Category: Playable Black Characters
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Apex Legends
Developer: Respawn EntertainmentPublisher: EA GamesRelease Year: 2019Platform: Android/iOS/PS4/PS5/Switch/WIN/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/SGenre: Battle Royale, FPSTaxonomy: Playable Black characters; Fandom/community/reception Apex is an online multiplayer battle royale game featuring squads of three players using pre-made characters called “Legends”. New seasons add characters, weapons, and cosmetics, along with different game events and elements. interviews and other media scholarship…
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An Airport for Aliens Currently Run By Dogs
Developer: Strange ScaffoldPublisher: Strange ScaffoldRelease Year: 2021Platform: Switch/WIN/Xbox One/Xbox X/SGenre: AdventureTaxonomy: Development; Playable Black characters; narrative themes In a universe where you and your fiancee are the last two human beings left, you are in an airport run by dogs where a series of deep multiple-choice conversations with your fiancee occur. In the game, you…
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Afterparty
Developer: Night School StudioPublisher: Night School StudioRelease Year: 2019Platform: Linux/Mac/PS4/Switch/Win/Xbox OneGenre: AdventureTaxonomy: Playable Black characters Milo and Lola, lifelong friends and recent college graduates, find themselves in Hell. With the only way out of Hell being to outdrink and out-party Satan himself, they must prove their ability and obtain seals of approval from various demons…
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Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield
Developer: Aerial KnightPublisher: HeadUp GamesRelease Year: 2021Platform: Android/iOS/Linux/Mac/PS4/PS5/ Switch/Win/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/SGenre: 3D Sidescroller, PlatformerTaxonomy: Development, Playable Black characters, Black cultural traditions, Narrative themes; mechanics; politics/ideology/history Set in Detroit, you play as Wally, a man trying to escape with his family’s stolen treasure which grants him special abilities. Mechanically you perform acrobatic moves such as…
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Assassin’s Creed: Liberation
Developer: UbisoftPublisher: UbisoftRelease Year: 2012, 2014 (Remake), 2019 (Remaster)Platform: PS3/PS4/PS Vita/Stadia(2021)/Switch/Win/Xbox 360/Xbox OneGenre: AdventureTaxonomy: Playable Black characters; Black NPCs; Black cultural traditions; Narrative themes; politics/ideology/history; voice acting/motion capture; mechanics; intersectionality Set in 18th-century Colonial America, You play as Aveline, an Afro-French Assassin and the first female protagonist in the series. Aveline takes on 3 roles…
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Dandara
Developer: Long Hat HousePublisher: Raw FuryRelease Year: 2018Platform: Android/iOS/Linux/Mac/PS4/Switch/Win/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/SGenre: PlatformerTaxonomy: Development; Playable Black characters; Intersectionality; politics/ ideology/ history; Narrative themes; mechanics In a bizarre universe where the oppressed are on the brink of oblivion, Dandara has awoken to reshape the world. The world is gravity-bending where movement is comprised of jumping, ultimately…
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DEATHLOOP
Developer: Arkane StudiosPublisher: Bethesda SoftworksRelease Year: 2021Platform: PS5/Win/Xbox Series X/SGenre: FPSTaxonomy: Playable Black Characters; Black NPCs; Voice Acting/motion capture; Black Cultural Traditions; mechanics; Narrative themes Set in an alternate world resembling the 1960s, it takes place over the course of a single repeating day on the island of Blackreef. You play as Colt, an assassin…
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El Paso Nightmare
Developer: Strange ScaffoldPublisher: Strange ScaffoldRelease Year: 2022Platform: WinGenre: FPS, HorrorTaxonomy: Development, Playable Black Characters Luis Rojas, a down-on-his-luck IT programmer steps out of his motel room to get ice and is instead greeted by horrors beyond imagination originating from iconic monsters of film, literature, and myth. interviews and other media scholarship Return to List
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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Developer: Rockstar NorthPublisher: Rockstar EntertainmentRelease Year: 2004Platform: Android/FireOS/iOS/Mac/PS2/PS3/Quest2/WIN/Win Phone/Xbox 360/XboxGenre: Action AdventureTaxonomy: Playable Black characters; Narrative themes; Black NPCs; fandom / community / reception; Voice acting; politics/ideology/history; Significant Black cultural mods You play as Carl “CJ” Johnson who, after returning home after his mother is murdered, is drawn back into his former life as a…
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Madden (Franchise)
Developer: EAPublisher: EARelease Year: 1988, 1990-2022Platform: 3DO/Amiga/Android/Arcade/BlackBerry PlayBook/Game Boy/Game Boy Advance/Game Boy Color/Game Gear, GameCube/Genesis/iOS/Mac/Mega Drive/MS-DOS/Nintendo 3DS/Nintendo 64/Nintendo DS/PS/PS2/PS3/PS4/PS5/PSP/PS Vita/Saturn/Super NES/Wii/Wii U/WIN/ Xbox/Xbox 360/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/SGenre: SportsTaxonomy: Development; Playable Black characters; voice acting/motion capture; Black NPCs; Black cultural traditions; Narrative themes; robust character creation system; fandom/community/reception; mechanics Licensed by the NFL, players compete as…