your afterword… I guess I get how “fleeing this piece of crap of toxic people” would be your conclusion if you lived it. Without magic - some destiny cheat - most situation isn’t salvageable alright. It’s just not… Very inspiring to me. I’m already too nihilistic about this, I want to dream another take >_<
An absolute gut punch of a story. The visuals, writing, and audio combined with all of your additional touches served to hook me from start to finish, pulling me through every chill of dread and twist of the stomach. I'm eager to see what you create next, whether it remains in this universe or not!
youve improved so much, holy crap! (im remiruplushie from i suddenly became a magical girl..) i don't have it yet but new money saving adventure, just this games art style is AGHAHGHA <33
I've been there. Trying to keep to myself, not provoke more bullying, watching others being punished and being happy it's not me this time. And revenge fantasies. I've read Enders Game back then. Ender-killing-his-bullies really spoke to me. Had Eldritch Power given me the opportunity to do that, would I? I like sumirufus take in the comments on all this.
Anyhow. I really like how you use the medium. Soundtrack, fonts, how the text is presented, how soundtrack is used to set the mood (and it's a good soundtrack). I was not sold on how the backgrounds looked at first, but I got used to it rather fast. And I love the character art. And those panning shots.
The tension bulid up is great. And the "catharsis" did not feel cathartic at all. In the end it made me feel empty. And sad. Which I think was the point.
It's short, it's mean and it will stay with me. Congratulations. Well done.
Thank you so much (and I apologize for the late reply to this comment - I've been juggling a lot of stuff, haha ^^;)
I'm very glad you got a lot out of Bad Faith. That sense of emptiness, of sadness for the ending... that was definitely intentional on my part. I'm happy you felt the same way.
I'm happy it could make a big impact on you too. Thank you again for playing!
Finally got the full game after a few months! Almost forgot about it but thankfully didn't! Spoilers below!
HOLY SHIT. THAT WAS A REAL MOOD CHANGE. I just want to start off by saying that this game is a 9/10. There were only a few minor issues, but it wasn't the story, just some bugs and stuff, although I do wish we got to know a little bit more about Lady Amaris. The 1st act of the story was solid. Nothing going on but still pretty good. I was wondering what happened to Jael but I'm guessing she died. The 2nd act made this a lot more hyped up. Nil is basically a tortured angel who was used as a tool by Lady Amaris. And then the assembly happened. HOLY SHIT. That was pretty brutal for Madga. Nil and Magda technically combines and wow that was pretty neat. And some interesting stuff happens. But when Cerise's eyeball was shown, THAT TOOK A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TURN TO WHAT I WAS EXPECTING. Eve gets mutilated by a god damn woodchipper and Maria's heart is taken off and Nil forcefully makes Madga taste a bit of it. And then the fire happened. It is understandable why Nil would want to be blood thirsty after Lady Amaris kept her there for so long, but I didn't expect it to go that far! And the story doesn't end there, as Grace is the only survivor and basically has to go to a different island. And the sad part is that she doesn't know what truly happened with Cerise, Eve, and Maria. Even though the chances are very slim, I really hope Bad Faith gets some sort of continuation. Very good job. Sayonara and have a good day.
Thank you for playing through and enjoying Bad Faith! I’m very glad you got a lot out of the story. ^u^
It was meant to be a standalone story, so I don’t think a continuation is on the cards right now… but then again, I might change my tune in the future! Again though - thank you for enjoying my little world. ;w;
I just played this game recently with a friend on a whim and absolutely loved it. Starting from the beginning, the visual and audio elements of the game are wonderful. The art itself is very nice (both the character sprites and the backgrounds) and when combined with sound effects and music it gives this nice, undercurrent of dread that permeates the game even before shit truly hits the fan.
Now, as for characters, I like how there is a large range of behaviors in Haven. You have Eve, the overachiever who seems to revel in petty victories and paperwork. Grace, the fully indoctrinated follower who truly believes what she's doing is best. Cerise, the traditional bully archetype (although not so traditional in terms of art depiction. Gotta say, this is the first buff mean girl I've seen in fiction. The fact that she could both ostracize and also beat the shit out of you made her oddly memorable in terms of bully characters. Truly the worst of both worlds to deal with). Maria, the one who never lifts a finger but is fully aware and complicit in the system (and very fitting that her character death starts by her refusing to look at Magda - ignoring the problem until it goes away until her dying breath).
And of course, there's Nils and Magda.
Magda is very much your sweet girl-next-door trying hard to be good and probably would succeed had she been in any other setting. Alas, being in a cult, "good" is more of an obscure, ever-shifting goalpost designed to keep people in line than it actually relates to any actual sense of true morality, so of course she fails. She is a very easy character to like, and you do truly get attached to her and sympathize with what she goes through, which makes her breakdown and descent all the more compelling to witness.
As for Nils, I enjoyed them throughly. Even from the beginning, you immediately want to know more about them. If this were a play, they would have an amazing stage presence. I like the parallel between them both winding up in their current situations by feeling compelled to go beyond what they're "allowed" to (Nils by choosing to help out humanity despite multiple warnings against it, and Magda by her choosing to sneak out to satiate her own personal curiosity.) I also like the contrast of their personalities, the sugary-sweet (well, mostly) Magda with the bitter and caustic Nils. Watching them interact together is a little like if Carrie White had met Venom, and I mean that in the best possible way.
My only real complaint is that I wish we got to see more of them together. From what Nils said about this being their "last resort", I imagine they had a different plan in mind originally. It would have been nice to see more visits/more interactions together before their final merging.
But all together, it's a great game. You did a good job, especially for your first game! I would love to see what you make in the future.
Thank you so much for the wonderful review - I'm very glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did. Your commentary on the game and its cast really made my day!
