feotakahari

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"Let me grieve, let me suffer
For one wound on me is one less on you

Let me bleed, let me feel
For a cut on me is a caress for you

Let me cry, let me moan
As all of my tears are only for me."

I find it jarring how many reviews of Blasphemous deny that it has any meaning or message. The general impression seems to be that the purpose of the game is to be violent and gruesome, and all the stuff about religion is a way of tying the violence together. To the contrary, I see Blasphemous as discussing worship of objects, worship of suffering, and the ways in which those two things tie together.

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I’ll write up my thoughts from a Utilitarian perspective once I’m finished, but I’m curious what a Muslim perspective would look like. Islamic theology isn’t my specialty, but I understand there’s a treachery-of-images thing going on. If you worship a picture of Allah, you’re not actually worshiping Allah; you’re worshiping the picture itself, and giving it reverence that should be reserved for Allah. The church in Blasphemous (a grotesque parody of Catholicism) treats the creation of lavish art as a form of worship in and of itself—more gold, more gems, more labor, more beauty = more holiness. As a Utilitarian, I’m appalled at wasting so much money on luxury while the poor sicken and starve, but I imagine a Muslim would really enjoy beating these people up.