From Fighting Games to Platformers, We’ve Got Recs For Everyone
From Fighting Games to Platformers, We’ve Got Recs For Everyone
Representation is important – positive representation is noted to be extremely beneficial, bringing comfort, joy, and validation, especially to members of minority groups who don’t often get to see themselves represented in a non-derogatory way. Though trans people have always been here, it can be difficult to find positive representation of trans people in most medias, including video games. Because of this, we’d like to highlight some of our favorite trans video game characters across all sorts of genres, including:
Produced by the creators of Life is Strange and set in beautiful small-town Alaska, Tell Me Why centers around a pair of supernaturally linked twins seeking to unravel the truth of their past. One of these twins is a trans man named Tyler, and you play as both him and his sister, Alyson, making choices that affect the future even as they explore their past traumas. Tyler’s identity is handled carefully, with input from his (also transmasculine) voice actor in the writing process, though some critics say that the portrayal of the characters’ rural hometown as perfectly accepting fails to showcase the social and political difficulties that trans people can face.
🏳️⚧️ Buy Tell Me Why on Steam
If you’re trans, you’ve probably found that certain experiences are inherently hard to navigate, such as gender-segregated situations like using the bathroom, or activities in which your body is revealed, like swimming. Even if you might not necessarily be in danger, you still worry about making other people uncomfortable. This is transfeminine protagonist Haru’s struggle in one night, hot springs – she’s been invited by her old friend Manami to spend a night at the hot springs, and has some choices to face as a result. This adorably drawn, heartfelt visual novel tackles the everyday struggles of trans women in Japan in a realistic but heartwarming way. One night, hot springs is free on Steam, and with 30 minutes of gameplay spanning 7 different endings, it’s a perfectly bite-sized way to spend your night.
🏳️⚧️ Play one night, hot springs on Steam
Described as an “anti-adventure” game, Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor has players face a choice – stay in your menial trash-collecting job forever, or seek out risky adventures that might lead to an eternally screaming skull following you around. Though she is unnamed, the Janitor is an explicitly transgender character, an alien described as a “girlbeast” and managing her gender dysphoria through medication, a feature that incorporates trans struggles into actual game mechanics.
🏳️⚧️ Buy Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor on Steam
Though less explicit, Madeline is one of the more well-known trans video game characters, confirmed to be a trans woman through the inclusion of a trans pride flag at her desk (and later further confirmed by the creator). In this deceptively simple narrative-driven platformer, Madeline must survive her inner demons as she scales Celeste Mountain. With 700+ screens of hardcore platforming challenges, Celeste is a notoriously difficult game, but Madeline learns from each failure, and players are rewarded with the beautifully written story of her self-discovery. As a bonus, Celeste is one of the most popular games on the Steam Deck.
🏳️⚧️ Buy Celeste on Steam
Introduced in The Last of Us Part II and voiced by nonbinary actor Ian Alexander, Lev is a trans man born into a cult known as the Seraphites. Though he questioned their beliefs in many ways, he stayed closeted until he was assigned to be the wife of an Elder. At that point, he shaved his head and announced that his name was now Lev, resulting in him being declared as an Apostate and forced to flee, where he meets the protagonist, Abby. Hard-hitting and unflinching, Lev’s story examines the intersections of religion, family, and personal freedom in a way that has resonated with many players since The Last of Us Part II’s release. Though only a deuteragonist in Abby’s story, Lev is playable in The Last of Us Part II’s No Return mode.
🏳️⚧️ Buy The Last of Us Part II on Steam
Taking a tumultuous relationship with the body to an extreme, The Missing focuses on trans woman J.J. Macfield and her search for her missing best friend – and the self-destructive lengths she’ll go to to find her. Unable to die permanently, J.J. is reborn endlessly as she navigates Memoria Island, often needing to harm herself in order to progress in this beautifully written puzzle platformer. Though not for the faint of heart, The Missing is a fantastic queer narrative, and J.J. Macfield is a character many will relate to.
🏳️⚧️ Buy The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories on Steam
Love goth nonbinary people? Us too! Appearing in the first Guilty Gear game as a non-playable boss, Testament is playable in later Guilty Gear games, such as Guilty Gear X, Guilty Gear XX, and Guilty Gear Strive. Originally interpreted as an androgynous man, they were later described by Arc System Works marketing rep Riku Ozawa in an interview (also translated by a helpful Redditor) to be 無性 (musei), which translates in English to agender or genderless. Ozawa declares that “Testament is Testament,” and “in English you would say they and them.” Though their gender isn’t explored much in the game, lovers of fighter games have an awesome opportunity to play an incredibly well-designed nonbinary fighter.
🏳️⚧️ Buy Guilty Gear Strive on Steam
This concludes our list of 7 fantastic trans video game characters. We hope you’ve found a new favorite!