I'll be honest, I wish I had written more visits/interactions between Nils and Magda as well... I think if I had the chance to redo Bad Faith, that would be one of the first things I'd do. I'm still very glad you like both of them, regardless! ^^
I look forward to making future, more ambitious works too! Again - thank you for playing!
just finished reading through the full version of bad faith right after having tried the demo and boy howdy do i not regret it. it was such an intense story! from the isolation, to the manipulation, the torture and finally the catharsis/revenge i really loved it! even if the revenge was a bit too much for my liking, i would have preferred something less gory that doesnt kill them in the most gruesome manner possible ya know.
as some other comments have said, im sad magda/lilia had to become an even more violent abuser, i love human+non-human so much and was overjoyed when i saw lilia for the first time! its such a pretty name too. then there's nils which i still like a bit but well, they kinda did all that so i dont exactly love em either also i found kinda weird they referred to lilia as magda again once she renamed herself to lilia, not sure what that was about, is lilia supposed to encompass both nils and magda? as for the epilogue, im glad at least grace survived, although not without a whole lot of trauma! i wonder if she's gonna be ok...
thats about it for my thoughts on bad faith! maybe a bit messy but it gets my feelings across properly enough, thank you so much for such a wonderful visual novel! already looking forward to the next one, whenever it may be ^^
Thank you so much - I’m very glad you enjoyed the full version of Bad Faith, in spite of all of its intensity! ^^ I hope you do enjoy my future work too - I’m very excited about that.
Also to answer your question - yes, Lilia does encompass the existence of both Nils and Magda - but mainly on Magda’s side of things. If Magda behaves in a way that Nils really disapproves of, then Nils will stop calling her “Lilia” and call her “Magda” again. At least, that was what I was thinking when I wrote the scene, haha…
Though I haven't finished the entire game of the time of me posting this the 3 hours I have played was Fantastic. I love the characters & the dynamic as well as the just premise I guess. Regardless this fun & I can't wait to finish it.
OK I have finally finished it & GOD is there so much I wanna talk about.
1st the characters are just great even the ones I hate. I gotta say in stories it's easy to make a shit character that everyone hates but just like to make them so rotten while also being "innocent" as well in terms of how they act around others to is so good (as well as frustrating of course). Like my hate for cerise & Eva never left & tho I was looking for to the revenged it felt very uncomfortable which is just interesting to me
Which before I get into the ending I gotta say it's quite impressive how uncomfortable this entire game was like I enjoy it of course. But as the days rolled by my anxiety as well as uncomfortably just kept rising & rising.
Also speaking of the ending I was very scared that I was going to get blue ball in the sense that they would just leave the island & never come back but on no no revenge came. Also that last bit with Grace was both unexpected as it was just interesting to see. Don't know if that was for tying up loose ends story wise or setting up for a sequel but regardless I enjoyed it
& the visual too was great to look at. I know this isn't too important but still like I love it when VN choose a diff approach to it visual. From the painted background which could be a reference to the fact that Magda loves to paint to the drawn scene it just mashes surprising well. VN like this, "Hike Back", & "The Elevator Game With Girls" feel like they'll stick out more due to the choice of visual & I honestly I hope more ppl do explore this cause god was it great.
Regardless tho this was fun. I'm going to miss this game & whether or not you make a sequel to it this will definitely be a VN I remember. Sorry if my thoughts are all over the place I'm a mess when it comes to writing/typing.
But yea this was fun, thanks for making such a gem of a game & I hope more ppl play it. Bye bye & I look forward to what you make next :)
Thank you for your very thorough and kind thoughts on Bad Faith! I'm very happy it left such a big impact on you - and I look forward to making that next project too! ^u^
I just finished the game on steam, I just wanted to know that will it have more expansion about this game. Because I like this game very much and I want more, but it has come to an end. So, Will, you make more visual novels in the future? And will there be more stories about bad faith? I love this game very much!!! And I still want this story to resume!
Thank you so much for enjoying my game! I’m not planning a continuation of Bad Faith itself, but I do intend to make more visual novels after Bad Faith. ^^
The story and buildup is exceptional! the art is so beautiful and as it is intended you are in a constant state of paranoia unless you are in a dream, such a fantastic work! the ending it leaves you a sour taste but is actually the best way to end the game...
I still would love like a novel, or maybe comics or spin off of how the characters are doing in the future, good or bad
I-I've just finished the demo and... what a frightening but attractive story. The words and phrases you picked are beautiful and metaphysical and the artworks are vivid but also feel dark.
I can't stop buying a full version today, to seehow Magda's life goes on.
I've just finished the game and... it was so dreadful but also impressive.
It's amazed the plot keeps a rhythm of peace and violence from the beginning to the end;
An Alarming assembly follows the heart-warming time with Maria, Seeing the beautiful white wing on Lilia, and then watching their torture.
Lady Amaris's personality was not revealed as much as I expected, but I suppose you did it purposely.
I didn't expect the plot to turn out so--violent like this, so It was a quite shocking experience to read some parts for me, but it was enjoyable, as I have nothing against this kind of expression,
I like the style of your drawing as well as the plot. The CG in the scene where four people looking down Magda is the most bloodcurdling one.
Strangely, even gory pics seem to be attractive to me, especially the one of Cerise.
I just finished the demo and I wanted to thank you for including the audio titles! It meant a lot to me and it makes Bad Faith much more immersive than most VNs out there. Off to play the rest of the VN!
I really enjoyed it, the UI was especially impressive, I look forward to your future projects! On a separate note, I would recommend to change audio titles to audio captions. It is much more intuitive. Otherwise, great job with Bad Faith!
The design and composition of the scenes was amazing. Even though the story felt a little 'two note' at times, the game is easily worth the price for such amazing writing and interface. Using dialogue bubbles and motion during the cutscenes gives it such an immersive first person feel unlike any other visual novel I've played. You really get into Magda's head. Loved the ending a lot, it was exactly what I wanted.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did.
Bad Faith was conceptualized as a self-contained short story - so I can definitely understand why it may come across as a little “two note” at times - but I’m very happy Magda’s writing and the game’s ending resonated with you. ^^
Totally! If there was any ever a chance of expanding the story, I'd want more of Magda's and [REDACTED]'s meetings and conversations to deepen their connection before the finale.
Oh my god so I just got this visual novel out of sheer curiosity and this was SOOOOO good. Also I never had a visual novel make me so mad in my life before this one, not even in a "I hate it" way but in a "Magda i need to get you the hell out of there" kind of way. Honestly the first two arcs were unbearable but seeing as this is a psychological horror story, you did such a good job!!! The pain and the fear that Magda felt for having to repress herself, her own thoughts which hold their own merit, and then having her trust constantly violated over and over to the breaking point, made me want to hop in that game and fight everyone on her behalf. However I really can't talk about how i feel without putting the spoiler warning.
