“A short, emotional experience exploring trans identity[.] […] Follow a young, questioning [male-to-female] person on a journey through the dreamscape as they discover who they truly are.”
One of the best things a game can achieve is to share experiences with its players and to expand their horizon. “Affinity” definitely reached this goal, as you will get told three stories about the discovery of each characters own gender identity. Three different perspectives, three different experiences, but all with one satisfying or at least hopeful ending.
What I found to be very interesting is the contrast between the storytelling and the art style: While the stories are pretty detailed and work with names, the characters themselves stay somewhat ‘anonymous’ on the visual side. Each of them gets represented by a kind of colored diamond and so does the protagonist.
The analogy of the colored spaces is wonderful as well. As each body of the non-player characters are fully covered with their color, the body of the players’ figure seems to be interrupted. That is because of their insecurity about their own identity. I enjoyed this sweet little metaphor just as much as “Affinity” itself, as it is a wonderful and heart-warming little game, which might teach you a lesson or two about trans as well as non-binary identities and how to be a good ally, when someone comes out to you. [PLAY]
