El Shaddai Review

I remember the first time I played El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. I was in my early-twenties and I had never played a game quite like it. Yes, it was a hack-and-slash adventure. But, it was also an esoteric biblical tale drawing from Hebrew and Abrahamic traditions. The dream-like visuals were dazzling in a way I’d never seen video games be before. It didn’t feel like “just a game”. El Shaddai felt like a piece of interactive art.

So, when I heard there was a 10th anniversary re-release, I was quite keen to play it. In the ten years since I last played it, I’ve changed as a gamer. I’ve played a lot more games, I’ve developed my favorite genres, and I’ve been amazed at the what the medium of games can do. Though my rose-tinted memories of El Shaddai were humbled up on revising, I was overjoyed to find that the game retained much of its charm 10 years later.

The Book of Enoch

El Shaddai is based off the Book of Enoch. If you are unfamiliar with the text, you are not alone. Enoch is the great-grandfather of the biblical Noah and the Book of Enoch is an ancient Hebrew apocalyptic text. The text discusses the origin of demons, Nephilism, and fallen angels among other things.

With these texts as a groundwork, the development team has created a delightful fever dream. Players take on the role of Enoch. Who, in this game, is portrayed a long-haired bishounen with a toned body. God has asked Enoch to go down to Earth, find the fallen angels, and purify them. He is accompanied by God’s trusty sidekick, Lucifel, who also serves as a save point.

These fallen angels live in a tower. In this tower, they have created surreal worlds that are blasphemous, as they go against God’s designs for evolution. Naturally, Enoch visits the fallen angel’s realms. While running through each of these worlds, Enoch picks up three weapons, fights baddies, and ultimately tries to stop the fallen angels.

It’s a simple-enough plot, however at times it can feel especially enigmatic. I regularly found myself Googling things, as I wasn’t sure if they were biblical references or not. The intricacies of the plot are hidden behind various collectables, allowing players to delves as deeply (or not) as they want.

Trippy World

El Shaddai is pretty. No, it is beautiful. Though modern-gaming has got me reliant on being able to control my camera, this game does not allow you to do so. Players have to stop and appreciate the scenery. Every angle feels like a perfectly captured mise-en-scene.

That said, each realm Enoch travels to stands out, as it reflects the desires of the fallen angel who has created it. In some ways, the aesthetic diversity between levels makes the game feel genre-transcending at times. On one floor, you may be exploring a a series of watery, organic pools but the next feels like a cutesy Mario clone.

Each of these floors, however, has a very distinct surreal quality to it. These worlds created by the fallen angels are very clearly worlds not created by humans, but by the twisted desires of the creatures who have created them. This sense of uncomfortable and unearthly beauty carries on to every floor.

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The soundtrack accompanies this juxtaposition. Though there are some tracks that feel like standard video game BGM, some of the tracks perfectly balance the beauty and uneasiness of the Tower Enoch of ascending. For example, Scarlet Liturgy, which plays at the beginning of the game, blends menacing synthy sounds with celebratory tribal music. As I walked through this locale, I couldn’t help but feel like something was distinctly wrong. It perfectly set the mood.

This aesthetic, both visual and aural, is what stuck with me ten years ago. It has 100% held up. Though it seems at odds with each other, the combination of pretty-boys, personification of angels, and extremely dreamy visuals works together wonderfully.

Hack-n-Slash

Where the otherworldly story and aesthetic hit a home run, the game play in El Shaddai can be hit or miss. There are only a handful of attacks available. This means, you are often doing only a handful of moves repeatedly. The real meat of the game comes with the weapon switching mechanic. As you fight enemies, Enoch can steal and purify enemies’ weapons. There are three weapons – a fast melee weapon, a heavy melee weapon, and a ranged weapon. A huge part of playing El Shaddai is knowing when to use what weapon.

This is OK enough, if not incredibly dynamic. However, I don’t think a lot of people are playing hack-n-slash for life-changing gameplay. My biggest issue is that the controls didn’t always feel super precise. There were times where I felt cheated out of a hit or didn’t understand quite why my block didn’t work. Despite this, the fighting was still fun. Battles of low-level mobs felt fast and lively. Boss battles felt epic; every fallen angel felt distinct. The mechanics in these battles were challenging but manageable, making for a satisfying end to each chapter.

Damage is dealt with a little differently as well. As Enoch takes damage, a piece of his armor falls off until he is down to a pair of denim jeans. There is no health bar. There is also a “limit break” feature, which also doesn’t have a gauge in the game. You have to watch Enoch and wait for him to glow red. De-emphasizing the “game-y” aspects of the experience elevates El Shaddai. I payed attention every sight because I wasn’t looking at my health bar. However, during challenging boss battles, this was not my favorite. Fortunately, upon completion of your first run-through, you unlock some HUD customization.

Jump Puzzles

That said, these aren’t deal breakers. My bigger issue was the jump puzzles. There is a lot of jumping from platform to platform in this game and, at times, it felt incredibly frustrating. Initially, I thought I was just not a skilled enough gamer. I enlisted my partner, a life-long platformer fan, to help with one of the puzzles and he came to the same conclusion as I did: jumping just didn’t feel super precise. Combined with the fact that the camera angle is set, some jumps just felt incredibly rage-inducing.

Is That Really A Feature?

Some aspects of the game are locked behind successful completion of El Shaddai. Upon completion of your first run, you unlock costumes for Enoch. This is a pretty standard. However, locking the health gauge behind completion seems bizarre to me.

Additionally, players can find “Prophesies of Ishtar”. These texts explain pieces of the story. They are hidden behind jump puzzles. If you die during the puzzle, it triggers a unique “game over” cut scene. Narratively, I found this very cool. However, the second time it happened, I felt discouraged from continuing to collect the Prophesies. I didn’t want to have to watch a lengthy cut-scene just because I died.

However, both of these complaints feel nit-picky. I understand why these decisions were made; they emphasize the visuals and narrative. They just took me off-guard.

Final Thoughts

El Shaddai is not perfect, but it is unique. The beautiful visuals complement the bizarre story. And, as it was a sleeper hit 10 years ago, I’m overjoyed it got a re-release. There are some gameplay decisions that I did not love. That said, how many games explore ancient Hebrew texts and tell tales on this epic a scale? Very few.

Overall, El Shaddai is a game worth experiencing.

This review is based on a key provided by the publisher