Category: Black NPCs
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The Journey Down
Developer: SkyGoblinPublisher: SkyGoblinRelease Year: 2010, 2014, 2017Platform: iOS/Linux/Mac/PS4/Switch/ WIN/Xbox OneGenre: Point and Click AdventureTaxonomy: Playable Black characters, voice acting/motion capture, politics/ideology/history, narrative themes, Black NPCs, intersectionality Bwana and his trusted sidekick Kito struggle to make ends meet at their gas station in a corner of Kingsport Bay on the outskirts of St Armando. They are…
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Spider Man: Miles Morales
Developer: Insomniac Games, Nixxes SoftwarePublisher: Insomniac GamesRelease Year: 2020, 2022 (WIN)Platform: PS4/PS5/WINGenre: Action AdventureTaxonomy: Playable Black characters, Black cultural traditions, Voice acting/ motion capture;, Narrative themes, politics/ ideology/ history; Black NPCs, Intersectionality Set in Harlem this game focuses on Miles Morales’ struggles to balance his life as a teenager and his duties as the second…
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Slime Rancher 2
Developer: Monomi ParkPublisher: Monomi ParkRelease Year: 2022Platform: Win/Xbox Series X/SGenre: Adventure, SimulationTaxonomy: Playable Black characters, Black NPCs Journeying to Rainbow Island, a mysterious land brimming with ancient technology, rancher Beatrix LeBeau discovers unknown natural resources and new slimes. interviews and other media scholarship Return to List
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Slime Rancher
Developer: Monomi ParkPublisher: Monomi ParkRelease Year: 2017, 2018 (PS4), 2021 (Switch)Platform: Linux/Mac/Switch/PS4/WIN/Xbox OneGenre: Adventure, SimulationTaxonomy: Playable Black Characters, Simulation Beatrix LeBeau, a young rancher, who set out for a life a thousand years away from Earth on the Far, Far Range. where she tries her hand at making a living wrangling slimes. interviews and other…
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Shaq Fu
Developer: Delphine SoftwarePublisher: EARelease Year: 1994, 1995 (Game Gear, Game Boy, Amiga)Platform: Amiga/Game Boy/Game Gear/Genesis/SNESGenre: FightingTaxonomy: Playable Black characters; Black NPCs; Voice acting/motion capture While heading to a charity basketball game in Tokyo, Japan, Shaquille O’Neal walks into a dojo, talks to a marital arts master, Leotsu, and is transported to another dimension, where he…
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SEASON: A Letter to the Future
Developer: Scavengers StudioPublisher: Scavengers StudioRelease Year: 2023Platform: PS4/PS5/WinGenre: Adventure Taxonomy: Development, Playable Black characters, voice acting, Black NPCs, Intersectionality Estelle leaves her isolated home for the first time to create a record of the world for the next generation before a mysterious cataclysm wipes everything away. interviews and other media scholarship Return to List
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Resident Evil 5
Developer: CapcomPublisher: CapcomRelease Year: 2009Platform: PS3/PS4/Switch/Win/Xbox 360/Xbox One Genre: Survival Horror Taxonomy: Black NPCs; Playable Black characters; narrative themes; voice acting/ motion capture; Anti-Blackness / regressive characterizations; Chris Redfield, one of the few survivors of the incident, is now working as an agent for the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA). He heads to the Kijuju…
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Remember Me
Developer: Don’t NodPublisher: CapcomRelease Year: 2013Platform: PS3/WIN/Xbox OneGenre: Action Adventure Taxonomy: Playable Black characters, Black NPCs; Intersectionality Set in 2084, in Neo-Paris, a small group of rebels, Errorists, attempt to bring down Memorize, a corporation that invented a brain implant that enables 99% of the population to upload and share memories with people and have…
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Rap Jam: Volume One
Developer: 64WD CreationPublisher: Mowtown GamesRelease Year: 1995Platform: SNESGenre: SportsTaxonomy: Playable Black characters, Black NPCs, Anti-Blackness/regressive characterizations You play as one of the included rap artists in a game played on outdoor courts. The game involved hard fouls and fighting with no foul calls. interviews and other media scholarship Return to List
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NBA Street
Developer: NuFX, EA CanadaPublisher: EA Sports BIGRelease Year: 2001 (PS2), 2002 (GameCube)Platform: GameCube/PS2Genre: SportsTaxonomy: Playable Black characters; voice acting/motion capture; Black NPCs; Black cultural traditions; Narrative themes; robust character creation system; fandom/community/reception; mechanics; anti-Blackness/regressive characterizations Combining the talent and big names of the NBA with the attitude and atmosphere of streetball, you try to score…