Rico in Just Cause 3 is Jesus: Here’s Why
During the holiday season of last month, kids and adult gamers waited in anticipation for Christmas Day to receive the gift of new video games from friends, family and/or loved ones. I purchased the games I wanted for Christmas already on Black Friday, but unfortunately had to wait to play them because they were technically Christmas gifts from my immediate family that I purchased with their money (didn’t stop me from getting Need For Speed: Payback on sale with a PlayStation gift card).
So, like many gamers waiting for Christmas, I turned to a game that could occupy my time but not take up my entire life, something that I can get into but could drop as soon as I got a new game — Just Cause 3. In August of 2017, PlayStation Plus members had the option to download this game for free, and of course I did. Who doesn’t want to be Rico, the secret agent version of Spider-Man? Equipped with a grappling hook and limitless parachutes, Rico is tasked with liberating (like in previous games) a country from an oppressive dictatorship via endless gunfire, explosives, riding in, on top of and sometimes beneath helicopters, planes, cars, tanks, etc.
But what does this have to do with Jesus Christ?
I took A.P. English in high school, and that class instilled an irreversible trait to (over)analyze texts of all kinds, be it TV shows, books, movies, songs, you get the picture. One of the concepts that I learned about in that time period was the literary device known as a “Christ Figure”, a character whose actions are similar to Jesus Christ Himself (an obvious example would be Aslan the lion from the Chronicles of Narnia series, or Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings).
As I was playing the game for the second time, I noticed some things that led me to this conclusion. The fictional country of Medici is very religious in terms of belief in Christianity. While there are no direct statements tied to the church uttered by NPCs in the game, there are christian elements present in the game. Rico’s character wears a cross prominently around his neck, his jacket is unzipped to the point where you see it clearly displayed whenever the character is facing the screen you’re playing on. You see it in every cut scene with Rico and it’s seen on the cover of the game in motion as Rico opens his parachute. The burden of liberating countries is his cross to bear — he alone must risk his life for the good of others.
In Just Cause 3, there is a “Heat” system in place similar to the one present in the Grand Theft Auto series — the more stuff you blow up, the more the government tries to kill you. In GTA, it’s the police with increasing numbers and intensity of aggro law enforcement officers, and in Just Cause 3, it’s General Di Ravello’s army. You can get rid of the Heat by hiding, or by wing-suiting your way straight to one of the many churches in Medici. You unlock churches by doing good deeds that appear in the form of random events, like helping a man get his car to the gas station or rescuing a rebel from enemy forces. There’s even an achievement in the game associated with going to the church to remove Heat called “Forgive Me, Father…” linked in a video here.
In a game where destruction is the objective and anything and everything is likely to blow up, characters can’t do any physical damage to the church and the priests who run them. There’s a video that shows Rico doing as much damage to a priest outside of a church — shooting him with multiple guns, throwing grenades, using projectile explosives, but the only reaction you get from the NPC in game is startled noises (which is probably the same reaction I’d have if a one man army started lighting me up only to find out I’m immune to physical harm). If this is a catholic game and Rico is a Christ figure, the invulnerability of the church makes sense in the context of Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. The gates of Hell, in this case, is representative of Di Ravello’s army, cloaked in red.
Rico also displays extraordinary healing abilities. He can seemingly absorb hundreds of bullets, survive tons of explosions, and even a mini-gun won’t stop Rico as long as he avoids taking damage for a few seconds. This is an example of one of the characteristics of a Christ figure — manifestation of divine qualities.
Rico’s visual character design further solidifies his holy nature. One could also argue that his wing-suit that lets him traverse across land and sea at high speeds represents angel wings, or that he is acting as an archangel, similar to Michael, who leads God’s army against Satan’s forces in the book of Revelations which ultimately defeats Satan. The painter Guido Reni of the Baroque period painted an image of Michael defeating Satan in 1636, and his depiction of Michael closely resembles the coloration of Rico’s attire; both depictions have black wings and their battle attire features blue and red. Additionally, like many classical depictions of Christ, Rico has tan skin, unkempt brown hair and a beard.
It is these observations I’ve made while replaying Just Cause 3 that led me to the conclusion that Rico Rodriguez is either a Christ figure or a messenger of God sent to liberate peoples across the world from oppressive leaders. Rico is most definitely a present-day religious crusader, cleansing countries by flame and lots of explosions in the name of “liberation” and in the name of God.
Am I overthinking this? A video game about Christianity cleverly disguised as an action hero, explosion-filled joyride? Maybe. But who am I to say it isn’t?
