Did you spot the religious allegories in these games?
If you’ve ever taken a critical thinking course or studied mixed media in general, you’re likely familiar with the concept of allegories: the thinly veiled moral messaging behind the main story.
Common allegories to appear across books, music, movies, and yes, even video games, reflect religious morality to various degrees of success. Depending on how well-versed you are in religion, you can find archetypes and allegories popping up in all video games, though some are much more blatant to the Everyman.
It’s also less common to find a game that follows religious allegory throughout its entirety; often times it’s only a Christ-like character in an otherwise secular story. At first thought, you’d think that science fiction and religion don’t mesh well, but they go together better than they appear.
Here are eight games that are religious allegories:
Phantasy Star
Phantasy Star sees groups of people being ostracized and forced to flee their home worlds by the Dark Force (or Dark Falz) that comes every thousand years with an Armageddon-like vengeance. Each game features a Chosen One figure — someone who is powerful enough to face the Dark Force and ward off their attempts to destroy the planet. This person travels the world helping people survive and maintain their independence.
A slightly more obvious nod to religion, Blasphemous is loosely based on the Spanish Inquisition, which saw Catholic monarchs weaponizing religion to make their power more absolute against their people. You play as the Penitent One fighting against a curse known as The Miracle, a strong reflection of the Catholic practice of eliminating Heretics.
Mortal Kombat
Throughout the Mortal Kombat series, there is the storyline of two warring worlds that represent good versus evil, with the god Raiden often pulling in humans to help fight for good and achieve salvation for Earth. The humans are specially chosen to fight on behalf of all mankind (this is sometimes shown as being physically marked).
Fallout
You play as the Dweller who is sent on a quest by the Overseer to fight the Master. Not only is the title of the game a direct reference to the story of Abraham that appears throughout Christianity and Judaism, the developer even cited his own upbringing in Catholicism as a basis for the storyline. Since it draws heavily from the story of Abraham, however, a lot of feedback The Binding of Isaac received was that it was ‘anti-religion’ or glorifying the occult and demonic.
Shin Megami Tensei
The Shin Megami Tensei series is centered around the concept of Good vs Evil with literal Demons fighting against Angels with humanity caught in between.
The Legend of Zelda
Isn’t as obvious with the use of religious allegory, but there are themes that will feel familiar if you’ve spent your share of time in a Bible Camp or Sunday School.
Halo
Both the most obvious and least obvious nod to religion in gaming. The religious allegory is both subtle and overt, but the way it’s presented in the Halo series is unique and quite clever.
On the surface, there are no overt signs of religion. But consider Master Chief’s role in the Halo universe. He is guided by Cortana, who in turn is guided by the Forerunners. The Forerunners were an ancient, advanced race of humanity that perished mysteriously. But the Forerunners’ technology is what sustains the UNSC and gives Master Chief his protection. In the end, it is Master Chief’s job to save humanity, which also reflects the story of Noah’s Ark.
The Binding of Isaac
Since it draws heavily from the story of Abraham, however, a lot of feedback The Binding of Isaac received was that it was ‘anti-religion’ or glorifying the occult and demonic.
Developer Edmund McMillen says the game is actually based on his own “abusive Catholic upbringing” and is “meant to be a reflection of how religion can be damaging to a child’s psyche.”
Fallout 4
The religious allegory in Fallout 4 is rather subtle, but it is definitely there. While there are no overt signs of religion, the central hub of Fallout 4 is a church. The building itself is rather large, but the space is meant to reflect the holiness of the location, which you are strongly encouraged to explore. Inside the church is where you’ll find the Memory Den, a place where you can relive and alter key moments in your past.
