Hey You Should Play This #4: Dys4ia

Dys4ia is an autobiographical game created by Anna Anthropy about her experience with hormone therapy, and it's surprisingly personal, moving, and thought-provoking.  I know the words "personal, moving, and thought-provoking" aren't descriptors people  normally are looking for when it comes to video games, but maybe it's something people should.

I think this is a very important game-- not just in terms of making the trials and tribulations of trans people more visible and understandable (which it does)-- but to video games as a whole.  It shows the world that video games can present something personal and moving that might open your mind to new and different experiences.  I'm not a huge fan of most "art games" because they are usually just pretentious garbage, most are maybe some monochrome graphics and obtuse writing that attempts to be poetic, where the moody soundtrack does more to make you feel something than the actual gameplay.  As a matter of fact, a lot of "art games" don't really use the gameplay to affect you, the gameplay is just a vehicle for the moody soundtrack or bold pixel art to inspire emotion.  Dys4ia is the first art game I've ever played where the art is actually in the game design.  The tasks in its WarioWare-like micro-games inspire feelings that make you relate all that much more to the events being described by the game's text.  The gameplay is the art, rather than the delivery system for it.

This is further illustrated by the fact that the graphics are mostly abstract, neon, and pixelated and the sound effects are all coming straight from the designer's mouth (which is something that makes the game feel all that more personal).  All of this stuff is supporting the simple gameplay that puts the player into her experience in a way that even reading a journal entry couldn't.  What I'm saying is, this is a real art game and you should play at, then everybody should make them.  Games like this could open minds, put people in other people's shoes, and change the world.

Play it here!