Belief

This is a short game about limbo and the afterlife. The protagonist's backstory is vague. All we know is that they died from falling from a great height and now wake up in a reception room that represents limbo. There is brochure on the desk with three coupons for Paradise, Purgatory, and one for a place called Joseph and the Technicolor Discount Afterlife. The Paradise and Purgatory ones are expired, leaving you with the Discount Afterlife coupon. It may be a discount afterlife but at least it is not limbo.

Gameplay
The gameplay consists of discovering how to leave the reception room using items found in your surroundings. The content is minimal and sparse but is consistently implemented. There were no noticeable bugs, and its few puzzles are straightforward. This game took about 15 minutes to play. Initially I thought it was (Spoiler - click to show) a one-room game but technically it takes place in two, though most of the gameplay takes place in the reception room.

Story
The story is brief without much information on the protagonist’s death or the how the afterlife is structured. Once you (Spoiler - click to show) find the hidden bell you can travel to a dock shrouded by black mist. I expected the game to last a few more scenes but it ends once you board the ferry. The ending does leave the player with a stroke of optimism since your journey has finally begun.

The game has the familiar concept of a protagonist thrown into the realm of the afterlife who must find a way to reach their ideal destination. There are also elements that remind me of other games about death and the afterlife. The brochure on a desk reminded me of a few small scenes in All Hope Abandon (spoiler for that game) such as (Spoiler - click to show) the brochure on the pros and cons of Oblivion, and the coupons remind me of the humor in Perdition's Flames. Belief is by far the shortest but still manages to set itself apart from the other games because of its own interpretation of an afterlife, or at least one on discount. It is (Spoiler - click to show) too bad that the game ends so soon. I really was looking forward to experiencing the Technicolor Discount Afterlife…

Final thoughts
It may not be a particularly complex game, but it is a solid work. I noticed that it is an IntroComp game which probably factors into its length. I would love to see an expanded version built on some of these ideas. I like how it draws upon classic imagery, such as (Spoiler - click to show) a figure waiting to boat you across the water to the next stretch of afterlife, and yet has a unique approach with the steps needed to reach that point. This would be a reasonable lunch-break length game if you are in the mood for a game that lightly touches on themes about the afterlife.