SPOILER ZONE
The fact that Magda was so so strong for simply just being able to handle living in what is easily can be compared to hell after her first assembly only to be ratted out by her best friend and put on blast for doing nothing more than simply trying to use a positive coping mechanism that no one was Supposed to know about was such a raw scene, I had to click really fast to get through that scene because it was so painful to watch. Then the hell that Magda had to endure in that prison was torture but it was also so good. So the catharsis I felt when Cerise and Eve died made everything more satisfying and I'm not gonna lie, I'm completely on Nils's side here when they said that Grace and Maria deserved hell for what they did. Maria, knowing the truth about her, made me not even the slightest bit mad or sad about her death. While she didn't deserve to die like That or die in general, she did deserve punishment for what she did.
Now, in Grace's predicament? I felt more satisfied with her end than anyone else. Grace finally being able to understand how it felt to have everything ripped out from under you and no one will ever be able to feel the same way as you do and having to live with the deaths of everyone; all while not knowing that it was her hand that caused the death of Everyone she cared about (save Magda)? It didn't even help that she kept referring to her "best friend" as "that girl" and didn't even bother to even check up on her. Now she's going to have to deal with an isolation that Magda had to deal with, but on a worse scale and I would even say that was the best revenge served out of everyone.
Nils was by far such a powerhouse, the way you could tell they was up to no good the minute they noticed Magda in the lab. Honestly the whole time, I could feel their presence no matter what and I felt a little disappointed Magda never came to visit them, I wanted to save them no matter what pain he was going to cause. Honestly, I'm surprised they still ultimately wants to save humanity despite Everything, even despite the fact they're so mentally unstable now. Tbh, I can't even judge them for their actions, the angel was being harvested for Years; being unable to save anyone or do anything by the people they wanted to protect. I would have the done the same thing if it meant not dying. If anything I bet Magda's own memories gave them the push they needed to really just go ham on everyone.
And finally, Magda/ Lilia; I would die for you. I felt for her so hard; I wanted to tell her so much when their invasive thoughts and anxiety got so intense that it's ok to feel that! That it's ok to be so angry and hurt and be in love, as a society we need to abolish the belief that your thoughts make you when really it's your actions that speak for you. So seeing Lilia break down upon realizing she killed people and kill Maria was heart wrenching, because she's not a rage fueled monster, she was a sweet girl in so much pain and basically being forced to either die or become more violent than everyone who harmed her hurt. Homegirl needs some real friends and perhaps a new outfit. Also I just noticed how Magda is short for magdalene and BOY is that reference accurate to the biblical character.
TDLR; This was such a good visual novel I cannot recommend it enough! You had me going through the five stages of grief through out and the art is lovely!!!
Thank you so much for playing through Bad Faith! I'm very glad you enjoyed the story as much as you did.
I'm very glad Magda's arc resonated with you, especially with regards to her conflict about dying vs becoming more violent than her abusers by force. I also appreciate your commentary on how the arcs of other characters (namely Grace and Maria) finished too.
As a little extra note - Nils uses they/them pronouns! They aren't a man or a woman - they have their own gender. ^^
Omg, I'm so sorry I didn't eve notice I used he pronouns sometimes in the post for Nils, thank you for letting me know! I'll edit it as soon as possible! And so much of this story resonated with me, are you considering making an artbook pdf of the work you did for this game? I would love to buy it if you do, your artwork is amazing!
No worries! ^^ And I appreciate the gesture, thank you so much.
I am considering making an “Art/Development of Bad Faith” book in the future - I think it would be a nice way to cap off the game’s development! It would probably be after I finished working on the game’s Steam release, though…
← Return to visual novel
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POSSIBLE SPOILERS
im traumatized and tearing up wtf this is so sad, great game i loved the plot - the ending wasnt rlly for me, the whole revenge arc i guess did fit but i just didnt like it much. A really great game tho, i am still confused if what grace read about magda in her diary was just the part where she was in her cray cray state or if those were her thoughts the whole time, because from what it seemed like it was like every entry had smth creepy to it and since i saw magda write one of them so calmly without anything graphic along with seeing her thought the whole time i couldnt rlly get it - sorry ffor being dump lol
also i really liked the art
Thank you for playing Bad Faith! I'm glad it left an impact on you - and that you liked the art too.
SPOILERS
For the diary part - Grace read her entire diary, but what upset her were the intense entries Magda wrote when she was in a mentally distressed state. The prior entries were much tamer.
As an autistic and lgbt person who has to stay in the closet and keep their mask on most of my life, this game severely depressed and possibly traumatised me
9.87/9.88 highly recommended would not play again
-0.01 for the text automatically cutting off some of the dialogue and skipping to the next one, I always set text speed on max and I can never read what they are saying and have to go visit the legend. A tad annoying but not a major issue
Thank you - I'm glad you got the Intended Bad Faith experience.
For the last thing, I apologize. I wanted to capture the feeling of characters having their dialogue cut off by other people, but I realize now it does hurt readability on max speeds. If it helps, I fix this issue in my later games... ;w;
play this thru to the ending and then listen to pox by good kid. transcendental experience.
I'm glad Bad Faith could leave a deep impact on you!! (I need to listen to this song myself..........)
i've read this for a couple hours and the story is interesting in some parts, but overall I really think calling this visual novel a "game" is a huge stretch. you can't make any choices, magda just goes and does her own thing and all you can do is watch. i just set the text speed to high and put it on auto scroll so i could read it while crocheting, but i wish i had more influence over her actions, or could choose various areas to explore.
Yeah, this title really does lean more on the "visual novel" side of things.
If you want a game I directed that does have those elements (of exploring and making choices), you might like the Violence series, especially malViolence. Those titles are more involved.
Complicated thoughts but I really enjoyed the first two acts.
Spoilers below
I just finished this, and playing through the ending, I was certainly unsettled, but I didn't get any satisfaction or catharsis, unlike other reviewers. Even with Circe and Eve, it was very quickly more sadistic than cathartic. And while Magda does grow horrified with it, it still just felt like the story was indulging revenge for the sake of it and just ended up bleak without a real purpose.
After reading a postmortem and talking to a friend about it, about how the author was tempted to lash out at bullies but had a bitter taste from it. And it confused me, because my initial impressions of the end was that the narrative was just indulging in the depiction of a gory revenge fantasy without really grappling with any of the consequences of it, just cutting off. But thinking on it further, perhaps leaving that same bitter taste in the audience's mouth is the point - the characters don't need to grapple with the consequences when the audience already is. I'm certainly still unsettled as I write this.
