User blog:Itsjieyang/Fandom Celebrates AAPI Month: Video Games

Hey everyone, it’s Jieyang here.

And I like video games. Some might say a little too much. And you know what? They’re right. But do you know what I like more than video games? Video games with Asian American protagonists. I love those.

Like people, video games come in all shapes and sizes. From your shooters to your RPGs to your isometric games, there’s bound to be something for everyone. But as AAPI month comes to a close, today I want to talk about a few of my personal favorite games that feature Asian American protagonists. Just to clarify- there are a lot of Asian protagonists! However, I will be focusing specifically on Asian American protagonists, or those coded as such.

On a side note, I will be streaming on our Fandom Twitch this Friday, 26th May at 12pm PT, playing one of the games listed below: Sleeping Dogs!

Life is Strange: True Colors (2021)


I, like many others, very much enjoyed the Life is Strange series. So when I heard one would feature an Asian American woman as the main character, I was beyond pumped. She’s Alex Chen, a newcomer to a small mining town in Colorado where you reunite with your older brother after leaving the foster care system. It’s… been a rough ride for the both of you, to say the least.

This is an interesting game in terms of Asian American representation- a sentiment often brought up among the community is that it would be nice to have more characters representing us that don’t necessarily know martial arts or, you know, carry some sort of generational trauma. Stories that focus more on the “American” part of Asian American if you will.

The game hits that sweet spot in my opinion. I think a pretty common theme in Asian American stories is that of “otherness”- this game actually tackles that but not because Alex is Asian- it’s because she’s the mysterious new girl in a small town. Though in playing this game with my wife (who is also Asian American), we did find it funny that every person we meet at the start goes “Oh, you must be Gabe’s (Alex’s brother) sister!”, with us joking that Gabe and Alex are the only Asians in town.

Like many of the entries in the Life is Strange series, True Colors hits real close to home emotionally, tackling themes like depression (which, coincidentally, is notoriously stigmatized among Asian American families), familial bonds and trauma. It’s not a completely lighthearted story, though it does make the happy parts all the more enjoyable.

Plus there’s a lot of enjoyable music in the game too, with Alex’s singing voice wonderfully performed by the one and only mxmtoon!

Prey (2017)


Firstly, I would like to say that this is my favorite game of all-time. I’ve played many amazing games, but Prey always somehow manages to inch ahead to take the number one spot in my heart. I will forever harp on about it being underrated. It’s probably the only game I’ve ever played where I was truly, fully immersed (yes, the game is literally an immersive sim, I know) into the character.

I remember spending a good amount of time in the opening exploring Morgan Yu’s apartment. From the bamboo steamer in the kitchen, the weirdly futuristic bowl of dim sum in the fridge, to the red packets and even a book about wok hei, it made me go, “This is so me.” The nods towards Morgan’s heritage might be subtle to those unfamiliar, but to me, it was a huge deal.

There was just something about playing as a Chinese character, making so many different decisions that were entirely up to me, all backdropped by a slick, sci-fi world that made me fall in love with the game. It was just a perfect alignment of all the right buttons being pushed for me, I literally could not ask for more out of it (except a sequel, of course).

What really stuck with me was how fleshed out the side characters you interact with were. Especially your brother, Alex Yu. The guy is like the annoying grumpy older brother I never had. He leaned deep into the ol’ Asian familial obligation to guilt trip me at points throughout the story. Either way, it really took the immersion up a notch. It’s one thing to have the guilt tactic used on you in real life- it’s a whole other level in a video game.

Did I mention I would love a sequel?

Sleeping Dogs (2012)


Put extremely simply, this game is GTA if it was set in Hong Kong. And yes, it’s as fun as it sounds. But in all seriousness, the game was heavily inspired by Hong Kong action films like Hard Boiled and Infernal Affairs, just to name a few.

You play as Wei Shen- born in Hong Kong but raised in San Francisco before returning as an undercover cop trying to take down the Triads- straightforward, right? However, making your way up the ranks of organized crime while maintaining your cover is, surprisingly, only a small part of what I found interesting.

I was honestly surprised at how much importance was placed on Wei Shen struggling with his own self-identity. Having only spent his formative years in Hong Kong, he (and by extension, the player) often has his identity questioned by others- is he from Hong Kong or is he American? It’s a question that haunts him inside as he tries his best to balance his dual lives alongside his dual identities. That feeling of being caught between two worlds, never being able to fully live in either one is very much an experience that many Asian Americans can relate to.

Between the side characters and the city in general, the game embraces a lot of Chinese culture, even the more obscure parts of it- the experience system being Face is absolutely hilarious (if you know, you know).

The game isn’t perfect (neon signs, food stalls and bustling streets can only do so much), but for one that came out in 2012, I look back on it fondly. Funnily enough, it’s also one of the only video games I had to mute whenever my grandma was around- I grew up in a Cantonese-speaking household and boy, are there some choice words being spoken by the characters.

Now I want a pork bun.

As mentioned before, I'll be revisiting the game on our Fandom Twitch this Friday, 26th May at 12pm PT!