When someone involved with the game comes right out and says "it is like The Da Vinci Code" then people by now pretty much know what to expect: a murder mystery, puzzles, and The Church headlining the whole ordeal as the main bad guy. Things don't look to be any different with Belief & Betrayal, other than the fact that there is a new mystery at hand and it all takes place in a point and click adventure game.

When Jonathan Danter picks up the phone on a gray November day, he has no idea what dangerous adventures await him. The caller is a detective from Scotland Yard and he informs him that his uncle Frank was found murdered by London police. Jonathan always believed that his uncle had died ten years ago. Upon his return from his uncle's funeral an unknown assailant attacks him in his apartment. He manages to send the intruder running, but soon he realized that he will have to investigate the incidences himself if he wants to stay alive.

Ancient cathedrals with secret catacombs, gloomy libraries that stock books that should have been destroyed in the inquisition, mysterious monasteries in deep and dark woods – they are only a few of the places that will be explored during the player's time with the game. London, Venice, Rome – the historic and secretive cities that Jonathan will visit in order to understand the mysterious death of his uncle. Slowly, he discovers a powerful conspiracy that reaches back through the centuries all the way to the day Judas received 30 pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. But don't go expecting our hero Jonathan to solve everything himself, because he'll have a female partner named Kira to help him through his adventures.

There is the story of Belief & Betrayal as described by the company. Now, I was a big Da Vinci Code fan when I first read the book, and I instantly went and picked up Dan Brown's previous Langdon novel Angels and Demons for even more of that same church conspiracy story. I couldn't get enough. The setup to Belief & Betrayal is highly interesting to me, given the fact that Judas' name is mentioned, and I only recently purchased a book containing The Gospel of Judas, which makes me instantly wonder if that ties in at all. Either way, I'm intrigued, and it isn't because it is "tearing down fundamental beliefs" like many say about The Da Vinci Code, but rather because it looks to take such a large subject matter, one with many questions regarding it, and tell a fascinating story in the process. And with point and click adventures, in my opinion, a good story must always be the major focus.

Of course, after story, puzzles must always come next, and Belief & Betrayal looks to carry on the same traditions as its brothers and sisters before it. As players search about the 2.5D environments – meaning the sets themselves are static but with 3D objects placed in such a way as to give the set a 3D quality – they'll find traditional hotspots with various objects they can pickup for later puzzle use. Unlike some adventure games, however, objects the player finds can be used both with people they run across and the environments themselves, so there looks to be even more possible puzzle solving endeavors to run across. Another neat little twist to the point and click gameplay is the main character's diary, which will collect the clues the player discovers, and then that diary can be used as an object to solve puzzles; in theory it sounds like an easier method to solving certain "search for facts in your notes" puzzles, as apparently all the player will have to do is present their diary and the needed info will automatically reveal itself.

Based on the environments I've seen, they all look very stylized, with particular attention paid to the details. I'm a sucker for lighting effects (I blame the Splinter Cell franchise) and so that was immediately the first thing I noticed when watching the game in action and seeing various screenshots. As the evening sun sets, that dull red will come breaking through the windows, casting a ruby red hue over everything it touches, and though it might seem minor, it is the small details such as that that really draw players into a game's world.

Featuring cinematic cutscenes and lip-synched facial animations, Belief & Betrayal looks to be focused squarely on story first, and that is perfectly fine in my book as I wouldn't have it any other way given the subject matter of the story. If you want the essence of The Da Vinci Code but with perhaps a new story set along those same guidelines, then be sure to give Belief & Betrayal a look when it comes around.