Justice Bundle Reviews #3: Tamashii

Tamashii* is another game from the Big Bundle whose tagline succeeded in grabbing my attention. "Weird Luciferian Puzzle Platformer". Luciferian, eh? Not "Satanic"? When I saw the option to choose between English and Portuguese for game text, I supposed that perhaps it was a quirk of the translation, but the translated text is flawless. The word choice is, I believe, intentional and apt.

Most of the time when I see something about "Satanism" these days, it's in the context of the Satanic Temple or the Church of Satan, both of which are fundamentally atheistic organizations. They adopt the name and imagery of Christianity's devil figure as a way of expressing their opposition to entrenched religions and to take the piss, as it were. Tamashii, on the other hand, has or at least posits an actual theology. It says, "if there were a Creator or Patriarch who sent you forth into the world, and who expects service and obedience for having created you, rendering that service and obedience unquestioningly would not necessarily be good, right, or smart." Thus, Luciferian: we look to the example of the "Lightbringer" who rebelled against God as our role model.

If that's the message the game wanted me to take away, it was effective! The authors could maybe have sold it better, though. You're not given a choice at any point in whether to rebel or comply (oh irony); progressing through the levels requires you to first do as the Patriarch bids, then eventually stray from the path He set out for you, whether you want to do either thing or not. And I don't know what the game's generically shock-seeking aesthetic has to say at all. There's stuff everywhere that maybe makes you ask "eww, what is that?", but there's no answer to the question. Why are there chompy mouths on the walls? Why do nude bodies explode? Why does an angry baby appear and scream? The answer is "it's a decoration" or "it's a hazard" or "it's a jump scare", that's all.

Once you've seen one belligerent fetus or spontaneously-combusting fertility idol, you've seen them all.

 
Oh, you probably want to know about the gameplay! On that count I give an unreserved thumbs-up. The core mechanic is that you can drop up to three "clones", little chattering totems that don't move on their own but can hold down buttons to open doors, attack enemies, or otherwise assist in solving puzzles. From start to finish, the game is about manipulating these simple tools in increasingly complicated ways and while evading increasingly tricky dangers, which is exactly where I like my puzzle-platformers to live.

If you enjoy spike-dodging action, puzzles that take thought but won't make you ragequit, and weird opaque lore with Qabbalistic trappings, Tamashii will be your jam. Available on Itch for $5!

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* Why "Tamashii"? The game is in Portuguese, translated into English, with a sprinkling of Hebrew and Latin for the religious references. Where does the Japanese come from? Your guess is as good as mine...