Overall I really enjoyed the setup and the depictions of the cult, was believable and tense. I can't say I enjoyed the ending but I can appreciate it to some extent now. Thank you for making.
Thank you! I'm glad you took the time to play through Bad Faith and speak honestly about your feelings!
SPOILERS
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Yes, that bitter taste at the end was intentional. Magda does indulge in brutally killing off Cerise and Eve - understandable, given how she was bullied by them.
But when she kills them, is the core of her grief and anger really solved? Sure, it felt great in the moment - but when her adrenaline dies down, Magda's still left with the pain they inflicted on her. In essence, her actual consequence is never getting to heal from that pain (and also having her body hijacked by an inhuman entity.)
this game has haunted me for several days. i never played something that captured my suffocating experiences in such a cathartic way. and the horror was spot on, the build up to the ending felt so relieving and yet tragic. beautiful work!
Thank you. I'm really glad Bad Faith resonated with you...
An awesome VN with a story that kept me itching to know more!
Thank you!!
Thank you!!
Thank you!!
Breathtaking story and gorgeous character art.
This was an excellent VN. I felt really bad for Magda and her predicament. The ending had a good balance of catharsis and tragedy to it, too. Absolutely great work.
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed Bad Faith.
I absolutely love this game. I played it awhile back but never wrote a review - but man did this leave an impact on me. I thought about the characters and story days afterwards, amazing work. I'd love to see more of these characters.
(Btw I loved MagNil so much. their dynamic was peak.)
Thanks so much!
I'm glad Bad Faith could leave a strong impression on you, haha. The MagNil dynamic is, indeed, peak.
If you like what I did with this game, you might be interested in my current visual novel series; the Violence series!
I really liked this! the CGs are gorgeous and the writing is really good. I also liked the parallax effect on the title screen. It looks polished and made me wonder what kind of people the characters would be before even starting.
spoilers below
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The characterization is really good. At every interaction, it felt like each character had their own motives.
It was fun to see the first Apologia assembly, expecting only stern, stiff talk about Jael's bad actions (like Eve and Lady Amaris), only for Cerise to come in, crack a joke and call the forbidden material "real gross, freak shit" to rile everyone else against Jael. How did she, a writing section member, uncover a research section member's illegal book stash? Who knows or cares to find out. In the beginning of act 3, it's obvious why she would do this, not just out of meanness: bullying Magda out of the writing section let Cerise take her place, and kicking her out of Haven makes her a section head.
Meanwhile, while it isn't Grace's intention, she gets the same result if not even better: she also becomes a section head, she gets to make other friends and to make life better for the architectural section members by reducing how much time they have to work. Does she considers sacrificing Magda worth all of that?
Until act 3, I thought members that were kicked out of Haven actually got to leave, so it re-contextualizes some things. When Maria complains that Magda complains to her when she's going through worse by losing Jael... Jael is quite literally still right there, and Maria's just giving up.
Just like the others, Maria profits from Magda's disappearance by plagiarizing her planned painting, but it also feels like Maria thinks of it as recognizing and fulfilling unrealized potential.
Magda's first feelings about Nils feel like they reflect the way other Haven members see her: as someone who will corrupt them. And both Magda and Nils are to Haven a resource its members can take advantage of; Magda by serving as a stepping stone to reaching sect head status and providing sketches to be plagiarized, Nils by physically providing blood and energy to Haven. After Nils died, I wonder how long Haven could've continued.
I hope Lilia gets to sleep on the top of a bunk bed somewhere and to eat something they like!
Thank you for the wonderful review! I loved reading your thoughts on all of the members of the Haven...
That comparison between Magda and Nils was especially lovely. I don't think I consciously made that connection while writing Bad Faith, but it is true: both of them were used and abused by people within the Haven, and they're rightfully hurt about it.
I hope Lilia can find peace in their new life too...
this was such a fun game!! got a bit bored at some points (adhd brain) but the beautiful art and writing carried me through it. magda my beloved you could do nothing wrong (she is wanted in 7 countries)
Thank you for enjoying Bad Faith!
I'm glad Magda resonated with you too. :>
I played through this because I recognized you from the Violence series! You have a really distinct writing style that's so immersive. I have a lot of feelings about this game, Nils especially, though I'm not sure if I'm phrasing any of this very well so I apologize in advance.
[ABANDON ALL HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER THE SPOILER ZONE]
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I wish we saw more of Nils, but I also think that keeping them somewhat shrouded in mystery helped them feel more inhuman. Much like Magda, we don't get much of a feel for their personality until the very end, and even then we're unsure. They're angry, rightfully so, but is this solving anything? Are we safe with them? Is this any better than the life we left burning? Whatever the answer is, it's not for the reader to know anymore. I found that really powerful, the ending was, like, satisfyingly unsatisfying if that makes any sense.
I took Magda's relationship with Nils as a kind of parallel to people who leave abusive families later getting into toxic relationships, but I might be misinterpreting. I don't think Nils is a bad person, I don't think human morality can apply to them given that they're not human, but I also don't think that Lilia is a healthy relationship. Both Nils and Magda have every reason to be angry, to hate and honestly it was cathartic to see them hurt the people who hurt them--but that's not where the story ends. Showing the aftermath, the second thoughts after a violent revenge was a such a cool narrative choice. I wish there was a bit more of it.
Sorry for rambling, I hope all that made sense and I didn't misinterpret too badly. I really love your games!
Thank you for playing through my game! I'm glad you recognized my writing style from the Violence series, haha - it makes me happy to see that I'm developing a distinct written voice.
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You're spot on with your observations of Nils (from what we see of them) and of their and Magda's revenge against the Haven in Act 3. I did rush through Act 3 a bit, but if I were to remake Bad Faith now, I'd spend more time stewing in the second thoughts Magda had after killing the people who tormented her all her life.
And yes, the dissatisfaction with Nils and Magda's final relationship - the lack of certainty on where they'd go next as Lilia - was intentional on my part. ;> It's a mystery where they'll end up next... but as they are right now, they're not exactly in a great relationship.
