The trailer for Larian’s new Divinity game was unveiled at the 2025 Game Awards, subjecting audiences to yet another instance of “mature content” in video entertainment.
Channels get bans, strikes, and demonitized for content that isn't a fraction as bad as that was.
That may have been the most gratuitous thing I've ever seen once you combine all of the elements: gore, torture, sex, paganism, scat (horse), vomit eating, body horror, and human sacrifice. Then you throw in exposing children to all of that because, why not?
Was all of that really necessary? What on earth are they selling with this? While I have seen more unsettling things in my life, I've never seen anything TRY this hard to be unsettling. Why is THAT the angle they took to hype their game? I learned nothing about the type of game, its gameplay, or why it might be "fun" (of course, maybe that sort of degeneracy is the fun to be had here.)
Who would respond positively to that? Certainly not anyone you'd want in your life or on your side in a spiritual war.
Welcome to the new age of Paganism! We've gotten rid of the churches, we don't go to church, we don't serve, fellowship or grow our churches, we silence ourselves voluntarily to go along and get along and now, paganism is rearing.
"In this trailer, a man is burned alive in a wicker effigy and he is crowned with thorns in a grotesque parody of Christ; all the while a notably diverse medieval crowd gathers round to revel in sexual debauchery."
They tell on themselves, as always. Literal debauchery is what comes when Christ is mocked. They don't even try to pretend that they can "be good people" without Him anymore, lol. They openly embrace the truth that rejecting God is an intrinsic part of indulging in debased actions.
DId you know that Larian backed a game named Blasphemous on kick starter. When I saw that figure with his arms out stretched and the crown of thorns I immediately quit the trailer. I'm no superman but that's a step too far. Its blatant. Let him who eyes see and him who has ears hear. Pretty cool how my auto protect kicked in.
I watched the Game Awards on a different channel and I thought that the Divinity trailer was gross. The streamer thought that the trailer was gross as well.
I must be stupid but I didn't get the crown of thorns analogy. Yeah, the trailer was gross & violent but I just assumed it was some demon priest controlled pagan village and that you, as the hero, will be touted to bring this cult down, or not, like the Absolute cult in BG3. It got people talking, that's for sure.
They say in this interview that their intention was to show the evil you're meant to defeat. To emphasise what it means to be the hero. You can also choose evil and see just how evil that is. Source: https://youtu.be/Ioq8kuNdpGU?si=1KMFsImxY_i-3ef_
A post-hoc rationalization. If the intent were truly to show evil as something to be resisted, the trailer would frame the immolation and sacrilege in a way that provokes revulsion or moral clarity. Instead, the camera lingers, indulges, and revels in the grotesque detail. That is the logic of pornography, not of moral warning. The excess of detail is not about condemning evil but about consuming it. The trailer invites the audience to revel in desecration, not to resist it.
Yeah, that trailer and all its mockery was quite apparent the moment it started. So far, I haven't seen anyone else talking about its blasphemous display, barring this site.
Edit: I also wanted to add that there are some typos in the article that needs to be fixed.
When I saw the crown of thorns and the wickerman I noped out of the trailer.
There really is a hedonic treadmill that leads straight into inversion. I really liked the first Divine Divinity game; it was a fun Diablo like experience. What is this trailer trying to indicate?
It's odd because the Diablo IV cinematic trailer with the Paladin was so good. A force of good stands up to a foe that refuses to stay dead. Defiance in the face of an ultimate evil. That for me is better than torture as spectacle.
I hope the village in the Divinity game trailer got the Sodom and Gomorrah treatment.
How would you know? You didn't even read the article. I know because I address this here:
"The immolation of the prisoner is presented in close-up detail, not to invite reflection on suffering, but to titillate. The sexual grotesquerie surrounding the burning collapses the distinction between torture and pornography, revealing the fetishistic logic of the market: suffering becomes consumable, and the body is reduced to a site of entertainment."
If it was to show the inciting incident, they wouldn't have presented it in this manner. You are an intellectually dishonest person.
