[typing]
It's an interesting world we live in.
At some point, somebody was like, Hey!
Let's take Jill of the Jungle,
make her a dude,
take out half the interesting levels and features
and stuff a bunch of bible verses in there at random
that have nothing to do with the gameplay at all.
Yeah, if you think that idea is genius,
then I've got the game for you.
[VO] Onesimus: A Quest for Freedom,
developed and published by Ark Multimedia Publishing
in conjunction with Epic MegaGames in 1992.
It's an "ARK-ade" Game!
Ha ha ha! Get it?
Cuz Ark Multimedia... LOL LOL LOL.
And yes, the text on the back really is this blurry
but it doesn't matter what it says
because I'll tell you what they won't.
This is Jill of the Jungle without Jill
or the jungle.
How this came to be isn't exactly clear,
but basically this company called Ark Multimedia
was started by an ex-Marxist revolutionary from Columbia
who almost died in the jungle,
fled to the USA,
and was called to the Christian faith after cleaning toilets in a New York Subway
and finding his way over to a Baptist church in New Jersey.
I'm not making that up, either.
So yeah, with his new faith in mind,
he decided to start a company to make wholesome games
and become synonymous with family entertainment
just like Disney.
It goes without saying there's a reason that
Ark Multimedia Mouse is not famous today,
which is pretty weird,
considering games like Journey to the Promised Land
and Bible Paint and Learn
seem like sure-fire blockbusters.
After several years of subpar sales in the Christian market,
they ended up releasing a bunch of interactive multimedia products
for Walmart and Walden Software
before fading into obscurity.
But anyway, back to Onesimus, which was developed alongside
the third Jill of the Jungle episode,
Jill Saves the Prince,
as a commissioned product for Ark Multimedia.
If you're familiar with Jill,
this is some "Matrix"-level déjà vu.
It's the same gameplay,
the same music, the same sound effects,
the same overworld map,
the same levels, the same graphics...
except where it's not,
like the protagonist himself, Onesimus,
based on the runaway slave referred to in
the Epistle of Paul to Philemon
found in the Christian New Testament.
Spolier alert:
this happens to him.
But thankfully, the game ends before you get there.
Anyway, he's just a simple re-skin of Jill
with sprites that aren't drawn or animated as well,
and even the same sound effects when you get hurt and die.
[sampled "oohs" and "ows"]
Eh, maybe it's not that odd.
Perhaps he's a eunuch.
Or perhaps it's just lazy and inconsistent,
like the entire rest of the game.
Now if you remember from my Jill of the Jungle review,
I like that game a lot,
probably more than I should.
So you'd think that this would be just as awesome, right?
Nope!
For one thing, other than the intro and outro levels,
they're just rehashes of those found in the "Jill" trilogy.
So if you've played through that, then you've played this.
Also, they completely removed the awesome ability
to transmogrify yourself into an animal,
so there's another unique selling point of the game that's just gone.
And finally, they've plopped these bible verses
from the Book of Philemon
into the game at random.
Okay, so I have no problem with that in theory.
After all, the original "Jill" included pop-up text boxes, too, but–
These are not just entirely pointless in regards to the gameplay, but
they don't go away until an invisible timer runs out,
which of course feels like forever.
On top of that, they're incredibly common and totally unpredictable.
They completely ruin the pacing of the game,
which is already a bit worse due to the lacking abilities.
But seriously, these don't matter in the least.
They're completely out-of-context verses
which take you through the Book of Philemon–
which, of course, hasn't even happened yet
because *you're* still playing though the story that happened,
which led to Philemon being written.
There are some minor changes,
like your throwing star weapon being turned into a rock,
and certain enemies being re-skinned
into something slightly more fitting for the time period, I guess.
For the most part, this has no bearing on the gameplay,
but the enemy AI sure does.
What the heck was that?
And how am I supposed to get past this guy without getting hurt?
He won't move!
Eventually, you reach the end
and are greeted with the same style ending
as Jill Saves the Prince.
The Apostle Paul then asks you to marry him and–
[fumbling pages] Ah, wait, hold on. I, uh...
I mixed up the games here. [clears throat]
So Paul is like, "Hey, you wanna be a Christian?"
And you're like, "Okay." And Paul's like, "Congratulations. You are."
"Now, get out of here and go back to your master."
"You're still a slave."
So, uh...
Yeah, I guess that's that.
You escape the perils of Rome's flying lava birds,
giant snails and alligators,
only to go right back to your old life of being a slave.
But hey, at least you have Jesus.
Uggh... So...
maybe that's holding true to the New Testament's story
and is missing the entire message of Philemon,
but it sure doesn't make for a satisfying video game ending, I'll tell you that.
To sum things up,
"Onesimus: A Quest for Freedom" should have been called
"Not Jill: A Quest for Marketshare."
This practice was all too common back then and kind of still is.
Take an existing secular product,
toss some bible verses and a Jesus fish on it,
and sell it to gullible religious types
who just wanted something safe for their kids,
and figure that since it's sold in a Zondervan Christian bookstore, that it's a good idea.
It's just unfortunate.
And granted there are FAR worse offenders than Onesimus here
and hey, if you had never played a "Jill" game,
then this was still a pretty sweet platformer for its day.
It's just easy for me to be cynical about something so underacheiving
and so obviously meant to cash in,
instead of provide anything new or valuable.
With that said, it's a hugely interesting oddity,
if you're a fan of Epic MegaGames and the "Jill" series,
so it's at least worth grabbing if you find a copy for cheap.
Just don't expect much
and it will absolutely deliver on that.
[sampled "ooh" and "ow"]
And hey, if you enjoyed this video on a bizarre Christian game
and would like to see some others, then let me know.
Or let me know otherwise, too, if you want to avoid this whole religious thing.
I'd understand either way, but I find this stuff absolutely fascinating
and I've got a ton of them.
So I would like to do some other videos if you'd like to see them.
And if not, then I've got a ton of other videos already made
and more coming in the future, so subscribing is a thing.
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to help the show continue to get more sweet,
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And as always, thank you very much for watching.