It is not hard to understand why this technique is so common among video games that are prevalent in LGBTQ + themes , as it takes an enjoyable experience , and un-normalises it , disassociating the player from it and makes it seem foreign , and the fact that this is doubled visually with the “ transfigured body ” of both games proves that there is a room for a queer reading here . It gives a non-queer player the experience of dissociating from reality , having normality being cruelly taken away from them , specifically in relation to the body and nonnormative or ‘ distorted ’ bodies ( from wendigos to Norman Bates ). For both games to transfigure chip-tune style music is also of interest , as it could be seen as a corruption of video game tradition . Non-queer players specifically , therefore , are given a taste of Katherine Cross ’ “ Nightmare ”, where the typical straight white gamer feels threatened by his video games being corrupted by queer and foreign things ( 2014 ). He watches as somethingas specific to video games as chip tune music is brokendown , watched over by the typically queer-bodied horror figure . It is an extension of Ryerson ’ s distortion , and is much more personal , and therefore , more horrific .
Undertale ’ s prevalence in the the video game mainstream is fascinating foranother reason . The game Undertale gives the player two key routes that they can go down in completing the game . They can kill every enemy they encounter , dubbedthe ‘ Genocide Run ’, or leave everyenemy alive , and escape the “ underground ” with everyone on their side , known as the ‘ Pacifist Run ’. In either run , however , “ it is impossible to determine whether [ the main character ] is male or female ,” ( Quinn , 2015 ). The genderless silent protagonist can show the player no emotions , and , so it is up to the music to tell us , the player , how to identify with them . In the ‘ Pacifist Run ’, therefore , the music is designed to build up the player ’ s emotional investment in the other characters .
Every main character has its ’ own theme , which develops the more they are encountered . The protagonist ’ s theme begins on chip- tune in the start menu and ends in the final boss battle , now in full string ensemble , with roaring electric guitar and drums . The music trains us to become emotionally invested in this genderless being , with some players having “ seen the child as a boy , others as a girl and ” “ others as transgender ” ( Quinn , 2015 ). With the protagonist only ever referredto in-game by ‘ they ’ and ‘ them ’ pronouns , there is not only room for crossgender identification to take place , but for empathy to be given to a genderless being , removing gender-transgression from the “ transfigured body ” narrative into something altogether more positive . The music is the most crucial role in this process , as Fox ’ s use of leitmotif trains the player to empathise and identify with the protagonist , as we develop alongside the motif from the game ’ s beginning to its ending . In identifying and empathising with a genderless being , the player is queered , as they identify outside of their own gender , and explore a different identity .
Queer takes on the horror genre ( which , for all of its ’ gender and bodily transgressions , is already an incredibly queer category ) exploit the limits of gameplay for all that it can do . From Gone Home , a game tricks the player into thinking it is going to be a horror game , to Undertale , a game that is only as horrific as you want it to be . Themusic that accompanies these games is often incredibly non-normative , building Sam and Lonnie ’ s relationship as a safe-haven away from the horrors of the real world , criticising and actively punishing gender performance in the silent protagonist of Undertale , and constructing Anthropy ’ s character in dys4ia to be just out of reach from normativity , behind all the medical constraints of the process of transitioning . In all
JACK DRUMMOND-JOY
132