From the first, it’s clear why The Blind Prophet was a success on Kickstarter.

With gorgeous graphic novel-inspired art that borrows from the work of Frank Miller and Mike Mignola, this adventure game invites screenshots as much as points and clicks. Comic book art has had a growing presence in games recently, with Void Bastards, Borderlands 3 and the upcoming Sable all borrowing heavily from the medium. The Blind Prophet isn’t as ambitious as any of those games — each screen is presented as a static panel with extremely limited interactivity — but, for my money, it looks just as good. In my early hours with the game, I found myself studying each new panel carefully, absorbing the lovingly detailed line art that comprises the central city of Rotbork.

The Blind Prophet’s story, though, doesn’t reward that kind of scrutiny. You are Bartholomeus, a heaven-sent immortal warrior, and as the game begins, you have just saved a young woman named Vic from sexual assault, slicing off her assailant’s hand in the process. With the perpetrators hand in hand, you set off on a quest for justice and quickly find that the issues in the city go higher up than one-off violent crimes. Someone is corrupting the people of Rotbork with demonic energy, and the city’s government and various institutions have been compromised.

French developer Ars Goetia has some interesting ideas about how a city could fall under the sway of a demonic presence. Rotbork went through a Recession 20 years before Bartholomeus arrived, but not a strictly monetary one. Instead, “Recession” is the name this fishing city gives to the mysterious disappearance of every fish from the surrounding waters. With their primary source of income gone, the town’s men are out of work and more susceptible to demonic influence. It’s an interesting idea — and could have led to a compelling exploration of the ways “economic anxiety” can lead to populist support for oppressive ideas. But, compelling as it is, this idea doesn’t get enough room to breathe. Rotbork is, generally, a bleakly gorgeous place to visit, but there is no real sense of history undergirding the art.

Ultimately, I’m conflicted about the way the game depicts evil in action. At every turn, the game uses the oppression of women as a shorthand for demonic influence. Bart saves Vic from being raped. Her would-be rapist frequented a brothel bar employing underage girls. A local gang, which has been corrupted by the demon’s power, keeps a harem of women forced into prostitution in prison cells. If Ars Goetia is attempting to communicate the idea that systems of oppression are especially detrimental to women and other marginalized communities, then I agree. But, the game constantly casts the player as savior, rescuing women from traumatic fates. Nearly every woman you meet in this game is an oppressed damsel-in-distress.

This is in keeping with Bartholomeus’ core ideology — and, maybe, the game’s. As an Apostle, you aren’t quite an angel, but you are sent by God to bring violent law and order to Rotbork. The Blind Prophet’s apparent outlook on Bartholomeus reminded me of the credulous attitude The Boondock Saints adopted toward its central characters. Ars Goetia’s game is slightly more introspective, and briefly even sends Bart to confession. But, the game is conflicted on whether Bart’s violence is salvific or sinful. Is his Christofascism bad or badass?

These thematic issues are compounded by a hit-or-miss approach to dialogue and story. Conversations are frequently clunky, ill-phrased and/or marred by typos, which may be the result of Ars Goetia ambitiously offering English, French and Chinese language options at launch. Some missteps are humorous. An early typo finds the ageless Bartholomeus referring to himself as an “immoral being.” Others are less funny, with characters, at points, using sexist language and ableist slurs.

The Blind Prophet does a decent job at establishing Bart as a character, but is less successful in its portrait of Vic. Her only real trait is being a tattoo artist who’s afraid of needles. There just isn’t much there, and there’s even less for the supporting characters to do.

That said, story is one half of the point-and-click formula, and The Blind Prophet does have some pretty good set-piece puzzles. One, featuring a riddle and a nautical automaton, was particularly good. But, more often, the puzzles are straightforward to the point of being tedious. The game asks you with combining a metal object and a rope to fashion a grappling hook on, like, three separate occasions. Often, solving a puzzle requires just picking up one object in an area and using it on the only other object. The game frequently locks you into a single area until you solve a puzzle, which helpfully, keeps you from backtracking all over Rotbork. But, it also means that I found plenty of solutions by just clicking on everything until something worked.

Almost all of The Blind Prophet’s action plays out via comic panel cut scenes. As Bart slashes his way through the cadre of demons ruling over Rotbork the game is constantly cutting to cinematics to show the action. This choice is oddly distancing. As the game progresses you come to realize that often when major events unfold you’ll be taking a backseat. You mostly control Bart for the busy work then hand the action back to the game when it counts.

In the end, The Blind Prophet’s appeal is mostly skin deep. While the art style is impeccable and some puzzles work well, the story falters. The Blind Prophet is a triumph of impressive art, but it might work better as a mood board than as a game.

The Blind Prophet review code for PC provided by the publisher.

The Blind Prophet is out now on PC, and on consoles at a later date.