Trope or not, gods just end up being a common target for games about heroes escalating in power while fighting increasingly world-destroying consequences.
So, for each post, name a game and describe it, with the assumption being that every description automatically ends with the phrase:
“…and then it ends with you fighting a god.”
To some extent the majority of JRPGs fit into this trope. It’s a long running joke that it isn’t a JRPG if you don’t end up fighting a god with the power of friendship.
In fact, there are particular reasons behind this that are influenced by Japanese culture and history.
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Fable
As a kid you get your village burned down but you’re rescued at the last minute by a Hero.
You’re raised in the Heroes Guild and become one yourself. You help people, kick some chickens, and learn magic.
And then you fight a god, twice.
And then I get the solus greatsword and berserk and win the game.
In the first Witcher game, you fight a god from the Cthulu mythos (Dagon) on like a side quest, and he’s not even that tough.
You are in a theater group and steal a magical princess. Yada Yada Yada, you find out your twin brother is using magic life mist to build an army of dolls… Yada Yada yada, the princess turns a castle into a giant robot to fight the doll army… Yada Yada yada, you go to your alien space ship to find all of your other clones, yada yada yada your clone brother kills you and the only way to realive is to kill Necron the god of death and then the game ends.
Final Fantasy 9, the pinnacle of FF games doing this.
Another favorite for me though would be Breath of Fire.
You are a man, you become a dragon man, you find out you were always a dragon, find the goddess and have to chose between killing her or becoming a dragon god and killing your friends.
Firstly, I feel offended you reduced the giant mecha vs a dragon cinematic to robot vs a doll army :P
Ff9 did the “all powerful god” but it is really a wtf out of no where momement that can feel jarring with the themes of the game - a ludonarrative narrative dissonance, unless I missed some obscure reference to it somewhere
I would argue that ff6 wrote a less jarring “kill a god” fight:
spoiler
Although pulling ideas from christianity, it has a psychopathic clown ascend to godhood, shatter the world and sit a top his “heavenly throne” shooting god rays from the sky on a whim
The fight then is a series of killing his “angels” before finally destroying him and shattering his “heaven”
Nier Automata gets really meta…
Silent Hill and Silent Hill 3 - both games revolve around a cult that is trying to bring about the rebirth of their deity. You play as someone who finds themselves in the town of Silent Hill in search of a person. You solve puzzles, battle monsters, and navigate the town… and then it ends with you fighting a god.
Most of the Dark Souls are like that, ain’t they? I’m too weak sauce to ever reach those levels, though. Black Myth Wukong has you starting Heaven’s entire army, so I guess that qualifies too (I’m assuming you end up fighting a god at the end, but again, I’m not worthy)
Monkey canonically kicks all the gods’ asses, but then loses to Buddha, who is not a god. That’s because instead of using force, Buddha preys on Monkey’s ego by giving him an unwinnable bet. And THEN Buddha drops a mountain on him.
Morrowind
How can you kill a god? What a grand and intoxicating innocence.
I remember that the sound of his voice surprised me a lot, but I really like it. It honestly sounds a lot more normal than I would have expected - but I guess the voice is the difference between a god and a fake god!
Someone had to put it in a song https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iR-K2rUP86M
There is an argument to be made that neither Dagoth Ur not the tribunal are strictly speaking “gods” by Elder Scrolls’ definitions. They have godlike powers thanks to the heart, but they are referred to as false gods by all the Deadric gods you interact with.
Heck, the main quest is basically Azura using you as her vessel to expose the falsity of the Tribunal’s claim to godhood.
Although, if you go one level deeper and you buy into Vivec actually achieving Chim, then it could be argued he is at least as godlike as Talos (who used his understanding of Chim to retcon the actual history of Tamriel). Which is another can of worms, because his godhood is also questioned and the whole reason his worship was outlawed in the white-gold concordant…
Oh Elder Scrolls lore, how I love your convoluted nature.
And oblivion, and skyrim
- Divinity Original Sin
- Soul Reaver through to Legacy of Kain - Defiance (Elder God)
- Titan Quest
- Shin Megami Tensei
- Cat Quest
- Hades
- Smite
- Mortal Kombat?
The Talos Principle.
Elohim DESTROYED with Facts and Logic!
Mario and friends find a secret door while on their quest to defeat weapon invaders from another dimension.
I mean… Dark Souls is the game that essentially created this meme.
Your entire goal is to beat up God and take his place so you can keep things going as they’ve been going for an untold number of centuries. Though IMO that’s one of the bad endings; the good ending is ending the status quo and becoming a new, different god. A god a humanity instead of… Whatever the fuck the gods before were (they are separated from humanity, even though they look like humans) 🤷🏻♂️.
For a much older game… EarthBound. Starts off just being a quirky, modern day (modern day being the 90’s in this case) RPG; ends with you fighting a literal space god that looks vaguely like a fallopian tube.
I’m fairly sure the meme was popularized way back with old JRPGs; just that they tended to be the ones with long enough stories to gain that kind of path of progression.
Yeah if I had to take a guess shin megami tensei series (1987) is solidly in the “… And then you fight God”, but a lot games even earlier probably did the same.
Actual gods, or do self-proclaimed gods that are actually something else count?
Cuz if the latter, Final Fantasy 1 (same year, few months earlier) might be Patient Zero for killing “gods” in jRPGs.
I just checked, and Dragon Quest 2 released in January of the same year as both of those games and ends with you fighting Malroth, god of destruction. If anything is patient zero, it’s the Dragon Quest series.
Haha, I think it’s very likely there are even earlier examples than both of those. I debated counting final fantasy, and did not recall the final boss of Dragon Quest 2.
I think ultimately, Man v God is a story that’s existed for a looong time.
No one has mentioned Noita yet? In Noita, killing a god is part of exploring the game.
mass effect. Shepard kills many reapers, which are pretty close to eldritch gods in another setting.
Yakuza 0 goes through all the emotions with its storytelling: you start by singing karaoke, then become a fugitive, you go bowling, lose a friend, watch a dirty video…
Also, holy shit, most of you guys missed the point. Edit: Wait, did I miss the point? I thought this post was about wrong games for funsies
Though you DO actually fight a god in Yakuza 5 as a sidequest.
