The feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian is to appear in the indie archery battler TowerFall. She will be one of the 10 selectable characters that will appear in the game’s Dark World expansion pack. Developer Matt Thorson announced the news via the game’s Tumblr account.
Among the 10 characters appearing in the Dark World, one the character s is a blue archer alternate, whose appearance is based loosely on Anita. Players have options to play with either alternate designs or entirely new characters.
Matt said that the inclusion of Anita in the game was a tribute to the critic, who faces continual abuse on social media. “Anita’s work has been an inspiration to the TowerFall team. Her ‘Tropes vs Women in Games’ video series gave us a valuable new lens through which to assess our character designs. TowerFall is about bringing people together, so it’s vitally important that the cast of playable characters makes everyone feel invited to join in. We’re very excited to immortalise Anita in a small way,” he wrote.
Anita is best known for her series of YouTube videos like ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games’, which analyses the depiction of women in franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Donkey Kong and Hitman on her YouTube channel Feminist Frequency.
On hearing the news, an excited Anita tweeted: “Can I just say again how awesome it is to be the inspiration for a playable character in the TowerFall expansion!” She also pointed out that the earrings and the cape of the character looked very familiar to what she wears.