I have no idea why it’s taken so long to make a game where you play as a priest fighting extra-dimensional horrors. It always seemed like a concept ripe for gamification for as far back as the original Exorcist. We’ve had some tabletop-style role-playing games that broached the subject matter but very few actual video games other than titles like the Hunter series actually explore badass priests fighting to save the innocent. Well, European developers Shotgun With Glitters have decided to theme a survival-horror experience around a lone priest crossing over into the unknown in order to put an end to the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired abominations, and the name of the game is called The Padre.

The design of the game is mirrored after voxel-style 3D titles like Minecraft or Cubeworld. However, it makes use of real-time dyanmic lighting and physically based light rendering so that the atmosphere casts real-time shadows and the characters and objects have proper light casting from physically present light sources. What this means is that the game has the sort of visual lighting aesthetic you would find in many newer AAA games but with a voxel art-style. The mixture is quite… intriguing.

You can see what the game is like with the Early Access launch trailer below.

To make the game even more interesting, The Padre utilizes fixed camera views and enemy encounters reminiscent of Infogrames original trilogy of Alone In The Dark games.

There’s more to it than just combat and eerie monsters looming around dark corners. Shotgun With Glitters also included a series of puzzle-solving mechanics, a feature that has always been a staple in most survival-horror games dating back to the early 1990s.

The Padre recently entered into Early Access on Steam for $14.99. During the first week of its availability you can pick up a copy for 33% off at $10.04. If you visit the Steam store page, however, you’ll note that it doesn’t appear to show that the game is in Early Access. According to an update post from the developers, it’s because there was a glitch in the system…

“Hey guys, something went wrong in Steam servers and the game today is not marked as Early Access but still it is. We have contacted the Steam Support Team, I hope the fix is coming soon.
So again: The Padre is in EARLY ACCESS”

Given that the page is glitched at the moment, according to the developers, and we don’t see the Early Access tag there’s no Early Access FAQ, which means I have no idea how long the game is supposed to be in Early Access or what exactly it’s missing. Still, if you want to check it out you can do so right now.