Screenshotsofdespair: Assorted Kamen Rider Edition

Presented without comment.

How satanic are SMT games?

If you have to ask this question, perhaps Shin Megami Tensei isn’t for you. If your idea of Satan is a guy with red skin, horns, and a penchant for planting dinosaur bones in scientifically sound locations to fool believers into thinking the world is more than 6000 years old, then it’s definitely not for you. After all, when actual Satan appears in SMT, which isn’t often, he is usually a member of God’s retinue, exists separately from Lucifer, and looks like this:

I know first-hand that SMT’s Satan is a bit too big of a blue breasted pill to swallow for some people, and used to get into many arguments at certain websites over how it didn’t represent the “real” Satan. The thing is, this Satan doesn’t represent the modern incarnation of “The Devil,” but rather has a role based on the original Jewish conception of the obstructing spirits of YHVH that appear in the Hebrew Bible. SMT knows that there’s more to Satan than just the caricature familiar to most today.

But as for being “Satanic,” that perception is more often than not based on false pretenses. Despite actually containing Satan/Lucifer, SMT is about as Satanic as the more famously accused properties like D&D, Pokemon, or Harry Potter–in other words, not explicitly Satanic. Playing SMT is not likely to influence you to make blood sacrifices, worship goat idols, enact crazed orgies, or hang out in front of Hot Topic. In fact, SMT usually gives you the choice of buying into Lucifer’s shtick or punching him (or his cronies) in his smirking face. You can summon Hellish demons…or you can choose not to and summon angels instead. 

Still, anything can be in opposition to a set of beliefs from the “right” perspective. Think of all the mundane things that are blasphemous to Boko Haram or Islamic State, or even how many people get up in arms over the words of news pundits from either side of the political spectrum. That said, Shin Megami Tensei’s basic descriptors would probably cause it to be branded “Satanic” by sheltering parents afraid of outside influence on their children. But that’s the real answer: the real “danger” would not come from the very presence of Satan or Satanic rituals but being introduced to new ideas about real-world religions and philosophies that could broaden someone’s perspective and thus challenge their core beliefs. This is represented by the Lucifer/Satan dichotomy: Lucifer represents this freedom from ignorance, while Satan would challenge you to accept your findings in support of your own beliefs (think Job). Both may be scary prospects at first, but the choice of accepting one or the other, rejecting both, or treating SMT as no more than a video game is ultimately up to you.

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