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"It's a sobering thought, isn't it? To be able to look out your window and see the end of the world."

The world is on the verge of being consumed by the Fog, an ever-growing mist that corrupts and destroys all life within it. Unable to reach the source, humanity has no way to stop the Fog's growth. The destruction of the world is inevitable; humanity is at the end of its time.

In Asala, one of the few remaining settlements outside the Fog, two friends are on the verge of completing their training to become knights sworn to help weather the coming disaster: the cynical Aeyr Wilder and the kindhearted Mia Alacruz. However, catastrophic events soon destroy the very foundations of their lives, and they are forced to make the choice between their precious friendship and following the path they each believe is right. Their faith in their beliefs, and in each other, will be pushed to the limit as they decide what to save and what to sacrifice as the world collapses around them.

"There is no stopping the coming apocalypse. The only question remaining is: can humanity endure it?"


Prayer of the Faithless integrates elements of classic survival-horror games into its turn-based battle system. There are no readily accessible healing abilities, so your survival depends on managing a limited supply of restorative items you find or purchase. In addition, your equipped weapons and armor will drastically affect your performance by raising some stats, penalizing others, and changing your available abilities.

To reward a playstyle of controlled aggression rather than raw power and high levels, the battle system in Prayer of the Faithless turns a number of RPG conventions on their heads: You have three actions per turn, and you can spend them however you wish during battle. Plus, allies and enemies cannot guard, but must maintain their Stamina pools to block incoming damage. You must damage the enemy's Stamina to be able to hurt them, but be careful: overusing powerful abilities will leave allies wide open to attack!

Each ally's personality traits affect their combat prowess and abilities. As the story goes on and the stakes are raised, these traits will develop (and degrade!) along with the character's mental state. You will get to truly understand how each character thinks and feels through conversations and battle performance, and see how the state of the world affects their morale and beliefs.

Latest Blog

Permanent Price Cut!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of Prayer of the Faithless' launch. Thank you so much for all the support you've given the game over the past 8 years of development and post launch! The reviews and playthroughs of the game were heartwarming to see, and knowing that the story resonated with some people and got them thinking is more than I could have asked for as a developer.

While I plan to write up a more longform postmortem or self-analysis of the game and its development cycle, I'd like to express my gratitude in a more tangible form right now. So I'm announcing that Prayer of the Faithless has had a permanent price cut from $9.99 to $4.99. If you haven't played the game yet, this the perfect time to do so.

Once again, thank you so much for all the support the game has gotten over the years!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1878350/Prayer_of_the_Faithless/
https://vermillionnova.itch.io/prayer-of-the-faithless

Posts

unity
You're magical to me.
12540
IT'S HERE :DDDDDDD INSTA-SUBBED!
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
author=unity

IT'S HERE :DDDDDDD INSTA-SUBBED!


Pretty much this, yeah.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
Exactly ^_^

Also, congrats on getting in the New and Notable section, Red ^_____^
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Thanks so much, unity and Marrend! I'm so excited the page is up and ready to go!
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Hey urano! Haven't seen you around lately. Glad to see you still hanging around! And that reaction is awesome!
NeverSilent
Got any Dexreth amulets?
6280
Interesting. I'll be looking forward to seeing what this turns out like. I think I shall follow this game more closely by means of subscribing.

Any chance you'd be interested in having a tester?
author=Red_Nova
Hey urano! Haven't seen you around lately. Glad to see you still hanging around! And that reaction is awesome!

Yeah I haven't been doing much here lately. University is slowly reducing my lifespan. But I can occasionally check out if there's any news. It was quite a pleasant surprise to find this.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=NeverSilent
Any chance you'd be interested in having a tester?


Absolutely. I'll probably put out a call for testers once I get the prologue done. Speaking of which...

author=urano23
Yeah I haven't been doing much here lately. University is slowly reducing my lifespan. But I can occasionally check out if there's any news. It was quite a pleasant surprise to find this.


