A beautifully executed short horror experience.
Though I will talk about the themes of the story in this review, I'll do my best not to discuss much of the content of the story, as Divine Favour is one of those things best experienced going into with as little knowledge about the content as possible.
The most interesting and terrifying horror stories are those in which there is no malicious force or bloodthirsty monster - nothing we can blame, or assign immorality to for the horrifying situation we're presented with. The story of Divine Favour hinges on the idea that morality is an inherently human concept, and for this reason, the game successfully avoids rooting its horror in a malevolent force. Instead, it lies in the nature of a fundamentally amoral universe. It is a glimpse into a universe that exists with no regard for human sensibilities. I might describe it as falling into the category of 'cosmic horror' that seems to have become the subject of many people's fascination lately.
The only time morality is invoked in the story is with respect to human desires, and even then it is invoked in a way that contradicts the way we typically perceive it - a noble cause, where those who engage in it are esteemed, respected, elevated to an honourable character. Yet the setting of the game is one entirely outside of this realm; in life we are surrounded by nothing but human experience and constructs - an entirely man made world which only considers the independent universe in terms of its place in the human experience. In death, Divine Favour takes us out of this realm of existence, out of our comfortable human bubble, and into a world which slowly unravels our perception of it through an anthropocentric lens.
The way the story challenges these ideas is done so effectively by {minor spoilers) [spoiler]facing us with a world which is dominated by beings which we generally consider to be of the lowest moral worth. We're made to give consideration to beings we so often view as morally insignificant and disposable, because death works in reverse to what we know; we are at their mercy. Our lifeless bodies feed them and nourish them - both in the context of the story and in reality.[/spoiler]
For the beginning section of the story, we are shown nothing but black - everything is up to our own imagination. We're forced to mediate the world presented to us through our mind's eye, as the only information we are given is through an equally ignorant protagonist. However, there is a double layer of meaning here, as we are not only thinking about the setting presented to us through his lens of thought, but simultaneously through our own limited assumptions of what is happening beyond the black screen. Leon is simply a medium through which our own way of thinking is expressed.
As the story progresses, the darkness is lifted and we are offered glimpses into what the world we've been placed in might actually be like beyond our imagination. What is so expertly executed from a narrative standpoint, is how the more visual cues we are given, the more our perception of the situation is deconstructed, the more foreign we realise the world of the story is, and the more we are taken out of the comfort of our presumptions. Everyone has a concept of what Heaven is, whether or not you believe in it, and there is a common, overlapping idea anchored to the concept. Divine Favour forces us to contend with the reality that this idea has been constructed by people based on human desires and understanding, and that we have no knowledge, no clues, to what actually lies beyond the world of our own making.
All this is presented through a short, but astonishingly well executed narrative. The sound effects used throughout the narrative perfectly supplement the story and evoke emotions in the reader, and the subtle white noise that plays throughout the game creates a perfectly existential atmosphere.
Visuals are used sparingly, but this makes them all the more effective and impactful. The art is beautifully visceral and drawn in meticulous detail. This is a story which could have very easily been effective without any visuals at all, but the art that is in it only elevates the experience and creates an even deeper air of unsettlement.
Yes, the narrative is very short, but this is not a drawback, in my opinion. The story isn't meant to be long and extravagant, and it does what it intends to perfectly at the length it is.
Divine Favour is quite a niche genre of visual novel, but for those who can appreciate what it does, it is a gorgeously atmospheric existential experience.