Spoilers ahead, i wanted to give my honest opinion about this because i have my own fair share of religious trauma which drew me to this game
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I want to make it clear that i'm not particularly squeamish when it comes to blood or gore, and i don't want to give the impression that i want to police the depiction of such things in media, especially media as clearly vulnerable as this is. I also don't think that an ambiguous or unsatisfying ending is necessarily a bad thing. With all that being said, i really couldn't get on board with this game's 3rd act. I was absolutely sold on the first 2 acts based on the religious horror and character drama. I related to Magda quite a bit and was quite invested in her story. Unfortunately, it lost me when the game started giving graphic descriptions of violence and gore. I was sold on the premise of the horror being how the had manipulated and ultimately failed Magda, turning her into the thing they despised, and her heel turn in the 3rd act didn't really feel consistent with the rest of the game's thematic setup.
Still, that isn't to say that i didn't like the first 2 acts. They were very well crafted and tense. I especially like the scene where Eve confronts Magda in the woods and she starts having a panic attack. I thought it showed excellent use of the medium and it deeply affected me. I just think it's a shame that the landing didn't do it for me.
Thanks for your honest review, I appreciate it!
[RESPONSE TO SPOILER COMMENTS BELOW]
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Looking back on it two years on... I also agree that Act 3 was the weakest of the game. I talk about it more in my retrospective, but by the time I was working on Act 3, I reached a "ceiling" with the game's story that I couldn't break through, so I wanted to just get it done. That's probably why it felt so rushed and disjointed compared to the rest of the game, haha. If I were working on Bad Faith now, I would've probably signaled Magda's heel turn more in Act 2. Maybe make her have smaller violent outbursts - something like that.
I'm glad you liked the first two acts though! I'm still quite proud of them and the tension they bring to the overall story.
I played for 40 minutes and I must say I’m totally hooked ! I really like what has been done so far and I’m so curious to launch again, thanks !
Glad you enjoy it so far! I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the full story. :>
Just finished it ! (**SPOILERS AHEAD I GUESS **?)
Damn was it a roller coaster, I didn’t expect things to go gore, but I have to say it was satisfying to finally bring real justice to the bad actors. I was on edge until the very end, it’s very well written !
I read the afterword and how it was hugely inspired by your own life, I can’t even try to understand what you’ve been through but I sure hope you’re in a better place now, thanks a lot for your game, I’d love to try other things you’ve made !
Sorry I’m not much of a reviewer, I can only say I had a great time 😅
Thank you! I'm glad you liked the full game.
I'm in a much better place now than I was when I wrote Bad Faith, haha. Bad Faith's setting and premise is an extended metaphor for the community I was in and social experiences I had back in 2020 - but I'm far removed from that community now.
If you're interested in other things I've made, may I recommend the Violence series? I think you'll enjoy it a lot: especially if you like sci-fi settings.
Glad to hear that !
I’ll definitely play them, thanks !
i've just started recently and have been really enjoying it so far! i've had a strange error, when text appears i can see the top few pixels of the next line before they appear, does anyone know a way this can be fixed?
Glad you're enjoying the game so far!
From my understanding, it's just an issue with the way Ren'Py loads text with thick outlines... It's nothing on your end.
oh that's unfortunate, it's not a big deal, i just get way more distracted by stuff like that than i should 😂. when i was looking up to see if it was on my end i stumbled upon people talking about similar things with other Ren'Py games and said it maybe had something to do with the line height? and linking this https://www.renpy.org/doc/html/text.html#slow-text-concerns. though i know almost nothing about Ren'Py so idk if this is even related, or whether it's a thing that you would've tried already 😭
also i read more of it and the atmosphere is so good! can't what to read more of it soon!
Interesting... I didn't know that! I'll take it into consideration for my future works.
Glad you're enjoying Bad Faith so far, though! Let me know what you think when you're done. :>
i was delayed getting back to it but i've read all the rest of it in two days and just finished it and really enjoyed it!
spoilers idk how many lines i need for this
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i really liked the way all the different characters were shown to live in the circumstances of the haven, especially Grace during the parts of her point of view, and especially especially the epilogue.
I really liked Nils as well, part of me wishes there was more parts with her and Magda before the third act, but also in a way i think it adds to Magda realising just how little she knows about Nils or what they want after she has second thought on complete revenge.
i had one small question this might be just an issue of my memory but when during the assembly they said that Magda went to the sacred building twice, i thought they only knew she went there once. was it the part were it was said Eve found some footage of her, or was it something else i missed 😭
but anyway thank you for making the game, and the people who helped with it! i'm not very good at putting my thought on stories into words so i hope it makes sense 😭
Thank you so much for the kind words on Bad Faith! Glad you had a good time with it, and that you enjoyed the main cast. :>
To answer your question, Magda did indeed visit the sacred building twice. The first time was in Act 1, where she goes outside and sees Nils' body. The second time was in the start of Act 2, where she returns and has a conversation with Nils.
Hope this helps!
My crops are scorched and my plants are withered. I feel utterly miserable in the best possible way, thank you so very much...
You have a wonderful talent for emotional horror I hope you know (I don't know if that's a proper term or not but that's how I felt seeing everything progress through this game) (Also some very excellent more visceral horror yupyup-) This whole experience was beautifully written and produced, and utterly tragic overall.
I'm going to be thinking about this for quite some time...
Thank you so much!! I'm very glad you enjoyed(?) your time with Bad Faith... ;w;
how much romance does this have?
If you're looking for a romance story, best try elsewhere.
If you're looking for whatever the opposite of a romance story is, buckle up.
Bingo! This is not a romance story.
Joke’s on you buddy, “the opposite of a romance story” is my love script.
I love this game so far.
Glad you enjoy it!!
For some reason payment through paypal fails for me (tried twice with a different card). Frustraaaation. (edit : YES I DID IT. After 3 tries, seem like you need to register a cellphone to unblock my account somehow)
But the demo was very nice. Cool writing, got engrossed by it pretty fast.
Thank you - glad you enjoyed it!! I hope you enjoy the full game too. :>
Yup, just did end it.
First I must say the craft (graphics/transition) were awesome. And the writing got me going. Great work.
Then (spoiler) I must say I’m dejected by how it turns out after the two first murders. I wanted some reconciliation with Grace so much all along, I felt a bit salty to be honest. I also wanted to see how Nils would use his inhuman powers to influence people’s buried emotions and tweak the Heaven society to something else.
So yeah. I guess I was really envisioning light after dark. Even the dimmest light.
Eating’s one heart, shredding a body, eating tongues or gauging eyes felt very over the top to me - but I thought they would be props for the opening of something “tried that, done that, now, what else ?” and instead they just flee after doing some mayhem ? It felt like an obnoxious slap of “nah, humans are crap” instead of my willy-nilly “human are what their environment make them do”, just tweak the context ! And when you got some angel with magic and can go into one’s head to know everything ? That’s playtime for some utopia right there (or some dystopia, but yet, something else than “vengeance” => “the end”).
