Holy Town Preview

Holy Town is, as far as we’re aware, the first game on Facebook to put such a heavy emphasis on religion. It’s a game about building a church and attracting a congregation. It’s also a game where you preach to earn money, which is kind of strange. Holy Town is still in an early state, though it’s currently in an open beta, and it shows. Not only does the game suffer from technical problems, like long initial load times, but there’s also very little to do in the game aside from hustling up money by preaching the good word.

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Holy Town is far from heavenly

Holy Town is, as far as we’re aware, the first game on Facebook to put such a heavy emphasis on religion. It’s a game about building a church and attracting a congregation. It’s also a game where you preach to earn money, which is kind of strange. Holy Town is still in an early state, currently in an open beta, and it shows. Not only does the game suffer from technical problems, like long initial load times, but there’s also very little to do in the game aside from hustling up money by preaching the good word.

When you first start you’ll pick from one of four characters (two male, two female) and then you’re unceremoniously dropped onto an empty plot of land. But the goal, of course, is to turn that land into a successful church. To do this you’ll need money, and money is acquired through preaching, which itself boils down to a simple but somehwat entertaining mini-game.

Holy Town
Holy Town

Words will fly in from the left on floating clouds, and you need to type what’s on the word before it crosses the red line on the right. You can make three mistakes before it’s game over and the longer you last the more cash you will earn. It’s a neat little game, though it’s not without its problems. Words sometimes overlap, making it impossible to see what’s on the bottom one, and other words are fused together to create a single, almost unintelligible word like “districtoftyreandsidon.”

Other than that, all you can do at present is shop for a new church and decorations to place inside of it. The more you preach and the better your church becomes, the more people will show up to join. There are two other gameplay options called “Coins” and “Fundraiser,” but they’re not available to play right now.

Holy Town

Holy Town isn’t shy about its religious theme, and bible passages will frequently pop up as you play. The game also, for some reason, divides your friends into heathens and holy friends, though how that distinction is made isn’t clear.

Holy Town is, essentially, just another social management sim, only with a religious hook. Problem is, at least in its current state, the game isn’t much fun. The typing mini-game isn’t bad, but it’s basically all you can do, and so grows tiresome very quickly. Add in a number of other issues, including some frustratingly misleading ads that are disguised as in-game notifications, and Holy Town isn’t a game that’s ready to ascend just yet.