Religion has targeted (successfully) every medium except videogames are we due?

Negative 10 points for anybody that puts the NES game that came out. What games about religion, particularly from other countries where religion is more mandated, are there? We have to be due from some free-to-play stuff soon. Or are we more likely to see those games just live within the private servers of the Robloxes and Minecrafts of the world? Any studios pumping out games? Does steam have a dedicated section to those kind of games? I'd really like to see some cool titles that just rip off the names of known popular games. Etc

They kind of do, just super stylized. El Shaddai and Asura's Wrath tackle aspects of myth in religion, and Lords of Shadow has you fighting capital S Satan.

Super 3D Noah's Ark is the big console example, but surely there are a ton of phone games covering the subject, right?

There was a Left Behind video game and Super Noah's Ark 3D, at some point.

There are plenty of games that have touched on religious themes, though. Final Fantasy X, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, and Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga are a few of them. Right now I can't think of any more, but I imagine if you dig down this rabbit hole you could find a lot of stuff.

I assume you're looking for something more akin to the video game equivalent of Passion of the Christ, as opposed to damn near every fantasy video game out there that has elements of religious and/or mythological iconography of some sort. Whether that be Gods, angels, demons, a rendition of hell, or what have you. I mean... stuff like DOOM and God of War would count in that category.

As for a game made to target a modern religious audience specifically, nothing really comes to mind.

A lot of games have been made by religious people and often contain religious themes. Myst is a more classic example, but That Dragon, Cancer is a more recent one. I think Adam's Venture is also at least inspired by religion, as it has you seeking the Garden of Eden and Solomon's Temple.

In the late '90s/early 2000s there was a run on Christian developers trying to break into gaming with stuff that was more preachy than the norm. Saints of Virtue and Catechumen were first-person "shooters" (as non-violently as they could be), Isles of Derek was a ripoff of Myst that required you to look up Bible verses to solve puzzles, and the trading card game Redemption had a PC version.

Personally, as a religious person, I'm much more interested in stylish takes like El Shaddai (which was not, like, educational about religion in any way, but was cool and fun).

*Press 'X' to suffer for their sins*

I don't think there will ever be anything outright overtly religious like a Passion of the Christ for really any religion. I'm sure plenty of indie games exist about personal experiences with faith and religion, and as others have said metaphors and symbolism are always going to exist in games, as well as just direct and indirect references. If something like Passion of the Christ is made, it will likely either panned, reviled, or both, because it likely won't speak to non-religious people, and using examples like the one I provided I imagine would feel cheap to those that are faithful.

Don't forget about Captain Bible!

"That Dragon, Cancer" wasn't about bible stories but it was about seeing death through a christian lense, so close enough.

I'm racking my brain and I can't think of any games that even reference Scientology. Weird, right? Am I missing something?

There are plenty of games that are exclusivly based on one religion or another, such as El Shaddai as csl316 and Justin258 mentioned, Valkyrie Profile, Dante's Inferno, Hades, and I want to include E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy but I haven't picked up on that game's lore just yet.

The villainous group in the Dead Space games (especially DS2) was pretty clearly influenced by scientology, but it wasn't a 1-to-1 match.

Diablo. Literally Diablo.

Diablo III is the story of how you band together with a rogue angel from The Pure Place to defeat the horned devil. I admit, with my limited memory of both testaments, I feel like I don't remember the passages on Loot Imps or how the Yeti liked the bread and fish too, but the Devil in games or any cultural text is specifically a reference to Christian iconography that trades on the concept of betrayal and evil. Literally everything that uses iconography from a religion is a reference back to that iconography and plays on the way the audience reacts to it. Destiny's entire existence is owed to a mysterious figure who is unknowable and maybe is dead but we're convinced he's still with us because we all feel empowered. The Traveller, showed us "The Light".

Absent a long-short stent in the county penitentiary (maybe it's called that because you gain penitence) I will not be reading the bible or any other religious text. But i would consider playing a game that recapped all the highlights. Is it because games offer too much free will? There is no interpretation in the interpretation of text? Developers can't be trusted to translate a translation?

Games are cheap enough that people are putting out one-developer games. Is this not fertile ground for religious overtures? Is this not yet? Or is this a never gonna happen thing?

