When the dust settles on 2011, it’s unlikely many will be arguing El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron was the best playing game this year, but it’ll be easy to make the case that it was one of the most striking. Every screen looks like a painting.
Of course, El Shaddai was overseen by acclaimed Okami and Devil May Cry character designer Takeyasu Sawaki.
“El Shaddai came about in a very interesting way,” said Sawaki in a recent email exchange. “Members of UTV Ignition’s London office first came up with the idea to create an action game based on the Book of Enoch, but they wanted the game to be developed in Japan.”
Ignition approached Sawaki about the idea, and asked him to become involved. Intrigued by the concept, he proposed being the project director--a first for him. El Shaddai started active development in 2007, and was released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this past September.
Sure, El Shaddai hasn’t made the same impact as either Okami or Devil May Cry, but it’s received near universal acclaim for its looks, which are trippy, strange and distracting in the best way possible.
“When the process first started and I was reading the Book of Enoch, I actually thought the texts were boring!” he told me. “But creating the Tower of Babel level structure allowed for endless possibilities for design and variety. Since the game launched we have seen people write about how each level looks like it could have come from a different game--which is what we wanted to achieve.”
Its meaning is debated, but El Shaddai is often literally translated as “God Almighty.” And while El Shaddai is based upon the biblical apocrypha The Book of Enoch, the adaptation plays fast and loose with the events depicted within.
In the game, one of the main characters, Lucifel, is often found talking to God on his cell phone. El Shaddai continues a long tradition of Japanese video games, especially true regarding RPGs, having little problem layering religion into the narrative.
We don't really see in the West, but even in this case, the game isn’t meant to be especially religious, as Sawaki isn’t.
“I have no specific religion, but I always strongly feel that this world is not everything,” he said. “I believe in a ‘voice inside’ and ‘intuition.’ In Japan, we often view religion as more of a spectrum of beliefs and philosophies, but I was very conscious about the themes I was working with throughout the El Shaddai’s development.”
Sawaki figures that’s why many Western games avoid religion.
“People in Japan typically describe themselves as following multiple belief systems and philosophies,” he continued, “whereas other regions of the world more strictly adhere to one particular religion. I believe this causes sensitivities on the topic of religion that does not happen here in Japan. That may explain why it is more ‘taboo’ in Western cultures than in Japan.”
You can’t make a game with religious themes without having given the subject some serious thought, however, and Sawaki admitted the subject has given him some pause, influencing the game’s look.
“Sometimes in my dreams I see what I think to be the afterlife,” he said. “Dreams I have had inspired some of the looks in El Shaddai.”
The game was designed with some narrative gaps that Sawaki is currently hoping to fill; he’s writing a novel that will expand on some of the side stories mentioned in the game. This could also feed into “further brand extensions,” but Sawaki was unwilling to talk about what else he was working on.
He also waived away the notion that El Shaddai’s sometimes heavier themes were a reflection of his own aging process.
“I will say that like Enoch, we are all faced with difficult choices in our lives and we want to believe we made the right ones,” he said. “That is human nature. However, the reality is someone like Lucifel,’ who views with third person’s eyes, realizes better than you.”
If you're tired of yet another military shooter, you can't get more different than El Shaddai. Seek it out.
@CodyH said:
Great Job Jeremy
This game has a very specific target audience in mind, and I'm completely ok to be way outside of that scope.
No offence Patrick, but it is actually Lucifel that talks to God on his cell phone.
@patrickklepek: You play as Enoch, but it's Lucifel that spends the game talking to God on a cell phone. Enoch never even touches a phone. (Don't mean to judge, just hard to imagine you played much of El Shaddai if you didn't correctly identify them!)
I rather enjoyed this game. I honestly think it is pretty fun to play, and mixes things up pretty drastically at points. Its ending levels are less than superb, though. Its visuals and characters, however, are fun from start to finish. The story it tells might not be interesting without them, but combined with its aesthetic it was one of the most interesting games I'd played this year.