As I replied above, they say in this interview that their intention was to show the evil you're meant to defeat. To emphasise what it means to be the hero. You can also choose evil and see just how evil that is. Source: https://youtu.be/Ioq8kuNdpGU?si=1KMFsImxY_i-3ef_
That's a post-hoc rationalization. If the intent were truly to show evil as something to be resisted, the trailer would frame the immolation and sacrilege in a way that provokes revulsion or moral clarity. Instead, the camera lingers, indulges, and revels in the grotesque detail. That is the logic of pornography, not of moral warning. The excess of detail is not about condemning evil but about consuming it. The trailer invites the audience to revel in desecration, not to resist it.
I disagree with your interpretation. The trailer very clearly provokes revulsion and doesn't inspire indulgence, at least in my view. It shows just how awful it is, in almost excruciating detail, which actually brings across the point far better than I believe a more muted approach would. It forces the viewer to acknowledge how horrible what's happening is, rather than ignore it or indulge in it, as it ironically demonstrates the people in the trailer doing. Then it shows the consequences of their mistake.
I believe you interpreted it the wrong way, but it also had the desired effect. It inspires pretty much the reaction you seem to have had, as it did in me. Revulsion. Horror. Reflection upon how truly awful it is. Despite not wanting to watch it ever again, I appreciate how they conveyed the message so unapologetically that evil is evil, and evil corrupts, maims, and murders. Indulging in it brings no salvation, only destruction.
What makes you believe you can read the developers' minds? You're not the judge of how material is interpreted. I made my interpretation prior to the interview. I simply disagree with you.
On another note, your argument that the trailer is blasphemy rests on the presumption that the developers' intent was a comparison to the crucifixion of Christ. That might be true (we can't read their minds, and to my knowledge they haven't commented on it), but without such basis it seems far more apt to make a comparison to the numerous actual burnings of people alive through history. The basis of that argument is not strong enough to stand, as you assign one event superior relevance, despite other events being far more similar to the event in the trailer. You could argue that they are burning their king (hence the crown), but that does not carry spiritual meaning on its own, and the comparison to Christ falters for the same reason.
You seem rather intent on forcing your interpretation of the trailer to fit your view of the world.
I don't need the developers to tell me how or what to think about their art. I just think for myself. If you need the artist to tell how how or what to think about their art, then the art has failed as a medium.
That's only your forced framing of the situation. It's something this publication and its writers do all the fucking time. It's lazy and dishonest every time you do it.
The fact the situation begins with human sacrifice and ends with a giant, glowing spiked monument clearly communicates to any viewer that the ritual that just went down is incredibly evil and something bad just happened. From start to finish it's visual shorthand for corruption and creeping evil.
How could Larian have done it better? Have a dude in gleaming white armor look at the camera and say "This is bad and we need to stop this." ??? Do you need a Paw Patrol level monologue to tell you how to feel about a scene?
The issue is not whether evil is depicted, but how it is framed. The trailer lingers on the immolation and fetishizes the crown of thorns. The imagery obviously revels in sacrilege with pornographic detail. That is indulgence, not shorthand. If the intent were truly to communicate corruption, the imagery would provoke revulsion. Instead, it invites fascination.
Asking me what monologue I need when the existence of this publication is to provide readers with a monologue in the first place is complete nonsense. Do you even know what the purpose of journalism is?
Fourth time I have answered a question that I already addressed in the article:
The issue isn’t whether the trailer depicts evil, it’s HOW it does it. Evil can be communicated without reveling in sacrilege. Here, the camera lingers, indulges, and fetishizes the crown of thorns and immolation. That is not shorthand; that is spectacle. The excess of detail is designed for consumption, not condemnation. The trailer doesn’t ask the viewer to resist evil; it trains them to revel in it.
unforgivable damned one, blasphemy is far worse than your beloved pedophilia.
blasphemy (suicide due to denial of God And His Church) is the third sin That Cry To Heaven For Vengeance.
you are doing that right here.
In fact, you are unforgivably blaspheming.
the first victim of your blaspheming is yourself, then all Humanity as secondary. The revulsion’s shows the trailer depicts blasphemy rather effectively, as We are all hurt by it.
The 6 types of unforgivably blaspheming:
1) despair of Salvation,
2) Presumption of God’s mercy,
3) To impugn the known truth,
4) Envy of another’s spiritual good,
5) Obstinacy in sin.