Obviously games are going to have themes. At this point all media is about manipulation of time, revenge, religion, lost love, documentary, and comedy. We barely have comedy in games... South Park games are just episodes of the show. So the last crusade seems to be religion in games.

Videogames for me are a religion.

And Haze is the shit.

@fourthline: I guess if you've never cracked open most religious texts you may not be aware... Most of the events in them wouldn't make for great games.

That's not to say that it hasn't been attempted or may not be attempted in the future, and it's not to say that there isn't some excitement in some of the books... but for the most part, books like the Bible don't have their lasting power because of their rip roaring plots. The story of Jesus in particular is a story about walking around the Middle East in sandals, healing the sick, teaching, and then getting crucified (but forgiving the people who crucified him). It's a good story, but it's not a story that makes for a compelling interactive adventure. You might have some better luck with the Old Testament (where there are at least wars and battles and so on), but it's still not the most fertile ground for interactivity.

Sure, you could also throw in the fact that when you're talking about religions that are still followed by people today, you are definitely going to get some flak from people if you decide to make a game in which you have the freedom to potentially alter the events of sacred texts, so plenty of developers would probably steer clear on those grounds... but mostly I just don't think that recapping, say, the Bible in a video game would be very interesting.

Video games are an amazing medium and I think great stories can be told through them, but sometimes certain stories just aren't the best fit for certain forms of storytelling.

I doubt anyone would make a straight up game about religion because there are still some standards I suppose - although in the 90's there was that Heaven city-builder Afterlife. I'm certain some browser style educational games exist that have you collecting holy text or something in the far reaches of the interweb. That said plenty of games have more or less overt nods to religion with cults and different versions of paradise etc. Bayonetta is an extremely religious title.. if you want to stretch the definition to it's breaking point.

As nefarious recruiters of the masses to accrue nothing more than money and power, it is strange they don't do it more. But I also think it strange that there aren't more games directly linked to the military as 'recruitment' games. That there isn't a scientology game that straddles both military and religion yet is wild. Maybe they are worried heathens like myself will take the pee so much it isn't worth their while?

Oh, there's plenty of interpretation of the text, that's why there's a bunch of Protestant denominations out there, that's why you have Baptists and Lutherans and Presbyterians and so on.

If you've never cracked open a Bible but are looking for an adaptation of it... I don't think video games are the way to go. The Bible isn't written like a novel or something you can just straight-up adapt. There's loads of tales that are meant to be lessons and allegories, examples of God's greatness, examples of what is and isn't moral, etc., along with loads of explicit declarations of laws, commands, how to worship God, so on and so forth. There's also so much in the Bible that adapting the whole thing into one video game would be impossible. Yes, there's that much in there, and no, a massive team of Ubisoft employees could not get all of it, plus you would miss out on the actual point of most of what's in there.

If you're looking for the cliff notes of the Bible, I suppose you could just read the Wikipedia entries for each book to get a better idea of what each one's about. Boring? Sure! But you're not going to get a adaptation of the entire thing in movie form, or game form, or TV show form because that undertaking would be impossibly huge.

I can't speak to any other religious texts because I haven't actually read any other religious texts.

This is the only biggish game I can think of (and that is a stretch, since its not related to the awful movies):

Why so little? Probably because making games is hard and expensive, and people around here are not into edutainment content. No big publisher is going to risk millions of dollars in making indoctrination games, and I am not talking about games that have religious themes as set dressing (like El Shaddai, God of War or Dante's Inferno). If you want to get to the really crappy stuff, you should check the indie, unedited scene, like the discovery feature on Steam or itch.io.

I don't do it because I don't want the algorithm to get any funny ideas, but I am sure there are a lot of content there if that is your jam.

@hermes: I imagine if Burger King can make sneaking why not make a Call of my Duty to Christ. Some slick packaging and bam.. tithings.

This discussion reminds me of the SNL sketch with Christopher Waltz:

Rapidly press RB to extend your jaw to accept the bread then time your press of B to say thank you at the right moment

!!Almost There!! 75xp

Tip: The pues are an excellent place to find Mana pickups

There are Religious games, but they're mostly made in the indie/one-person space. A great example from the early 2000's would be something like Catechumen. I'd say in general, except the Wisdom Tree games that actually released on consoles, the majority of religious games are released on PC, so unless they appear on something like Steam, it's really easy for them to fly under the radar and just get circulated through some random websites

Have you ever really thought about Mario 3? I mean REALLY thought about it?

