Video games are meant to be a form of escapism from reality, although in recent times, there has been an influx of gaming titles that tend to reflect reality more than ever before. Perhaps it is a shift in what gamers want, but one thing is for sure: video games always tread on the borders of fantasy first, with plenty of creative license coming into play to engage the imagination of the gamer. Fight of Gods is one such title that has appeared on Steam, with the main talking point being a Jesus figure that is on the contrary to what is depicted in the Gospels.
Fight of Gods is a 2D brawler that is basically a beat ‘em up with characters that revolve around various religions. No doubt Jesus is one of them, mingling with the others such as Buddha, Athena, Odin, and Zeus, among others. Victory will depend on how fast your reflexes are and the way you plan your fighting strategy. At least it will answer the question of whether Jesus or Buddha will emerge as the victor.
The Jesus depicted in Fight of Gods is not the gentle Lamb of God that has been described in the Bible. In fact, the Jesus who burned with righteous anger as he drove out those traders and their livestock in the Temple with a whip would not be able to compare to the kind of beating and whooping that this video game version of Jesus dishes out. The video game Jesus will have splintered segments of his cross strapped to his ripped body, functioning as gauntlets of war. His head continues to be adorned by a crown of thorns, while he wears a belt of thorns -- which is something extra that was not mentioned in the Gospels.
No doubt such a portrayal of Jesus has raised eyebrows in many places, and you can be sure that not too many Christians are going to play this game for a simple reason: it is not only a blasphemous representation of Jesus, but the game itself is not worth losing sleep over. Fight of Gods will not break any new ground when it comes to the beat ‘em up genre, as it does seem to have been designed for mobile devices before being ported over to the PC format.
Originally programmed and developed by Digital Crafter, a game studio in Taiwan, Fight of Gods was published by PQube. Well, this is certainly the second coming of Jesus, except in the wrong and digital form. You won’t be able to win converts to this game by making light of revered figures, even more so along religious lines. One thing is for sure, Digital Crafter must have seen more than enough reactions from Muslims worldwide to avoid Muhammad altogether. After all, how are they going to depict Muhammad -- a skilled combatant in close quarters who has long range attacks by throwing bombs? It is going to be another Charlie Hebdo experience all over again should Digital Crafter have trodden in that direction.
We do know that Malaysia has already moved swiftly to block the download of Fight of Gods, as gamers are unable to access Steam on both mobile and desktop platforms. The authorities claimed that “this action is necessary to protect the users and to prevent untoward incidents. (To ensure) solidarity, harmony and well-being of the multiracial and multi-religious people in the country are the main objectives of the Government. The Government will not compromise on any action that can jeopardize these objectives.”
Of course, if you were to use a VPN, you can easily overcome such obstacles, so those who are interested can take the VPN route and give Fight of Gods a go. However, this move to cut the nose to spite the face is certainly a difficult one to comprehend. What do you think?
