Character creators in gaming have been getting more inclusive lately. At least, that’s what they tell me. Cyberpunk 2077 let you customise your genitalia, Forza had a greater range of pronoun options, plenty of games opt for ‘body type’ instead of gender. But none of that really matters. Dragon Age: The Veilguard lets you be trans in a way that matters.
Even in the aesthetic features, you can feel the influence of Corinne Busch, game director on The Veilguard who is also a trans woman. As well as the sexualised (in Cyberpunk’s case, maybe even fetishised) options around bulge size – genitalia itself is not visible – there are more well-rounded options. You can pitch the voice down, rather than having a choice between airy femininity and Being A Man. You can customise the Adam’s apple. You can add top surgery scars. It’s the most trans friendly character creator I’ve ever seen.
A Trans Character Creator Does Not Necessarily Make A Trans Character
But the thing is, that doesn’t really matter either. It’s trans friendly, but it’s not actually trans. You can ‘look trans’ with, say, the top surgery scars, but you could look trans in Cyberpunk 2077 with the aforementioned genitalia. Doing so was the subject of one of the game’s most famous posters. These choices are only skin deep, even if The Veilguard has more of them.
I have always contended that, whether I get to customise the genitals or not, any custom character can be trans in my personal headcanon. The same can even be true of non-custom characters if they’re a blank enough slate, like Link. Of course, most people don’t have that as their headcanon. But unless a plot point specifically confirms a character is cisgender, nothing can stop you from imagining otherwise. Often these character creators just offer a physical representation of these imaginings.
The Veilguard Makes Being Trans Part Of Your Backstory
This is not the case in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. If you want them to be, your Rook is actually trans. It starts with a mirror, as it often does for trans people. Gifted to you by Varric, you can decorate your quarters with it early on, and when you interact with it, you can respond with a variety of options – including discussing your gender. These choices lock you into being trans or non-binary (or can be ignored, obviously), and also allow your Rook to express how they feel about themselves.
Much like your background or lineage, this unlocks unique dialogue options later in the game. It embeds your transness in the truth of the game, as much a part of you as being an elf, not just an aesthetic quirk you add in the character creator and then forget about. It is a part of you, and The Veilguard allows it to be a factor in your role play.
More than that, The Veilguard understands the reality of being trans. In romance scenes, you get to have The Conversation. You can relate to Taash, not just offer advice from the sidelines. When quests discuss changing oneself for the better, or rejecting tradition to be true to yourself, you can reach back into Rook’s experience to appreciate the complexities.
Characters even get it wrong sometimes. One character misgenders another by mistake, and the atmosphere changes. Bellara, caught in the embarrassing silence as an onlooker, has no idea what to say. Rook can either accept the fairly rushed apology or prod for something more heartfelt. There are real and raw incidents of day to day transness that you don’t get from a team of developer allies patting themselves on the back for how big they allow your crotch bulge to be.
Many games can point to a transness in their character creators, but few can back it up in their world. They don’t even bother to try, satisfied that the bare minimum is far more than is expected or needed. Dragon Age: The Veilguard tries, and these efforts pay off. It’s the first game that lets you have a transgender character, not just a transgender avatar.