Yeah, I know how you feel. School takes a lot out of a person.
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
Red, in your description did you mean to write viscous or vicious? Because the Miasma is kind of gooey so viscous could work.

e: Also, yay, looking forward to this.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
That is a royal derp. Vicious was the right word. Thanks for pointing that out! And I'm glad you're looking forward to it!
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
Woot. More Red Nova, more Soul Sunder universe expansion... this Soul is pleased...

Edit: Also, forgot to mention, but this game seems a lot darker and more sinister than the last. Very interesting turn of events.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
True. But where the hero who's supposed to save the world doesn't show up, there's not many ways you can go other than down.

That's not to say the entire game is all gloom and doom, though! I probably should have put some screenshots of the more lighthearted moments up as well. Expect plenty of party banter and other less depressing moments.

By the way, how's the CSS treating you? Does it look okay?
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
CSS is fine by me.

Oh, by the way, this game is currently #1 on the What's Buzzing list :DDDD
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
author=Red_Nova
That is a royal derp. Vicious was the right word. Thanks for pointing that out! And I'm glad you're looking forward to it!


You know me and English, we're a bonded pair, but if you're going to derp, you may as well do it royally xD.

this looks so coooooooooooool <3 subbed <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Thanks so much!
shayoko
We do not condone harassing other members by PM.
515
Ver 0.1.1
Random thoughts

i love the audio/song that plays at the start L3

love the artwork!

personally i really REALLY hate the concept of a child is responsible for his parents actions :/

i...really liked how Aeyr is introduced tho. and how e casually explains in a believable way
what your doing and why XD

plot feels flawed already. Aeyr says when he examines the top right statue by the locked door in the nightmare world. says he has no idea what he needs and has never found it.
this is wrong for many reasons.
1.he has admitted to being here a few times. so that means he left. but how? only finding the book?
so why cant we leave?

2.in the main room theres a statue on each side. on the right is the same statue holding a sword.
so it...should be obvious that he needs a sword. theres no way he would not of seen it.especially
having been here many times so him not knowing makes no sense.

3.he doesn't seem to understand why he is here tho there is enough information presented to guess.
is he supposed to be a stupid character?

-
the buff unbroken is interesting :3

items screen is nice seprate categories
equip screen is nice :3 (reminds me of every time you buy something and it only shows the att/def stats)

not fond of the saving.the delay is annoying (and it doesn't heal you to make it feel worth it which is
fine)

racism...guh...i guess the story wont be destroy the crappy humans to fix the world? id like that a lot :3

dam...i am gonna shed some tears if mia dies :(

:( this game is just endlessly depressing :( if your going to kill characters
have good reasons for it. i hate royalty and people are forced to fight in a tournament where they have a high chance if dying to protect that scum? you mys well aim for the kings life...makes no sense...
if your gonna die better the world at least!
its astounding how evil humans are at least your character despite being labeled evil actually cares about people >.>

i am glad save was removed from the menu since its not used

i suggest adding a tutorial that mentions switching characters.
personally i was wondering why Amalie wasn't attacking and only controlled her after i died.
i didn't realize i would switch to her. as this setup isn't common


that forest was close to getting a little tedious in length!
mia must of had a rough time alone getting thru it!

:3 mia!!! i could just image a more detailed version of the scene where you meet her in her home town
as she runs up to you and frantically looks around. like is this real!? :D
poor mia :3 lil does she know this is a game :3

the town ideas outside of the royal palace existing reminds me of soul sunder :3 kiyomas keeping miasma monsters away :3

:3 don't piss Amalie off! she literally has you by the

i don't understand why they care about a infused did i miss the point where it was explained
why they are so "dangerous" they...you know...most people in this don't have common
sense anyway :3...
but what about people in the village touching the terra luminite? they...
probably aren't going anywhere near it because...monsters...
^gj mia you caught the second one! :D

i like how you didn't make players waste time on going into every random house :3

Aeyr is such a amazing person. in a world with human scum this guy still has amazing values. its unreal!

