Cathedral 3-D

About

Cathedral 3-D is a single player arcade shooter game with horror, fantasy, violence and science fiction themes. It was developed by Feardemic and was released on October 28, 2020. It received neutral reviews from players.

Fast-paced, single-player FPS inspired by early 3-D shooters of the nineties. Become terrifying monster who tries to protect its lair from incoming waves of human enemies. Try to survive as long as possible using your fiery breath and super fluid movement system.

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57%

Audience ScoreBased on 68 reviews

gameplay7 positive mentions

optimization3 negative mentions

Unique and interesting core gameplay mechanic of carrying and protecting a chest that shares the player's health adds strategy and tension to arena shooter formula.
Retro-inspired pixelated art style and gothic cathedral setting create an atmospheric and visually appealing experience reminiscent of classic 90s shooters.
Movement and combat, including double jumps and multiple fireball attacks, feel fluid and satisfyingly fast-paced once learned, appealing to fans of old-school arena FPS games.

Numerous technical issues including poor optimization, recurring bugs (e.g., falling through floors, crashes, stuck controls), and performance drops that hinder smooth gameplay.
Unforgiving difficulty and flawed design choices such as both player and chest sharing low health, limited ammo only collectible while carrying the chest, and punishing enemy AI with 'god aim' lead to repeated quick deaths and player frustration.
Lack of content variety with only one map, one mode, and minimal tutorial or explanations, combined with clunky mechanics (e.g., awkward chest handling, unreliable jumps) result in repetitive and tedious gameplay over time.

gameplay
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
58%
13%
The gameplay features a unique chest-carrying mechanic that adds strategic depth and keeps players constantly on their toes, blending fast-paced, wave-based arena shooting with smooth controls. While some find the mechanics innovative and engaging after updates, others criticize the difficulty in mastering the system and the frustration of dying quickly despite active movement. Overall, it offers a challenging but enjoyable experience for fans of arcade shooters willing to adapt to its unconventional design.
- “The box mechanic is the game’s most creative feature.”
- “Gameplay: inspired by the early 90’s arena FPS, the game brings in the familiar flavor of fast-paced, wave-based arcade shooters.”
- “The core gameplay itself is a lot of fun and the mechanic with the chest makes matches very interesting!”
- “But the gameplay concept needs heavy tweaking to be enjoyable.”
- “It's a unique idea, but it's unique because it's so terrible that no one else would make it a gameplay feature.”
- “The gameplay would have been so much better and more enjoyable if I could just drop the chest at a safe spot and go on a limited rampage without having to worry about picking up health points while holding that chest.”
graphics
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
30%
15%
The game’s graphics feature a distinctive retro pixelated art style reminiscent of early 90s first-person shooters, blending low-poly 3D with hand-drawn bitmap elements. While many users appreciate the nostalgic and visually pleasing aesthetic, some find the pixelation can hinder gameplay by making enemies hard to see, and occasional glitches detract from the overall experience. Overall, the graphics are considered the strongest and most appealing aspect of the game.
- “Visuals are the biggest pro here, pixelated textures and low poly 3D mixed with high screen resolution (just like in emulators).”
- “The graphics are also really amazing to me and I could just look at them for hours.”
- “Visually, this has some fairly mediocre/dated looking graphics that will understandably be a turn off for a lot of gamers, and it's a big contributor to the failure of the game to attract gamers despite having no up-front cost.”
- “Pixelated graphics make seeing enemies difficult.”
- “The pixelated graphics—with visible pixel grain on hands, buildings, and objects—evoke the look of early first-person shooters, placing it firmly in the “retro arena shooter” genre.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The game's optimization is inconsistent and problematic, with many users experiencing low and unstable FPS even on high-end or mid-range hardware, causing performance issues and a lack of smooth gameplay. Despite some smoother runs reported, poor optimization significantly detracts from the overall experience.
- “Runs smoothly and didn't crash.”
- “The game is badly optimized; even my slim Asus Zenbook should run this without a problem, but the FPS often falls to 30 or below.”
- “However, poor optimization kills this game.”
- “While this game may look low resolution, it has no optimization and didn't run well at 4K on my extremely high-end 5700 XT, 3700X OC'd with high-speed RAM and a platinum power supply.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
80%
The game's stability is mixed, with some users reporting smooth performance and quick startup, while others encounter frequent serious bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay. Overall, stability appears inconsistent, affecting the experience depending on the play session.
- “It runs great (even via Proton), hasn't had any bugs so far, and it starts up quickly and gets straight to the point.”
- “A badly designed piece of buggy garbage.”
- “And yes, the game is so buggy that literally every run I encountered a serious bug.”
- “From my experience, it seemed more of a hindrance than a feature as once you're out of firepower, you're stuck until the chest unfreezes.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is characterized by purple backgrounds and cool-toned architecture that evoke a sense of mystery, tension, and subtle horror, reminiscent of early cult-classic games.
- “The purple backgrounds and cool-colored architecture create an atmosphere of mystery, tension, and subtle horror, reminiscent of early cult-classic games.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is hindered by slow mechanics like the prolonged jump hang time, making repetitive actions feel tedious and disrupt the flow.