A Christian video game designer is set to release a new game that allows players to role-play as Jesus. 

The virtual reality game - called I Am Jesus - sees players heal the sick, fight demons and partake in many of the acts described in the New Testament stories. 

It was designed to help people learn more about Jesus and his work; to make them more familiar with the Bible. 

Speaking to Premier Christian News, Maksym Vysochansky - who created the game - said: "I hope that kids will use this game to learn more about who Jesus Christ is. 

"If you are, for example, from a Christian family and you see that your child is playing games, why not give them this game as a test and say 'hey, check out this game and maybe you'll learn something.' 

"You can learn more deeply about Jesus Christ and then later you can learn by yourself, by reading Bible or stories, whatever you want it to do.

"This can be a first step, especially for young generation of teenagers, to jump into the environment and to see the whole story behind Jesus Christ."

However, some are upset over the project, saying the idea of pretending to be Christ is blasphemy. 

"Especially in the beginning with the cinematic trailer, we got so much negative feedback.

"I would say 40 percent of feedback was negative, because they thought we wanted to make it just a funny game. That we wanted to joke about it. They didn't think it could be a serious game. 

"Nobody had done it and I was so interested in why. Nobody had targeted Christian communities with their games. 

"You see movies, why not games, right? 

"I bet the first movies about Jesus Christ, they had the same situation

"The same with artists 500 years ago, maybe, when they started their paintings. They probably said, 'hey, you cannot do this' but why not?"