Role Playing Games have long borrowed from a variety of sources for their gameplay ideas. When it comes to Judaism, concepts like the Golem were borrowed, but one game actually went further. Before I explain though, some background information is necessary.
The Comedy Central series South Park is known for its intentionally offensive over the top comedy, where the humor is equal opportunity offensive with no one group being singled out more. The show is intentionally so over the top to the point that the offensive parts become silly rather than hurtful. The series usually does this to make an actual point that has validity and much of the show is still relevant years later thanks to sharp writing. When it comes to video games however, the series has not had the best luck. There were several South Park games created during the show’s early years, but they were all terrible. In 2009 though, the series started to get games that were decent. For more on the early years of South Park games, I recommend checking out Daniel Ibbertson’s YouTube documentary “South Park: The History and The Games”.
In 2014, Ubisoft released the acclaimed South Park RPG, South Park The Stick of Truth, and it is here we see how Jews were portrayed in an interesting way. One of the selectable classes your character can be is actually called “Jew”, and if selected, the character of Cartman (a bigot of every flavor in the show) will comment that you and he cannot be friends. The other three classes are Fighter, Mage, and Thief, with Jew acting as a mix of a Monk and Paladin. Selecting this class also gives you equipment such as a Tallit and other objects based on Judaism, albeit with a humorous tone.
As a playable class, the Jew is intended to be High Risk/High Reward, but may actually be the best class to choose. The game gives you bonuses based on how much damage you take and how many status effects you have, but also gives you some extremely powerful attacks, the best of which is the Plagues of Egypt. This attack hits every enemy, takes off armor, and infects numerous status effects on them. The higher level your character is, the easier you will breeze through enemies, which is a neat touch. There are, of course, jokes that can be seen as offensive, but, once more, are so over the top it’s hard to take them seriously. One attack is called the circum-scythe and I think you can guess what that does.
The game’s follow-up, South Park The Fractured But Whole also shows Judaism but in a different way. In the first game, the character Kyle’s Judaism was not really a factor at all, something that is dealt with here. The Fractured But Whole has the gimmick of being a superhero RPG with Kyle being the Human Kite, a laser wielding alien. Kyle’s cousin, also named Kyle, shows up and wants to play. This becomes a recurring element, and cousin Kyle is a parody of the stereotypical nerdy Jew, as shown in Woody Allen movies. Cousin Kyle’s version of Human Kite does make use of Judaism, such as using a Sefer Torah during battle. Later events also involve Kyle’s overbearing mother, who is a stereotype of Jewish mothers that’s commonly portrayed in other media, and all of this is very uncommon to see in video games. Kyle (not cousin Kyle) will later become a playable party member as well and is one that players may want to take full advantage of, at first.
The Fractured But Whole also gives you the option to choose your religion at one point, with Judaism as an option. The game even says it’s a valid option, something it says of all but one religion. I would mention said religion, but they have a history of litigation. The fact is though, that while the Wolfenstein series portrayed characters who were Jewish, the South Park games show Jewish characters. It is a subtle, but distinct, difference and needs to be acknowledged.
South Park may be over the top, but the games actually do have a deeper message. Much like the show, it actually does have insightful comments to be made. It is one thing to have a character of Jewish descent and call it a day, but another to show Judaism as a major point in that character.
