About Messiah

posthumans - the Chots (devolved rather)
cannibalism - it is said the Chots eat their own. (Unverified if this is actually seen or if the player can perform this when possessing one of them.)

--- notes
religion-christian --- the most I can gather from this game is that there's a single god who sends out Bob the cherub down to Earth to fix things because satan or some other evil devil/demon is messing things up. This seems to be more as punishment for Bob than actually to save Earth. The focus of the game is humor, however, so the religious content may be only superficial.

There is no christian religious content in this game. There is superficial content that could be Islamic, Jewish, Mormon, Bahá'í, Gnostic, Buddhist, Satanic, Sikh, Platonic (Platonism), Hindu, Catholic, Jain, Christian, Hermetic Qabalah, Brahma Kumaris, Zoroastrian, or Greek Myth. The content is not consistent with any of these. I will admit I'm not an expert in all of these religions, but I am confident that the content of this game is in fact contradictive to all of them. This game's content is Hollywood religion, and even that is a thin case. Movies are not a source of scholarly accuracy.

Study the subject or stop applying the religion-christian tag to games, please. Email me if you think i applies to a game. I'll check it out. Email any pastor, priest, or rabi. Walk into any synagogue or church that has a Torah or Holy Bible and ask any member if a game has significant christian religious content. Ask Paul Verhoeven for Christ's sake. He's merely a hollywood director but he knows the difference.

Then I would propose we introduce religion lookalike tags, because this includes pretty obvious Christian lookalike religion. Same for the Ys series, tho in that case it's mostly the related iconography (crosses, feather winged angels and whatever else).

Probably something in vein of Crystal Dragon Jesus.

For the current tagging: the antagonist is Satan, you're a cherub the God has sent to solve the problem, the humans have scientifically(?) proven heaven and hell exist. I'm not really sure what more you need?

I am sincerity suggesting that you do not know enough about Christian religion to know what looks like it. I am sincerity suggesting you consult someone who does. Why does this game, to you, look like Christian and not Zoroastrian? Explain just one reason is not Zoroastrian? "Messiah" is a Hebrew word, not Christian. Christian writings favor the term "Christ" (a Greek word). Explain just one reason the game is not Judaism? Do you know the biblical description of a cherub? It does not match what is shown in the game. The character in the game resembles a description from Greek myth.

Satan, cherub, God, heaven, and hell are not exclusive to Christianity. Especially cherub.

And again, if all of the content you mention is unequivocally identified as exclusively Christian, where is the ritual? Where is the teaching? Where is the 'Christian rules'? There is no religion there, only characters and places taken away from it.


As I understand it, Crystal Dragon Jesus would require the religion part, which doesn't seem to be present. Note that the page points out "Fantasy Counterpart Culture Christianity" should not be taken for Crystal Dragon Jesus.

Faux Symbolism seems to be a more likely trope in this case.
"This technique is particularly popular in anime, because the Japanese generally only have a passing familiarity with Christianity (making its symbolism recognizable but still exotic), and will often use names or apocrypha without regard for their actual significance. And of course the corollary being that Western productions likewise only have a passing familiarity with Eastern philosophies (for example, Karma). If Faux Symbolism is used purely in naming people or things, it's Squat's in a Name, a subtrope of this."
SquatsInAName might be the case here.

Iconography pretty much universally attributed to christianity and none for zoroastrianism.



Technically the protagonist matches description of a putti, which is used in christian architecture and such and quite widely attributed to said faith unlike anything else, especially where the game was made.


I'm fine generalizing it as abrahamic religions if that's better.

Anyway, the issue relates to an old forum thread: /forum/thread/65601. The game was tagged years before the thread was made however, though the tagging was not corrected after.