...the monsters really need to change.your fighting the same ones you fought in the forest
at your home town when its invaded. not only is that disappointing its boring.


Aeyr! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :O dam that immortal bastard!

:O and thus...you have awakened...as the real king...the demon king :3

i am...really upset with this plot...i am so disappointed in Amalia for betraying you...
yeah i get it she is friends with the commandant but even still...
you just saved her and 5+ civilians and your mind is still your own apparently...
now i just hate her...i hope she gets what she deserves for this :/
she can only atone with her life :/ it wouldn't feel right for her to live at the end
i would really like a choice if possible where she does die :)


General 2H 42M+
For the plot of this game i mostly disliked it because...its negative...too negative.
i don't mind depressing stuff well used but...when its like this i just cant care...humanity follows a stupid leader idiots just mindless accept this leader which leads to all kinds of unreasonable problems most people in this world seem morally broken (yes even the towns folk that hide it from you)
i have some hope for the direction of the plot but i rarely get the kind of end i want :(

the battles aren't my thing but i would say they are better then the standard battle as there was some thought put into it.
however the diversity of monsters/enemies in different areas is disappointing.

:3...at this point i could not think of more to say
:O how could i forget the great artwork!? indeed it adds a lot to the game! i love it :3


Overall
I did not enjoy this because of personal taste however it my become more enjoyable later in the game.
i would recommend this for people that like stories with dark themes.
but also enjoy turn based battles.
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
Just finished playing this prologue. My save file is 1:48:58. Here are my thoughts. I'll try to keep it spoiler-free, but I'll put in hide tags so that it doesn't take up too much space.

INTRO
It feels good to return to the world of Soul Sunder. But things are quite different - this is a darker tinge of what we're used to. Whilst seeming a tad slow paced and plodding to begin with, due to the large amounts of exposition that needed to take place, it warms up in the second half with the brilliant characterization, and culminates on an exciting finale.

I'm just gonna go through each aspect of the game. I'm not sure who in particular I am addressing this to, but I'd like to guess 60% Red Nova, and 40% everyone else.

STORY
What else should I expect from a Red Nova game but a solid storyline? The story did not disappoint. The characters are more engaging than ever. The game does take a while to start, but it kicks off after the initial exposition phase, and we start getting into the real feelings of the characters. This happens when we enter the forest.

Commandant Vanessa is blond with blue armour and she believes "it would be nice to believe in the potential of people again". She's like, the classic good guy that you're not supposed to like because they're cowardly. Then you've got redhead Paladin Amalie, my fave character in the game. She's so lovely... red hair, brown skin, elfish ears. She is a Manna, and she believes in the idea that "people can change".

Aeyr has grey hair, historically seen as the Problem Recruit. He's got a bunch of backstory I don't want to reveal to the general reader, but I think he's generally badass. Possible spoiler alert: here is evidence that he is awesome.

Mia is, as others have stated I'm pretty sure, in my opinion the weakest character. I don't see her motivation other than to be the love interest. To be honest, I would have much rather preferred Amalie as the love interest. Mia is just too cutesy and lovey dovey and like a little girl... I'm not into that anymore, I'm not 16 anymore :P I like my women strong. Not that she's not physically strong, I just like headstrong women like Amalie. It might be a personal preference, but I feel she's got a deeper set of motivations, also.

As for the plot itself, it is a slow burn but it ends up incredibly engaging and finishes with a soaring cliffhanger. Aeyr starts off in a very scary dream, wakes up, and has to go to the Proving, where something rather sad and coincidental happens, causing a series of events which places him in an unfortunate position of being hated. Not that he ever wasn't in the first place.

Despite the exposition taking a while to actually get warmed up, all of it is very well implied rather than explicitly told. It's typical Red Nova "show don't tell" narrative brilliance. It ain't heavy-handed. It just takes a while to warm up, that's all.

