Reprobate, a word whose archaic meaning in the Calvinist tradition is “a person damned to hell,” is the perfect mindset to embody in a game where you play as an absolute bastard.
In Death of the Reprobate, I assume the role of a young tyrant named Malcolm the Shit. His father, Immortal John, is dying. Usually, that would be good news for a spoiled heir like him, but his plans to assume the throne hit a snag when his daddy tells him he must perform seven good deeds to earn his right to rule the land. Malcolm, however, is the equivalent of some sort of Renaissance-era fuckboy who likes to order the execution of his subjects. It’s up to me to usher him along on his path to redemption in a journey that combines potty humor with… Renaissance artwork.
Death of the Reprobate, developed by Joe Richardson and released on Nov. 7, is one in a series of games that feature visuals inspired by history’s most renowned 17th-century artists. In the case of Death of the Reprobate, I point and click to navigate a world that looks like a moving collage of Renaissance-era art, a time widely known as one of history’s most influential periods for painting and sculpting in Europe. I can’t always pin down the origin of each character or setting — the game uses a collage of visuals from across paintings — but I recognize elements from works like The Last Judgement, a triptych by Lucas Cranach the Elder, or Peter Paul Rubens’ The Miracle of Saint Justus.
From the beginning, I was shocked by the quality of the graphics in the game; I can distinguish the delicate mixing of light and dark green brushstrokes in the rolling European hills and observe the cracks in the oil paint, as if I’m staring at an aged masterpiece hanging on the wall of an art gallery. As I click around the composed image of a village, hazy painted clouds roll past and digitally animated characters from pieces of art flutter against the static background.
In my first attempt at a good deed — trying to help some kids reel in a fish — I click around a town populated with all kinds of bizarre sights. I step into a checkered-floor manor that contains dozens of art pieces on a wall. In one corner, two sentient monkeys wearing hats discuss a painting, and in the other, a woman draped in delicate pink silk hammers away at a piano with another monkey by her side. I take a step back outside and a naked man dangles from a roof by a rope attached to his foot, and a woman smacks a man on the head with a broom on a terracotta roof.
As I talk to this colorful cast of characters to help piece together the best way to accomplish my good deed, many use modern vernacular that I’d associate with crude kids. While playing, a spiritual medium calls me a “nerd” and a clergy member calls me a “narc.” I can’t help but giggle at the contrast between the calligraphy-style font and the crass content. In a particularly memorable moment, I talk to a woman who shows me a painting of her husband’s butt crack, and in the subsequent moments, several zoomed-in faces of characters pop into frame to exclaim about the butt. I meet some guy wearing a skirt of leaves and, to end the conversation, Malcolm says, “OK, BYEEEEEEEE!”
Moments like these seem more fit for a scene in SpongeBob SquarePants than one situated in classical art. But the contrast between the writing and the visuals is what makes Death of the Reprobate give me pause. The humor didn’t really land for me, because it was so overdone — but it made the game memorable.
Image: Joe Richardson
I can’t say that I think about Renaissance-era Europe all that much in my day-to-day life. However, when I played this game, I got to see a crass and often cruel period of history that’s also really fucking grimy. Its world is a far cry from the luxurious, sanitized real-life museums that house the artwork shown in the game.
In this sense, Death of the Reprobate might be a more nuanced way to contextualize the Renaissance era. Sure, there weren’t talking monkeys, but it wasn’t all just art and sculptures. It was also a violent era when competing noble families would torture and publicly execute their rivals. Some art focused on the beauty of the human body, whereas others explored the brutality of society and violence often present in religious stories. So when I see bodies dangling and butt jokes in the game, it’s almost as if I can see Joe Richardson wagging his finger at me, reminding me of these less flattering, but nonetheless important, parts of the Renaissance era.
Death of the Reprobate was released Nov. 7 on Windows PC. The game was reviewed on PC using a pre-release download code provided by Joe Richardson. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