6) Final impenitence.
you do all 5 in preparation for 6.
As for what else you are doing:
When the capital sin of pride is threatened (and therefore totally refuted), it turns to the mortal sin of despair:
1) hopelessness,
2) trying to damn others in your place by projection,
3) trying to normalize your sin by claiming damning you will somehow damn everyone.
the five-steps of the reprobate:
1) giving yourself over to sin because you were brainw*shed into thinking you had usurped Divine Will.
2) realizing that was a mistake, you erroneously think denying God will make your shame over sin go away.
3) realizing that doesn’t work, you erroneously think attacking Catholics will make your shame over sin go away.
4) realizing that doesn’t work, you erroneously think Martyring Catholics will make your shame over sin go away.
5) realizing that doesn’t work, suicide.
Mercifully for your intended victims, five happens right after 4 is attempted. you just tried 4.
your curses are Consummately Returned back to whence they came with A St Michael Prayer and A St Benedict Prayer.
This is a classic socialist-anarchist line of thought. Inevitably, the push is to normalize degenerative behaviors. The intent and consumption also reinforce dangerous impulses, serving as a rehearsal space for harmful ideation.
"Even simulated CSAM only exists for the prurient interest."
It doesn't have a victim. Your logic based on harm of victimhood fails, so you dishonestly accept the OP and mine's premise that some actions are evil in of themselves.
"blasphemy does not have a victim"
You're a liar who perverts the meaning of words.
Blasphemy by definition blasphemes God, who you depend on for your existence. Victim is a religious word that comes from labeling the consecrated victim of a sacrifice. The primary victim of blasphemy is the blasphemer, who is traditionally sent to meet his Maker to account for his words. That said, evil does not depend on the existence of a victim.
You do realize that atheists don't have the ability to call child sex abuse "evil", right? It's just evolutionary mutation for reproductive advantage.
The blasphemy Sammy bitch talks about is an absolute stretch at best. The "blasphemy" being used in the trailer can easily be interpreted as short hand for evil. Evil being done for evil.
This is slowly turning into the conservitard version of the Nazi pug joke.
The overwhelming theme behind the games is that there is evil in the world and it is up to good people - whether they want to or not - to push back against it. Very strange to try and draw an overarching theme of bad intent from a short trailer when there is a literal library of content around this game and it's universe available.
It's pretty evident that the content is high fantasy from the point you see an orc, dwarf and elf - and there is plenty of content within the trailer that is offensive to multiple religions should the viewer be averse to such things.
I suppose it's easier to get caught up in the semantics of philosophy than to review the literature available. Anyone who genuinely wants to understand the Divinity universe just needs to put in the effort to read about it.
This sort of stuff has been in gaming for decades, by the way. Some people show their age. We've just not seen the quality of story telling and world building Larian provides since the likes of Blizzard North, and so I can see how it would be alarming to people too young to remember Blizzard North and the climate around PC and arcade games back in those days vs the sterilized casual friendly "something for everyone" garbage being churned out today.
Channels get bans, strikes, and demonitized for content that isn't a fraction as bad as that was.
That may have been the most gratuitous thing I've ever seen once you combine all of the elements: gore, torture, sex, paganism, scat (horse), vomit eating, body horror, and human sacrifice. Then you throw in exposing children to all of that because, why not?
Was all of that really necessary? What on earth are they selling with this? While I have seen more unsettling things in my life, I've never seen anything TRY this hard to be unsettling. Why is THAT the angle they took to hype their game? I learned nothing about the type of game, its gameplay, or why it might be "fun" (of course, maybe that sort of degeneracy is the fun to be had here.)
Who would respond positively to that? Certainly not anyone you'd want in your life or on your side in a spiritual war.
Burgers?
I don't think this will help them sell any.
Welcome to the new age of Paganism! We've gotten rid of the churches, we don't go to church, we don't serve, fellowship or grow our churches, we silence ourselves voluntarily to go along and get along and now, paganism is rearing.
"In this trailer, a man is burned alive in a wicker effigy and he is crowned with thorns in a grotesque parody of Christ; all the while a notably diverse medieval crowd gathers round to revel in sexual debauchery."
