The intertwined history of games and the demonic is diverse and loaded with various tensions. Particularly in the 1980s, games were associated with numerous religious threats. But even if one disregards the moral panics, demons and the demonological imagery have proved to be persistent elements of game cultures. In this article, the main outlines in the history of demonic imagery of games are introduced and examined, with more detailed analyses of related key gameplay and aesthetic features in popular game examples.

In the genre of action games, demons have inspired the use of visually grotesque and infinitely mutable, violent monster characters, such as those confronted in the classic shooter game Doom (1993). In comparison, the popular action roleplaying game series Diablo (1997; 2000; 2012; 2023) draws from diverse demonological and religious traditions in more richly nuanced manner. Finally, as an example of the increases in the psychological depth in this area, the more recent action-adventure game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (2017) is being discussed.

Overall, this article aims to construct a dialogue between theories of the demonic, religious-mythological traditions, and games from different genres, that feature demonic imagery. In doing so, the article outlines the central developmental trajectories of “demonic games”, particularly in relation to the concept of the “demonic other”.

This is an English summary based on the following article, orginally published in Finnish: Mäyrä, F. (2024). Demonit ja pelit: digitaalisten riivaajien lyhyt historia. Uskonnontutkija – Religionsforskaren, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.24291/uskonnontutkija.145038

See also a related, extended abstract titled “Demonic Games: Demonic Figures and Functions in Contemporary Digital Games”, published in the DiGRA 2023 Proceedings: https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/view/2019/2018