Grezzo 2

Plot

The protagonist Piro, a pagan farmer from Perugia, Italy, is embittered over the rise of Christianity. He begins a killing spree by massacring his grandparents' silver wedding anniversary at a church, then dies and falls into the afterlife.

There, God is depicted as a short-tempered, foul-mouthed man in cultist robes; Piro can fight and kill God or avoid the fight and escape. Returning to Earth, Piro infiltrates the Virgin Mary's womb to kill the gestating Jesus, fertilizes an egg that appears with his semen, and a new Piro bursts from Mary, killing her. The reborn Piro plays a banjo for the Three Wise Men.

Development

Grezzo 1 was developed by Nicola Piro in his high school's religion class computer room, inserting friends' likenesses, and was banned once teachers learned of its content. Piro did not release Grezzo 1 publicly due to its in-jokes. Grezzo 2 took two years to develop, with one year spent researching editors and assets. Much content was taken from games like Blood and Carmageddon, then modified with references to Italian pop culture.

Prominent Italian celebrities and politicians appear, typically as antagonists. Piro stated he wanted to create a vulgar game to offend any religious organization, and described the Pope as a monster and an enemy. Grezzo 2 runs on Skulltag, a modified Doom engine version.

Reception and controversy

The game received significant media attention for its graphic violence, sexual content, and irreverence toward religious figures, with journalists characterizing it as blasphemous. Kotaku editor Patricia Hernandez said the mod consists of killing religious and pop culture figures, and that nothing is sacred. In 2015, Twitch added Grezzo 2 to its list of prohibited games. It received an honorary mention during the 2012 Cacowards, with the reviewer calling it the most psychotic thing to release that year and praising its over-the-top presentation as so bad it's awesome.

Did You Know?

• After Grezzo 2, Giochi Penosi developed Super Botte & Bamba II Turbo, a 2D fighting game featuring characters from Italian trash culture.
• A sequel called GrezzoDue 2 (lit. Crude Two 2) was released on Christmas Eve of 2023.