“No one forced us to make a game with a different cast”

A video game set in a divided America with a diverse cast of characters was always likely to ruffle feathers.

But Dominique Tipper likes a challenge.

The actress is best known for her work on The Expanse, a hit science fiction show that ran for six seasons on the American network SyFy.

She has recently been in New York, performing in a production of Grenfell: A Survivor’s Story.

Her next project is Dustborn, a comic book-inspired video game set in a dystopian USA ruled by an authoritarian force known as Justice.

Dominique voices Pax, the leader of a group of “anomalies” – people capable of weaponizing words via superpower-style abilities.

Tasked with transporting a stolen package and posing as a punk band, the heroes embark on a road trip across North America, evading Justice and the owners of the parcel.

Dominique describes the group as Pax’s “found family” and says “as the game goes on, you kind of develop a relationship with them.”

“I think she’s also on a quest to make a better life for herself and also figure out a little bit more about who she is,” Dominique says.

“She’s a wonderful, flawed character.”

Previews of Dustborn have praised the visuals and its cartoon-style gameplay that mixes several different genres.

The characters are at the heart of the game and its diverse main cast has attracted a lot of attention.

It includes Pax’s boyfriend Noam, who uses gender neutral pronouns, Sai, a Muslim, and Pax’s younger sister, Ziggy, who deals with anxiety and hyperactivity.

When it was first revealed, Dustborn was hit with some backlash from those who believe the developers are being pressured to make their games more diverse.

Ragnar Tørnquist, creative director at developer Red Thread Games, insists that’s not the case.

“I think publishers and developers are realizing more that there’s a wider and more diverse audience out there,” he says.

“Games are becoming more global, games are becoming more accessible to everyone.

“And that means the audience changes.”

Ragnar says he understands why people might be attracted, “especially if you’re the type of gamer who’s used to seeing yourself on screen.”

But he says there’s room for games that feature actors, stories and perspectives we’re less used to seeing.

“We’re just making a game that we hope will find an audience.

“Maybe it’s a different audience and I think we can afford to be different,” he says.

Dominique says she’s not a fan of the “buzz words and phrases” associated with representation, but that there is some truth behind them.

“I think there’s nothing like seeing yourself on screen or in a game, if you’ve never seen it before,” she says.

Dominique says she was drawn to Dustborn because the characters were “multi-layered,” and Ragnar says the developers wanted to “create a cast that just feels like a representation of the world as it is today.”

He admits that his team, based in Norway, is mostly made up of people who look like him.

So, says Ragnar, they “went into the cast” and found writers “who are more representative of the characters in the game.”

“We think it’s more interesting, it’s the right thing to do,” he says.

“And I think the stories that come out of it are also more original, more interesting.”

From her experience working across different industries, Dominique feels that there are deep-rooted issues that drive backlash that won’t be resolved overnight.

“I think we can continue to make art that fights that,” she says.

“Because it can change people’s attitudes on a social level.

“And I think that can then filter into changing things on a systemic level.”

In Britain, games industry body UKIE says minority groups are under-represented in higher rolesand the percentage of women working in this sector is below the national average.

Ragnar says he would like to see more support for developers from under-represented backgrounds “to really see a difference in the stories that games can tell”.

“I think if you embrace it, both from the development side and from the player side, it can be groundbreaking,” he says.

“I think we’re just at the beginning of allowing games to push boundaries, whether they’re cultural, political or social. Just being able to see the world from different perspectives.”

Ragnar admits that Dustborn may not be a hit with everyone who plays it.

“I mean, that’s fine. It’s just an emotional reaction. That’s what I’m really interested in, whether it’s positive or critical,” he says.

“It’s fine as long as it’s an emotional response, as long as this game had an impact and meant something to people.”

Dominique, on the other hand, says she doesn’t engage with negativity when it comes out.

“I’m not really going to accept it, to be honest,” she says.

“I’m from the East End.

“If you all want to hit on me and do some of that nonsense, go ahead and try.

“I’m not him.”

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