Category: Playable Black Characters
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Left 4 Dead 2
Developer: ValvePublisher: ValveRelease Year: 2009Platform: Linux/Mac/Xbox 360/WINGenre: FPS, Survival HorrorTaxonomy: Playable Black characters Set during the outbreak of an apocalyptic pandemic, focusing on four new survivors, they fight to escape hordes of zombies. interviews and other media scholarship Return to List
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Left 4 Dead
Developer: Valve SouthPublisher: ValveRelease Year: 2008Platform: Mac/Win/Xbox 360Genre: FPS, Survival HorrorTaxonomy: Playable Black characters An outbreak of a highly contagious pathogen, “Green Flu”, led to zombification throughout the world. Four immune survivors make their way towards safety against hordes of the infected. interviews and other media scholarship Return to List
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Killer7
Developer: Grasshopper ManufacturePublisher: NIS AmericaRelease Year: 2005Platform: GameCube/PS2/WinGenre: ShooterTaxonomy: Playable Black characters Following an elite group of assassins called “killer7”, physical manifestations of a man named Harman Smith, perform hits on behalf of the US government. Throughout the missions, they uncover a deeper conspiracy regarding Japan. interviews and other media scholarship Return to List
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Insecure: The Come Up Game
Developer: Glow Up GamesPublisher: Glow Up GamesRelease Year: 2021Platform: Android/iOSGenre: Simulation/RPGTaxonomy: Development; Playable Black characters; Black NPCs; Narrative themes; Black cultural traditions; Intersectionality; fandom / community / reception In Insecure you navigate adulthood with a core group of friends and craft rhymes to help make decisions or to battle friends for clout. interviews and other…
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Homey D. Clown
Developer: Capstone SoftwarePublisher: Synergistic SoftwareRelease Year: 1993Platform: DOSGenre: Point and Click AdventureTaxonomy: Playable Black characters, fandom/community/reception, Black cultural traditions, Anti-Blackness/regressive characterizations Take on the role of Homey D. Clown, the most popular Damon Wayans character from Fox’s sketch-comedy series “In Living Color”. Players guide Homey through his typical day on the streets of New York,…
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Half-Life 2
Developer: ValvePublisher: ValveRelease Year: 2004Platform: Android/Linux/Mac/PS3/Xbox 360/Xbox Series X/SGenre: FPSTaxonomy: Playable Black characters; Black NPCs; voice acting/motion capture You play as Gordon Freeman who, after an incident at the Black Mesa Research Facility, joins a resistance movement to liberate the Earth from the control of an alien empire called the Combine. interviews and other media…
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Hair Nah…
Developer: Momo PixelPublisher: Momo PixelRelease Year: 2017Platform: Browser BasedGenre: SimulationTaxonomy: Development; Playable Black characters; Black cultural traditions; politics/ ideology/history; Black NPCs, Narrative themes; Intersectionality; fandom / community / reception Showcasing one of the stresses that black women face, it is a response to the action of touching a Black woman’s hair without permission. You must…
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Grid Force: Mask of the Goddess
Developer: Dreamnauts StudiosPublisher: Playtra GamesRelease Year: 2022Platform: Win/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/SGenre: RPGTaxonomy: Development, Playable Black characters; mechanics Being the chosen one, born from the will of Clea, guide Donnna on her journey to build the perfect team, realize their potential, and defeat the Goddesses of Gora to save the future. interviews and other media scholarship…
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Freedom!
Developer: MECCPublisher: MECCRelease Year: 1992Platform: Apple IIGenre: SimulationTaxonomy: Playable Black characters, narrative themes, Mechanics, Black NPCs, Anti-Blackness/regressive characterizations Taking the role of an enslaved African American in the southern United States during 1830, the player must escape a plantation and get to one of the free northern states. interviews and other media scholarship Return to…
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Freedom: Rebels in the Darkness
Developer: Coktel VisionPublisher: Coktel VisionRelease Year: 1998Platform: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, DOSGenre: StrategyTaxonomy: Playable Black characters, Black NPCs, Development, politics/ideology/history You play as an enslaved person on a plantation who aims to incite a revolt, free the other enslaved people, and get revenge. Developed by Muriel Tramis. interviews and other media scholarship Return to…