Red Nova's trademark cynicism shines through again. There's a line where Paladin Amalie states to Aeyr that she protected him because she believes that the innocent should be protected without reason... something Aeyr couldn't believe. Red Nova simply can't give his characters entirely pure motivations. They have to come from a place of human vulnerability and need for personal gain. That's what makes them identifiable.

There is a fair share of humour, too, especially from the forest onwards. It's well done and lightens the mood a little bit, to make those player punches hit harder later on... and there are player punches. Ouch.

Slight spoilers ahead maybe? There is an extreme player punch near the end. I know an earlier reviewer complained that this story was too negative but... well... tragedies are negative and I can't say I can call that good criticism with a straight face. I have the same pet peeve against people who hate "unlikable" characters, just because they do immoral things or behave in a way that isn't morally upright. I'm like, get ova it, sons. To be "too negative" is a subtractive idea. There's far more depressing stories than this. If anything, the negativity is weighed evenly with the positivity to make a cool cocktail of interestingness...

DEFINITE SPOILER ALERT, SKIP THIS SENTENCE IF YOU WANT TO STAY UNSPOILED... but I must say that the mysterious figure near the end intrigues me greatly. Know that the audience is probably hanging onto whether he's good or not. I think it was implied that he was evil, because of what happened to the main character near the end, but it was unclear... clarifying that later is going to be a real treat for the player to experience.

I liked that Aeyr didn't feel the need to confess anything to the priest, ever. :)

My favourite moment was the shock reveal at the end of the journey in the way back to the castle, at the exit of the forest. This mouth was agape.

All in all, the plot is really good and engaging and I love the characters. I'm not sure I felt the same about Soul Sunder so early in the game, so this might even surpass that in excellence. I hope so!

hehehe i'm pretty sure we know what happened here ;)

GRAPHICS
Mapping was quite great. The portraits sometimes seem wonky but they're generally very distinct to the style. I liked that there were a lot of full portraits with many emotes. At first I thought the Hellspawn looked silly, but then later on it looked menacing... probably because the way you introduced it was menacing, though.

My favourite map was the dream version of the castle, and how everything was beautifully fragmented. Loved finally visiting the actual castle and going "OH. SO THIS WAS THE PLACE WE DREAMED ABOUT". It was a cool moment.

AUDIO
I figured I'd lump in here that for someone who I recall once professing that he was tone deaf and didn't know how to pick songs (forgive me if this wasn't you, i'm just recalling!). But the songs you have picked seem perfect, and they're epic and well-suited to each scene.

PRESENTATION
A few presentation touches I wanted to mention. Statues give tips. This is kind of a trope in RPGs, but in your games especially I've found that you get people and signs in-game to tell the rules. It's a nice implicit way of setting the rules, and you usually disguise it so that it feels like these could be actual items that would be found in-game, instead of a sign just saying "PRESS X TO JUMP" or something. I find that clever.

You generally make unimportant elements uninteractable, such as average houses and other things that don't deserve to be explored. I liked this decision.

Just looting people's houses is lols because it's so easy... not even any examination animation or nothing. The unobtrusiveness of the item pickup HUD lends nicely to the flow of map movement.

GAMEPLAY
It is surprisingly solid, even more so than Soul Sunder's sophisticated battle system. Prayer of the Faithless' mechanics are even more well planned and thought out. It feels like a much leaner, stronger beast. The addition of the maximum 3 moves per turn limit forces the player to use strategy. Elemental weaknesses and strengths, character stances and the guard/SP balance are utilized phenomenally.

You're launched right into the fray, and in battle, you have a choice of Attack, Drive, Focus and Items. Focus regains SP. Jumping isn't communicated to you, but it's implied. Jumping is intuitive, if only feeling a little unnecessary and gimmicky. Another user mentioned a slight delay after each save, which I thought was a nitpick, but later on I found it noticeable and a little annoying.

