The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia

For as much as I like those old school light gun games, I was always more of a fan of Typing of the Dead. I've never been a great marksman, but even back then I was a speedy typist who didn't make a ton of mistakes. Part of me hoped that other companies would take Sega's lead and create their own typing action games, but we haven't seen a whole lot of that in the past two decades. That is, until now, thanks to The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia. This is a challenging new game that combines the fun of typing out words with the excitement of a bullet hell shoot 'em up. And while that may sound like a crazy combination, I'm here to tell you that it works.

As the title suggests, this is the story of Ray Bibbia, a former priest who hung up the cloth in order to become a freelance exorcist. After rescuing a young woman who was formerly possessed, he inadvertently stumbles into an unholy conspiracy that ends up being more personal than he could ever have imagined. His mission to get to the bottom of the mystery and defeat the evil demons takes him around the world and up against ten incredibly tough bosses that will put his typing and dodging to the test.

At its core, The Textorcist is an overhead shoot 'em up similar to Ikaruga and Axelay. The big difference here is that instead of shooting bullets at your enemies, you're typing out words and sentences. The idea is to correctly type a complete passage, which will slowly build up power that you can unleash to injure the boss. If you accidentally mistype a letter, you'll not only lose your score multiplier, but also lose some of your progress. The challenge comes in when you're trying to dodge the dozens of bullets that litter the screen while simultaneously looking for an opening to type out the passages.

The good news is that you're invincible as long as you're holding the Bible. But watch out, because that holy book will go flying whenever you get hit by a demonic bullet, leaving Ray Bibbia open to taking damage. What makes this tricky is that you run around using the keyboard's arrow keys, which means that you're going to have to take one of your hands off the home row just to move. Maybe it's because I'm used to the WASD keys, but I've never been a big fan of using the arrows to move around, and the constant back and forth only helps to reinforce that opinion. It takes some getting used to, but even after a few hours of yelling Latin at demon-possessed bosses, I found that most of my spelling errors came from moving my right hand between the buttons and the arrows.

Speaking of which, you'll spend most of your time typing in both English and Latin. And that's not all, as there's an especially tough boss that has you typing randomly placed letters. It probably goes without saying, but you need to already be a fairly proficient typist to find the fun in The Textorcist. This is not a great teaching tool, and the incredibly tough boss fights are not for a casual audience. Forget the typing for a moment, this is a bullet hell shooter, and all the pros and cons that come with that genre still apply here. I liked a lot of what this game did and largely enjoyed the challenge, but this is a game in desperate need of an easy or beginner mode.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

What I really like about this game is how different each boss feels. It goes beyond simply having different bullet patterns, because each boss has their own unique attack that shakes up the gameplay quite a bit. For example, an early enemy will vomit pea soup all over your book, making it hard to read what you need to type. There's also a nasty nun who will flip your words upside down. And don't forget about the guy in front of the erupting volcano, because his fire will erase the letters you've correctly typed. There's something unique about each bad guy, and that helps to make each one feel different. That's a good thing, because much like Shadow of the Colossus, this game is entirely about facing these ten bosses.

Between these battles, Ray will need to investigate and follow leads. This involves talking to survivors, digging through your old books and even using a computer to search the web for useful information. The puzzle solving elements may be light, but they're a welcome diversion from the bullet dodging. As is the story, which does a great job of tying all these bosses together. The truth is, I like these bits so much that I would have preferred to see more of them. I liked the bit where you have to search the church for clues, but not enough levels have you solving puzzles. You mostly just show up at a location, get into a conversation and then fight. It's a fun formula, but I definitely needed more downtime after some of those intense bosses.

One thing I won't complain about is the presentation. I love the pixel graphics and the catchy chiptunes soundtrack. Each location is as different as the boss that inhabits it, usually with some fancy effect to go with the battle. There's a lot of great humor here, both in the visual designs and the writing. It's the kind of game you instantly want to love, which makes some of its shortcomings a little more disappointing.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

The thing that gives me a lot of hope is that most of my complaints seem like the kind of issues that can easily be addressed with patches. For example, adding a way to move around with the WASD keys would go a long way. So would giving less skilled typists an easier difficulty. And don't even get me started on all the times my Bible would get knocked completely off screen or under a boss. These are the problems that will surely be addressed in the coming weeks and months, and that gives me a lot of hope that The Textorcist will be able to shake its demons and live up to its killer concept.

As somebody who has been begging developers to create more games build around typing, I'm excited to report that The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia mostly delivers. I love the variety of bosses, the throwback graphics, the chiptunes soundtrack, the funny writing and the twisted story. And more than anything else, I really dig this concept. Unfortunately, the action is marred by a few technical problems and the awkwardness that comes with constantly moving your hand from the home row to the arrows. It's also in desperate need of a more forgiving difficulty for those who are not as quick on the keyboard. Despite a few setbacks, The Textorcist is a fun game that is worth possessing.