Holy Purge

Holy Purge, developed and published by Celeritas Games, is a cooperative horror experience that combines elements of exorcism, medieval folklore, and supernatural investigation into a tense yet atmospheric adventure. Built for up to three players, the game places you in the role of priests tasked with purging evil from various cursed locations, whether it’s a plague-ridden village, a haunted house possessed by demonic forces, or a cursed camp tormented by dark rituals. Rather than relying on high-budget scares or cinematic storytelling, Holy Purge leans into the immersive tension of teamwork and the unsettling dread of ritualistic horror. It aims to deliver a focused, replayable experience where faith, courage, and cooperation are your only weapons against an otherworldly presence.
From the start, Holy Purge establishes an eerie tone. Each scenario begins with you and your companions stepping into a dark, foreboding environment plagued by some form of corruption. The settings vary but share a common aesthetic—desolate spaces shrouded in gloom, illuminated only by flickering candles or the pale glow of a flashlight. You must explore these areas to locate ritual items, decipher clues, and perform sacred rites that will drive the evil away. The design is built around exploration and tension rather than combat; the priests have no weapons beyond their faith and a few sacred tools, such as crosses, holy water, or the Bible. Every exorcism demands that players work together, with one reading incantations while another protects the area or retrieves items. It’s a slower, methodical approach to horror, relying on atmosphere and teamwork rather than jump scares or fast-paced chases.
The cooperative structure is the heart of the game. While Holy Purge can technically be played solo, the design clearly favors teamwork. Communication is key—each player must handle specific responsibilities, share discoveries, and plan strategies as the supernatural threats grow more aggressive. The thrill of surviving an encounter with your friends, narrowly avoiding a demonic attack, or completing the final ritual just as chaos erupts creates a satisfying sense of camaraderie. It’s this shared tension that defines the game’s identity. When played with friends who buy into the setting, Holy Purge can be genuinely immersive. You’re not just playing a game—you’re performing a desperate, improvised exorcism in real time, piecing together fragments of holy ritual under pressure.
The game’s structure unfolds across multiple maps, each with its own theme and set of objectives. In the “Village” scenario, for instance, you investigate a medieval community ravaged by witchcraft and disease, uncovering the truth behind the plague and attempting to break the curse. In another, you must free a possessed woman from the grip of a demon, performing an exorcism inside a claustrophobic home filled with disturbing sounds and flickering shadows. Each location provides a unique backdrop and variation of the same basic mechanics—searching for items, reading clues, solving light puzzles, and surviving until the purification ritual is complete. The randomized placement of key items ensures that no two playthroughs feel identical, adding replayability and keeping the tension fresh even after multiple sessions.
Visually, Holy Purge embraces its indie roots. The environments are dark, grimy, and atmospheric, but they are also limited in scope and detail. The lighting is used effectively to heighten fear, with the dim glow of torches and lanterns cutting through heavy shadows, creating an oppressive mood. The sound design contributes greatly to the tension—whispers in the dark, footsteps echoing nearby, and the unsettling mutter of demonic voices make every moment feel uncertain. However, the low-budget production values are evident in the rough character models, repetitive textures, and occasional glitches. Some animations feel stiff, and there are moments when the immersion falters due to bugs or awkward physics interactions. Yet despite these technical shortcomings, the game manages to convey a convincing sense of unease that fits its supernatural premise.
In terms of gameplay balance, Holy Purge offers a mix of excitement and frustration. The slower pace and ritual-based objectives encourage cooperation and patience, but the game’s simplicity can also make it feel repetitive after several rounds. The tasks often boil down to finding a series of scattered objects while avoiding or delaying the central threat. Some players may find the repetition meditative, while others might see it as a limitation in depth. There’s also the matter of the difficulty curve—when playing solo, the experience can feel overwhelming or tedious, but with friends, the tension transforms into a blend of fun chaos and strategic teamwork. The game’s short runtime and limited number of maps mean it’s not a long-term commitment, but as a casual horror night activity with friends, it excels at creating memorable moments.
What ultimately gives Holy Purge its charm is its earnestness. Celeritas Games clearly designed it with passion for the genre, focusing on the spiritual and ritualistic aspects of horror rather than gore or shock value. It draws inspiration from exorcism films and classic supernatural lore, evoking the quiet dread of faith versus darkness. The inclusion of Latin prayers, holy artifacts, and ritualistic sequences adds authenticity and depth to the theme. While the gameplay loop is simple, it succeeds in immersing players in a distinct atmosphere of religious horror rarely explored in cooperative games.
Holy Purge is not without flaws—it suffers from technical limitations, uneven pacing, and a lack of polish—but it compensates with mood, creativity, and a strong cooperative foundation. It’s a game that knows its scope and leans into it confidently, delivering a focused horror experience that thrives in a group setting. For those who enjoy small-scale indie horror titles like Phasmophobia but prefer a more ritualistic twist, Holy Purge offers an intriguing and atmospheric alternative. It’s best approached not as a perfectly crafted horror masterpiece, but as a chilling, collaborative experiment in faith and fear—one that proves even the smallest studios can conjure something hauntingly memorable.
Rating: 6/10

