December 9, 2022 - Reading time: 2 minutes - Category: reviews
The Procession to Calvary is Joe Richardson's follow-up to the excellent Four Last Things. Richardson retains the same art style and music that made the first game so unique: public domain paintings - subtly animated - and fittingly classical music gives this series a wholly unique style.
The plot is simple. You play as a woman on a quest from the Immortal John to kill Heavenly Peter. Along the way you'll meet several characters and complete quests for them, from saving a "street magician" to winning a talent contest. Puzzles can be a little obscure, I wasn't always sure what to do and had to look up a good at some points. The player character moves very slowly, even with the "run" option turned on, and there's a lot of backtracking involved.
Despite this, I enjoyed the game. Robinson has a good sense of humor; he breaks the fourth wall at certain points and has no problem poking fun at himself. As a fan of the time period a lot of the art of is drawn from, the visuals carried the game through some of the more frustrating puzzles for me. Runtime is very short - expect to spend anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 and a half hours, maybe a little more if you decide to play again to get all the endings. I wasn't motivated enough to do so, but the Steam achievements indicate there are 3 endings.
In summary, The Procession to Calvary is a nice follow-up to Four Last Things, but doesn't reach that game's highs. Take a look at the Steam store page - if you like the art and music and enjoy point and clicks, you'll enjoy this game.$10 is maybe a bit steep, but the game often goes on sale for $4 or less, at which price it's a solid buy.
Score: 7.5/10