Really good game on religious trauma & (queer/neurodivergent) social isolation. Also a banger technic-wise, I'm constantly in awe at the camera movements and textbox works and all. Good stuff!!
thank you so much!! i'm very very glad you enjoyed it. ^u^
if you like the camera movements and textbox stuff, you'll definitely like the violence series too (malviolence and especially protoviolence.) they have even stronger scene direction!
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
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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
.
.
.
.
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...
← Return to visual novel
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Really good game on religious trauma & (queer/neurodivergent) social isolation. Also a banger technic-wise, I'm constantly in awe at the camera movements and textbox works and all. Good stuff!!
thank you so much!! i'm very very glad you enjoyed it. ^u^
if you like the camera movements and textbox stuff, you'll definitely like the violence series too (malviolence and especially protoviolence.) they have even stronger scene direction!
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
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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
.
.
.
.
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...