Grezzo 2

[[File:Grezzo 2 box art.jpg|thumb|right|165px|One bored Italian troll decides to piss off everyone. Even the Pope.]]
{{Video games}}
{{christianity|1}}
'''''Grezzo 2''''' (also rendered in Italian as '''''Grezzo Due''''') is a 2012 total conversion [https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Joke_WAD "joke WAD"] for the 1993 first-person shooter ''Doom'' by id Software, developed by Nicola "Nic" Piro, a member of the metal rock band "Karashow".<ref name="piro">{{Cite web |title=Nic Piro – Databáze-her.cz |url=https://www.databaze-her.cz/vyvojari/nic-piro/ |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=www.databaze-her.cz}}</ref> The game's plot revolves around a [[pagan]] farmer named Piro, who goes on a sacrilegious rampage and slaughters everyone and everything, even [[God]] and [[Jesus]] themselves.

==Plot==
Embittered over the rise of [[Christianity]], Piro embarks on a spree killing, with his first target being the church hosting his grandparents' silver wedding anniversary. Piro massacres the event's reception, and dies shortly thereafter; he then falls into the [[afterlife]] to be judged by [[God]], who is depicted as a short-tempered, foul-mouthed man adorned with [[cult]]ist robes. Depending on the player's actions, Piro can either fight and kill God, or avoid the fight and escape the afterlife.<ref name="vice">{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/it/article/wdwpan/grezzo-due|title=Più grezzo del grezzo|date=April 2, 2013|accessdate=April 17, 2018|author=Virginia Ricci|website=vice.com|language=Italian}}</ref>

After returning to Earth and [[killing]] countless others, Piro initiates a plan to kill baby Jesus, thus averting the inception of Christianity. Piro then infiltrates the womb of the [[Virgin Mary]] and slays the gestating Jesus within. Piro then impregnates Mary, from whom a reborn Piro emerges, killing her. The reborn Piro pulls out a banjo and plays a song for the Three Wise Men who stood at the Virgin Mary's side.<ref name=gameref>''Grezzo Due: Una Magica Avventura'' (Nicola Piro, 2012)</ref>

==What's the fuss about it?==
While the game's mechanics are largely inherited from the base ''Doom'' game (shoot enemies, stroll your way through the exit, rinse and repeat…), save for added sequences such as a motorcycle segment among others, arguably the game's main draw is with its gratuitously [[blasphemous]] portrayal of not only local [[Italian]] celebrities and authority figures but most prominently Christianity itself, particularly [[Roman Catholicism]], whose home base is in the [[Vatican]].{{efn|The Vatican is a politically separate enclave from Italy, but is situated right within the heart of Rome in Italy.}} The game's level of violence and graphic [[sexual]] content gained it so much notoriety that it was banned on the streaming service Twitch on obscenity grounds. Among those religious figures parodied in the WAD is {{wpl|Padre Pio}} (born Francesco Forgione, {{lived|25 May 1887|23 September 1968}}), a Capuchin friar and [[mystic]] who gained notoriety for his [[Pious fraud|alleged]] [[stigmata]]<ref name="piofake">{{Cite news |date=2007-10-23 |title=Italy's Padre Pio 'faked his stigmata with acid' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1567216/Italys-Padre-Pio-faked-his-stigmata-with-acid.html |access-date=2024-09-22 |work=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref> and is widely venerated especially in his native Italy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24278009|title=Padre Pio's body goes on display - World Faith- msnbc.com|date=April 24, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424234746/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24278009 |archive-date=2008-04-24}}</ref> In-game, Padre Pio appears as a stand-in for the Cacodemon in the original ''Doom''.

In an analysis by [[TV Tropes]], ''Grezzo 2'' can be interpreted as an irreverent yet relatively serious commentary on Italian culture and the people, organisations, and phenomena that are holding back the country. The Roman Catholic Church for one is mocked, aped, and desecrated in every possible way and at every possible opportunity in the game, depicting it as an [[evil]], omnipresent, and corrupt organisation bent at world domination.{{efn|As of 2020, Catholicism is the second-largest religious body in the world after Sunni Islam.<ref>[https://www.yourdictionary.com/catholic-church Definition of Catholic Church on the Your Dictionary website]</ref>}} The blasphemous portrayal is reflective of the gradual breaking of social [[taboo]]s in the Italian Republic, where more [[progressive]] groups have started criticising long-standing institutions such as the Catholic Church for its stranglehold on Italian politics and culture, namely its opposition towards [[divorce]], [[same-sex marriage]], and [[birth control]] and hushing up of [[Child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church|sexual abuse]] cases committed by its clergy, as well as its [[Theocracy|assertive control]] over the country's [[politics]], urging the faithful to vote for the {{wpl|Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy}} party and has (historically) [[excommunication|excommunicated]] those with [[communist]] ties through the {{wpl|Decree against Communism||.}} A great many Italian celebrities and other notables were similarly ridiculed, in particular Italian [[wingnut]] [[YouTube]]r Matteo Montesi, whose voice was used for most of the Catholic enemies depicted in the game. The WAD mocks and apes at Montesi's [[Catholic]] [[fundamentalism]] and belief in [[reptilian]] [[conspiracy theories]].<ref>[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/Grezzo2 Analysis of Grezzo 2]</ref>

Other reviewers note how the game's gratuitous use of graphic violence and [[torture]] also serve as a form of shock commentary musing over the use of violent imagery and the outrage it generated, e.g. the ability to kill [[dog]]s in ''[[Wolfenstein|Wolfenstein 3-D]]''.<ref name="hooched">[https://horriblyhooched.wordpress.com/2015/04/01/grezzo-2/ Grezzo 2 – Horribly Hooched]</ref>

In an interview with ''Vice'', Nicola explained that "I really wanted to create a game that would piss off any mother, any religious organization, something vulgar and unheard of." In another interview, Piro mused that ''Grezzo 2'' is also reflective of his [[worldview]]: "For me, the world is like this: the [[Pope]] is obviously a monster, an enemy, and everything is taken to excess!"<ref name="pixelflood">{{cite web|url=http://www.pixelflood.it/grezzo-2-intervista-agli-sviluppatori/|title=GREZZO 2: INTERVISTA AGLI SVILUPPATORI|date=October 2, 2014|accessdate=April 18, 2018|author=La Redazione|website=pixelflood.it|language=Italian}}</ref>

Blasphemy aside, ''Grezzo 2'' also gained polarising reception from within the ''Doom'' community for its extensive use of [[copyright]]ed content cribbed from both retail games and even mods from various other Doom modders, specifically WAD files and their associated assets modified to some degree. Most of the game's other content was also kanged<ref>[https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kanged kanged] ''Urban Dictionary''.</ref> off a typical [[Google]] Image search, a list of which would be too long to include.<ref name="zdoom">{{Cite web |first=Linkrulezall |title=The Grezzo 2 Plagiarism Compendium (and other such flowery words) |url=https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=37401 |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=forum.zdoom.org}}</ref>

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Anti-Catholicism]]
[[Category:Blasphemy (probably)]]
[[Category:Copyright]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Italy]]
[[Category:Media hysteria]]
[[Category:Trolls]]
[[Category:Video games]]

Categories: Anti-Catholicism, Blasphemy (probably), Copyright, Christianity, Italy, Media hysteria, Trolls, Video games