Mah. Guess I’ll have to use my own brain to think about a more fitting ending to me. My cravings, my problems after all ! ^^’
Side note : I liked how Cerise was cute despite being in the shoes of the (albeit a bit of a caricature) bad guys. I also liked how she showed herself concerned and caring to Grace at first. Then everything get dismissed at being hypocrisy… But I feel like there could have been a lot more depth to her. You can be a true nazi and have sleepless nights because of your dog’s health after all. I felt like their last moment were a bit… Out of a cartoon, were people doing bad things are by essence bad people - which is not the most interesting place to be in.
Anyway, reading your afterword… I guess I get how “fleeing this piece of crap of toxic people” would be your conclusion if you lived it. Without magic - some destiny cheat - most situation isn’t salvageable alright. It’s just not… Very inspiring to me. I’m already too nihilistic about this, I want to dream another take >_<
An absolute gut punch of a story. The visuals, writing, and audio combined with all of your additional touches served to hook me from start to finish, pulling me through every chill of dread and twist of the stomach. I'm eager to see what you create next, whether it remains in this universe or not!
Thank you for the incredibly kind words - I'm really glad you got a lot out of Bad Faith! ;w;
That ending was something--wow. I'm going to have to think about this--thank you for making this.
I'm very glad my game could leave an impact on you! Thank you!
youve improved so much, holy crap! (im remiruplushie from i suddenly became a magical girl..) i don't have it yet but new money saving adventure, just this games art style is AGHAHGHA <33
Thank you so much!!! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Bad Faith someday… ;w;
Well, that was a kick in the feels.
I've been there. Trying to keep to myself, not provoke more bullying, watching others being punished and being happy it's not me this time. And revenge fantasies. I've read Enders Game back then. Ender-killing-his-bullies really spoke to me. Had Eldritch Power given me the opportunity to do that, would I? I like sumirufus take in the comments on all this.
Anyhow. I really like how you use the medium. Soundtrack, fonts, how the text is presented, how soundtrack is used to set the mood (and it's a good soundtrack). I was not sold on how the backgrounds looked at first, but I got used to it rather fast. And I love the character art. And those panning shots.
The tension bulid up is great. And the "catharsis" did not feel cathartic at all. In the end it made me feel empty. And sad. Which I think was the point.
It's short, it's mean and it will stay with me. Congratulations. Well done.
Thank you so much (and I apologize for the late reply to this comment - I've been juggling a lot of stuff, haha ^^;)
I'm very glad you got a lot out of Bad Faith. That sense of emptiness, of sadness for the ending... that was definitely intentional on my part. I'm happy you felt the same way.
I'm happy it could make a big impact on you too. Thank you again for playing!
Finally got the full game after a few months! Almost forgot about it but thankfully didn't! Spoilers below!
HOLY SHIT. THAT WAS A REAL MOOD CHANGE. I just want to start off by saying that this game is a 9/10. There were only a few minor issues, but it wasn't the story, just some bugs and stuff, although I do wish we got to know a little bit more about Lady Amaris. The 1st act of the story was solid. Nothing going on but still pretty good. I was wondering what happened to Jael but I'm guessing she died. The 2nd act made this a lot more hyped up. Nil is basically a tortured angel who was used as a tool by Lady Amaris. And then the assembly happened. HOLY SHIT. That was pretty brutal for Madga. Nil and Magda technically combines and wow that was pretty neat. And some interesting stuff happens. But when Cerise's eyeball was shown, THAT TOOK A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TURN TO WHAT I WAS EXPECTING. Eve gets mutilated by a god damn woodchipper and Maria's heart is taken off and Nil forcefully makes Madga taste a bit of it. And then the fire happened. It is understandable why Nil would want to be blood thirsty after Lady Amaris kept her there for so long, but I didn't expect it to go that far! And the story doesn't end there, as Grace is the only survivor and basically has to go to a different island. And the sad part is that she doesn't know what truly happened with Cerise, Eve, and Maria. Even though the chances are very slim, I really hope Bad Faith gets some sort of continuation. Very good job. Sayonara and have a good day.
Thank you for playing through and enjoying Bad Faith! I’m very glad you got a lot out of the story. ^u^
It was meant to be a standalone story, so I don’t think a continuation is on the cards right now… but then again, I might change my tune in the future! Again though - thank you for enjoying my little world. ;w;
Good story but BRUTAL in a lot of ways so heed the warnings carefully!
Thank you - and yes, it really is! 😖 Be careful, everyone!
i played the demo on a plane and now that i've landed i'm very excited to play the full thing <3
I hope you had a safe journey! Please let me know what you think when you finish it. ;w;
AHHH i remember when i played the demo for this!! I'm so excited now that its finally out! I can't wait to play the full version!!
Thank you!!! Let me know your thoughts when you do!
*Spoiler Warning Ahead*
I just played this game recently with a friend on a whim and absolutely loved it. Starting from the beginning, the visual and audio elements of the game are wonderful. The art itself is very nice (both the character sprites and the backgrounds) and when combined with sound effects and music it gives this nice, undercurrent of dread that permeates the game even before shit truly hits the fan.
Now, as for characters, I like how there is a large range of behaviors in Haven. You have Eve, the overachiever who seems to revel in petty victories and paperwork. Grace, the fully indoctrinated follower who truly believes what she's doing is best. Cerise, the traditional bully archetype (although not so traditional in terms of art depiction. Gotta say, this is the first buff mean girl I've seen in fiction. The fact that she could both ostracize and also beat the shit out of you made her oddly memorable in terms of bully characters. Truly the worst of both worlds to deal with). Maria, the one who never lifts a finger but is fully aware and complicit in the system (and very fitting that her character death starts by her refusing to look at Magda - ignoring the problem until it goes away until her dying breath).
And of course, there's Nils and Magda.
Magda is very much your sweet girl-next-door trying hard to be good and probably would succeed had she been in any other setting. Alas, being in a cult, "good" is more of an obscure, ever-shifting goalpost designed to keep people in line than it actually relates to any actual sense of true morality, so of course she fails. She is a very easy character to like, and you do truly get attached to her and sympathize with what she goes through, which makes her breakdown and descent all the more compelling to witness.
