Despite its M-rating, questionable use of nudity, and dark storylines, the Witcher 3 has two representations of the Gospel and you probably never even saw them.
The Witcher 3 gets the same kind of attention that Grand Theft Auto does among Christian circles; the moment you speak it, people immediately ask, “Isn’t that the game with sex in it”? While that is there and it is entirely avoidable; it’s the nudity that isn’t in some cutscenes and areas (and that’s a whole other post entirely). What people fail to bring up when discussing The Witcher 3 is its story: a dad searching for his daughter. It’s this story that leads Geralt through different storylines, interacts with a wide variety of characters, and more. It’s also a representation of the Gospel that folks seem to ignore.
Minor Spoilers Ahead
There are two quests, one we’ll talk about in another post, in particular, that depict the Gospel message in so subtle a way, that you almost don’t know it’s there. For those of us who are familiar with the Gospel, however, we can catch it a mile away. For those curious, let me explain the two quests.
Starting in Skellige, a vast land that is equal parts sea, mountains, and monsters lurking in the shadows. After Geralt finishes helping a local with a nasty wraith problem, they’re confronted in a pub by two brothers who don’t take kindly to foreigners, especially witchers. A fight breaks out, leaving everyone dead save for Geralt; an awkward situation this makes for the hero. He is then thrown in jail to await his trial. A few days pass before Geralt is brought before the ruler of the village to receive his sentence: a large sum of coin that no one can even pay, not even a rich man. Shocked, Geralt explains that that is a debt he could never pay. The ruler chuckles, agrees, and then says, “That is why I’m paying the blood debt for you”. Geralt is shocked, yet again, thanks the ruler and carries on his quest to find Ciri.
Did you catch that? Geralt had a debt he could not repay and the ruler showed mercy and compassion by paying the debt himself. This is exactly what Christ did on the cross! When I saw this scene play out, I was surprised and had to put the controller down for a second. Did the developer mean to put this in there? Did they know they were writing a Gospel presentation? Regardless, the fact that a Gospel presentation is in a video game is unbelievably #datpostmil.
It causes me to pause and consider what other games might have Gospel presentations in them. Have you come across any in a game? Let us know in the comments below!