Jesus Strikes Back: Judgement Day, a soon to be released video game, will apparently let you play as Donald Trump, Jesus Christ, Vladimir Putin, Benito Mussolini, or Adolf Hitler. If that’s not disturbing enough, you win the game by shooting feminists, “social justice warriors,” and LGBTQ people.
Character names aren’t exactly those of the real people, but “Dolph” or “Tromp” are obvious allusions.
According to the game’s website, it will have an “alpha release” in late January.
But is it for real? Or just an involved attempt to troll people?
On the site, the developers address concerns about whether or not people are being punked by explaining:
“Yes, this is a REAL game. This is not ‘bait’ or ‘trolling’. If you honestly believe that individuals would spend over ten weeks developing a game only to post screenshots and ‘troll’ to achieve absolutely nothing from it other than ‘trolling’ for the sake of it, well, I just don’t know what to say….This is happening, this is in development, and this will be released whether you doubt it or not. Too much time and money from independent donors has been invested for this to be ‘bait’.”
In terms of descriptions of the game itself, the website explains:
“With the complete downfall of worldwide civilization and the freedom, liberty and independence the free world once took for granted now nothing more than a distant memory, it is up to he without sin to cast thy first bullet”
And more specifically:
“The LGBT Militia was formed after the world collapsed and are hostile towards all non-members. Alone they are weak, however, they can appear in large packs of up to 30.”
Again: It’s possible this game will never be released. It’s possible it’s an attempt to troll people on either side of the political aisle and get a reaction. Either way, it perpetuates seriously dangerous ideas and normalizes violence. It’s especially disturbing that it highlights fatal violence as a means of taking down marginalized people—namely women and LGBTQ people.
Given the rate at which women are killed each year (an average of three women per day are killed by an intimate partner in the U.S.), it’s sickening to think of this violence as a game. For LGBTQ people, the Pulse Orlando nightclub shooting in June 2016 is a fresh, haunting trauma.
For anyone, and especially for marginalized people, the risk of identity-based violence is far from a game. Hopefully, this game will be an attempt at trolling that fades into oblivion.