As for Nils, I enjoyed them throughly. Even from the beginning, you immediately want to know more about them. If this were a play, they would have an amazing stage presence. I like the parallel between them both winding up in their current situations by feeling compelled to go beyond what they're "allowed" to (Nils by choosing to help out humanity despite multiple warnings against it, and Magda by her choosing to sneak out to satiate her own personal curiosity.) I also like the contrast of their personalities, the sugary-sweet (well, mostly) Magda with the bitter and caustic Nils. Watching them interact together is a little like if Carrie White had met Venom, and I mean that in the best possible way.
My only real complaint is that I wish we got to see more of them together. From what Nils said about this being their "last resort", I imagine they had a different plan in mind originally. It would have been nice to see more visits/more interactions together before their final merging.
But all together, it's a great game. You did a good job, especially for your first game! I would love to see what you make in the future.
Thank you so much for the wonderful review - I'm very glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did. Your commentary on the game and its cast really made my day!
I'll be honest, I wish I had written more visits/interactions between Nils and Magda as well... I think if I had the chance to redo Bad Faith, that would be one of the first things I'd do. I'm still very glad you like both of them, regardless! ^^
I look forward to making future, more ambitious works too! Again - thank you for playing!
***BEWARE SPOILERS***
just finished reading through the full version of bad faith right after having tried the demo and boy howdy do i not regret it. it was such an intense story! from the isolation, to the manipulation, the torture and finally the catharsis/revenge i really loved it! even if the revenge was a bit too much for my liking, i would have preferred something less gory that doesnt kill them in the most gruesome manner possible ya know.
as some other comments have said, im sad magda/lilia had to become an even more violent abuser, i love human+non-human so much and was overjoyed when i saw lilia for the first time! its such a pretty name too. then there's nils which i still like a bit but well, they kinda did all that so i dont exactly love em either also i found kinda weird they referred to lilia as magda again once she renamed herself to lilia, not sure what that was about, is lilia supposed to encompass both nils and magda? as for the epilogue, im glad at least grace survived, although not without a whole lot of trauma! i wonder if she's gonna be ok...
thats about it for my thoughts on bad faith! maybe a bit messy but it gets my feelings across properly enough, thank you so much for such a wonderful visual novel! already looking forward to the next one, whenever it may be ^^
Thank you so much - I’m very glad you enjoyed the full version of Bad Faith, in spite of all of its intensity! ^^ I hope you do enjoy my future work too - I’m very excited about that.
Also to answer your question - yes, Lilia does encompass the existence of both Nils and Magda - but mainly on Magda’s side of things. If Magda behaves in a way that Nils really disapproves of, then Nils will stop calling her “Lilia” and call her “Magda” again. At least, that was what I was thinking when I wrote the scene, haha…
ohh i see! thank you for answering! and don't worry about the intensity, its a good thing, it makes it so it has a lot of impact!
Though I haven't finished the entire game of the time of me posting this the 3 hours I have played was Fantastic. I love the characters & the dynamic as well as the just premise I guess. Regardless this fun & I can't wait to finish it.
Thank you so much for enjoying Bad Faith! Do let me know what you think when you do finish it. ^^
I will
OK I have finally finished it & GOD is there so much I wanna talk about.
1st the characters are just great even the ones I hate. I gotta say in stories it's easy to make a shit character that everyone hates but just like to make them so rotten while also being "innocent" as well in terms of how they act around others to is so good (as well as frustrating of course). Like my hate for cerise & Eva never left & tho I was looking for to the revenged it felt very uncomfortable which is just interesting to me
Which before I get into the ending I gotta say it's quite impressive how uncomfortable this entire game was like I enjoy it of course. But as the days rolled by my anxiety as well as uncomfortably just kept rising & rising.
Also speaking of the ending I was very scared that I was going to get blue ball in the sense that they would just leave the island & never come back but on no no revenge came. Also that last bit with Grace was both unexpected as it was just interesting to see. Don't know if that was for tying up loose ends story wise or setting up for a sequel but regardless I enjoyed it
& the visual too was great to look at. I know this isn't too important but still like I love it when VN choose a diff approach to it visual. From the painted background which could be a reference to the fact that Magda loves to paint to the drawn scene it just mashes surprising well. VN like this, "Hike Back", & "The Elevator Game With Girls" feel like they'll stick out more due to the choice of visual & I honestly I hope more ppl do explore this cause god was it great.
Regardless tho this was fun. I'm going to miss this game & whether or not you make a sequel to it this will definitely be a VN I remember. Sorry if my thoughts are all over the place I'm a mess when it comes to writing/typing.
But yea this was fun, thanks for making such a gem of a game & I hope more ppl play it. Bye bye & I look forward to what you make next :)
Thank you for your very thorough and kind thoughts on Bad Faith! I'm very happy it left such a big impact on you - and I look forward to making that next project too! ^u^
I just finished the game on steam, I just wanted to know that will it have more expansion about this game. Because I like this game very much and I want more, but it has come to an end. So, Will, you make more visual novels in the future? And will there be more stories about bad faith? I love this game very much!!! And I still want this story to resume!
Thank you so much for enjoying my game! I’m not planning a continuation of Bad Faith itself, but I do intend to make more visual novels after Bad Faith. ^^
Just finished the demo, despite not what I expected I'm very invested into the story and I look forward to getting the full version.
Thank you! I look forward to your thoughts on the full version. :>
The story and buildup is exceptional! the art is so beautiful and as it is intended you are in a constant state of paranoia unless you are in a dream, such a fantastic work! the ending it leaves you a sour taste but is actually the best way to end the game...
I still would love like a novel, or maybe comics or spin off of how the characters are doing in the future, good or bad
Thank you so much! I'm very glad you enjoyed reading Bad Faith!
I am planning on eventually making an artbook for the game, so maybe I'll briefly discuss the potential future of everyone at the end there... ^^;
I-I've just finished the demo and... what a frightening but attractive story. The words and phrases you picked are beautiful and metaphysical and the artworks are vivid but also feel dark.
I can't stop buying a full version today, to see how Magda's life goes on.
Thank you - I’m really glad you enjoyed the DEMO!
I hope you enjoy the full version too!
【CONTAINS SPOILER】
I've just finished the game and... it was so dreadful but also impressive.
It's amazed the plot keeps a rhythm of peace and violence from the beginning to the end;
An Alarming assembly follows the heart-warming time with Maria, Seeing the beautiful white wing on Lilia, and then watching their torture.