It takes a little while for the game to warm up, both story-wise and gameplay-wise. There's a lot of exposition of story and gameplay mechanics which needs to happen within the first 30mins-1hr, but after that it picks up considerably. Once you hit the forest, there's fantastic gameplay choices from the get go. But up until then things are fairly linear and could get quite boring for the initial player. At least the story is interesting enough to hold your attention.

The choice of which party member to attack with, and the obvious reactions to the decisions you make that relay to you what kind of effect your actions have on the enemy, allow for a massive amount of strategy. Like Soul Sunder, the heavy inclusion of SP into the battle equation that goes beyond a mere "currency for skills" is essential. It's even pushed as more important in this game than Soul Sunder, accounting for the armour of each person in this game, too.

It also pays to watch how much SP the enemy has, and the "scan" skill (which is not used, but is implicit whenever you target an enemy) will give you tons of information on how to target an enemy before you do it.

One issue I found was that it was almost too easy to escape. It felt like I could cheat my way out of any battle. I also wasn't sure whether the right strategy was to dodge battles like in Soul Sunder or to face them all head on... I figure you can grind later on? I'm not sure.

I love that there's lots of little items hidden in rocks and such, and that the pickup HUD is really unobtrusive. I liked using repeat Sheath/Unsheath from Mia's POV to slay large numbers of enemies, which actually got overpowered after a while, especially with very many enemies involved. There were instances where I was facing 4 bees, and all I'd have to use was Mara's Sheath/Unsheath to kill them all. I think this was on the way up the mountain.

Things like Miasma Charge and Amalie's cancelling "Piercing Light" skill add more strategy to battles. They all add layers. It's fantastic. What I love about this game is that strategy plays a huge part.

DEV NOTES
These I will PM to you, just so I don't clog this up.


Overall, it's a fascinating and exciting new entry to the series. Gameplay is improved overall, the story is new yet exciting, and the characters are engaging. I thoroughly recommend Prayer of the Faithless even if you haven't played Soul Sunder, because it isn't required to have played that in order to enjoy this game. But knowing that they took place in the same universe lets you fill in certain gaps in the story. I loved the gameplay in this game. Very well-balanced. I have nothing massive to complain about in this game. It's an exciting new journey in a world I am a great fan of.

I am thoroughly anticipating the next release of this demo.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Holy crap Cash thanks so much for the praise!

Aeyr has grey hair


... Damn. The idea was that Aeyr has black hair. But that's hard to do with the shading style, as if I go too much darker the hair just loses shading. Hm...

thoughts on Mia


That seems to be everyone's general consensus, which is not wrong, mind you. Not to worry, she'll earn that MC title once her story kicks off, though I'm wondering what else to add to make her more three dimensional before prologue's end. It's not like she spends much time with the party, anyway.

Red Nova's trademark cynicism shines through again.


Oh jeez. Well, everyone needs their own twist, huh?

One issue I found was that it was almost too easy to escape.


Ease of escape was actually intentional. Escape probability was one of the first in the bodycount of sacrifices in my quest to reduce the reliance of RNG. I felt that players should be able to run if things turn south considering how quickly a character can bite it if all allies are dead. Plus, considering the lack of healing spells, wasting precious healing items felt like enough punishment for failing to beat an enemy.

I also wasn't sure whether the right strategy was to dodge battles like in Soul Sunder or to face them all head on... I figure you can grind later on? I'm not sure.


While you CAN grind, leveling up increases everyone's base stats, except for HP, by 1. I feel like that's enough to discourage dodging enemies, but not quite enough to justify grinding. I can say though, that it's possible to beat every single enemy in a map as you go along.


It starts off boring and gets better


Dammit I've been trying to fix that! That was such a problem in Soul Sunder that I wanted to try to engage the player from the beginning. It's nice to see it got better as it went along, though!

Dev notes


Thanks for those! They were incredibly helpful! And thanks again so much for playing!