@dvorak: In what way? I am a devout atheist and the book that this game is based on is a collection of bronze age desert fables... wouldn't be any different from playing a lord of the rings game or a comic book game, you know, something else that is made up :)
@DudeOlav: I'm gonna guess it's the people who can handle an INCREDIBLY vague story and people who can coast on character and atmosphere.
@Video_Game_King said:
What does it matter that it came out in August?
Played the demo and I have to say that I didn' t enjoy the lack of a HUD, or any form of device which could tell me what was happening or was I near death.
It must be cool to remember enough of dreams to design stuff based on them. Great article, Patrick!
He said it came out in September. (Hey, I said I was pointing out petty flaws. Those were literally my exact words.)
I was raised in a hardcore Pentecostal household, so any game with the name of God in the title, which isn't making fun of Christianity, ain't gonna get bought by my atheist ass. Haven't quite healed enough yet from that religion, heh!
@DudeOlav said:
I would consider myself an atheist as well, in the way that I don't really give a fuck about religion. Putting aside the fact that no one can be a 'devout' atheist, there a virtually infinite quantity of quality fiction-based content out there that doesn't deal with poorly translated pseudo-religious bullshit. Of course it's all made up, but it's also just fucking dumb on top of that.
It's not even as much the content, but the approach they took. I'd just like to remind everyone what that dude showing off the game in the QL said: "Well if you know your bible..."
Fuck. Right. Off. (not you, whoever that dude was)
It's fairly simple. Not having any history of Christianity the Japanese tend to just use it as another myth to mine for characters. No different to the use of Egyptian or Viking gods in predominantly Christian countries
Using various mythologies as the background or world to create a story out of isn't very original, but it's something I can tolerate if it is done right. Religion, on the other hand, is just another gimmick. This seems to straddle religion and mythology, but still contain nothing that I find compelling or interesting. The background on this sounds a lot like a Shyamalan "with a twist" *yawn* story. Or like a Dan Brown attempt -- ridiculous and uninteresting, yet somehow that found an audience of people who thought they were in the middle of something clever and awe-inspiring.
I want to play a game about religion about as much as I want to play a game about abortion, feminism, immigration, or any of several "I just took Philosophy 101" concepts. Gamers seem to succumb to this sort of trickery, so easily, but it strikes me as no different than GamaSutra needing more hits, so writing yet another "sexism/women in gaming" article or a television show promoting that an important character might die this next episode, or a show putting a puppy or a child in harm's way because they aren't clever enough to find another way to achieve emotional impact.
To each their own, but this is a genre that does not appeal to me. Much in the same way that demons and ghosts don't appeal to me. It's like watching Paranormal Activity, which is a lot like staring at your fireplace and waiting for Santa to climb out with a sack full of toys. I think we all want to see more games with a greater level of maturity, complexity, and story depth, but I don't think we want the cheap low-hanging-fruit attempts at it.
And yes, I discern between the two things: religion and mythology. A game set in the world of Norse or Greek gods is mythology. A game steeped in a currently practiced and preached dogma is religion. (Unless there is a huge contingent of people out there that still believe in Norse or Greek gods, in which case I guess that's still "religion", too . . . but I am under the impression those are dead religions).
Flying spaghetti monster games....nah I'll pass, I get enough fantasy in RPG's
@dvorak: Thing is, to know literature, you really do need to know your Bible, whether you're Christian or not. It's, you know, the first widely-published book. It shapes most of our narrative today. I'm not saying I know mine, but I acknowledge the importance of knowing the Bible to really get most literary allusions.
I think that Quick Look also largely misrepresents El Shaddai. There's a goddamned Tron level in that game. You ride a light cycle for an almost absurd amount of time. My jaw literally was dropped throughout the entire sequence.
Also, this loading screen has that one track that sounds EXACTLY like the jam at the end of Another Brick In The Wall (Part I).