Steam User 2

Reviewed last year

Holy Purge, developed and published by Celeritas Games, is a cooperative horror experience that combines elements of exorcism, medieval folklore, and supernatural investigation into a tense yet atmospheric adventure. Built for up to three players, the game places you in the role of priests tasked with purging evil from various cursed locations, whether it’s a plague-ridden village, a haunted house possessed by demonic forces, or a cursed camp tormented by dark rituals. Rather than relying on high-budget scares or cinematic storytelling, Holy Purge leans into the immersive tension of teamwork and the unsettling dread of ritualistic horror. It aims to deliver a focused, replayable experience where faith, courage, and cooperation are your only weapons against an otherworldly presence.
From the start, Holy Purge establishes an eerie tone. Each scenario begins with you and your companions stepping into a dark, foreboding environment plagued by some form of corruption. The settings vary but share a common aesthetic—desolate spaces shrouded in gloom, illuminated only by flickering candles or the pale glow of a flashlight. You must explore these areas to locate ritual items, decipher clues, and perform sacred rites that will drive the evil away. The design is built around exploration and tension rather than combat; the priests have no weapons beyond their faith and a few sacred tools, such as crosses, holy water, or the Bible. Every exorcism demands that players work together, with one reading incantations while another protects the area or retrieves items. It’s a slower, methodical approach to horror, relying on atmosphere and teamwork rather than jump scares or fast-paced chases.
The cooperative structure is the heart of the game. While Holy Purge can technically be played solo, the design clearly favors teamwork. Communication is key—each player must handle specific responsibilities, share discoveries, and plan strategies as the supernatural threats grow more aggressive. The thrill of surviving an encounter with your friends, narrowly avoiding a demonic attack, or completing the final ritual just as chaos erupts creates a satisfying sense of camaraderie. It’s this shared tension that defines the game’s identity. When played with friends who buy into the setting, Holy Purge can be genuinely immersive. You’re not just playing a game—you’re performing a desperate, improvised exorcism in real time, piecing together fragments of holy ritual under pressure.
The game’s structure unfolds across multiple maps, each with its own theme and set of objectives. In the “Village” scenario, for instance, you investigate a medieval community ravaged by witchcraft and disease, uncovering the truth behind the plague and attempting to break the curse. In another, you must free a possessed woman from the grip of a demon, performing an exorcism inside a claustrophobic home filled with disturbing sounds and flickering shadows. Each location provides a unique backdrop and variation of the same basic mechanics—searching for items, reading clues, solving light puzzles, and surviving until the purification ritual is complete. The randomized placement of key items ensures that no two playthroughs feel identical, adding replayability and keeping the tension fresh even after multiple sessions.
Visually, Holy Purge embraces its indie roots. The environments are dark, grimy, and atmospheric, but they are also limited in scope and detail. The lighting is used effectively to heighten fear, with the dim glow of torches and lanterns cutting through heavy shadows, creating an oppressive mood. The sound design contributes greatly to the tension—whispers in the dark, footsteps echoing nearby, and the unsettling mutter of demonic voices make every moment feel uncertain. However, the low-budget production values are evident in the rough character models, repetitive textures, and occasional glitches. Some animations feel stiff, and there are moments when the immersion falters due to bugs or awkward physics interactions. Yet despite these technical shortcomings, the game manages to convey a convincing sense of unease that fits its supernatural premise.
In terms of gameplay balance, Holy Purge offers a mix of excitement and frustration. The slower pace and ritual-based objectives encourage cooperation and patience, but the game’s simplicity can also make it feel repetitive after several rounds. The tasks often boil down to finding a series of scattered objects while avoiding or delaying the central threat. Some players may find the repetition meditative, while others might see it as a limitation in depth. There’s also the matter of the difficulty curve—when playing solo, the experience can feel overwhelming or tedious, but with friends, the tension transforms into a blend of fun chaos and strategic teamwork. The game’s short runtime and limited number of maps mean it’s not a long-term commitment, but as a casual horror night activity with friends, it excels at creating memorable moments.
What ultimately gives Holy Purge its charm is its earnestness. Celeritas Games clearly designed it with passion for the genre, focusing on the spiritual and ritualistic aspects of horror rather than gore or shock value. It draws inspiration from exorcism films and classic supernatural lore, evoking the quiet dread of faith versus darkness. The inclusion of Latin prayers, holy artifacts, and ritualistic sequences adds authenticity and depth to the theme. While the gameplay loop is simple, it succeeds in immersing players in a distinct atmosphere of religious horror rarely explored in cooperative games.
Holy Purge is not without flaws—it suffers from technical limitations, uneven pacing, and a lack of polish—but it compensates with mood, creativity, and a strong cooperative foundation. It’s a game that knows its scope and leans into it confidently, delivering a focused horror experience that thrives in a group setting. For those who enjoy small-scale indie horror titles like Phasmophobia but prefer a more ritualistic twist, Holy Purge offers an intriguing and atmospheric alternative. It’s best approached not as a perfectly crafted horror masterpiece, but as a chilling, collaborative experiment in faith and fear—one that proves even the smallest studios can conjure something hauntingly memorable.
Rating: 6/10
Steam User 0

Reviewed last year

The game is enjoyable it be nice to see the Orphanage map finished, me and sons got it as another game to spend time as family and play online together, we plan on playing it again soon since some of the issues are supposed to be corrected now.
Steam User 1

Reviewed last year

pretty decent co op horror game its cheap, fun and has decent graphics with active devs who are working on adding more to the game i paid full price for myself my dad and younger brother and had a blast
Steam User 0

Reviewed last year

great game i love it
Steam User 0

Reviewed last year

THE SCARIEST GAME OF ALL TIME 100%

Holy Purge

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