Games where the plot revolves around a corrupt religion etc

I honestly don't remember the corrupt religion in Xenogears. Are you guys talking about that monastery where it's mentioned in passing that the Priests liked sexing young dudes? If so *yawn*.

Xenogears had a lot of religious overtones derived from Gnosticism, but it wasn't exactly focusing on "corrupt religion."

Ultima VII was a great mention. Other PC games with religions that had more than meets the eye were Wasteland, Fallout, Temple of Elemental Evil (hah, bet you couldn't guess that one). The upcoming Age of Decadence has a joinable house that seeks to start up God worship and a cult the player character can help form into an honest-to-God religion.

Can't really think of many console games. The usual efforts to touch on religion come off as being pretty dumb.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The church of Nisan worshipped the relationship between divine masculinity and femininity. This is reflected through the statue in the front of the cathedral, in which both sexes have only one wing, which forces them to support each other. That ties in to the game's conclusion that people must support each other to survive and plays on Gnosticism's reverence for the complimentary nature of sexual differences.

That said, I wouldn't call Xenogears a phenomenal RPG. A great story, maybe, that actually understands the religious symbology it uses, but Gear combat was a chore.

It's simple to sum up the game, because you can dilute anything down to a two-sentence description.

As has also been mentioned before, simply because a religion deceives does not mean that it is corrupt. The Ethos accomplished their stated goals for Solaris, but you could say that individuals like Stone and the other Priests were corrupt.

A "corrupt" religion would have to be one that doesn't render services according to what it's supposed to represent. The Catholic Church of Martin Luther's time can be easily seen as corrupt (particularly Martin Luther) as the Church allowed people to literally buy their way into salvation.

There's nowhere I can't reach.