This new video game helps you understand what it’s like to have gender dysphoria
A new video game allows you to experience what it’s like to struggle with your gender identity.
Pink White or Blue, produced by Esmada Interactive, imagines experiencing the world as a transgender person.
Gamer KJ Robertson published a review of the game for Alpha Beta Gamer, along with a video of its gameplay.
“Pink White or Blue goes to some very dark places, but it’s also full of beauty,” he wrote.
- An extract from Pink White or Blue (Esmeda Interactive/YouTube)
The gameplay footage juxtaposes relaxing and cute imagery – horses, little pony figurines, flowers and pink – with darker imagery to represent the struggle some transgender people might experience trying to find their place in a binary world.
“There’s lots of clever imagery throughout that alludes to how binary the world is and lots of clever hints as to who the protagonists are,” Robertson said in his review.
Some scenes might be distressing for users, as the footage incorporates depictions of physical or mental abuse and its impact on the character. Pink White or Blue borrows from the horror genre to get its message across.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1BuSnfoVhc]
“Every morning I wake up, every day I’m prisoned in my own body” appears on the screen in the game.
The video gaming world is still on its way to accepting trans characters for who they are and not punchlines.
In 2016, a writer was attacked by gamers players after she introduced a trans character in Baldur’s Gate: Siege Of Dragonspear, with some users even calling for their creator to be lynched or calling the character disgusting.
At the time, Dragonspear writer Amber Scott explained she was trying to flesh out the universe of the game by introducing realistic and diverse characters.
“I think everyone deserves to play a game that represents them in a fun fantasy setting. That’s how imagination and wonder develops,” Scott told Cracked.
In the game, the character, named Mizhena, explained that her parents raised her as a boy. “In time we all came to understand I was truly a woman.”
- An shot from the trailer for Pink White or Blue (Esmeda Interactive/YouTube)
A demo version of Pink White or Blue is available for free download online. Its creators are hoping to turn it into a full on version.
“This demo started as a Art School project,” they write on gaming platform IndieDB. “We wanted to make a game that has the same vibe as the Indie movie scene, with a LGBT touch.”
