FAITH: The Unholy Trinity - Review - Xbox Series X/S

“What you are about to do has not been approved by the Vatican…”   That line sets the tone perfectly. FAITH is a horror game that shouldn’t work in 2026, a deliberately crude 8‑bit aesthetic, a single action button, and visuals that look like they were drawn by a possessed Etch‑A‑Sketch. And yet, on Xbox, it’s one of the most unnerving, stylish, and confidently executed horror experiences you can play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXVlWNobtF4

You play as a young priest returning to the site of a failed exorcism in 1986. The setup is simple, but the execution is razor‑sharp: FAITH weaponizes minimalism. Every screen feels like a crime scene you’re arriving too late to understand. Every sound effect like the synthetic chanting, the distorted speech, the shrieking rotoscoped animations, hits like a jump scare even when nothing is happening.

The gameplay in FAITH: The Unholy Trinity is built around a deliberately stripped‑back control scheme that turns simplicity into tension. You move Father John Ward across single‑screen environments including forests, basements, cult hideouts, suburban homes with each one feeling like a quiet trap waiting to spring. The game’s retro, four‑directional movement isn’t just an aesthetic choice; it forces you to commit to every step. There’s no analogue finesse, no modern smoothing, just rigid, old‑school navigation that makes every chase sequence feel like a panic attack in slow motion.

Your crucifix is the heart of the gameplay. It’s your only tool, your only defence, and your only way to interact with the world. Holding it up repels demons, reveals hidden symbols, cleanses cursed objects, and triggers exorcism sequences. Because the crucifix is defensive rather than offensive, encounters feel like desperate standoffs rather than battles. You’re not overpowering evil, you’re barely holding it back. The tension comes from positioning yourself correctly, reading enemy patterns, and keeping your nerve when something sprints at you from off‑screen.

Exploration is deceptively rich. Each chapter is filled with secrets, optional encounters, and hidden lore that the game never points you toward. You’re encouraged to wander, to test the crucifix on suspicious objects, to revisit screens, and to pay attention to environmental details. This creates a rhythm where quiet, empty screens lull you into a false sense of safety before the game snaps back with a sudden rotoscoped scare or a fast, lethal enemy.

Major exorcisms and boss encounters play out like frantic micro‑puzzles. You must hold the crucifix on the target while dodging projectiles, avoiding sudden charges, and reacting to shifting patterns. These sequences are short but intense, often ending in a single mistake. The game’s minimalism means there’s no clutter, just you, the demon, and the awful knowledge that you’re one misstep away from a screaming rotoscoped death animation. Each chapter escalates this formula, introducing new enemy types, more complex environments, and faster, more aggressive encounters.

The Xbox version preserves the original PC trilogy intact, and the controller support feels surprisingly natural. Holding up your crucifix to repel demons or cleanse cursed objects becomes a kind of ritualistic rhythm. It’s clunky in a purposeful way as you’re not a superhero priest, you’re a terrified man with a cross and a prayer.

The Unholy Trinity bundles all three chapters, and each one escalates the madness:

• Chapter 1 is intimate, rural, and deeply unsettling — a slow burn with sudden, violent spikes of terror.

• Chapter 2 expands the world into cult compounds, abandoned churches, and forests that feel alive in the worst way.

• Chapter 3 goes full apocalyptic fever dream, tying the narrative threads together with a confidence that most indie horror games never reach.

The rotoscoped cutscenes remain the star of the show. They’re brief, shocking, and feel like cursed VHS clips you shouldn’t be watching alone at 2AM.

FAITH is optimised for Xbox Series X|S, but don’t expect technical fireworks, expect intentional jank. The 4K output simply makes the pixel art sharper, the animations more grotesque, and the text crawl more ominous. Load times are instant, controls are responsive, and achievements are well‑paced for completionists.

This is a game where the atmosphere does the heavy lifting, and the Xbox port preserves that atmosphere perfectly.

FAITH doesn’t spoon‑feed lore. It doesn’t explain every symbol, every demon, every cultist. It trusts you to piece things together, and that ambiguity is what makes it linger. It’s horror that crawls under your skin rather than jumps out from behind a door. If you grew up during the era of “Satanic Panic” media, or you just love horror that feels wrong in a delicious way, FAITH is a must‑play.

Pros

• Terrifying atmosphere built from minimalistic 8‑bit visuals

• Rotoscoped cutscenes that are genuinely disturbing

• Strong narrative payoff across all three chapters

• Excellent sound design — the chanting alone is nightmare fuel

• Xbox controls feel natural and responsive

• Achievements encourage full exploration

Cons

• The aesthetic may be too retro for some players

• Occasional difficulty spikes can feel abrupt

• Storytelling is intentionally cryptic — not everyone will vibe with that

• Shorter than modern horror titles (but tightly paced)

FAITH: The Unholy Trinity leaves a mark that’s far bigger than its tiny pixel footprint, delivering a horror experience that feels raw, intimate, and genuinely unsettling in a way modern games rarely attempt. Its minimalist controls and retro presentation aren’t gimmicks, they’re the backbone of a design philosophy that strips away comfort until every encounter feels like a test of nerve. Across its three chapters, the game builds a world of cults, demons, and fractured faith that lingers long after the credits, and the Xbox version preserves that atmosphere with sharp performance and responsive controls. It’s a rare horror game that trusts you to meet it on its own terms, and if you’re willing to lean into its strange, haunted energy, you’ll find one of the most memorable exorcism stories in indie horror.

XPN Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (GOLD)

FAITH: The Unholy Trinity is available now!