I played this a few months ago and have been turning it over in my mind ever since. And seeing as there are no other reviews on the site yet I guess I'll finally take a crack at putting my thoughts into words.
Saving You From Yourself is a game about the gatekeeping trans people face when getting hormone replacement therapy. The game puts you as a therapist who must decide if a trans woman is "trans enough" to start HRT. I wish I could say that it goes without saying that the idea of someone being "trans enough" is ridiculous and wrong and transphobic; that someone thinking about gender things and coming to the conclusion that they are transgender is enough and should be enough to get the medical care they want/need. But unfortunately, society is by and large cruel to us and thinks that making trans people "prove" their trans-ness in increasingly mean-spirited and arcane ways is actually good-hearted and caring. My issue with where this comes up in the game is that it leaves most of that up to you. The game simply presents with you the choice to give HRT or withhold it with little to no commentary on the choice you make. So, from that angle it isn't necessarily a game that I would suggest to any people who don't know about the process of trans healthcare but are willing to learn. And certainly wouldn't suggest it to people unwilling to learn. So the game doesn't feel like it could be any sort of educational tool to point out something wrong in society. But it also isn't something that I can look at as a trans woman and feel like there's much value in playing this. I am already extremely aware of how shitty the healthcare system is and how it's a fucking gauntlet that I'm surprised anyone is able to get through at all. So I wouldn't recommend any trans people play this, either.
The one thing that I think is thoroughly positive, though, is that the game does show the perseverance and the endurance of trans people and the trans community. We put up with a lot of shit but we're still here. We still exist. We care for one another in ways a lot of the world seems incapable of. No matter how unkind people may be, we are still here and we will always be here. And that absolutely rules.
All that being said, I think messy art deserves to exist and that it should exist. And this definitely falls into the category of 'messy art'. I am glad that this exists. I'm glad that this was a game I was able to play. Hell, I'm glad that this is able to be on Steam. I'm glad the creator was able to make the thing they wanted to make. But I'm not sure if I actually enjoyed it.
It's a messy game so maybe it's fitting that this review is a bit of a mess. I have no idea what rating to give this because, depending on when you ask me, it could be one star or it could be five stars, so I'll just give it a "I'm glad it exists" out of five.
Saving You From Yourself is a game about the gatekeeping trans people face when getting hormone replacement therapy. The game puts you as a therapist who must decide if a trans woman is "trans enough" to start HRT. I wish I could say that it goes without saying that the idea of someone being "trans enough" is ridiculous and wrong and transphobic; that someone thinking about gender things and coming to the conclusion that they are transgender is enough and should be enough to get the medical care they want/need. But unfortunately, society is by and large cruel to us and thinks that making trans people "prove" their trans-ness in increasingly mean-spirited and arcane ways is actually good-hearted and caring. My issue with where this comes up in the game is that it leaves most of that up to you. The game simply presents with you the choice to give HRT or withhold it with little to no commentary on the choice you make. So, from that angle it isn't necessarily a game that I would suggest to any people who don't know about the process of trans healthcare but are willing to learn. And certainly wouldn't suggest it to people unwilling to learn. So the game doesn't feel like it could be any sort of educational tool to point out something wrong in society. But it also isn't something that I can look at as a trans woman and feel like there's much value in playing this. I am already extremely aware of how shitty the healthcare system is and how it's a fucking gauntlet that I'm surprised anyone is able to get through at all. So I wouldn't recommend any trans people play this, either.
The one thing that I think is thoroughly positive, though, is that the game does show the perseverance and the endurance of trans people and the trans community. We put up with a lot of shit but we're still here. We still exist. We care for one another in ways a lot of the world seems incapable of. No matter how unkind people may be, we are still here and we will always be here. And that absolutely rules.
All that being said, I think messy art deserves to exist and that it should exist. And this definitely falls into the category of 'messy art'. I am glad that this exists. I'm glad that this was a game I was able to play. Hell, I'm glad that this is able to be on Steam. I'm glad the creator was able to make the thing they wanted to make. But I'm not sure if I actually enjoyed it.
It's a messy game so maybe it's fitting that this review is a bit of a mess. I have no idea what rating to give this because, depending on when you ask me, it could be one star or it could be five stars, so I'll just give it a "I'm glad it exists" out of five.
4 Comments
' My issue with where this comes up in the game is that it leaves most of that up to you. The game simply presents with you the choice to give HRT or withhold it with little to no commentary on the choice you make.' I would bat against this only slightly. Assuming people play the different endings the game is very passively critical of your role on when you decide to give HRT. It doesn't criticize you too hard if you never do, but depending on if you do the character's transition is put in economic terms, in 1 ending the patient sells most of the library. In another its her pet (iirc). Basically she quite literally is made more poor the longer you string her along.
It's still absolutely a messy and hard to reccomend tho, I'll grant you that. Like the writing itself especially around the castration rings stuff is honestly just kind of hard to follow. And I'm actually way more supportive of DIY treatments than this game is as a backalley way to deal with these hurdles. That being said, I don't think the game is uncritical, and my guess is anybody with a heart would probably be like 'wow fuck this system, these people just get financially incentivized to string people like this along' which, is true.
Still, thanks so much for adding it into your 'short and free' games list which I've been working through recently anyway on my gauntlet to have played 1000 games. I enjoy being reminded what messy art actually looks like and steam would've never mentioned this thing lol.
It's still absolutely a messy and hard to reccomend tho, I'll grant you that. Like the writing itself especially around the castration rings stuff is honestly just kind of hard to follow. And I'm actually way more supportive of DIY treatments than this game is as a backalley way to deal with these hurdles. That being said, I don't think the game is uncritical, and my guess is anybody with a heart would probably be like 'wow fuck this system, these people just get financially incentivized to string people like this along' which, is true.
Still, thanks so much for adding it into your 'short and free' games list which I've been working through recently anyway on my gauntlet to have played 1000 games. I enjoy being reminded what messy art actually looks like and steam would've never mentioned this thing lol.
*uncritical of the protagonists role.
Of course this is all assuming people would actually be the type to authentically interact with a work like this in the 1st place which is probably pretty rare anyway so in a functional sense you probably right :p
Of course this is all assuming people would actually be the type to authentically interact with a work like this in the 1st place which is probably pretty rare anyway so in a functional sense you probably right :p
This made me cry. Thank you so much.
Woodaba
2 years ago