When the remaster came out, I opted for a male voice, but stuck to my original form, making it something of a game to try to recreate her perfectly from memory. Though I obviously didn't have Cyberpunk as a reference point back then, did my unease come from the same feelings the Mix It Up poster gave me was I instigating, encouraging, revelling in fetishisation? I wanted to be a woman, that much I knew even without the lexicon to express it, but why the bulge? Was it an albatross slightly south of my neck, there to remind me that I was a man and always would be? Or was it to act as a conduit between myself and my avatar, a thing we could share? I didn't have her eyes, her voice, her lips, her hips, her feet, her chest, but that.

I was still balancing a lot of thoughts, deciphering my own synapses. I always played as female characters anyway, but giving them a crotch bulge in Saints Row 3 and 4 seemed salacious. It's been nine years, and a lot can change in that time. This is the first full Saints Row game since I came out as transgender. Related: Guilty Gear Strive's Bridget Becoming The Biggest Trans Woman In Gaming Should Make A Lot Of People Embarrassed While the game itself proved to be a bit of a letdown, the character creator proved to be even better once I got to take the boss out for a spin.

Before launch, I played the demo character creator, and wrote that I felt it was one of gaming's best. Games like Tell Me Why and The Last of Us Part 2 have given us beloved transgender characters, but in terms of creating our own with any sense of physicality, Saints Row is where its at.

Saints row 4 female character creation