They tell on themselves, as always. Literal debauchery is what comes when Christ is mocked. They don't even try to pretend that they can "be good people" without Him anymore, lol. They openly embrace the truth that rejecting God is an intrinsic part of indulging in debased actions.
DId you know that Larian backed a game named Blasphemous on kick starter. When I saw that figure with his arms out stretched and the crown of thorns I immediately quit the trailer. I'm no superman but that's a step too far. Its blatant. Let him who eyes see and him who has ears hear. Pretty cool how my auto protect kicked in.
I watched the Game Awards on a different channel and I thought that the Divinity trailer was gross. The streamer thought that the trailer was gross as well.
It was gross. Nothing like a fantasy game that makes you wanna puke.
Ugh. More like disgusting fantasy
Sounds like a terrible spinoff from grimdark, lol.
I must be stupid but I didn't get the crown of thorns analogy. Yeah, the trailer was gross & violent but I just assumed it was some demon priest controlled pagan village and that you, as the hero, will be touted to bring this cult down, or not, like the Absolute cult in BG3. It got people talking, that's for sure.
They say in this interview that their intention was to show the evil you're meant to defeat. To emphasise what it means to be the hero. You can also choose evil and see just how evil that is. Source: https://youtu.be/Ioq8kuNdpGU?si=1KMFsImxY_i-3ef_
A post-hoc rationalization. If the intent were truly to show evil as something to be resisted, the trailer would frame the immolation and sacrilege in a way that provokes revulsion or moral clarity. Instead, the camera lingers, indulges, and revels in the grotesque detail. That is the logic of pornography, not of moral warning. The excess of detail is not about condemning evil but about consuming it. The trailer invites the audience to revel in desecration, not to resist it.
Thanks. So I was right! Just like BG3.
Yeah, that trailer and all its mockery was quite apparent the moment it started. So far, I haven't seen anyone else talking about its blasphemous display, barring this site.
Edit: I also wanted to add that there are some typos in the article that needs to be fixed.
I saw Comic Booger on Instagram talk against it as well.
Oh, I didn't know that. I'm not familiar with that account since I don't have an Instagram account. I'll have to check it out.
It's a Christian conservative account that I follow, and the guy talks mostly about comics-related stuff as the name suggests
That's good to hear. I'll definitely check the account out now.
When I saw the crown of thorns and the wickerman I noped out of the trailer.
There really is a hedonic treadmill that leads straight into inversion. I really liked the first Divine Divinity game; it was a fun Diablo like experience. What is this trailer trying to indicate?
It's odd because the Diablo IV cinematic trailer with the Paladin was so good. A force of good stands up to a foe that refuses to stay dead. Defiance in the face of an ultimate evil. That for me is better than torture as spectacle.
I hope the village in the Divinity game trailer got the Sodom and Gomorrah treatment.
I can always count on Fandom Pulse to deliver the most low effort, banal, culture war swill imaginable.
Has it ever occurred to you that being horrible might the point of the trailer? To show the inciting incident for evil?
How would you know? You didn't even read the article. I know because I address this here:
"The immolation of the prisoner is presented in close-up detail, not to invite reflection on suffering, but to titillate. The sexual grotesquerie surrounding the burning collapses the distinction between torture and pornography, revealing the fetishistic logic of the market: suffering becomes consumable, and the body is reduced to a site of entertainment."
If it was to show the inciting incident, they wouldn't have presented it in this manner. You are an intellectually dishonest person.
As I replied above, they say in this interview that their intention was to show the evil you're meant to defeat. To emphasise what it means to be the hero. You can also choose evil and see just how evil that is. Source: https://youtu.be/Ioq8kuNdpGU?si=1KMFsImxY_i-3ef_
That's a post-hoc rationalization. If the intent were truly to show evil as something to be resisted, the trailer would frame the immolation and sacrilege in a way that provokes revulsion or moral clarity. Instead, the camera lingers, indulges, and revels in the grotesque detail. That is the logic of pornography, not of moral warning. The excess of detail is not about condemning evil but about consuming it. The trailer invites the audience to revel in desecration, not to resist it.
