SweetieGames

If you are neurodivergent, you’ll know there’s still a long way to go before we see a good amount of representation in video game characters. There’s definitely been an improvement; I saw multiple people applauding the autistic rep in Silent Hill f, as one of the side characters was confirmed to be autistic and was relatable to many autistic players.

There’s still a lack of autism rep in games, let alone representation for other neurodivergent conditions, but something I love is to headcanon characters that I relate to as being autistic. I was late diagnosed, receiving my diagnosis as a 24 year old, and after getting a diagnosis I realised I was always drawn to characters who had autistic traits and are commonly headcanoned as autistic. My first favourite fictional character was Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog, to the point where I didn’t really care about any other character in the franchise, and that was because I could see so much of myself in him. He infodumps about machinery to the point where it annoys others and he’s socially anxious, two traits I could relate to massively as a kid. Except I was infodumping about Dragon Quest. Fast forward to today, and I’ve seen other autistic people frequently talk about how they see Tails as an autistic character. Makes me feel validated in my 8-year-old self’s taste!

This trend has continued throughout my teen years and into my adulthood. Back in 2017 when I played Persona 5 for the first time, I really found myself drawn towards struggling artist Yusuke Kitagawa. I liked his social ineptitude, and his confidant story really spoke to me as a fellow creative and knowing the struggle of creating the next piece. His relationship with fellow party member Futaba was also really fun for me. They are two more characters who are really relatable to the autism community and are commonly seen as autistic characters, despite not having confirmation from the developers themselves.

I’ve talked about my love for Cafe Enchante here before, and that I see my favourite character, Il Fado de Rie, as autistic. He’s extra relatable for me as his special interest is the same as mine: Otome games! I ended up really loving Il as I could see so much of myself in him, from his love of sweets to his inability to read social situations. He felt like me if I hadn’t learned to mask so much. He’s still my favourite otome game character after all these years!

Of course, it’s not unusual for a person to be drawn to a character who reminds them of themselves or is relatable. There are so many aspects of a character that can speak to a person’s personal experiences, from mental health to families to life events. However, autistic people are infamously underrepresented and misrepresented in the media, affecting how autistic individuals are seen in the real world. This makes headcanon autistic characters even more important for us. These characters represent our genuine experiences and how we see the world rather than the stereotypes that have been perpetuated through media. It would be great to see more game characters actually confirmed as autistic and represent us in a realistic way! That way I won’t have to adopt so many characters myself.