Created to be a bit of fun, The Encounter is also a way to bring the gospel to a generation who would only access a Bible through an app (if at all), and who often know more about fantasy games than historical facts about the real Jesus Christ.
The basics on Visual Novels
The app is what's called a visual novel, or a choice game. It's driven by making choices rather than by a repetitive action like shooting or jumping. Some visual novels are heavy on the story, allowing people to make very few choices which will impact the gameplay. Some are mostly choices, offering different endings depending on what options you take. The Encounter is like this, and while the gameplay is not too long, it gives you several different routes depending on what you do.
Visual novels have had a rather quiet existence in the app stores, usually favoured a lot less over traditional games. Having originated from Japanese manga, many of them that are offered in store are still in Japanese. Those that are in English have their main audience from Western otakus.
An otaku is a Japanese term for people that are really into anime and manga (to the point that they have no lives!). Where it was traditionally an insult it has taken on a new meaning in popular culture, as proud otakus have made things like cosplay and anime fun and a rather desirable way to spend time.
Making pornography inescapable
The problem with the Japanese manga and anime scene however, is that it has become virtually inseparable from the pornographic versions of its kind (hentai and ecchi). This is a very big problem for young people as it's become increasingly 'cool' to be known as an otaku. It is difficult to get into anime or manga without being in turn exposed to the soft-core (and hard-core) porn varieties that stem from it. And this kind of pornography attached with a story can become addictive.
This medium, while it has its merits, is often some of the first glimpses young people get of pornography (which seems a lot more innocent when it's animated) and can lead to destructive sexual behaviours. Even many dating sims or visual novels have ecchi (soft-core porn) content which anyone of any age can download for free.
The need for the Christian anime market
Bringing Christian truths into a scene which is largely dominated by lust and romantic fantasies is needed badly. There is no reason when God is present in all things, not to fight back and have godly alternatives to what is already on the market.
The introduction of the manga Bible some years ago was revolutionary to this scene although since then there has been precious little to fill this gap. And that is what The Encounter is all about, and the other games that will be brought out by Godline games in the future.
There needs to be not only clean alternatives for Christians, but God honouring stories to entertain the young Christian otakus and keep them from having to turn to the deviant forms of the genre.
You can download The Encounter now from the Google Play Store.
Bridget Brenton has been researching apologetics, philosophy and the paranormal for years. You can check her apologetic effort out at 101arguments.com
Bridget Brenton's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/bridget-brenton.html