El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (エルシャダイアセンション・オブ・ザ・メタトロン, Eru Shadai Asenshon obu za Metatoron) is a video game developed and published by Ignition Entertainment. The development is led by Sawaki Takeyasu, who was a character designer for Devil May Cry and Ōkami. The game was released on April 28, 2011 in Japan.

Story

In the beginning, God appointed a group of angels to watch over the human world. These angels were called the Grigori. Over the ages they became fascinated with humans.

Until succumbing to temptation they abandoned Heaven for Earth. The Heavenly Council decided to send a great flood to stop humanity from proceeding down this unintended course. But a human named Enoch, who served as a scribe in Heaven, objected.

The council agreed to rescind its ruling if Enoch could capture the renegade angels. And so begins Enoch's long quest to save the world...

This is a tale of ancient times past; a tale that was not permitted to be handed down throughout the ages...

(From the official site)

Gameplay

El Shaddai is a third person action game with a mix of 2D platforming. Throughout the game the player plays as Enoch, who starts the game unarmed and steals holy weapons from his enemy.

The game has 3 three primary weapons.

Arch - A curved blade which served as a standard melee weapon of the game. Arch also allows the user to float for short periods.

Gale - A ring like weapon that allows the user to fire small darts in rapid succession. The Gale also provides the user with a fast dash move, and it is the fastest weapon.

Veil - A shield that also acts as gauntlets, providing the strongest defense and a strong punch. The Veil is the slowest weapon of the three.

All of the holy weapons become corrupt as they are used and routinely they have to be purified. A corrupt weapon is weaker than a purified weapon.

Popularity

While El Shaddai's popularity is not significant on the western side of the gaming community, in Japan it is highly popular, although the popularity has declined since the release of the game.

El Shaddai received promotion with the trailer released at the 2010 E3 press conference as well as the Tokyo Game Show. It was met with strong feedback, which has been attributed to a line of dialogue exchange between Enoch and Lucifer:

Lucifer: "You sure that's enough armor?"

Enoch: "No problem. Everything's fine."

This quote earned first place of the Net Buzzword Awards 2010 Grand Prix in Japan. Despite the trend being the creator's intention, it exceeded their expectations.

Interestingly, the flow of the promotional video has been treated by many viewers as a joke since Enoch, who claims that everything is fine, gets beaten up later on during the following fight; which conflicts with his role as a scribe or an arbiter to the God. Adding with the unique time rewind effects and Lucifer's lines, this promotional video has since received many parodies shortly after the announcement of the trailer, which highly raised its popularity.

On pixiv, El Shaddai has enjoyed mild popularity, receiving 15,765 illustrations as of June, 2011.

Characters

(taken from the official site)

Enoch

"No problem. Everythings fine.

All will be as God's commands..."

Enoch, the hero of the story, is a young man choosen by God for his strong, pure heart. Although he is a human, he has been called to the heaven by the will of God to serve as a scribe on the Council of Elders.

He has descended to earth as an arbiter to pursue the Grigori, a group of fallen angels, and prevent the execution of God's plan to flood the earth.

Lucifel

"Me? A chaperone? How cruel..."

Lucifel is one of the, if not, the Heaven's greatest archangels and has the ability to freely travel through time.

As commanded by God, he acts as support for Enoch along with the other guardian angels. He is quite fond of Enoch and therefore very cooperative.

Nanna

"You're Enoch, right?

...hey, why are you always so quiet?"

A blind young girl that met Enoch in "The Tower" and helps guide him.

She was raised by the leader of the "Freemen" group, which opposes the distorted ideas and sorcerous arts of the land of the fallen angels.

For some reason her childhood memories are lost, and her exact origin is unknown. She has heard the legend and prophecy of Enoch from the adults around her. Since then she embraces him with great respect and admiration.

Nephilim

"A transient form of life, born from man and angel"

The worldwide corruption brought about by the Nephilim, creatures born from the union of human and fallen angel, has greatly angered the heavens. Their very existence flies in the face of God, who forbade his angels to directly interfere in earthly matters.

Neither human nor angelic, they are transient, unstable forms of life, unable to find a world or dimension they can call home. Despite their cute, bouncy look, they are lonely, solitary creatures. They come in many sizes, from the length of a man's thumb to the size of mightly pillar. They constantly wander the tower halls in search for companionship.

Azazel

A fallen angel attracted by the infinite possibilities of human evolution

"Evolution is the most wonderful of all things!

O, God, why do you not understand this?"

An angel who descended to Earth after cultivating a deep fascination of human evolution and its potential. A sort of right-hand man to Semyaza, leader of the fallen angels, a post he has held since his work in Heaven watching over Earth. The angel that controls evolution and technology. Azazel's descent to Earth has caused a large amount of angel technology to fall into the mortal realm.

Ezekiel

A fallen angel attracted to motherly and familial love

"Love for one's children, love for one's family... What a wonderful thing it is! I love all things that live in the world!"

Deeply moved by the personal love shared amongst families and between parents and children. Ezekiel was inspired by warmth of that love and and descended to Earth in search of a family of her own. No matter who she talks to, Ezekiel always displays a gentle, guiding demeanor, occasionally scolding others the way a mother might correct wayward son. The sheer one-sided force of her love is occasionally enough to unnerve and even scare those she interacts with. Ezekiel's animal familiar on Earth is a pair pigs that the fallen angel can transform into assorted monsters.

Sariel

A fallen angel attracted to love between humans

"How beautiful, the soul of one who loves and is loved! Oh God, how I long to fall madly in love forever!"

Charmed by the beauty of love shared between man and woman, Sariel fell to earth in order to love humanity and be loved by them. His strong faith has earned him love and respect from both sexes across the world. Sariel fell to earth not to betray God, but to pursue his dreams of love, and he still retains his awe and reverance of God. He stands up against Enoch in order to protect both the followers who adore him and the paradise he has built with them.

Archangel

A reliable team of angels that watch Enoch's journey from the side and offer him helpful advice.

As they possess no physical form, they come to earth in the shape of swans and guide Enoch with their divine voice.

Amaros

Self proclaimed Enoch's best friend, although the feelings are pretty much one sided. Famous with his "フゥゥォォォオオオオオオオーンッ！" (FuuuoooooOOOOOooon!) scream. Clicking his name leads to major spoilers of the whole game.