I just finished a game (well, turns out it was more of a glorified VN, but there was definitely a game element) which sucked me in, to the point I really enjoyed it.
But if you find out all these secrets, it unlocks an ending where it's revealed that the character you've been playing is FtM. From what I can tell, other than one mention of a scar this is not at all alluded to in the game, it's something you'd have to have a very Tumblr mindset to pick up on - 'is awkward with women, has unspecified trauma, has a scar of some kind on their chest, yeah, must be trans'.
Thing is, I felt disappointed when I found that out, even though it wasn't at all part of the story, but was something you had to have revealed through a super-secret ending. Partly because long enough exposure to the Farms meant I thought, "Not a troon."
But partly because this is a character where something like that would have come up before. You spend a lot of time in their head, but also other characters do as well. You have someone who has known them from before transitioning, who is written as someone who would definitely bring this up and use it as a tool in a negative way.
It felt like it went too much in the other direction, where it's something that would actually come up in the world of the game, but no, being trans is so normal that it never becomes an issue. Not even in the character's negative thoughts and fears.
It felt unrealistic, in that it was too much of a non-issue. That in being Tumblr-woke about it that it could never be seen as a negative, something the character could ever think might affect their life or how other people see them. God knows I didn't want it to be a story about a True and Honest Man overcoming dysphoria or anything, but it's a game where it should, in fact, come up, and it's unrealistic as fuck that it doesn't.
It was a shame. And also put into relief that while the plot was good, the weakness was the characterisation. But yes, it's possible, I think, to go too far the other way, though that may just be the Farms talking.
