Who We Are Now Tackles Being Queer Post-Apocalypse Carolyn Lovelace April 8, 2017 News Post-Apocalyptic media can feel fairly cliche or overdone these days, but Who We Are Now, a queer visual novel with development lead by Bryce Duzan takes an interesting spin on the well known narrative subgenre. The game focuses on a world 10 years after a nuclear war; a world where survival and life has been reestablished, and contemplates what love, life, and happiness are all like after a widespread traumatic event. Similar to Your Royal Gayness, Who We Are Now is another project hitting diversity on all the right marks. In the words of Duzan, the game aims to portray characters “…who are human, and not just flat stereotypes.” A quick peek at the characters shown in the trailer as well as the kickstarter page shows characters of different races, body types, ages, and disabilities- and Duzan mentions diversity in gender identity in the trailer as well. This is Duzan’s first Kickstarter project- but not his first game. On his Itch.io page you can find the demo for Who We Are Now along with queer Lovecraftian twine game In Darkness, Dreaming, NSFW queer demon-lovin’ game Summonr, and tabletop RPG Plight of the Cursed. Already having experience creating narrative-driven gameplay means that Who We Are Now should be quite the treat. While Duzan leads the project he is backed by artist Allison Paige and composer Manny Baltazar as well. Paige is a queer artist from Edmonton, Canada who is also working on the comic Wispering Ash and much of their work can be found on their tumblr page. Baltazar’s compositions aren’t currently in the demo, but his light Americana-inspired tunes can be heard in the game’s trailer, as well as on his bandcamp. Paige’s colorful rendering of both cast and setting combined with Baltazar’s dreamy musical stylings make for an excellent combination with Duzan’s incredibly touching story. The Kickstarter for Who We Are Now has 6 days remaining, and has already hit its goal! With your help they can meet stretch goals to add additional art, improve the UI, or even introduce a new love interest to the game complete with a new section of story.
