Published on: 07/06/2021

Kung Fu Jesus Is Here On Steam

Kung Fu Who?

Kung Fu Jesus is an indie beat ‘em up 2.5D title from Celestial Gold Studios, including racing elements and a psychedelic art style. You play as a madman with schizophrenia whose name is Kung Fu Jesus. He starts down on his luck and working for a gangster but then becomes entangled in an adventure to seek out the truth of reality.

An intentionally (hopefully) incoherent plotline takes you through different dimensions and planets fighting a multitude of beings and creatures. It boasts to be a genre-bending title rich with themes and content of theology, conspiracy, science fiction, and fantasy.

Kung Fu Isn’t That Complicated

Kung Fu Jesus is an apt martial artist who uses his hand-to-hand combat prowess to take down most of his foes. You’ll smash melee buttons when close to an enemy to take them down. You can evade by jumping or double jumping, and there’s not much else. Additional variety to the gameplay will put you in control of some vehicles like spaceships, boats and cars, which also have straightforward controls.

With all of its self-proclaimed innovations in genre-bending, one may think that there’d be unique gameplay aspects as well. It is more of a mix of basic gameplay from several different game types versus bending multiple genres.

It’s A Bit Much

I understand that the intention of the graphics was to come off as trippy and give a lucid dream-like experience to the player. However, the feeling that a distinct group of game settings turned up was evident to achieve this.  There was no sense of skilled artistry across the whole game. Lens flare and neon hues obscuring enemies and making text and gameplay difficult to enjoy are not a benefit to the experience of the game.

The story is also very abstract, to put it politely. If you were trying to follow it, you’d need the writer(s) sitting directly next to you to explain the purpose of the majority of the content. Otherwise, you’ll either not care enough to become involved in the characters or require being under some influence to find coherency while playing. Being that the game is only about $14, it feels a bit harsh levying this amount of criticism.

It appears that this was a passion project, and we should appreciate that they put out a game that they are genuinely proud of. Just don’t expect your average gamer to share those same feelings.

For more news on trippy indie games, check out Just Gamers and also Just Gamers Esports. Also, if you’re interested in esports betting, feel free to check out our esports betting page.

Written by Trevor Forrest