Mastema Out of Hell - Critical Floor

Welcome dear reader to the Critical Floor where I examine the thematic elements in games and attempt to examine them and try to divine meaning where they may very much have been none intended. A place where I'm sure many will think I'm doing some real fart sniffing nonsense. So join me won't you as I explore Mastema Out of Hell or go now unburdened by my nonsense for after all 

In my review of Mastema Out of Hell I commented upon the game being surprisingly thematically deep. Now to be clear this is thematically deep for an indie mostly pixel art platformer not made by Jonathan Blow.

Obviously Spoilers are abound here because I have to talk about the story to talk about the thematic elements so

SPOILER WARNING

The game initially open with a series of scene on about you ending up in hell as a damned soul with no memory of how you got there.

You watch a fight between a an angel and a demon and take up the dropped sword of an Angel.

The thing to note however is the shape of the sword, here's a picture of it in a level as a pick up.

You're a damned soul in hell wielding a sword that looks a bit like an upside down crucifix. For those with knowledge vaguely paranormal stuff or horror films the upside down crucifix is generally associated with demons and evil. You being in hell well it should already clue you in that you may not have been the best of people in life. This may just be a coincidence or have been a deliberate hint at what's to come.

However as you progress through the game to there's not many other hints until you hit the final area of the game. The final section of the game does something very different with the enemies. Instead of vanishing in a poof of smoke they transform into women when hit with the sword or any special attack.

This isn't a one off either it's all the enemies in the final levels. There's also women who shoot out energy blast that can harm or at least hinder your progress. All this comes to a head when you beat the final boss and it turns into a woman who dies. You then get the ending revelation.

The entire game you've been playing as a monster, you were in hell for a reason and the reason the final demons in the final area of hell turned into women when defeated? One last attempt to torture a person who in life did such awful things to women, one last bit of punishment of a kind.

So yeh hope you enjoyed this weird little thematic analysis thing I sometimes do.