Lady Amaris's personality was not revealed as much as I expected, but I suppose you did it purposely.
I didn't expect the plot to turn out so--violent like this, so It was a quite shocking experience to read some parts for me, but it was enjoyable, as I have nothing against this kind of expression,
I like the style of your drawing as well as the plot. The CG in the scene where four people looking down Magda is the most bloodcurdling one.
Strangely, even gory pics seem to be attractive to me, especially the one of Cerise.
Thank you for creating the great game!
Thank you for playing my game! I'm very happy you got so much out of it! ;w;
Thank you!! ^^ I'm glad you like the game as much as you did.
I just finished the demo and I wanted to thank you for including the audio titles! It meant a lot to me and it makes Bad Faith much more immersive than most VNs out there. Off to play the rest of the VN!
I'm very happy the audio captions worked out! ^^
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the rest of the VN too. Thank you for playing it!
I really enjoyed it, the UI was especially impressive, I look forward to your future projects! On a separate note, I would recommend to change audio titles to audio captions. It is much more intuitive. Otherwise, great job with Bad Faith!
Thank you! I'm very glad you enjoyed the full game! ^^
And thanks for pointing that out - I'll probably add that change in a future update.
The design and composition of the scenes was amazing. Even though the story felt a little 'two note' at times, the game is easily worth the price for such amazing writing and interface. Using dialogue bubbles and motion during the cutscenes gives it such an immersive first person feel unlike any other visual novel I've played. You really get into Magda's head. Loved the ending a lot, it was exactly what I wanted.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed Bad Faith as much as you did.
Bad Faith was conceptualized as a self-contained short story - so I can definitely understand why it may come across as a little “two note” at times - but I’m very happy Magda’s writing and the game’s ending resonated with you. ^^
Totally! If there was any ever a chance of expanding the story, I'd want more of Magda's and [REDACTED]'s meetings and conversations to deepen their connection before the finale.
do you know when the steam release is coming? because im afraid to buy it here and lose the game if i delete it only from my pc..
I can't give an exact date yet - but it should be soon - I'm making a lot of progress with the Steam build!
I'll make a big announcement about it when the time comes. ^^
Oh my god so I just got this visual novel out of sheer curiosity and this was SOOOOO good. Also I never had a visual novel make me so mad in my life before this one, not even in a "I hate it" way but in a "Magda i need to get you the hell out of there" kind of way. Honestly the first two arcs were unbearable but seeing as this is a psychological horror story, you did such a good job!!! The pain and the fear that Magda felt for having to repress herself, her own thoughts which hold their own merit, and then having her trust constantly violated over and over to the breaking point, made me want to hop in that game and fight everyone on her behalf. However I really can't talk about how i feel without putting the spoiler warning.
SPOILER ZONE
The fact that Magda was so so strong for simply just being able to handle living in what is easily can be compared to hell after her first assembly only to be ratted out by her best friend and put on blast for doing nothing more than simply trying to use a positive coping mechanism that no one was Supposed to know about was such a raw scene, I had to click really fast to get through that scene because it was so painful to watch. Then the hell that Magda had to endure in that prison was torture but it was also so good. So the catharsis I felt when Cerise and Eve died made everything more satisfying and I'm not gonna lie, I'm completely on Nils's side here when they said that Grace and Maria deserved hell for what they did. Maria, knowing the truth about her, made me not even the slightest bit mad or sad about her death. While she didn't deserve to die like That or die in general, she did deserve punishment for what she did.
Now, in Grace's predicament? I felt more satisfied with her end than anyone else. Grace finally being able to understand how it felt to have everything ripped out from under you and no one will ever be able to feel the same way as you do and having to live with the deaths of everyone; all while not knowing that it was her hand that caused the death of Everyone she cared about (save Magda)? It didn't even help that she kept referring to her "best friend" as "that girl" and didn't even bother to even check up on her. Now she's going to have to deal with an isolation that Magda had to deal with, but on a worse scale and I would even say that was the best revenge served out of everyone.
Nils was by far such a powerhouse, the way you could tell they was up to no good the minute they noticed Magda in the lab. Honestly the whole time, I could feel their presence no matter what and I felt a little disappointed Magda never came to visit them, I wanted to save them no matter what pain he was going to cause. Honestly, I'm surprised they still ultimately wants to save humanity despite Everything, even despite the fact they're so mentally unstable now. Tbh, I can't even judge them for their actions, the angel was being harvested for Years; being unable to save anyone or do anything by the people they wanted to protect. I would have the done the same thing if it meant not dying. If anything I bet Magda's own memories gave them the push they needed to really just go ham on everyone.
And finally, Magda/ Lilia; I would die for you. I felt for her so hard; I wanted to tell her so much when their invasive thoughts and anxiety got so intense that it's ok to feel that! That it's ok to be so angry and hurt and be in love, as a society we need to abolish the belief that your thoughts make you when really it's your actions that speak for you. So seeing Lilia break down upon realizing she killed people and kill Maria was heart wrenching, because she's not a rage fueled monster, she was a sweet girl in so much pain and basically being forced to either die or become more violent than everyone who harmed her hurt. Homegirl needs some real friends and perhaps a new outfit. Also I just noticed how Magda is short for magdalene and BOY is that reference accurate to the biblical character.
TDLR; This was such a good visual novel I cannot recommend it enough! You had me going through the five stages of grief through out and the art is lovely!!!
Thank you so much for playing through Bad Faith! I'm very glad you enjoyed the story as much as you did.
I'm very glad Magda's arc resonated with you, especially with regards to her conflict about dying vs becoming more violent than her abusers by force. I also appreciate your commentary on how the arcs of other characters (namely Grace and Maria) finished too.
As a little extra note - Nils uses they/them pronouns! They aren't a man or a woman - they have their own gender. ^^
Omg, I'm so sorry I didn't eve notice I used he pronouns sometimes in the post for Nils, thank you for letting me know! I'll edit it as soon as possible! And so much of this story resonated with me, are you considering making an artbook pdf of the work you did for this game? I would love to buy it if you do, your artwork is amazing!
No worries! ^^ And I appreciate the gesture, thank you so much.
I am considering making an “Art/Development of Bad Faith” book in the future - I think it would be a nice way to cap off the game’s development! It would probably be after I finished working on the game’s Steam release, though…