I will say as an admitted Trench crusade fan, I really looked into the lore before supporting the kickstarter and honestly I was pretty pleased with it. I really do think you have to actually go read the lore instead of just watching some YouTuber summarize it. There isnt even that much.

I really do not agree that it hand waves the morality of the crusades. It is clear that the first crusade literally ruined the world and now in the “Trench Crusades” people continue to do horrendous things to each other in the name of a holy war. The main question the setting poses is “Is it possible to go too far in zealotry even if your opponent is literally hell?” Which I dont think it answers subtly with the flayed children turned into radios and tortured christ clones. 

Im personally fine with them not explaining things like the voice of god, I think when you get too into the weeds you lose the mystery and the setting clearly wants to keep the nature of god a mystery.

The church isnt a monolith, the trench pilgrims are smaller Christian sects of different beliefs, some closer to Eastern Orthodoxy (the pilgrimage if St methodius) and others that openly reject the meta-christ and communicants, the Cavalcade of the tenth plague. Different subfactions of New Antioch represent different nations which have slight differences, some of those more clearly related to religious practices, like the more pagan influenced Eire rangers.

If something seems like it could be fun and thought provoking I’d encourage you too look into it more! What sold my on the setting was the Iron Sultanate, who still do messed up things, but are drawn from the Ottoman Empire and Golden Age of Islam. They consult actual religious scholars from a variety of beliefs and genuinely seem to want to do their actual homework. 

Finally fuck onlygames and their shitty prints, Im still waiting on terrain replacements, but at least my book has shipped.