The sanctity of marriage between Jews is something “The Shivah” creator Dave Gilbert says his mother felt very strongly about, and viewing it as a “very Jewish problem to face” led him to include it in the game. As the story progresses, he is forced to come to grips with his own ideals and whether the way he espouses his faith is really the right way to do it. Stone refusing to marry them and casting them out from his synagogue is what eventually leads to one’s murder. The game’s conflict stems from an interfaith marriage between two characters. Where “The Shivah” differs is that the player cannot directly decide what Rabbi Stone will say next: They can decide his tone, as well as whether they want to give a “Rabbinical response” and answer a question with another question, but exactly what he says is up to him.
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“The Shivah” is a point-and-click adventure game in the style of games like the “Monkey Island” series and “Myst.” Like many of its genre contemporaries, it presents the player with multiple dialogue options that determine the ending they get. It follows the tale of a rabbi struggling with his faith who becomes the suspect in the murder of a former member of his synagogue. Published in 2006 by developer Wadjet Eye Games, “The Shivah” is perhaps the most Jewish game ever. Rabbi Russell Stone (and various other characters) – The Shivah (2006, 2013)Īs far as indie games go, “The Shivah” could be considered one of the first to feature Jewish characters and themes. This makes Blazkowicz himself Jewish as well. Later that year, Blazkowicz’s character designer Tom Hall confirmed on Twitter that he designed Blazkowicz with the intent of him having a Jewish mother who was persecuted in the prewar period. However, according to a statement posted on Kotaku in 2014, developer MachineGames aimed to “leave it up to the player to interpret” rather than stating that he was Jewish in the game’s text. can even assassinate Adolf Hitler himself.īlazkowicz’s Judaism remains vague in the games themselves, but there were hints sprinkled throughout that implied he was Jewish - the most convincing of which being his ability to read Hebrew. and the developers feel about Nazis - in “Wolfenstein 3D,” B.J. The games pull no punches in displaying how B.J.
He’s an ardent antifascist who joins the American resistance against the Axis powers to investigate Nazi activity. The main character of most of the games, William Joseph Blazkowicz, or “B.J.” for short, is a Polish-American Jew who acts as a spy and specializes in one-man missions. The first game was banned in Germany due to its usage of Nazi iconography, and in recent years some on the far right have taken issue with the series’ violent answer to fascism and its #NoMoreNazis advertising campaign in 2017. The ongoing series was foundational to the first-person shooter genre, being one of the first of its kind to achieve widespread popularity alongside “Doom” and “Quake.” “Wolfenstein”’s innovations in the genre would lead to some of the most well-known games ever, such as the “Call of Duty” and “Halo” series.īut the series is not without its controversy, as one might expect from a game about killing as many Nazis as you can.
The “Wolfenstein” series is all about doing arguably the most Jewish thing a person can do: fighting Nazis.
Some character summaries may contain spoilers for their respective games.ī.J. Get The Jewish Chronicle Weekly Edition by email and never miss our top stories There is certainly a need for more Jewish representation in media, which includes video games, but it is still important to take note of what representation is already out there, what it means to people and how it can be improved upon in the future. Their religious identities are not often integral to their stories, but their Jewishness still deserves to be acknowledged. As such, Jewish characters are a rarity in games, but there are still some out there.