Video games and religion usually mix like oil and water. Or maybe like gasoline and a match. When you look back at the 2006 release of Left Behind: Eternal Forces, you aren't just looking at a retro real-time strategy game; you’re looking at one of the most bizarre, fascinating, and ultimately disastrous attempts to bridge the gap between evangelical subculture and mainstream gaming. It was supposed to be a revolution. Instead, it became a punchline.
Most people who remember the Left Behind video game today only remember the memes or the scathing reviews. But the story of how this game actually got made—and the specific ways it managed to offend almost everyone involved—is way weirder than just "it was a bad game." Honestly, it’s a case study in what happens when you try to gamify the Apocalypse.
What Exactly Was the Left Behind Video Game Trying to Be?
At its core, Eternal Forces was a real-time strategy (RTS) game set in a post-Rapture New York City. If you’ve read the books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, you know the drill. The "true believers" have been vanished to heaven, and those left behind have to deal with the rise of the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia.
Troy Lyndon, the CEO of Left Behind Games at the time, didn't want this to be "budget ware." He had big dreams. He wanted a triple-A experience that could sit on the shelf next to Command & Conquer or StarCraft. The goal was simple: provide a way for Christian kids to play a high-quality game that reflected their values.
But there’s a massive problem when you try to turn "thou shalt not kill" into a game where the primary mechanic is combat.
The developers tried to get around this with a "Spirit Meter." It’s basically the most controversial mechanic in the history of religious gaming. In the Left Behind video game, your units have a level of faith. If they do "bad" things—like killing people—their spirit drops. If it drops too low, they turn into "neutral" units or even join the Antichrist's side. To fix this, you have to make your units pray. Literally. You click a button, and your soldiers stop what they're doing to regain their holiness.
It was clunky. It was weird. And for many critics, it felt like the game was essentially saying you could "murder for Jesus" as long as you whispered a quick prayer afterward to top off your mana bar.
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The Backlash Nobody Expected
You’d think the biggest critics of a Christian video game would be secular atheists or "hardcore" gamers who hated the proselytizing. That happened, sure. But the most intense fire actually came from within the house.
Groups like Talk to Action and various Christian bloggers were horrified by the imagery. They saw a game where you could command "Tribulation Force" soldiers to gun down "Global Community" (UN-style) peacekeepers in the streets of Manhattan. Even though the game technically penalized you for losing "Spirit," the visual of Christian "crusaders" using physical violence to convert or eliminate the opposition was a PR nightmare.
Then there was the technical side.
The game was a mess. It launched with bugs that made it nearly unplayable for some. The pathfinding—the code that tells a character how to walk from point A to point B—was notoriously broken. You’d tell a medic to go heal a wounded soldier, and they’d get stuck behind a mailbox for three minutes. In a fast-paced RTS, that’s a death sentence.
The Marketing Blitz That Backfired
Left Behind Games went all-in on a "grassroots" marketing campaign. They tried to bypass traditional game journalists and go straight to churches. They even offered a deal where churches could give away the game for free as a "gift," hoping it would go viral.
It didn't.
Instead, the game became a lightning rod for the "Violent Video Games" debate. For years, conservative religious groups had been the ones attacking Grand Theft Auto and Doom. Now, they were the ones being accused of creating a "murder simulator" for kids. The irony was so thick you could've cut it with a Spirit Sword.
Why We Still Talk About Left Behind: Eternal Forces
It’s easy to dismiss this as just a bad licensed game from 20 years ago. But the Left Behind video game matters because it represents the absolute peak of the "Christian Alternative" media era. This was the same era of VeggieTales and Powerline, where the goal wasn't just to coexist with pop culture, but to replace it.
The failure of Eternal Forces effectively killed the dream of a massive, big-budget Christian gaming industry. It showed that:
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- Gamer demographics are hard to fool. You can't just put a "holy" skin on a mediocre game and expect people to play it. Players want good mechanics first.
- Theology is hard to code. Trying to turn complex ideas like "grace," "temptation," and "sanctification" into UI bars and health points usually results in something that feels shallow or even blasphemous to the people who take the source material seriously.
- The "Culture War" is a bad dev cycle. When your primary motivation for making a game is to fight a cultural battle rather than to make a fun experience, the product suffers.
Exploring the Sequels (Yes, There Were Sequels)
Most people think the series died in 2006. Nope. Against all logic, Left Behind Games kept going for years. They released Left Behind: Tribulation Forces and Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist. They even tried to pivot into different genres.
They eventually bought the rights to Gauntlet and World Championship Poker developers, trying to legitimize the company. It didn't really work. By the time the company finally sputtered out, they had been through lawsuits, delisting from the stock exchange, and a mountain of debt. It's a corporate drama that's honestly more interesting than the gameplay itself.
The Reality of Modern Religious Gaming
If you look at the landscape today, you don't see many games like Eternal Forces. Instead, you see developers taking a more nuanced approach. Games like That Dragon, Cancer or even The Talos Principle deal with faith and philosophy in ways that are deeply respected by the gaming community. They don't try to be a "Christian version of StarCraft." They just try to be good games that happen to explore spiritual themes.
The Left Behind video game was a relic of a very specific time in American culture where the "Parallel Economy" was trying to find its footing. It failed because it tried to play by the rules of a market it didn't fully understand.
Actionable Steps for Retrogaming Enthusiasts
If you’re actually looking to play the Left Behind video game today for historical curiosity (or just to see the train wreck for yourself), here’s what you need to know:
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- Physical copies are everywhere. You can usually find a big-box copy or a jewel case on eBay for under $10. It sold a lot of copies initially, so they aren't rare.
- Compatibility issues are real. This game was built for Windows XP. Running it on Windows 10 or 11 is a nightmare. You'll likely need to use a virtual machine or a tool like dgVoodoo2 to get the graphics to render correctly.
- Check the "Double Take" version. Later versions of the game tried to fix some of the bugs and re-balanced the Spirit Meter. If you’re going to play it, seek out the later patches or the Left Behind: Eternal Forces - The Antichrist Forces expansion, which actually improved the UI slightly.
- Look for the community patches. There is a tiny, dedicated group of people who still document this game. Check out sites like the PCGamingWiki for specific fixes regarding the notorious "DirectX" errors that plague the 1.0 version.
The legacy of the Left Behind video game isn't found in its high scores or its influence on the RTS genre. It’s found in its status as a cautionary tale. It’s a reminder that when you try to serve two masters—theology and entertainment—you often end up satisfying neither. It remains a fascinating piece of digital apocrypha, a strange artifact from a time when the Rapture was coming to a PC near you.