Smite, Mythology, and Now

Do I play too much Smite? I probably do. Hi-Rez's mythological MOBA eats up a surprising amount of my free time alongside Overwatch. I could talk about the balancing, the community, the camera, so much, but today I wanna go after a different topic. I want to talk about the core the game is founded on: the mythology.

It's what pulled me into the game in the first place, as I am a huge mythology nerd. I don't obsessively look over it or study it, but place a story about the Norse or Japanese pantheon in front of me and I will voraciously devour it. The way the different characters have been portrayed across cultures, however, is what really, really catches my eye. And if you head over to any community site, the original lore and how the deities are portrayed is a topic of constant discussion.

For my money, it's a fascinating process to watch, and how each god gets portrayed in game is always a fun treat every time a new one is added. That said, I want to take a closer look at how the stories of old get dragged into the modern era. I like to split this into 3 categories: the myths, the modern era, and the game.

The Myths

AKA the source. The original stories. Whatever you call them, they're what this entire game is based off of, and as such play the largest role in how a god is chosen and designed. I'll use Amaterasu as an example, as her myths provide an extremely clear inspiration for how she plays. Her passive illuminates enemies, as she is the goddess of the sun. Her abilities involve her sword, as a dash and powerful ult, and her mirror, as a ranged attack. These are based off of the 3 sacred treasures she had in the myths. So as you can see, pretty clear basis for her kit in game.

As well, the myths influence how gods are classified as well. Loki, as another example, is a trickster and loves playing pranks and causing mayhem. Fittingly, he is classified as an assassin, a class known for mobility and damage, not defence.

I'd also point out that mythology could very well influence what gods get added, but that really doesn't seem to be the case with Hi-Rez. They have multiple gods of the sun and gods of thunder, each of which are very unique. They even made a god out of Ah Muzen Cab, a god so little is known about, all that comes up if you google it right now is “He was a god of bees... probably”.

But, inevitably, the gods of old come clashing up against the modern era, and that's where this gets really interesting.

The Now

Now this is where this gets really, really interesting. The stories from potentially thousands of years ago are of course not going to totally work now, and many interesting changes had to be made. As what is my absolute favourite example of this, take Xing Tian. He is a deity who represents a spirit that never surrenders, even after his head was cut off. This is how he was portrayed:

Yeah, no way in hell that would work nowadays. It's too basic and unappealing to our modern eyes. So they updated him like so:

They kept the base there (headless with a face on his chest and an axe) and made it a lot more appealing to our designs nowadays. It's a great and simple way to show how updating gods helps them fit in.

As well as that, sometimes gods simply have to be changed because a part of their original lore would not be allowed now. Many gods (Aphrodite, Terra, ect.) were usually portrayed as completely nude, something of course not allowed in society now. And sometimes they have to change gods to fit the art style. 2 examples I like are are Ymir and Ravana. Ymir was just a really big dude, not really fitting with Smite's cartoonish and unreal style. And Ravana had 10 heads and arms, something likely impossible to style right, so they themed him around it.

And then there's China.

Ok, so for those who have no idea what I mean, Smite was also released in China. And their culture is... different, to say the least. What this did was force the devs to redesign a god or 2 to be less accurate in order to be acceptable in the Chinese market.

Take Hades and Kali as prime examples. Both used to feature heavy use of bones and skulls. Hades was a bit questionable, but Kali's design was basically 100% accurate to her depictions in Hindu culture. However, bones and skulls are a big, BIG no-no in Chinese culture, and in order to make sure the game would be acceptable there, they had to make some changes to their design. So they removed the bone themes and just made them more acceptable to the new market.

Before....

...And after.

What I find fascinating is how Hi-Rez try to be lore accurate up until they really can't much of the time. The god can be accurate as long as it's appealing now, possible in today's culture, would fit with the game's artstyle, would be appropriate for all markets, ect. There are a lot of caveats that have to be made, as you can see.

The Game

And the most important caveat often made is the actual game. They're making a MOBA, after all, one of the most complex genres out there. And lore accuracy is fantastic until it makes the game worse.

Again, some designs will have to be changed because of limitations in technology. Again, Ravana with 10 arms and legs likely would be a nightmare to program, and Vamana could not grow to the sizes he does in the stories because he'd be bigger than the arena. Often the best way they get around stuff like this is themeing moves around them. Using Ravana and Vamana again, Ravana can gain a shield of 9 heads around him, and Vamana can grow larger than any god, but not to astronomical proportions.

They also have to pick and choose what gods can actually be added to the game, or more accurately, what a new god would add to the game. You can totally have multiple thunder gods, but you've gotta make sure they're unique. Raijin is a good addition because his drum themeing sets him apart from Zeus and Thor quite well. And the more interesting, the better. Jing Wei is themed around flight, so they gave her a passive that lets her fly and a mobility based kit to go with it. It's really unique and fun.

And beyond all that, changing gods to be more fun is often a good choice. Sure, the Kraken was never in any Greek myths and Poseidon having it as an ultimate is horribly lore inaccurate, but shouting “RELEASE THE KRAKEN” is such a fun move to pull off.

Yes, I know this is a wildly out of date screenshot.

So that's a small look at what one game has to take into account when adapting source material. If you list it all out it's quite daunting. They have to look at the original, when it was made, the reasons behind it, modern standards, modern art/style, how they need to adapt it, the tone/style of the new work, how it will fit in, what needs to be changed to fit, if the work even needs it, and so on and so forth. I used Smite as an example because I play it a lot, but this really applies to any adaptation of anything. If you've got any games that adapt other source material you like, go at it in the comments! I'd love to see more examples of this. And as always, thank you for reading. Have a lovely day.

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