I disagree with your interpretation. The trailer very clearly provokes revulsion and doesn't inspire indulgence, at least in my view. It shows just how awful it is, in almost excruciating detail, which actually brings across the point far better than I believe a more muted approach would. It forces the viewer to acknowledge how horrible what's happening is, rather than ignore it or indulge in it, as it ironically demonstrates the people in the trailer doing. Then it shows the consequences of their mistake.
I believe you interpreted it the wrong way, but it also had the desired effect. It inspires pretty much the reaction you seem to have had, as it did in me. Revulsion. Horror. Reflection upon how truly awful it is. Despite not wanting to watch it ever again, I appreciate how they conveyed the message so unapologetically that evil is evil, and evil corrupts, maims, and murders. Indulging in it brings no salvation, only destruction.
Sorry, but you've already issued a post-hoc rationalization into the conversation. I don't believe you. You're just disagreeing for its own sake now.
What makes you believe you can read the developers' minds? You're not the judge of how material is interpreted. I made my interpretation prior to the interview. I simply disagree with you.
On another note, your argument that the trailer is blasphemy rests on the presumption that the developers' intent was a comparison to the crucifixion of Christ. That might be true (we can't read their minds, and to my knowledge they haven't commented on it), but without such basis it seems far more apt to make a comparison to the numerous actual burnings of people alive through history. The basis of that argument is not strong enough to stand, as you assign one event superior relevance, despite other events being far more similar to the event in the trailer. You could argue that they are burning their king (hence the crown), but that does not carry spiritual meaning on its own, and the comparison to Christ falters for the same reason.
You seem rather intent on forcing your interpretation of the trailer to fit your view of the world.
I don't need the developers to tell me how or what to think about their art. I just think for myself. If you need the artist to tell how how or what to think about their art, then the art has failed as a medium.
That's only your forced framing of the situation. It's something this publication and its writers do all the fucking time. It's lazy and dishonest every time you do it.
The fact the situation begins with human sacrifice and ends with a giant, glowing spiked monument clearly communicates to any viewer that the ritual that just went down is incredibly evil and something bad just happened. From start to finish it's visual shorthand for corruption and creeping evil.
How could Larian have done it better? Have a dude in gleaming white armor look at the camera and say "This is bad and we need to stop this." ??? Do you need a Paw Patrol level monologue to tell you how to feel about a scene?
The issue is not whether evil is depicted, but how it is framed. The trailer lingers on the immolation and fetishizes the crown of thorns. The imagery obviously revels in sacrilege with pornographic detail. That is indulgence, not shorthand. If the intent were truly to communicate corruption, the imagery would provoke revulsion. Instead, it invites fascination.
Asking me what monologue I need when the existence of this publication is to provide readers with a monologue in the first place is complete nonsense. Do you even know what the purpose of journalism is?
The pigs eating vomit didn't help inspire revulsion? The screams of a man being immolated and his scorched flesh don't inspire revulsion?
Did you watch the trailer?
You're helping my point of poor reading comprehension with that last bit.
Fourth time I have answered a question that I already addressed in the article:
The issue isn’t whether the trailer depicts evil, it’s HOW it does it. Evil can be communicated without reveling in sacrilege. Here, the camera lingers, indulges, and fetishizes the crown of thorns and immolation. That is not shorthand; that is spectacle. The excess of detail is designed for consumption, not condemnation. The trailer doesn’t ask the viewer to resist evil; it trains them to revel in it.
unforgivable damned one, blasphemy is far worse than your beloved pedophilia.
blasphemy (suicide due to denial of God And His Church) is the third sin That Cry To Heaven For Vengeance.
you are doing that right here.
In fact, you are unforgivably blaspheming.
the first victim of your blaspheming is yourself, then all Humanity as secondary. The revulsion’s shows the trailer depicts blasphemy rather effectively, as We are all hurt by it.
The 6 types of unforgivably blaspheming:
1) despair of Salvation,
2) Presumption of God’s mercy,
3) To impugn the known truth,
4) Envy of another’s spiritual good,
5) Obstinacy in sin.
6) Final impenitence.
you do all 5 in preparation for 6.
