Video game simulates Jesus

Video game developers SimulaMaker and PlayWay plan to release a virtual reality simulation game titled I am Jesus Christ in time for Christmas.

The game trailer shows first-person views of Biblical stories, with users acting as Jesus by performing miracles and interacting with other Biblical characters. The company intends to release the game prologue on Dec. 1, with the rest of the game expected by spring 2023. It is the first virtual reality game to give users a first-person view from the perspective of Jesus.

The game chronicles Christ’s life from just before His baptism through His crucifixion and resurrection. Users see only Jesus’ hands.

The game features multiple Bible stories, including Jesus giving Peter, James, and John the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1–11), turning water into wine at the Cana wedding (John 2:1-11), calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:23–27, Mark 4:35–41, Luke 8:22–25), and fasting in the desert before Satan’s temptation (Matthew 4:1-11). The latter scene is complete with an energy ball-throwing Satan.

Beyond the sacrilege attached to acting as the Son of God, the game takes many artistic liberties with Scripture. Developers give Christ the power to move things without touching them and seemingly attempt to explain how miracles occurred. When healing the royal officer’s son as described in the Gospel of John, Jesus is shown entering the child’s bloodstream and manipulating red blood cells with outstretched hands.

Jesus also performs his miracles with the “Holy Spirit energy” and must continually recharge this energy to continue play, relegating a member of the Holy Trinity to nothing more than a metric wheel on the lower right corner of the screen.

The company announced the game’s development in 2019 and expects the full version to release by the second quarter of 2023. SimulaMaker CEO Maksym Vysochanskiy says he developed the idea for a video game on the life of Christ over 20 years ago, inspired by animated films like Toy Story and Shrek.

Vice reporter Matteo Lupetti received early access to a game demo and described developers as taking a “fairly serious” approach to the game by frequently referencing Scripture as it corresponds with gameplay.

When VICE questioned Vysochanskiy about the game’s potential to be mocked online, the CEO said, “We already had that problem with our trailers, but … somebody needs to make such a game.”