Deathloop Redefines Blackness In Video Games

Good Black characters in gaming are rare, and extraordinary Black characters are even more so. Despite the gaming industry continually improving in its portrayal of Black characters, protagonist or otherwise, it still struggles with the concept. I, like most Black gamers who have long had to deal with games that misrepresented our skin, hair, and essence for decades, simply assumed, “We will get there, Lord, when we get there.”

Then I played Deathloop, a current game that understood the assignment and made me say, “Man, to hell with that!” This game reveals that video games can provide us with amazing Black characters immediately, and that the continued failure to do so is simply a choice. Gaming needs more real Black characters, and we need them now. After feeling some type of way, I reached out to Jason Kelley, the voice of Deathloop’s amazing protagonist Colt Vahn, to discuss where so many developers go wrong when creating Black characters, and how, in Deathloop’s leads, Arkane gave us Black characters who feel real.