Death of the Reprobate combines nocturnal humor with high art

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Rejected, a word whose archaic meaning in the Calvinist tradition means “a person damned to hell”, is the ideal mindset to embody in a game where you play as an absolute bastard.

IN Death of the damnedI play the role of a youthful tyrant named Malcolm the Shit. His father, Immortal John, dies. Normally, this would be good news for a spoiled heir like him, but his plans to take the throne are thwarted when his dad tells him that he must perform seven good deeds to earn the right to rule the land. Malcolm, however, is the equivalent of some fucking Renaissance peasant who likes to have his subjects executed. It’s up to me to lead him on the path to redemption in a journey that combines nocturnal humor with… Renaissance works of art.

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Death of the damneddeveloped by Joe Richardson and released on November 7, is one of a series of games whose graphics are inspired by the most celebrated 17th-century artists in history. In case Death of the damnedI point and click to navigate a world that looks like a moving collage of art from the Renaissance, a period widely known as one of the most influential periods in the history of painting and sculpture in Europe. I can’t always identify the origins of each character or setting – the game uses a collage of visuals from various images – but I recognize elements from works such as The Last Judgmenta triptych by Lucas Cranach the Elder or Peter Paul Rubens The miracle of Saint Justus.

Photo: Joe Richardson
Photo: Joe Richardson via Polygon

From the beginning, I was shocked by the quality of the game’s graphics; I can distinguish the exquisite blend of lithe and obscure green brushstrokes on rolling European hills and observe the cracks in oil paint as if I were looking at an historic masterpiece hanging on the wall of an art gallery. When I click on the composite image of the village, misty painted clouds float past the inert background, and digitally animated art characters fly across the inert background.

In my first attempt at doing a good deed – trying to support the kids catch a fish – I explore a city filled with all sorts of quirky sights. I enter a checkerboard mansion with dozens of works of art on the walls. In one corner, two sentient monkeys in hats discuss a painting, and in the other, a woman dressed in exquisite pink silk hammers sits at a piano with another monkey at her side. I take a step back outside and a naked man is hanging from the roof by a rope tied to his foot, and a woman is hitting a man in the head with a broom on the terracotta roof.

When I talk to this colorful group of characters to support them find the best way to do my good deed, many people exploit current language that reminds me of primitive kids. During the game, the spirit medium calls me a “nerd” and the minister calls me a “nerd.” I can’t support but chuckle at the contrast between the calligraphy-style font and the primitive content. In a particularly memorable moment, I’m talking to a woman who shows me a painting of her husband’s busted butt, and in the moments that follow, several enlarged characters’ faces appear in the frame, exclaiming about the butt. I meet a guy in a leaf skirt and at the end of the conversation Malcolm says, “OK, BYEEEEEEEE!”

Such moments seem more appropriate for the scene in SpongeBob SquarePants than that found in classical art. But the contrast between the text and the visuals is what does it Death of the damned give me a pause. I didn’t like the humor because it was too over the top, but it made the game memorable.

An image of a room filled with paintings in Death of the Reprobate. There is a monkey hanging from the chandelier and they are painting monkeys.

Photo: Joe Richardson

I can’t say that I think that much about Renaissance Europe on a daily basis. However, when I played this game, I saw a primitive and often cruel period in history that was also really fucking grubby. Its world is vastly different from the luxurious, sanitized, real-world museums that house the works of art shown in the game.

In that sense Death of the damned may be a more nuanced way of contextualizing the Renaissance. Sure, there were no talking monkeys, but it wasn’t all art and sculptures. It was also a period of violence competing noble families tortured and performed public executions their rivals. Some plays focused on the beauty of the human body, while others explored the brutality of society and the violence often found in religious stories. So when I see dangling bodies and jokes in the game, it’s almost like I’m seeing Joe Richardson wagging his finger at me, reminding me of these less flattering but nonetheless essential parts of the Renaissance.

Death of the damned was released on November 7 on Windows PC. The game was reviewed on PC using a pre-download code provided by Joe Richardson. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.

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