Farthest Frontier devs didn't include churches to avoid 'drama around real world religions'

pcgamer.com:

Religious buildings are a common feature of medieval-themed city builders. Games like Banished, Anno 1404, Patron, Foundation, and others include churches, chapels, monasteries, cathedrals (and in Anno's case, mosques), and other religious buildings which typically provide a happiness bonus or fulfill a 'faith need' for citizens and residences built nearby.

But you won't find religious buildings in Farthest Frontier, the new medieval-themed early access survival city builder from Crate Software, maker of Grim Dawn. In fact, there's no religion in the game at all. While it includes public amenities like theaters, markets, pubs, and hospitals, there are no churches or chapels to build and citizens have no faith requirements that need to be met. (There is a shrine, but more on that in a bit.)

Some players are curious about the absence of religious buildings, while others seem downright annoyed by the omission. "Where is the church?(opens in new tab)" is the title of a thread on the official forum, where the lack of a church is called «a shortcoming» (translated from French). «I totally agree that churches are a must have and could be a basic need of the settlers,» says another commenter. Another player in the thread states that «churches are an absolute must» and expresses disbelief that the «dev's didn't realize this.»

«Well mosques/temples/etc also existed in that era. I’m sure everyone shocked we didn’t add churches would be just as satisfied by the addition of those instead, right?» responded Zantai(opens in new tab), a designer at Crate Software.

«We’ve intentionally left faith ambiguous in [Farthest Frontier] even if churches are a 'staple' of medieval Europe, which is another thing we’ve deliberately left vague,»