As for what else you are doing:
When the capital sin of pride is threatened (and therefore totally refuted), it turns to the mortal sin of despair:
1) hopelessness,
2) trying to damn others in your place by projection,
3) trying to normalize your sin by claiming damning you will somehow damn everyone.
the five-steps of the reprobate:
1) giving yourself over to sin because you were brainw*shed into thinking you had usurped Divine Will.
2) realizing that was a mistake, you erroneously think denying God will make your shame over sin go away.
3) realizing that doesn’t work, you erroneously think attacking Catholics will make your shame over sin go away.
4) realizing that doesn’t work, you erroneously think Martyring Catholics will make your shame over sin go away.
5) realizing that doesn’t work, suicide.
Mercifully for your intended victims, five happens right after 4 is attempted. you just tried 4.
your curses are Consummately Returned back to whence they came with A St Michael Prayer and A St Benedict Prayer.
Yeah I'm not reading all that.
your curses are Consummately Returned back to whence they came with A St Michael Prayer and A St Benedict Prayer.
How much child porn have you watched to prove how horrible it is?
There are things that are so evil that the depiction needs to be censored to spiritually protect the viewer.
Correct.
But,
No CSAM was in the trailer. What about the trailer was so spiritually evil that it needed to be censored to protect the viewer?
You didn't answer the question about how much child porn you've watched. Why can't you show CSAM to prove how evil it is?
"What about the trailer was so spiritually evil that it needed to be censored to protect the viewer?"
Maybe you should have read the "low effort" article you criticized without reading.
There you have it. "does not have a victim."
This is a classic socialist-anarchist line of thought. Inevitably, the push is to normalize degenerative behaviors. The intent and consumption also reinforce dangerous impulses, serving as a rehearsal space for harmful ideation.
Concedes the concept of prurient interest. Immediately pretends that examples of prurient interest do not count.
Flak means over the target.
Because CSAM victimizes someone via it's very creation. Even simulated CSAM only exists for the prurient interest.
Simulated violence, sacrilege, and blasphemy does not have a victim and never has existed for the prurient interest.
If you really, really want to compare the two I highly suggest you say it to a survivor of CSAM and gauge their reaction.
This is apples and crustaceans levels of comparison. My expectations for a Fandom Pulse subscriber were low but holy fuck.
"Even simulated CSAM only exists for the prurient interest."
It doesn't have a victim. Your logic based on harm of victimhood fails, so you dishonestly accept the OP and mine's premise that some actions are evil in of themselves.
"blasphemy does not have a victim"
You're a liar who perverts the meaning of words.
Blasphemy by definition blasphemes God, who you depend on for your existence. Victim is a religious word that comes from labeling the consecrated victim of a sacrifice. The primary victim of blasphemy is the blasphemer, who is traditionally sent to meet his Maker to account for his words. That said, evil does not depend on the existence of a victim.
You do realize that atheists don't have the ability to call child sex abuse "evil", right? It's just evolutionary mutation for reproductive advantage.
Nope. Stay on track.
The blasphemy Sammy bitch talks about is an absolute stretch at best. The "blasphemy" being used in the trailer can easily be interpreted as short hand for evil. Evil being done for evil.
This is slowly turning into the conservitard version of the Nazi pug joke.
The overwhelming theme behind the games is that there is evil in the world and it is up to good people - whether they want to or not - to push back against it. Very strange to try and draw an overarching theme of bad intent from a short trailer when there is a literal library of content around this game and it's universe available.
It's pretty evident that the content is high fantasy from the point you see an orc, dwarf and elf - and there is plenty of content within the trailer that is offensive to multiple religions should the viewer be averse to such things.
I suppose it's easier to get caught up in the semantics of philosophy than to review the literature available. Anyone who genuinely wants to understand the Divinity universe just needs to put in the effort to read about it.
This sort of stuff has been in gaming for decades, by the way. Some people show their age. We've just not seen the quality of story telling and world building Larian provides since the likes of Blizzard North, and so I can see how it would be alarming to people too young to remember Blizzard North and the climate around PC and arcade games back in those days vs the sterilized casual friendly "something for everyone" garbage being churned out today.
This is like saying not to get upset about pornography because there are books written about human anatomy.