Help needed with discernment: "Darksiders"

[Nazarite]

Hello everyone,

I’ll start off by saying I’m an avid gamer I like to play video games and I’m always on the search for new titles to play. I recently came across a gaming franchise by the name of “Darksiders” and I wanted your guys help on discerning wether I should try this title out or not. Let me first off state that I’m not affected by most movies, television, and games I just see them for what they are and I’m strong enough in my faith to not be steered by dark subject matter. But I’m having a bit of a debate with myself on wether I should even play this game.

The game is loosely based on the book of Revelations in the Bible. Vigil (the games developers) took the concepts of the Four Horsemen, the Apocalypse, Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons, among other references, and created their own take and mythology on them. The game is riddled with Judeo-Christian themes with other such things as Eden, the Tree of Life, the nephilim, etc. Curiously God is not talked of or shown but a character called the “Creator” and the “Destroyer” are referenced but do not play big roles in the game. The game’s creators have even stated they just used biblical concepts as a base to tell their story which they wanted to be more fantasy driven. They out right said they did not want any religious influences in the game they just want to tell a story based on the mythology they created. For example even though heaven’s angels and hell’s demons are in the game the games creators said there is no good and bad that the story is intentionally filled with gray areas. But I should mention in the game the main character is asked by a demon/fallen angel wether he would rule in Hell or serve in Heaven and War says “I choose what once a coward did not” obviously picking the choice to serve the creator in heaven. Also here is a link for a more in depth view of the games lore… gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/06/10/serve-in-heaven-or-rule-in-hell-exploring-the-lore-of-darksiders.aspx?PostPageIndex=3

I hope you guys read the article and I would greatly appreciate it to hear your opinions on the game. I myself am torn as when I first looked into the game I thought the art style was fantastic and the gameplay akin to Zelda but the story content has put me in a debate with myself. One side of me feels that the games creators should not have tampered with the Book of Revelations and that they are messing with something that should not be messed with. But then I get to thinking they only used concepts from Scripture and that they created their own fantasy tale with it’s own mythology. So guys what do you think about the games story I really want to hear opinions as it might put my mind at ease. On one hand I want to play the game because of its art style and gameplay but on the other hand I don’t want to play something that might be looked at badly by God. To those who would ask me to pray about this I do pray daily for God to guide me in every thought and action in my life and I feel I’m led here so I do appreciate all of your guys (name removed by moderator)ut God bless! As I’m writing I already feel God bringing me thoughts of Paul’s words speaking of when something may be considered troublesome to one who is righteous but not to another.

Thanks in advance for all comments!

 

[redbaron162]

I have played and enjoyed both the Darksiders games. Vigil studies did a great job with it.

I can understand your hesitancy but this is not at all a Christian reference game. There is no reference to Jesus or the Church or anything. It is a “Creator” and his army of angels vs a “Devil” and his army of demons and then there is you as one of the four horseman who is in many ways a neutral party that at times fights both.

If you are concerned about it then don’t play it, there are plenty of good games. If you do then just keep in mind that it is purely a fantasy story with only a very loose biblical interpretation.

 

[RedFox0456]

I played them both and thought they were fun - I just kept in mind they were fantasy games and didn’t assume they were trying to make a statement with the storyline.

 

[Jared2914]

I don’t see anything wrong with it. In fact, it might be a fun study for you to write down the references in the game compared to the Bible and how the developers’ take on things differs from our Catholic faith. I would read it. =) I haven’t played that game, but I do play Diablo 3, which has a lot of fake religious stuff in it, plus the blood and gore that most Mature games have. Any time something religious comes up in a game I make these comparisons. It keeps me grounded in the true faith, not in any ideas the developers might have.

 

[Nazarite]

Thanks guys for the replies they do really help, I did even more research and found that there are clear good vs evil elements but the characters themselves are shady to say the least. I also came across this quote from the general manager of Vigil (developers of the game) when asked if he thought there would be backlash from the church when creating the story, “We did our best from the very beginning to separate the content of our game from any religious sources. We took some basic elements: angels, demons, the four horsemen, the seals of the apocalypse – but beyond that we tried to make it obvious that this was a unique fiction completely separate from any religious material. We never thought there would be any backlash.” It seems to me like what you guys said is true that this is a game with no real concrete and deliberate references to Christianity. They simply used ideas or concepts that are religious but their intention was not to represent actual religious scripture they simply wanted to make their own mythology with familiar concepts.

 

[Nazarite]

This is a great post dissecting the game and how some say it is loosely based on the book of Revelation revelationcourse.blogspot.com/2010/11/if-god-had-made-revelation-as-videogame.html?m=1. This in depth analysis shows that what the creators of the game said was true, that they only used concepts from the Bible but it has almost no parallel to the book of Revelation when looked at closely. I feel that it would be okay to play this game as the intention of the creators and the story when examined closely show that it is a unique tale that tries hard to make itself distinct from any religious sources. It does use concepts from the Bible but other than those basic concepts the game differs so drastically it has no real parallels and the game has no intention on identifying itself along with any religious sources. So at first glance I thought this game was basing itself on and tampering with the book of Revelation and I was not okay with that, but after closer examination it has almost no ties with it and has no intention to as its simply another fictional end of the world scenario with a few religious concepts to make the story unique and interesting.