(Honestly if there are no churches or groups of religious friends that make mods or whole TC's for pre-existing games to reward the faithful, or at least try to create while under a watchful eye, I'd be astonished. I'd never heard of Neopets before that 2018 story broke, and I'd imagine if it had been done a less centrally-organized faith or one with less money, I'd have never heard of Neopets at all.)

@petesix0: I think a cult will eventually make a game or channel one into their belief structure. You could raise your child to treat Ocarina of Time as the gospel. That’s why we need backwards compatibility from PS5 when arc the lad is heralded as the new religious tome. A receipt from a Shreveport GameStop with Arc The Lad II is the most holiest of holies. (Am I The first person to pluralize holy?)

Super 3D Noah's Ark is the only one that springs to mind... and those MDickie games...
Yeah there are games with religious aspects to them like Dante's Inferno, but they don't make religious edutainment like they used to. Back then they were trying to get god into children any way they could but times have changed, i assume the church still tries various ways of luring people in but i don't know what that amounts to these days, there's probably some god channels on tv still, but cultures in the west are a lot more mixed than they were in the 90's including a lot more non believers, i only say that because i'm not sure i've ever spoken to a church going christian though i do know a few muslims.

@fourthline: Holiest of Holies is already a thing, I think it's a room where "The Big Guy" had meetings. I think your question goes to two things - the question of when Big Belief will make a move on Games omits the reach religion has as a foundational element on many countries(The Texas School Board is known the world over for the reasons people need to talk about it), meaning they don't honestly feel the need to(At least in the countires I can think of which is far from a complete list). Secondly, making games is exposure so the only games I can see being funded by religious groups currently would be maybe mobile or "always reduced to 75% on PS Store/Switch/Xbox", distanced at least twice from the church name by holding companies.

Like I said before(Aswell as others), there are entire games that are based around the idea that on some level you have a cultural familiarity with the concept of "Good & Evil" "Purity & Temptation" "Betrayal and Redemption" "Pale wings good Goat legs baaaaaad". Considering these games as not religious because they don't say specifically that Yahweh guides me forward or "For the Torah- and Rivendell!" then that to me is like considering Darth Vader as a character that was never in a movie or book but was just familiar.

After The Zoo Race was released, I think all other potential religious games just seemed pointless to make. There's simply no competing with it.

I think the problem is that a lot of Christians at least in the Midwest where I live, see video games as secular and kinda evil. They might be hesitant to even buy a game that has Christian values the same way some are hesitant to listen to Christian Rock and Rap as they see it as a gateway drug to secular culture. Again only speaking from my personal background as someone who grew up in a foster home with Born Again foster parents in rural Ohio. If I'm wrong please feel free to correct me.

It also seems like a lot of people in the game industry are not the organized religion type. I don't think it is wall-to-wall Atheist but you definitely have more people who identify as agnostic or spiritual than they do with any of your major religions.

@not_a_bumblebee: I think is the answer I’m looking for. It being treated as a gateway drug.

Well clearly somebody has never played Jesus: Kyōfu no Bio Monster for the PC-88 or its sequel, Jesus II

We're all stumbling through our days until the ultimate religious experience is accessible to us. I present to you, I Am Jesus Christ

@onemanarmyy: And they said it ouldn't be done. A standout is the rhythm levels for the sermons. (These are both jokes.)

Dude there were actually Christian based video games released for the Nintendo back when I was a child. My Uncle showed me a cartridge of one of the games. And he actually got them for his children to play... of course my cousins hated it.

@onemanarmyy: Why is this not a VR game?

I feel like a game based on The Ten Commandments could be dope

I started reading this thread fearing it could be a disaster of <insert religious text>-cal proportions, but have found the discussion to be thoughtful, respectful, and insightful - especially the idea of believers of religious text perhaps not being fond of a multiple path video game straying from the path in the original text.

Good job posters! Back to lurking :)

Interesting topic! I think that religion can be represented in many different mediums, including video games. In fact, there are already a few video games out there that explore religious themes and concepts. It's all about how it's approached and executed, just like with any other form of media. I'm curious to see how video game developers will continue to explore and incorporate religion in their games in the future. By the way, if you're interested in exploring religion more, you should check out https://firstchurchlove.com!