Religions in video games

Tales of Symphonia had an amazing story, and it struck me at one point that its presentation of the dominant religion in the world bore some rather strong resemblances to Marx's view on religion.

The Breath of Fire series also typically has the protagonists combatting the members of a religion, too (with the final boss often being that religion's deity, to boot).

Many games have religious components on them though not always explicit.  As Domatron23 points out Final Fantasy X certainly has a religious component but so would the other Final Fantasy games.  Final Fantasy VII, for example, very much has an Avatar-esk religion in which God and nature are very much intertwined.  Final Fantasy IX has a very similar religious theme to it.

Warcraft/World of Warcraft features the Light, an impersonal force that seems to resemble the Force from Star Wars at times and other times is almost theistic in nature.  Having a priesthood and churches gives an almost Christian feel as well.  There are also various other religious types within Warcraft such as the Native American-esk Tauren, Voodoo-esk Trolls, etc.

There are plenty of other games with religions such as Dragon Age: Origins (at one point two of the characters actually get into a theological debate over the existence of God), Diablo, Mass Effect (various alien religions), Xenosaga/Xenogears, Black & White, Civilization, etc. etc.

In Bayonetta, I play a witch powered by the forces of darkness - fighting against angels and engaging other servants of heaven in mind-numbing combat.

I use my hair as clothing, or for special attacks on celestial enemies. My hair-clothing disappears during special attacks and re-constitutes itself to form a brutal weapon that finishes the guardians of heaven. I have not finished it yet, so don't know if there's some plot twist that restores the good triumphing over evil balance that the game currently lacks.

Bayonetta has some of the most intense, crazy, migraine-inducing graphics I've seen on this generation.

^

I'm kind of entrenched in my love for the first Devil May Cry (another game that uses religion) to have played Bayonetta. I'll be giving it a go at some point though because I've heard such good things about the combat system.

^

I'm kind of entrenched in my love for the first Devil May Cry (another game that uses religion) to have played Bayonetta. I'll be giving it a go at some point though because I've heard such good things about the combat system.

domatron23

I can't recommend it enough (although I did hear the PS3 version did have some problems at launch).- It's the next evolution of DMC. I bought the Brady guide on a recommendation from Amazon and that's amazing too - 430 pages! The game has a really detailed combo system, but thankfully also has a button mashing settings for the sausage-fingered and scorched-retina'd .