I Am Jesus Christ

Lore & Background

The game was first conceived by SimulaM CEO Maksym Vysochanskiy during his teenage years. He initially wanted to make a computer animated film about the life of Jesus, but later changed the format to a video game to be able to depict it in first-person. Vysochanskiy identifies as Christian and described himself as 'very amazed by Him during my reading of the Bible'. The game was officially announced in 2019, with a prologue demo released on 1 December 2022. It was featured at IGN Fan Fest in 2023 and launched on 2 April 2026 for Windows.

Reader's Guide

I Am Jesus Christ generated controversy upon its announcement and trailer, as some worried the game would be blasphemous, trivialize scripture, or that it was a publicity stunt. A tweet of the game's trailer by IGN racked up nearly 70,000 reactions, consisting of critique from readers. Despite this, the game received a 'Very Positive' user rating on Steam in its launch week. Critics offered mixed assessments: Jeong Jae-hoon of Inven considered the game might be a good vessel for Bible study but called it more of a bible study simulator than a game, with clumsy implementation. Richard Amalfitano of 4News found the concept unique and original, and praised how it translated its source material into interactive form, but described the gameplay as superficial and criticized technical aspects including character animations and the use of artificial intelligence for voice acting. The game uses possibly the most well-known intellectual property, according to Jeong Jae-hoon.

Did You Know?

• The game was conceived by CEO Maksym Vysochanskiy during his teenage years, originally as a computer animated film.
• The game avoids depicting the face or any canonical appearance of Jesus, showing only the character's hands.
• The crucifixion of Jesus is depicted symbolically to avoid the depiction of violence.
• The game's prologue demo was released on 1 December 2022.

Design Philosophy and Player Perspective

The defining creative choice behind I Am Jesus Christ is its commitment to placing the player directly inside the experience of Jesus's life. Rather than observing the figure from a third-person camera, the game renders the world entirely through a first-person lens, showing only the character's hands at the bottom of the screen. This deliberate avoidance of depicting a face or any canonical physical appearance of Christ was a core tenet from the project's earliest conception. The designer, Maksym Vysochanskiy, had long wanted to portray Jesus's story from the inside, and it was specifically the ability to achieve that first-person immersion that pushed the project away from its original format as a computer-animated film and toward the interactive medium of a video game. Mechanically, the title weaves together elements of role-playing games, visual novels, and a partially open-world structure, giving players a blend of narrative-driven progression and exploratory freedom. The result is a game that prioritizes intimate, subjective experience over spectacle, asking players to inhabit the events of the New Testament rather than simply watch them unfold.

A Small Team's Long-Gestating Vision

The story of I Am Jesus Christ is, in many ways, the story of one person's lifelong fascination finding a small but dedicated team to bring it to life. Maksym Vysochanskiy, who identifies as Christian, first conceived the idea during his teenage years, describing himself as "very amazed" by what he encountered while reading the Bible. His initial plan was to produce a computer-animated film chronicling the life of Jesus, but the format ultimately proved insufficient for the immersive, first-person experience he envisioned. That realization led him to pivot toward video games as the medium capable of placing a player inside the narrative. He assembled SimulaM, a five-person development team based in Warsaw, Poland, and under the publishing banner of PlayWay, the project moved from a private ambition into public view. The game was officially announced in 2019, followed by a free prologue demo on 1 December 2022, a showcase appearance at IGN Fan Fest in 2023, and finally a full launch on Windows on 2 April 2026. The journey from a teenager's initial sketch to a shipped product spanned well over a decade.

Controversy, Criticism, and a Surprising Launch

The mere announcement of I Am Jesus Christ ignited a firestorm of debate long before any player could press start. Critics and commentators worried the project would be blasphemous, would trivialize sacred scripture, or was simply a calculated publicity stunt. When IGN shared the game's trailer on social media, the post attracted nearly 70,000 reactions consisting largely of critique. Yet the actual launch experience told a different story: during its first week on Steam, the game earned a "Very Positive" user rating, suggesting that those who actually played it found genuine value. Professional reviews were more mixed. Jeong Jae-hoon of Inven acknowledged that the game harnessed perhaps the most universally recognized intellectual property in human history and could serve as a useful vessel for Bible study, though he characterized it more as a "bible study simulator" than a traditional game and called its implementation clumsy. Richard Amalfitano of 4News praised the concept's uniqueness and its successful translation of source material into interactive form, while criticizing the gameplay as superficial and flagging technical shortcomings in character animations and the use of artificial intelligence for voice acting.

Walking the New Testament: Narrative and Structure

The narrative architecture of I Am Jesus Christ follows the player step by step through the events of the New Testament, structured as a series of distinct locations that each recreate a well-known moment from Jesus's life. The journey begins with leaving Nazareth and progresses through finding the Twelve Apostles, delivering sermons, and performing miracles. Among the specific scenes players encounter are the transformation of water into wine and the forty days and nights spent in the desert. The game's partially open-world design allows for a degree of exploration within these set pieces, while the broader narrative arc remains guided and sequential. The story culminates in the crucifixion, a moment the developers chose to depict symbolically rather than graphically, a decision made explicitly to avoid showing violence. This structural approach—moving from one iconic biblical episode to the next within a first-person frame—gives the game the feel of a guided pilgrimage through sacred history, where the player's role is less that of a traditional protagonist making choices and more that of a witness inhabiting the body of the central figure.